The Problem with Titans
This morning the trailer for the upcoming DC Universe show Titans was released. It showed off a dark and edgy world, similar to the one the current DC movies take place in. But that’s not the only problem with the trailer, as it shows a different and unrealistic version of certain characters, namely Robin. So, let’s break down this trailer to see the real problem with Titans.
Now, before I talk about all the bad stuff, I do want to mention a few good things about the trailer. First of all, I think having Raven assemble the Titans because she’s trying to fight her inner demon is a good idea. Raven’s always had to fight against the demon she really is, so by having her assemble the team in an effort to stop her from embracing the inner darkness, there are new stories to be built along the way. Another thing I enjoy is the things from the comics that they got right, from Beast Boy’s outfit to Dick’s time as a cop, these are the things we need on a major scale. Now, to talk about the bad stuff.
So, the trailer starts with Raven talking to Dick Grayson, saying she knows about his parents. She’s here to get help so she doesn’t give in to her inner darkness and become a demon. But right after that, we see that Dick is dealing with his own inner demons right now, because he is just being brutal as Robin. Seriously, he stabs a guy in the throat, shoots a bunch of criminals, and then breaks one of their necks by stepping on it. This is way out of character for any representation of Dick Grayson. Right after he does this he says “F*ck Batman,” as if that’s why he’s doing this. In the comics, when he got tired of dealing with Batman, he became Nightwing and focused solely on his time with the Teen Titans. But here, he just becomes the equivalent of the Punisher. Just a guy who kills the criminals. Even if they wanted a Robin who murders, use Jason Todd. He was angry and violent as Robin, so if he got fed up with Batman, who’s to say he wouldn’t kill? And it wouldn’t matter about changing from the comics, because none of these characters are similar to the comics.
Next we see Raven saying there’s something evil inside her, and then start making a demonic noise and attacking someone. This works, showing that she’s losing hold on her humanity, which is something good that can be expanded on more. Then we see some flashy shots of Beast Boy jumping into the air, presumably to attack, and Starfire incinerating someone. Now this isn’t necessarily bad, because what could happen is that this is how she reacts when she first gets to Earth, and that spending time with the Titans helps her chill out. But because everybody’s a murder in DC now, there’s no reason for Starfire to ever think burning someone alive is bad. But the effects don’t look bad, and it looks cool seeing the energy move through her veins as she attacks.
Then it shows Hawk and Dove, and this brings up a major problem with the show. Hawk and Dove are said to be somewhat like Punisher is in the Marvel universe. They aren’t villains, but they also aren’t heroes, they’re vigilantes. The actress who plays Dove, Minka Kelly, said this, “ So you get to see the backstory of how we became vigilantes, what happened in our lives that broke us, that made us want to fight, to protect the good of the people,” and it embodies the problem with Titans. There’s nothing separating Hawk and Dove from the rest of the Titans. By this logic all the Titans are vigilantes too, but that’s not right, they should be superheroes. But if you want to make the Titans vigilantes as well, just have Hawk and Dove join the team. There’s no real reason for them to not join the team, if they’re just killing the criminals as well.
This brings up the fundamental problem for the DCEU, there are almost no superheroes. The only people who are superheroes are Wonder Woman, Flash, and maybe Cyborg and Aquaman. Everybody else is a vigilante, and that’s not how it should be. The whole idea of superheroes is to make the world a better place, not only by fighting crime, but also by saving people, and giving them something, someone to believe in. By only making it about fighting crime, you don’t help the world, you just make it scarier. In Suicide Squad, there’s literally a scene where Batman beats up and arrests Deadshot in front of his young daughter’s eyes. Even if Batman saw this, he shouldn’t attack him in front of her, especially if Deadshot isn’t even doing anything. No, the real Batman would understand that beating up someone’s father in front of them would make the child scared, as well as angry, most likely prompting them to take up crime to get revenge.
So bringing this back to Titans, this not only has the characters being betrayals to their comic book counterparts, but it also ruins the team. The Teen Titans are so much different from the Justice League, and that’s because the Titans are friends. They have each others backs no matter what. If you need a good, modern example of this look at Titans Vol. 1. This has Wally West returning from the speedforce, and as soon as he jogs the Titans memory on who he is, they instantly try to help make his life better. It’s not because they’ll get anything out of it, but because they want to help him. And the whole way through they’re joking around, but sometimes having personal moments, such as when Arsenal busts a bunch of junkies and knew where they were, all because he used to be one. The team has a tight bond in the comics, tighter than any other team, but when you make them all dark and make them killers, any real friendship would seem out of place. So the real problem with Titans is the same problem as the DC movies, a fundamental misunderstanding of the characters. To make a new story you don’t have to drastically change how these characters act, just look at the comics industry. There’s a new issue monthly, with many series having continued for many decades. But the new stories aren’t the only thing that draw people in, it’s the characters. Seeing how they work together, adapt to new challenges, and how they grow after the events. But when you change the characters, everything gets changed. When you make Robin start killing people because he’s mad at Batman, no story is good enough to fix the misunderstanding of the character. Just look at the Wonder Woman movie, for the most part it was just a regular fish out of water story, just in World War 1. But people still loved it because of Gal Gadot’s portrayal of Wonder Woman, and Chris Pines’ portrayal of Steve Trevor. If you have good characters and a good story, then people will be happy. But when people are complaining about the DC Universe being too dark and edgy, taking one of the funniest and happiest teams and making it the opposite just isn’t the way to go.
