DC Teams: T

The Teen Titans + Team Titans

Many people ask me to provide a Titans section to my site, but there's really no point. Please visit Titans Tower — the Titans super-site.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Brave & the Bold #54

» FEATURED APPEARANCES: Blue Beetle #12-13 • Brave & the Bold #60, 83 • DC Comics Presents #26 • X-Men/New Teen Titans #1

» SERIES:
Teen Titans, 53 issues (1966-78)
New Teen Titans, 91 issues (1980-88)
New Teen Titans v.2, 130 issues (1984-96)
Teen Titans Spotlight, 21 issues (1986-88)
Teen Titans v.2, 24 issues (1996-98)
JLA/Titans, 3-issue mini-series (1998-99)
The Titans, 50 issues (1999-2003)
Titans/Legion: Universe Ablaze, 3-issue mini-series (2001)
Teen Titans v.3, current (2003-)

» SEE ALSO: The Unofficial Titans •

Terror Firma

» SEE: Wanderers of Earth-Prime

Terror Titans

Created by Sean McKeever and Eddy Barrows

Just as the Teen Titans are a group of young protégés trained under heroic mentors, the Terror Titans are the inheritors of several villainous mantles. Their leader is the new Clock King, who possesses surprising abilities. With his high tech stop-watches, he can alter time/space itself, allowing him the ability to see the future, and to teleport. The Clock King considers all his cohorts expendable. Even his sexual relationship with Disruptor was merely a control tactic.

The Terror Titans's strategy was to divide and conquer. Dreadbolt (son of Deathbolt) was the first to attack Kid Devil at Titans Tower. Clock King invited Kid Devil to join him, and introduced him to their remaining number: Disruptor II, Persuader II and Copperhead II. Danny refused their offer and was given over to Darkseid, to fight in his new Dark Side Club. (#56)

Ravager managed to stop them from taking Wendy and Marvin and she trailed them back to their base. (#57) Miss Martian was also captured (#58) and placed with Kid Devil in the Dark Side Club. By this time, the remaining Titans were on the case, and hot on the Terrors' tails. (#59) Though they managed to free their teammates, Clock King absconded with his team, and planted the seeds of doubt within Ravager, who later decided joined them. (#60)

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Teen Titans v.3 #56 (April 2008)

» FEATURED APPEARANCES: Teen Titans v.3 #56-60

» SERIES: Terror Titans, 6-issue limited series (2008)

» SEE ALSO:
Newsarama: McKeever on Terror Titans
Newsarama: Sean McKeever on the Titans Shake-Up

Time Masters

The Time Masters were a group of scientists led by Rip Hunter. Their specialties all revolved around the study and travel through space/time.

I've chosen not to write about them, as there is a great site devoted to their adventures. Please read Adam Arnold's Vanishing Point, which focuses on Rip Hunter and the Linear Men.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Time Masters #1 (February 1990)

» SERIES:
Rip Hunter ... Time Master, 29 issues (1961-65)
Time Masters, 8-issue limited series (1990)
Booster Gold v.2, current (2007-)

» SEE: Vanishing Point

Time Stealers

Created by Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens

After his defeat at the hands of Rip Hunter and Booster Gold (52 #52), the Venusian worm dubbed Mister Mind plotted revenge on the "Time Masters" and assembled a rival band of Time Stealers. Mind began by possessing the 24th century body of Booster Gold's father, Jon Carter, and stealing the Supernova suit from his 21st century ancestor, Daniel Carter. (Mind knew that the suit would only operate while worn by a member of the Carter family.) He then plucked several key villains from across time: from the early days of the Justice League, he recruited Despero; from the days of the Justice Society, Per Degaton.

To ensure the existence of their next recruit, Degaton and Despero traveled back to 1948 and allied with the Ultra-Humanite (then in the body of Dolores Winters). (Justice League of America v.2 #8) The pair provided Ultra with a new host—a powerful white gorilla called a "Nzame," born in Gorilla City. Once matured, they kidnapped the gorilla and transferred Ultra's brain into its body. (#9) Ultra then joined the Time Stealers' grand plot to erase Booster Gold and Rip Hunter from the timeline.

Mr. Mind began a two-pronged attack by both altering significant time points and attacking directly. The Time Stealers' goal was not to kill Booster Gold, but to thwart his successes. (Carter's existence was still necessary to the Stealers' desired timeline.) While Booster attempted to protect the origins of Hal Jordan, Barry Allen and Superman, Rip's Time Bubble was attacked by Mr. Mind/Supernova. (Booster Gold v.2 #2) Another Time Stealer also joined the attack—Jason Goldstein, a former Time Master cast out by Rip. Goldstein now called himself Rex Hunter. The Time Stealers' roster was rounded out by Maximillion (an evil counterpart to Booster's robot Skeets) and the Black Beetle. (#4)

The Black Beetle claimed to have hailed from the from the 27th century and first posed as a friend to Rip and Booster. This Beetle (called "Joshua" by Mr. Mind) gathered his own predecessors, Dan Garrret and Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetles I and III) and convinced them that they must save Ted Kord (Blue Beetle II) from his death at the hands of Maxwell Lord. With Booster Gold's help—and against Rip's protests — they did indeed snatch Kord from a moment just before his demise. But when the Time Masters returned "home," they found their machinations had changed things for the worse. In the corrected timeline, Maxwell Lord and his OMAC hordes ruled the planet and super-heroes were forced underground. (#5, 0)

Along the way, Rex Hunter was captured by Rip. To keep his secrets safe, Mr. Mind ordered Goldstein be murdered in his crib. Upon completion of this hit, Jason vanished from the timestream. (#5)

The Time Stealers watched everything unfold from the Vanishing Point, the headquarters of time's former keepers, the Linear Men. (#7) Max Lord's dominion aided the Time Stealers' cause, but the villains underestimated the depths of the heroes' selflessness. When Ted Kord realized how much worse the world was for his survival, he sacrificed himself to realign the time stream. (#9-10) During their final conflict, the Time Stealers attempted to capitalize on Lord's iron-fisted control, but Booster managed to expose Mister Mind inside his father's body. Mind was driven out of his body and squashed—but not before reproducing.

As Kord's sacrifice took effect, the Black Beetle confessed that he was destined to become Jaime Reyes' worst enemy, but could only exist as long as Kord remained alive in an altered time. (#10) With Kord dead again, the Black Beetle disappeared, too.

When the time stream returned to normal, the members of the Time Stealers all presumably returned to their proper places in time.

NOTES: The first Supernova was Superman. He briefly adopted this identity around the time the JLA was founded, as told in Superman/Batman Annual #2 . Booster Gold himself was Supernova II and Daniel Carter was the third.

Booster's father's name was revealed for the first time in Booster Gold v.2 #10.

The young white "Nzame" gorilla was also featured in Flash v.2 #?? (2008)

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Justice League of America v.2 #8 (June 2007)

» SEE ALSO: Vanishing Point

Titans of Myth

Post-Crisis

Gaea the Earth mated with Uranus the Heavens and gave birth to the Titans: Iapetus and Themis, Titans of Justice; Crius and Mnemosyne, Titans of Memory; Coeus and Phoebe, Titans of the Moon; Hyperion and Thia, Titans of the Sun; Oceanus and Tethys, Titans of the Sea, and Cronus and Rhea, Titans of the Earth. The Titans were beautiful godlike beings, but the rest of Gaea's brood were horrible monsters that Uranus banished to the pit of Tartarus. Hoping to free all of her children, Gaea gave Cronus, the youngest and bravest Titan, a potent weapon to use against his father. Cronus slew Uranus, but he did not release Gaea's brood. Instead, he and his fellow Titans created a "paradise" of subservience on the planet Earth.

However, Cronus feared an oracle which foretold that his own children would rise up against him, so he swallowed each of them as they were born, except his son Zeus, whom Rhea had saved. When Zeus reached manhood, he freed both his own siblings and Gaea's brood. Together, these Olympian Gods and their monstrous allies defeated the Titans. Cronus was mistakenly believed destroyed, and the rest were banished from Earth into the farthest reaches of space.

Zeus' curse bound the Titans to their new home; they lacked the power to even attempt to return to Earth. Instead, they transformed a nearby moon into New Chronus and began to guide the primitive race on the planet below (Synriannaq). Being the only Titan without her mate, Rhea mated many times with these primitives. The resulting demigods made war on the planet. After 3000 years passed, they abandoned all hope of guiding that world. However, these gods were still driven to bequeath their power unto sentients. To this end, Rhea sacrificed herself and sent her own energy out in to the universe. Her power would fall upon several worlds and "seed" a child from each. Each of these children was plucked from certain death and returned to New Chronus. The Titans raised them and rebuilt New Chronus. At age 13, the children were returned to their home planets with no memory of their time with the Titans. Upon adulthood, they would be called to return, more powerful, and as gods, to New Chronus. One of these seeds, named Sparta, shook Mnemosyne's amnesia and went mad. Sparta conquered Synriannaq and brought war on New Chronus. She could not defeat her makers, and so set about a quest to claim the power of all the other seeds. Phoebe lost two-thirds of her power when she escaped and made her way to Earth in search of one seed: Donna Troy. At first, she found Princess Diana instead, but soon related the story to Donna and the New Titans. With Donna's memories restored, Phoebe passed away. (New Titans #50-51)

Donna's Titans were able to dodge Sparta's warriors and they used Sparta's "travelspheres" to return to New Chronus. One group rescued the seed Xanthi, the other spared Athyns just before his planet was destroyed. Xanthi died in the battle against Sparta. With Raven's help, Sparta was contained, and the remaining seeds restored the Titans to their full powers. It was their plan all along, to use their seeds' growing power to add to their own and break Zeus' curse. This they did and vowed never again to interfere with sentient lives. (#52-54) Sparta became a vegetable and was taken into the care of the gods. Athyns returned to Xanthi's planet and assumed his duties. Donna received several gifts: a pendant of Cronus, from Coeus; an armored metal from Thia and Hyperion; and earring from Iapetus and Themis; a bracelet that belonged to Phoebe; a cloth of the firmament, from Mnemosyne and Crius; a mystic net from Oceanus and Tethys; and the name, Troia, from Rhea. The Titans themselves departed for parts unknown. (#55)

During a great battle between the Olympians and the sorceress, Circe, the Olympians bequeathed Olympus to the Roman Gods. They left Earth to join the Titans in their exploration of the universe. (War of the Gods #1-4, Wonder Woman v.2 #58-60) The Olympians eventually returned to Earth (W.W. #122) and merged with their Roman counterparts. (#130-133)

Though the Titans have remained true to their quest. Their brother, Cronus grew bitter during his imprisonment. He eventually cultivated a cult of believers to fuel his powers. His true goal was to possess all the power of the God Wave on Earth. To do this, he would have to defeat and destroy all the deities on Earth. He began by releasing the remainder of his progeny from his belly (those who had not been regurgitated at the time of Zeus' triumph). These were Arch, god of strategy; Disdain, goddess of emotion; Harrier, goddess of speed; Oblivion, god of memory; Slaughter, skilled killer, and his own sibling the monster, Titan. Another key to their success was the creation of a champion. As his children had created and empowered Princess Diana of Themyscira, so did Cronus create Devastation, a being gifted by all these new Titans. The Titan first heralded the coming Cronus (W.W. #139), then Oblivion made an unsuccessful attempt to enslave Diana within her own Wonder Dome. (#140-141) Devastation also proved unsuccessful against Diana; then Cronus made his move. He began by defeating the Olympians and casting Zeus down to Earth. He then conquered the Hindu pantheon and headed for Heaven. But Wonder Woman freed the Olympians and united with the Hindus and the Pax Dei (heavenly host). Diana trounced Cronus but the god still managed to touch the power of the Presence. In doing so, he gained perfect clarity. Humbled, he gave up his corporeal form and returned to mother Gaea. (#150)

This upheaveal soon moved Zeus to form an alliance with the other pantheons. Indeed, Zeus soon appeared to Superman with several allies under the banner of I.D.C.A.P. (Interfaith Deity Council of Active Polytheistics; Superman: Man of Steel #127)

NOTE: The Titans had many children and grandchildren, some of whom were also called Titans. Notable among them is Iapetus' son Atlas, who often lends his incredible stamina to the world's mightiest mortal, Captain Marvel. Wonder Woman #130 describes Themis as the "last of the Titans," and she resided on Olympus. This does not fit with existing history.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: New Teen Titans v.2 #50

» SEE ALSO: Titans Tower (navigate within the Who's Who)

Pre-Crisis

From Who's Who #24

The early pre-Crisis origins of the Titans is the same as above. Instead, however, when the Titans were defeated, the Olympians imprisoned them in columns of stone in Tartarus.

Thousands of years passed, and only the Titan Thia had escaped. Finally, Hyperion freed himself and bewitched the mortal Teen Titan known as Wonder Girl and then released his fellow Titans. Together they made an assault upon Mount Olympus and were thus opposed by the Olympians, the Amazons of Themyscira and other Teen Titans. Cronus intended to remake the Earth into the paradise that he remembered, but eventually, Zeus and his daughter Athena convinced him that man must have free will to chart his own destiny. Wonder Girl was released from her spell and the Titans returned to Tartarus in order to forge a new life for themselves there.

Sometime later, Thia resurfaced, and she too attempted to conquer Olympus. Fearing reprisals from her fellow Titans, she set the Giants of Myth against them. Despite the assistance of the Teen Titans, Iapetus, Crius and Tethys were all killed before Hyperion sacrificed his life to destroy his mad wife Thia. Zeus invited the surviving Titans to stay on Olympus and live in peace. The offer was accepted.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: New Teen Titans v.2 #7