Titans, that’s where it’s at. While Arrow has been spotty at best, and Flash is finding its feet again, the best DC show continues to be Titans. The launch title of the DC Universe streaming service was marred in controversy and overreaction when the first stills and trailer dropped. Fans were tepid at best for the new series.
Eleven weeks after its debut and everyone is apologizing. The show was an event, consistent and brutal tour de force; showing a far more intense and unapologetic version of superheroes. The Titans-verse is growing and expanding, as today we just got the first trailer for Doom Patrol, but more on that in a different column.
Titans ended its season with a bang, or a snap to be more specific. In a fantasy world, Dick Grayson is married to Dove, aka Dawn Granger. The two have one son with a second child on the way. Elements of past episodes bleed into this dynamic from the offset. In episode two, when Dick brought Rachel (Raven) to the apartment she shares with her live-in-boyfriend Hank Hall (Hawk), it was clear the two men didn’t get along and it was over Dawn.
There were moments in the series where it becomes plausible that during Dove’s time with Hank, she cheated on him. This is a theory established in episode 9 (Hank and Dawn) where the two were together romantically before ever meeting Dick Grayson or other costumed heroes. Sometime between the flashbacks of episode 9 and the current events of episode 2, Dawn and Hank hit a rough patch in their relationship; causing them to either break up or Dawn to cheat with Dick. That plausible possibility rared up in episode 11, while Dick was away in Gotham during his Knigtmare, Dawn and Hank were painting the new baby’s room together. The tone Dick had while talking to Dawn about it seemed to infer that the roles had reversed, and that possibly Dawn and Hank were the ones who stepped out on Dick.
That idea was a small, yet powerful driving force throughout the season finale. Trigon built a nightmare world where Dick’s rival was with one woman he loved, while another woman he loved was brutally murdered by the man who raised him. In a brutally bloody and spectacular fight final fight, Batman murders the GCPD force, who came to extract him from Wayne Manner. Dick, believing it was the only way to stifle the bloodshed, gives up Batman’s identity to a new detective on the GCPD, who just so happens to be Trigon.
The events also see Starfire murdered. As the last remaining agent in the Batcave, she descends on Batman’s position who is already awaiting her arrival. She tries to blast him, only instead to be brought down by Mister Freeze’s cold-gun. Her death, along with the inferred infidelity of Dawn, the crippling of Jason Todd, the death of Jim Gordon and the disappearance of his daughter Barbara, caused Dick to finally give in and kill a wounded Batman.
Which was an impressive idea, as the first time we see Robin in the series we see that he’s plagued by his own anger and hatred. After a violent gang of criminals dismiss an already enraged Robin, Robin proceeds to let his darkness out to play and proceeds to obliterate the gang. As we now know, none of them died, (he only ever killed one man) but most of them sure wished they did. Setting up that element of Dick, only for him to then give in to it was brilliant writing.
That big scene set up Dick Grayson and the series as a whole going forward without us realizing it. It was Dick’s anger that would be the thing that would tear down Raven, breaking her heart and allowing Trigon the ability to eventually “eat the world”. The anger stoked and grew throughout the season, with run in’s with Dawn, Donna Troy, Jason Todd and finally his dark manifestation of Batman. These four key moments for Grayson was the catalyst to raise the beast.
This element though was wonderfully contrasted in a wonderful moment in the 11th episode, where Dick was talking to his fictional wife Dawn, and it’s shown to us that Dick’s greatest gifts are his humanity and soul. His anger was the reason Trigon could truly take his first steps into taking over the world, but it’s Dick’s light and hope that drew Rachel, Kori (Starfire), Garfield (Beast Boy) and others to him in the first place. Their need for him is his true defining feature. His hope that they share. Not the darkness that resides in him. It’s that barely visible light that will more than likely bring Dick back from the dark-side.
And while all that is going on, we get even more to unpack in this season finale. We’ve established the Amazon’s, Batman, the Justice League and more but the series takes a wide birth at the end, by taking a throwaway line and possibly making it mean so much more.
During the conversation with his fake wife Dawn, she claims Batman and Superman had a falling out years ago. Years ago could mean present tense, as it feels like Trigon was using only what he knew of Dick to feed to the nightmare. That would explain, beyond just a stylistic choice, why we never saw Batman’s face. Because Trigon’s not reading Dick’s mind per se, just influencing. it.
Why did Superman and Batman have a falling out? It’s fair to say the ending might have something to do with that, but it may be a reach. During the after credits of the season finale, a young man is seen ripping his way through an unknown facility, which is clearly Project Cadmus. The man releases a dog from a container that seems to be powered by Kryptonite and the two rush off together, but not before we see a tattoo/branding of the House of El symbol on his shoulder. Superboy is here. And Krypto too.
The revelation of Superboy adds so much to this series it’s insane and the sad part is, we should of known it was coming. Geoff Johns, the writer and producer of Titans, told the San Diego Comic-Con that;
I pitched [Dan DiDio] the Superboy/Lex Luthor thing — which we’ll get to [on Titans] eventually,
Clever girl.
Showrunner and Executive Producer Greg Walker talked to Entertainment Weekly about what we can expect from Superboy and he says it’ll be similar to Dick’s tale, where we see the character deal with emotions in a “very emotional and psychologically grounded way” way.
Titans has established itself as the new torchbearer for comicbook shows, destroying Daredevil and passing Arrow. Where the show goes next is unknown but that’s part of the fun. Titans proved itself to be the very best, and I wait on baited breath while we start the slow crawl to season 2.