By Caleb Meilink-Smith
DC and TNT are in the process of launching a live action version of the award-winning show Teen Titans titled “Titans”. The show will focus on Dick Grayson, who has recently separated himself from Batman. He has also dropped the name Robin, and become Nightwing to start his solo career as a hero. He also gets a new, much cooler, costume, but that’s just a bonus.
The series, due to the dropping of “Teen” from the title, is suspected to have more mature themes than the other DC TV shows such as Arrow, Gotham City or the upcoming Flash series. Of course, only time will tell how much more darker it will be but, given the source material, darker wouldn’t be much of a change from the animated series. Anyone who remembers the Terra-focused story arcs, both in the comic or show, knows just how dark the series can get.
The only possible downside? The writer from Batman and Robin and Batman Forever, Akiva Goldsman, is writing the pilot. Though this doesn’t seem like it bodes well for the series, Goldsman has worked on and written several films since Batman and Robin, having produced Hancock, I am Legend, and Jonah Hex. Hopefully this falls closer to I am Legend than Batman and Robin side of his film career .
Other confirmed characters include Raven and Starfire. An appearance from Cyborg is questionable since there are rumors about him being in the new Justice League. It doesn’t seem likely that TNT or DC would be willing to have a team with no diversity except an alien or two. I would expect to see Bumblebee or Static, who is commonly known as Static Shock, thanks to the animated series.
It also seems likely that Beastboy will make the team, but it would be interesting to see how they’d handle the special effects for such a showy power. Maybe they’ll just house the animals near the set. Sure cloning a T-rex is tough, but hey, it’ll look great on the screen.
As for villains, Brother Blood, Trigon and Blackfire will hopefully make appearances, but with Slade, A.K.A Deathstroke, on another network, It seems unlikely that he’ll be running around in Titans.
While the show’s location is currently unconfirmed, a multitude of cities have been used as the location for Titans Tower, the Titans’ giant T-shaped headquarters. These cities include Jump City, New York, and San Francisco.
The faces that probably won’t show up are Kid Flash and Speedy, also known as Red Arrow. Red Arrow is already appearing in Arrow and Kid Flash is more likely to show up The Flash.
Unfortunately, different networks probably means that a crossover is unlikely. That said, there is no shortage of replacements for the two. In fact, one key strength the show could have over the competition is it’s impressive repertoire of secondary characters. The Teen Titans cycle through members pretty regularly, and there are many, many characters that DC can introduce to its TV-verse.
Though there is no official release date yet, be sure to come back to Byte for any updates on Titans.
