Assembling the Titans

Yesterday, more cast was announced for the upcoming Titans show to air on Warner Bros streaming service that will feature the third season of Young Justice.  I'm not sure what all WB hopes to put on this service(though I hope it's all their DC Comics animated stuff) but they will soon have to compete with Disney who is pulling all their Marvel and Star Wars content off of Netflix in 2019 for their own streaming service.  With each studio seeming like they will soon all have their own content we have to pay a monthly fee for decisions need to be made.  CBS is betting that Trekkies will pay for their streaming service just to watch Star Trek: Discovery(and probably the only ones who will) but is YJ and Titans enough to get people to pay for the WB service?  Young Justice is one of my favorite animated series, but what about Titans?

DC's Chief Creative Officer(and bad ass comic writer)Geoff Johns has tried to put a Teen Titans show on TV for a while.  A few years ago it looked like it was coming to TNT with the help of Arrow and The Flash producer Greg Berlanti(and would not be set in the 'Arrowverse').  However, it appears WB took it from TNT and is using it as a kick-off series for their streaming service, but will it be any good?

When I was a teenager Geoff Johns was writing Teen Titans starring Superboy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Robin.  And I have read quite a few stories involving Greg Perez's infamous The New Teen Titans.  Post-Rebirth Titans takes some of those original Teen Titans and finds them as adults, still fighting crime together.  I keep up with the series, as I am all about these once-young heroes now dealing with adult issues, and trying to keep their bonds together strong.  So what will Titans by Warner Bros be about?  Let's look at the cast.

1)  Teagan Croft as Raven

Raven is basically a demon whose father is Trigon, an uber-evil demon that Raven has been battling most of her life.  She's moody, strange, and sometimes a bit of a ticking time bomb.  She's had relations with Beast Boy, who has not been named as being in this series. I don't see him being added either, mainly because the cost of having a character who can morph into any animal just sounds way to expensive for a TV series.  

I'm not familiar with Croft, and if you look at her IMDB page she hasn't done much.  So right now her performance can go either way.

2)  Ann Diop as Starfire

She's an alien princess from the planet Tamaran and is quite powerful.  She's known to go toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman.  She starts off a bit naive but eventually grows into a strong character in Teen Titans.  She also has a long-term relationship with Dick Grayson, former Robin(and Batman), and current Nightwing.

Diop's IMDB page is a bit longer than Croft's, but I have yet to see anything she's in.  Her most recent work includes the last 24 miniseries; 24: Legacy.  As long her chemistry works with Dick, I think she'll be ok.  I'm just curious if they are gonna give her orange skin.

3)  Brenton Thwaites as Nightwing

On the Titans IMDB page it just says Dick Grayson, but everyone is assuming we are getting our first ever live interpretation of Nightwing.  Rumors of Chris O'Donnell doing a Nightwing spin-off was on the table back in the late 90's, but when Batman & Robin bombed those rumors were flushed away along with a fifth Batman film.

Being known as the founder(and most important member) of every Titans team; this casting was key.  Thwaites has been in several big budget films like Gods of Egypt, Maleficent, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.  While none of those films were good, Thwaites has shown that he has decent acting chops, and he's just unknown enough to make the character fresh and make people see Nightwing; not Brenton Thwaites.

4)  Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly as Hawk and Dove

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Hawk and Dove.  Their best story line was in Geoff Johns Brightest Day miniseries, and even then I wasn't that interested.  Rumors are said that they won't be in all the episodes, and may get their own spin-off .

Ritchson is most noticeable to fan boys as Aquaman in Smaville, and Kelly will always have my support for playing Lyla Garrity on one of my favorite TV series; Friday Night Lights.  Both are seasoned TV thespians, so as much as I'm not a fan of the characters I'm excited for these actors to join the series.  So now, I'm starting to feel that, if the story and production value are on par, this actually might just be a series to watch.

How TNT's Teen Titans Could Be Earth One

In February a possible line-up was announced for a Teen Titans television series on TNT. The original Titans were a bunch of DC sidekicks like Robin, Kid Flash, and even Aqualad, that got together as a sort of kiddie Justice League. Since then the team has had many members, and had some great story lines, especially when written by DC's current Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns.  TNT's Teen Titans is rumored to star fan favorites like Robin(now Nightwing), Starfire, Raven, and also Cyborg, who is currently set to be played by Ray Fisher in Warner Bros Justice League cinematic team. 

It's still unclear whether the series will be a part of TheCW's TV shared universe along with Arrow and The Flash, but if it doesn't then DC will have gone the complete opposite direction of Marvel, who has their television and movies as one big shared universe.  Personally I'm a little surprised that DC and WB are allowing TNT to use Nightwing since he is so closely affiliated with Batman, and also Cyborg, who looks like will be featured in the WB films.  If DC really wants to not crossover their TV and movie universes then I think they should just go all in and keep everything separate. Gotham has nothing to do with Arrow, which has nothing to do with Constantine.  All these shows are on different networks, and therefore have no relation.  I believe they should do the same for the Teen Titans, which would be easy if they followed the latest.  Titans interpretation; Earth One.

Earth One has become much like Marvel's Ultimate line. It's a way of bringing in fresh stories to old characters without being weighed down by decades and decades of continuity. The Superman and Batman Earth One stories have been a hit with more on the way.  I just finished Teen Titans: Earth One, and I must say, it is a good outline for a Teen Titans TV series outside what WB is doing in their cinematic projects.

The graphic novel features TT stars like Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire, but in a different light.  Superheroes like Batman or Superman are not ever mentioned, meaning that they might not even exsist in this world.  These characters are a group of teenagers who, because they were once orphans, were experimented on using alien technology.  Each teen begins to exhibit different abilites as the truth about their past and origin unfolds.

As I read the book I kind of got a Roswell vibe too it, which, if mixed the current superhero craze, would be great for today's audience to latch on too.  The fact that it has no mention of other DC heroes is a strength.  It has potential to make it's own mythology that won't interfere with anything else WB is doing with their DC properties.  I also personally like that Robin and Kid Flash are nowhere in this book, although Deathstroke, a character who is featured on Arrow, does make an appearance.
I think if TNT is going to be coming out with a Teen Titans series then the Earth One graphic novel is a great road map to make sure it doesn't interfere with whatever else WB is planning.  As a fan though, I'm a little hesitant about having three different Deathstroke's or more than two Cyborg's, existing in a live-action setting at the same time.  While I think it could work to keep DC movie and television characters separate I don't believe we need several versions of each character. There are plenty of people who populate the DC Universe for everyone to have their own toys to play with.  However, if Nightwing is going to be in a Teen Titans series, I've always wanted Milo Ventimiglia to play him.  Peter Petrelli was the sh!t.