#terra perez

[melien]

[dcbinges]

Tales of the Teen Titans #41 (1984) by George Pérez & Marv Wolfman

[onlylonelylatino]

The Teen Titans by George Pérez

[freddyloyd]

Fixed this panel 🥰

[bellart]

Tara and dick were so funny bc he lowkey hated her ass

[splooosh]

Who is Donna Troy?

George Perez

[vincentvega0721]

StarFire Wonder Girl Sparing Match With Terra Spying/The New Teen Titans

[prospectivehero]

When Tara was first introduced. She seemed a victim of other villains, though Raven could sense something was off, just as she did in the 03 cartoon. Then it was revealed to the audience that she was working for Deathstroke and everything up to that point was a setup by him to get her to infiltrate them. There was at least one foreshadowing of her final fate, where she buried herself in mud to escape a fire, and felt so good being buried in the coolness of it. Wolfman and Perez intended for all the hate for Tara's situation to fall on her. They were positively shocked when fans blamed Slade instead of her, and rightfully identified him as a pedophile (the term "groomer" was not yet in fashion, but the concept was certainly expressed.) During the crossover with Batman and the Outsiders, where she teams with her half brother Geo Force, the writer of that title, Mike W Barr, put a sympathetic thought in her head, as in her not wanting Geo Force to share the Titans fate. Even this was too much for Wolfman, who then put more anti-Geo Force text into her narrative in the final issues, and the crossover is left out of all trade paperbacks. The final issues are, as you noted, filled with the "you're supposed to hate her, not him" subtext. Which almost no one buys into, except those who love her AS a villain. Which was also not what W/P wanted. Finally, as you note, every subsequent version of the character has been more sympathetic, starting with the 1990s/early 00s version of Terra (coloquially known as Terra II), whom Wolfman created under editorial duress (this is "my" version of the character in terms of fandom, I'm very biased). Then there was the New 52 version of the character, who together with Beast Boy escaped a superpowered prison camp and were actually in a relationship together, and then there is the Rebirth version, who was still villainous but never died, and at least some of the blame is attributed to Slade. There is also a multiverse story called Teen Titans: Earth One, in which she is not a traitor and is in a relationship with Cyborg. As for Jericho, I can only say that he was primarily created by Perez, and it shows.

Thank you so much for filling in those gaps and giving background. It's so nice to have the context.

I don't have enough context for Wolfman or Peréz's personalities. Maybe I should look more into Pérez's work.

[babygirl-but-a-boy]

An Oresteia, Robert Icke // Tales of the Teen Titans annual #3 (1984) // wikipedia page on Tara Markov // George Perez interview 2003 // The Judgement, Franz Kafka // NTT Annual #2 (1983) // The Woman Dies, Aoko Matsuda // The Material Girl: Terra in the 1980s, LC Douglass // Team Titans #1 (Sept. 1992)

Tara Markov as a tragic character

[thearcalian]

"Hey, did you know that in the original version of the Judas Contract, Terra really was That Bad?"

Yeah. Those of us who were around back then, at least, are aware. Wolfman and Perez were being dicks on purpose. They wanted her to be hateful, heartless and to die. They wanted the evil inverse of the X-Men's Kitty Pride. This was also to clear the way for Jericho, Slade's second son, to join the Titans. They were not prepared for vast swaths of the fandom to reject that narrative, right from the start. But we did. That's why *every* subsequent version of the character (aside from the non-canonical-by-design Dark Multiverse version, which was the same character given different opportunities) has been softer, starting with Terra II in the 90s who was another person injected with Tara's DNA and, essentially, forced to become (a better version of) her. I could list each version, and if someone wants me to I will, but that's not the point of this post.

The point is, EVERYONE knew it was wrong. Even Wolfman and Perez knew. They just didn't care.

Modern fans who discover OG Tara will point out that Slade sleeping with her was a form of grooming, despite Wolfman claiming otherwise. Which this is a good first step, what people need to consider is that *Tara never should have been that way at all.* Not even if it was entirely Slade's fault, or a result of her being a bastard of the Markovian Royal Family, or some combination of the two. The whole idea was bad from the start. Not just a poorly-executed idea, though it was that too. It was a BAD IDEA. Full stop.

Tara never should have been any kind of spy or traitor at all. Haughty, naughty, feisty, bitchy, edgy? Yes, absolutely. But no worse than that.

The problem of Judas Contract isn't *how* it was done. It's that it was done at all.

And her story will keep getting retold until they GET IT RIGHT. As, to one extent or another, Terra II, New 52 Terra, Earth One Terra, and Young Justice Outsiders animated Terra partially did.

[linkspooky]

ON MADELYNE PRYOR

Shout out to all the comic book stans who follow my blog.

So X-Men 97 inspired me to do a re-read of X-Men from the beginning. My previous read of X-Men jumped all over the place, it was basically X-Men up to Dark Phoenix and then I jumped all the way to the 2000s to 2010s. In my current read I just got to Inferno and holy fuck mom, I never thought I'd like an X-Men arc more than Dark Phoenix but here we are.

This is an entirely personal opinion which I'm not as good at expressing because I prefer over-intellectualizing my feelings, but Inferno is the only other comic book arc to make me feel the way that Judas Cotract did in how tightly and perfectly written as a tragedy it is especially for the female at its center.

Are there any women in all of fiction more doomed by the narrative than Terra Markov and Madelyne Pryor?

I mean I've written about Judas Contract before but what makes that arc so special to me is how it's about a character, a victim, a girl named Terra who by all rights should have been saved by the heroes, but not only fails every step of the way but at every point in her life really. Terra is someone how manifests her victimhood in completely unsympathetic ways but the fact that she basically had no chance in life makes her sympathetic nonetheless.

This comes from the decision that Perez and Wolfram made right from the start to kill her off and never offer her any redemption, which while incredibly callous on the author's part just makes the tragedy even stronger. That's what tragedy is, it's meat to reflect the cruelty and unfairness of life, it's kind of like reality bleeding into fiction.

George’s strength was he also understood the characters 100 percent as I did so there was never any question. He knew. We had talked enough about the characters to know we were exactly on the same page with them. So I said, “Everyone keeps complaining that we’re like the X-Men” and the X-Men had just gotten Kitty Pryde. I said, “Why don’t we really screw around with them completely?” — this is the fans — “…and make them think we’re stealing Kitty Pryde only she’s gonna be bad from Day One.” You always had characters pop up, certainly at Marvel, who were bad that get redeemed. But this character would never get redeemed. She was insane. In fact, she was the catalyst for everything. She wasn’t working for Deathstroke. He was working for her in many ways and she was leading him because she’s crazy. She’s a total psychopath… and she’d be 15. 

Terra's a total psychopath and she's fifteen and that's the tragedy. Was there really any other way that Terra could have turned out? A girl who has been abandoned, who was given incredible powers but no love, support, or nurturing and clearly doesn't have a home or any stability in her life if she's working as a mercenary at that young. A girl who thinks herself a villain and a player in the game but is clearly being manipulated by a fifty plus year old man who is smarter, more mature, and a serial user and abuser of people.

Terra's not just the villain, she's the protagonist of the tragedy walking through the play unknowing that her every single decision will lead to her inevitable end.

Judas Cotract and Inferno are two arcs that most evoke the feel of the Tower in Tarot to me. The Tower is just, ruin and destruction, a complete loss of control, the realization that everything you thought was wrong and in fact the world doesn't care much about what you think. It's a reminder that life isn't even cruel, it's nothing, it's random.

However, first you have to build up the tower before you start pulling the jenga blocks out one by one. Terra spends several arcs with the Teen Titans showing disturbing unchildlike behavior, but one of the so-called Heroes even notice that there's something wrong. When she does get close to blowing her cover, a violent incident where she nearly badly hurts Beast Boy after he comes onto her way too hard which is an understandable reaction as a victim of SA that gets brushed under the rug too.

It makes the heroes look worse as well. If they were heroes dedicated to saving people at all costs shouldn't they have noticed the trouble of someone right next to them? Yet, they all kind of collectively remain oblivious the same way that most victims in real life especially of Terra's kind of trauma are left to suffer in silence. Not to say the Teen Titans are bad, they are kids, and therefore it makes sense they don't have the emotional maturity to notice - it just makes them look more human.

So to summarize my point above what makes Judas Contract is a good tragedy and why Inferno makes me feel the same way narrows down to two reasons.

Madelyne and Terra are both doomed by the narrative, there was no saving them right from the beginning.

However, the fact that the heroes failed to save them reflects poorly on them.

Finally, Madelyne Pryor.

Oh Madelyne the world did you so dirty. I'm partially to blame because I skipped right to the 2000s in my first read, but before this point I'd known nothing about Madelyne other than that she was a clone of Jean Grey who died.

My first impressions of her when she was introduced shortly after Dark Phoenix weren't all that great either. Chris Claremont writes good female characters, that's not really a hot take. I'm sure you've heard of Storm, Rogue, Mystique, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost etc.

However, I've noticed there are like two tiers of female characters he tends to write. There are the first stringers which are your storms, your rogues, these are characters who are meant to be independent and have arcs. Then there are the second stringers who are just meat to serve a role in the story. This isn't a criticism on the way Claremont writes women, I mean all stories have major and minor characters.

Madelyne Pryor was never meant to be a main character. There wasn't anything about her character that I disliked per se, she is independent, she seemed to have a life outside of Cyclops, she tries really hard to separate herself from the image of Jean Grey. However, she was clearly written to give Cyclops a wife and child in the aftermath of Jean's death and a reason to retire.

While the editorial mandate that made Claremont pull Cyclops out of his happy ending so he could rejoin a team with the original five x-men for the sake of nostalgia sucks, it is also the best thing to happen to Madelyne's character.

Madelyne before that point was a perfectly functional character for her role but she wasn't all that dynamic, she liked planes, she didn't like Jean's ghost hanging over her, she's pretty spunky and headstrong but she was at most a good supporting character but that's all she was. Claremont just decided to double down on that, Scott actually treats his wife like she exists to do nothing but support him and his emotional issues. Madelyne gives all the support that she can give and then Scott just up and leaves anyway. The woman who only existed to be a love interest to give Scott a happy ending, now has no other reason to exist without the man she's supposed to love and her happy ending turns to ash in her mouth.

This is the same feeling I was talking about with Terra, this is a person who was basically failed at every step of the way. A person who has no family. no support, it's almost worse in this case because Madelyne thought she did only for that person to toss her aside.

There's no saving Madelyne, and the fact that Scott didn't save her, that he didn't both trying until he was too late makes him the villain.

If anything Inferno is better than Judas Contract at dragging the heroes down to their lowest points, because The Teen Titans failing to save Terra is understandable because of how young they are but there's no excusing Scott's actions. Madelyne may run around in a skimpy outfit calling herself the goblin queen but the villain of this story is named Scott Summers. He had a responsibility and obligation towards Madelyne to save her and he failed, and it makes him a bad hero and an even worse person.

One of the key components of a tragedy is also agency. Agency is basically the freedom a character has to choose and how much their choices matter in the grand scheme of things and impact their narratives.

Tragedies are often defined by how little agency the characters are shown to have, and how limited their range of choices are. One of the biggest themes of tragedy is fate and inevitability at all. For example one of my favorite tragedies antigone is about a girl with very little power in the ancient greek city of Thebes who still makes a choice to give her brother a proper burial even though she knows she'll be executed for it.

Dark Phoenix is all about agency. Jean Grey is dealing with three different forces trying to take her mind, her agency. There's the corrupting influence of Phoenix, there's the Hellfire Club who wants to make her into a puppet, and then there's Charles Xavier who wants to put a lid on her tremendous powers. Everyone trying to take agency away from Jean eventually leads her to snap and try to take all of that agency back by embracing godhood because who has more agency, more control than a god? Even Jean's act of killing herself at the end was reclaiming her agency, it's her choice to die as a human rather than be executed, or to lose herself to the phoenix.

What breaks Madelyne is not Scott leaving her. Which made me like her character a lot, like the moment Scott left Madelyne was shown just how stubborn and determined she was. Madelyne stood out as the only normal human amongst the x-men who still held her own like Moira did (i guess Moira is a mutant now but I'm still in the 80s so w/e).

What breaks her is the revelation that she never had any agency in her life to begin with. Scott was always meant to fall in love with her, he was always meant to leave her, because she was nothing more than a womb for Sinister's breeding project. Once again it's masterful how Scott looks equally as villainous as Sinister in this scenario in how neither of them regards Madelyne as a person, just an object to project their desires upon.

(Honestly Jean Grey doesn't come out looking all that great either considering how little sympathy she has for Madelyne because she just sees her as an obstacle to getting back together with Scott. If anyone Jean should sympathize with Madelyne the most because they've both been toyed with cosmic forces out of their control, but I guess it goes to show how selfish and destructive Jean and Scott's love for each can be).

Is there any sequence more tragic in all of comics than this series of panels?

The symbolism in these panels too and how it relates to the themes of agency with Madelyne's character. Madelyne was a free and self-driven woman (or at least she thought she was) living out her dream of being a pilot which to her the ability to fly her wings represents her freedom and indepedence. The only thing she thought that could make her happier was Scott, but in the end not only did Scott take her wings away, he took away her everything and gave it to someone else.

"Time to lose those wings, Maddie. You can't really fly, anyway. You're not special like us."

If there's any words to express the inherent tragedy of Maddie's character is this, she's a person who thought she was free to fly, that she was real, that her life mattered only to have all that taken away from her. Maddie like Terra thinks she has agency that she's making decisions but she had no real choices from the beginning.

That's also a good way to express what makes tragedies hit as hard as they do. Tragedies slap you with the realization that you're not special. The hero is not a hero, they don't have plot armor, they're not immune to consequences, they're human and just like all humans they fail.

Even the act that Madelyne thinks is reclaiming her agency by gaining power as the Goblin Queen is in fact, not her choice. She doesn't choose to sell her soul, she's tricked into doing it by a rebellious demon that wants to kick Illyana out and reclaim limbo for himself. In Madelyne's one act of trying to steal back her power and freedom she is still just a pawn in another person's scheme.

There's also Madelyne going through literal hell itself to reclaim her son, only to make the decision to sacrifice him along with several other infants which seems to make her usympathetic but ironically makes her more sympathetic to me.

There's the obvious reference to Medea there. If all the parallels aren't obvious enough already, Jason and the Argonauts gets namedropped during the arc.

One of my favorite things about Medea the tragedy by Euripedes is that Medea is not just a girlboss who gets revenge on Jason and then walks away. Straightforward revenge narratives are bad because revenge is... bad actually. The decision to inflict more pain and suffering in the world doesn't break the chain of suffering.

Medea kills her children to show that Jason is not entirely in the wrong, and Medea is not entirely in the right. They are two human beings who's relationship is blowing up in the worst way possible. I mean Jason himself does have some points in the play, he's making a political marriage to save both of them, the only reason he's exiling Medea is because Medea made loud death threats at Jason's new bride. It's not just the heartbreak of being abandoned that drives Medea, it's her pride, the whole play started because Medea didn't want to settle for being a side chick.

Medea wants revenge against Jason but she doesn't take her revenge on Jason, she takes revenge on everyone around him for the purpose of making him feel as alone and lost as he did her. She'll kill her own children, even if it kills her to do so, just to spite him a little more.

Which leads to one of my favorite scenes in all of fiction, Medea holding the knife over her own child's throat, bargaining with herself trying to convince herself to do something she objectively knows is wrong.

MEDEA I’ve made up my mind, my friends. I’ll do it—kill my children now, without delay, and flee this land. I must not hesitate. That would hand them over to someone else to be slaughtered by a hand less loving.                                      No matter what, the children have to die. Since that’s the case, then I, who gave them life,                                will kill them. Arm yourself for this, my heart. Why do I put off doing this dreadful act, since it must be done? Come, pick up the sword, wretched hand of mine. Pick up the sword, move to where your life of misery begins. Don’t play the coward. Don’t remember now how much you love them, how you gave them life. For this short day forget they are your children                          and mourn them later. Although you kill them, still you loved them. As a woman, I’m so sad.     

Why would Madelyne after going through all that trouble to find her son, instead choose to give him to the fire? It's because for a person who was given so little choice over her own life, the choice to self-destruct is still a choice. The choice to destroy something with your own hands rather than let it be destroyed for someone else is still a choice.

That would hand them over to someone else to be slaughtered by a hand less loving.                                      No matter what, the children have to die. Since that’s the case, then I, who gave them life,                                will kill them.

I think I may like Madelyne more than Jean at this point?

The same way I like Terra more than Raven. They're very similiar characters, but it takes possession by Trigon to get Raven to attack the titans. Terra just tries to kill them by her own free will. She's willing to bury herself if it gives her one last chance at burying the titans to too. Madelyne on the other hand is willing to walk barefoot into hell, if it means she can drag Scott and the X-Men with her. Jean does things under the influence of the Phoenix, but she chose to die as a human being at the end of Dark Phoenix. Madelyne however made the opposite choice, throwing all her humanity away she gave herself wholly and unreservedly to the fire.

Also damn, x-men 97 did this arc so dirty by speedrunning through it in one episode. This is also one of the most well set-up arcs in the X-Men comics with so many threads like X-Factor, X-Men and New Mutants all coming together. It really deserved its own season not like 2 episodes, and then Madelyne dying halfway through this season.

[dcbinges]

Tales of the Teen Titans #42 (1984) by George Pérez & Marv Wolfman

[onlylonelylatino]

Wonder Woman and DC Heroes by George Pérez

[writnwolph]

I much prefer the Terra retcon because if you read interviews from Deathstroke co-creator Perez at that time it wasn't to make Slade or loser or crybaby. The writers actually thought it did make Slade cool and smart, neither writer saw it as pedophilia. In fact they wrote it that way because he thought it demonised *Terra* because she was (and I quote) "a slut". The whole thing was written to make Terra a morally bankrupt person not Slade. So I say good riddance to that whole thing.

I don't like retcons of it because, inevitably, it's just to make Deathstroke more appealing to the masses. It's not like Terra is the one getting comic books dedicated to her or TV shows made in her name with these retcons. It's for Deathstroke.

Deathstroke as a character doesn't deserve to have this origin written away.

He doesn't deserve to be palatable enough to get merchandise and TV shows while Terra is still left behind in the DC Universe as an evil girl who got what was coming to her. What kind of justice is that???

Slade represents what many influential men in the real world are able to get away with when you have power. These men are able to "retcon" their past sins away with money.

Retconning a canonical predator's past away just follows real world trends in a way that makes me uncomfortable to accept.

In life, girls like Terra can't retcon away their abuse. Yeah, I realize that Terra and Deathstroke aren't real people but they represent real themes. Retconning their past away leaves a bad taste in my mouth as well as a bad message in my opinion.

[bellart]

Ok fine but I love her face so I’m reposting

[tritogeneia]

Fan Casting James Gunn's DC Universe's Teen Titans

I have been on Tumblr for about 10 years now(good god I'm ancient) and have mostly reblogged but today have decided to put my comic knowledge to the test: by fan casting James Gunn's DC Universe's Teen Titans because why not. I will be including pictures and links to Youtube videos when I reference them, but otherwise, enjoy. This was mostly fueled because Creature Feature or whatever it's called had a still that included Starfire, confirming her existence in this universe.

Side note: there's like 50 members of the Teen Titans across comics and I ain't doing all that so to make it easier for me(and you), here is the team I've made to make it more digestible.

Also, I want to make it clear that ages don't really matter here, because this is tumblr, but I do mention them just for sometimes. However, I did try my hardest to actually get actors and actresses in, and not just models because not all models can act, and also because they are called the TEEN Titans, but several of them were on the team when they were in college and not teens anymore.

Obviously, there's the Perez + Wolfman team of Nightwing, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven & Cyborg, but also some of the other obvious ones: Arsenal(Roy Harper), Wally West, Rose Wilson/Ravager, Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl II, Speedy II, Miss Martian, Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle III, Bart Allen/Kid Flash, Kiran Singh/Solstice and, of course, Tara Markov/Terra. That's a lot of people so let's get into it!

Dick Grayson/Robin I/Nightwing

So, there aren't a lot of Romani actors that are both

a) young enough/alive to play Dick

and/or

b) actually able to match his skill set

So, I decided to think outside the box a little bit. A youtube video I watched recently casted an actor from the Ms. Marvel show, the one who played the love interest character for Kamala Khan as Dick Grayson. And while I don't think it's necessarily a bad choice, I just don't think it's one that I personally would pick because the actor himself is pretty beefed up. I honestly would have him play Jason instead because of his build. Anyways, for my pick, I decided to essentially look at old maps of Romani populations pre-World War 2, because that's when their populations in Eastern Europe would've been the largest. Romania housed the largest population of Romani people pre-World War 2, and Romania was apart of the Ottoman Empire, and Romani people had civil rights in the Ottoman Empire dating back to the 15th Century.

With all that said, I decided that a Romanian actor would probably be a little bit more fitting, since it was a little more historically relevant(unless a young Romani actor becomes huge in the next few years, in which I will edit this and add them in here instead). Without further ado, my choice for the role of Dick Grayson is... Stefan Iancu.

Stefan is 27, and has starred in a number of projects since the age of four. Most notably, for people in the states, he was in Killing Eve! I chose him mostly for the reasons above, but also because a lot of his projects have been either physically active projects(such as war/spy/historical wartime projects) and also because he has won several awards in Romania for his acting prowess.

~~~

Koriand'r/Starfire

Okay, so this isn't going to be controversial because while I have never seen the show Titans(mostly because half the time the screen is basically pitch black so you can't watch it anyways), I actually don't mind Anna Diop as Starfire. And ever since I saw Megan Thee Stallion's Starfire cosplay for Halloween last year I was FLOORED. So no, I am NOT in the "black women can't play Starfire" camp. I think a black woman SHOULD play Starfire. But who?

To start, she should be tall. Most incarnations of Starfire show her as being as tall as or even taller than Dick. Stefan Iancu is 5'7"(sorry anyone who uses the Metric System- that's about 1.702 meters). So we're aiming for someone who is 5'7 at least or taller. And that person is Tati Gabrielle. So I did originally want someone taller, but Tati is the same height as Stefan and also while I don't exactly love the idea of wedge heels , regular degular heels will also work, or shoe inserts.

She is slated to play the protagonist in the newest Naughty Dog game, and also starred in You season 3, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Uncharted(movie) and so much more! Miss girl IS the moment.

~~~

Garfield Logan/Beast Boy

So Beast Boy is a little bit of an interesting case. For Dick and Kori, their backstories are pretty cut and dry. But Garfield's is pretty long and complicated, and also he's been around since the 60's, and he was a member of the Doom Patrol, and also he was experimented on(but sometimes he's not? Comics are weird), but he's smart, but he's also not. And he has a healing factor, but then he doesn't.

So, yeah. For Garfield, I think it would be better to just give him the most basic of basic backstories, and just do that. Since I know this will(probably) only be read by like four people anyways, I will continue on as if you, the reader, know this already. Garfield comes from a family of scientists who live in Africa studying animals and sometimes they're trying to bring back extinct species, and sometimes they run animal sanctuaries. Either way, they are animal lovers. His race isn't necessarily a huge part of his identity, considering he's... you know... GREEN. So honestly any actor will do here.

And that actor, I have decided is going to be Josh Heuston. So this man is Australian(and tall at 5'11), and he's also very pretty. I am very slightly tempted to switch this man and Stefan Iancu, because LOOK AT HIS EYES AND JAWLINE. But, I stand by my decision, because I did all that research and I'll be damned if I let it go to waste. I think him having green eyes is just the cherry on top. Now, let's move on!

~~~

Rachel Roth/Raven

Raven isn't hard to get right and I am tired of people acting like it is. Raven isn't a teenager who is looking for attention or some random kid that's just losing her mind for fun, she's a tormented soul. Her powers are connected to her emotions, so she genuinely can't allow herself to feel any emotion, positive or negative. Think of trying to jumpstart a car. You have to be careful because if you're not you could hurt yourself or mess up your car, right? That's Raven's power in a nutshell. I have OCD, and so I can relate to having that shadow hanging behind me, saying "you are everything bad they think you are", which is still something I struggle with. All in all, Raven isn't someone who just has these crazy freak outs- she loses control because Trigon deliberately makes her by controlling her mind.

Anyways, rant over. Raven is one of my favorite characters of all time so this was more of a passion rant than anything else. My pick to play Raven is Barbie Ferreira!

Now, I have never seen Euphoria, I honestly haven't really been interested in watching it. It's always felt kind of fetishy and exploitative to me and I don't want to consume content like that anyways, so it's never really been on my radar. But, from the snippets I've seen on social media, I think Barbie can really pull it off, because it seems like she has a skill that I also share- no one ever knows what I'm ever feeling. I'm very good at chameleoning my way through life, and no one can ever read my body language or facial expressions very accurately, because I've mastered just... not giving them up. So Barbie is my choice.

~~~

Victor Stone/Cyborg

Victor is definitely one of those characters who needs to be the most human of the team. Getting him right means getting the reason why the Titans work so well right. If you've seen the teaser trailer for the new Fantastic Four movie and saw how they behaved and talked around the Thing/Ben Grimm, Victor is essentially the Titans' version of Ben. He holds the team down, and he also knows what humanity means, even though he's surrounded by Gods and Monsters and often feels like a monster himself. Anyways, for Victor, I have chosen the amazingly talented Jharell Jerome! I was originally going to go with John Boyega, but then decided to go with Jharell because he's from the Bronx, and it was really important for me that for Cyborg at least, that he was African American, so that there was that cultural understanding of POCs in the US and already not trusting police or law enforcement.

With Victor, he basically goes into hiding immediately after his transformation, and it was important for me to have that connection of why he would be so afraid to go outside(aside from the normal, I'm now half robot stuff) and why he would be such a rock for the Titans, and it would give him motivation to be that person for others as well.

~~~~~

Okay so now that we have the MAIN FIVE Titans out of the way, I'm going to start going into the other Titans that I want to see and would love to see be included, as well as my dream casting for them.

So to start, there's Roy Harper/Arsenal, Wally West and Donna Troy, who are all founding members of the original Titans but haven't been members in decades(looking at you Wally and Donna). Donna I am keeping off this list because her comic background is just so weird and confusing that even I don't get it(and that's saying something), so for everyone's sanity I am keeping her off this list.

For Wally, most of the comics have him either die or "disappear into the speed force" before returning after a while, so I'm thinking of either having him as a background character that's mentioned as dead already OR have him actually just be the Flash because for a really long time Barry Allen actually was just dead for a while and Wally was the Flash.

Roy is simply Roy. He's had three names, has a daughter with Cheshire(this is important later), and sometimes is a clone, sometimes is the original and has 3 other clones, and sometimes he's hooking up with Starfire who's also hooking up with Jason Todd(THANK YOU NEW 52 #THENEW52SUCKS). So let's just take it easy and start with Wally.

So don't throw pitchforks at me, but I actually hate when studios change red headed characters from red headed to people of color. NOT because they're now people of color but because it's really lazy. Like, really? You couldn't just CREATE a new charater with a similar-ish name and call it a day? MCU's Spiderman did it with Michelle Jones-Watson, and it worked perfectly because she's not MJ. Sure, her name is MJ, but it's not Mary-Jane.

Anyways, all this to say that Wally, Roy and Miss Martian will be sporting their red hair because those are my rules. Bart has brown hair so he doesn't count. And Starfire was already established to basically be a woman of color at her creation anyways so she also doesn't count. So, interlude over, let's continue.

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Wally West/Kid Flash

So, for Wally, I actually was pretty quick with choosing him because apparently there's an abundance of ginger actors in Hollywood but also I already had someone in mind. And that someone is Cameron Monaghan!

Now, not only was he hilarious on Shameless, but he's just genuinely talented in general. Most people consider him to be a GOOD Joker in Gotham until the writers did the split personality type thing and ruined all the plot they had built up. And that's a feat few people have under their belt. Especially for a pretty "meh it's okay" TV show. I think he would work as Wally either as the Flash or even as a flashback because he just is able to adapt as an actor, which is what makes him so talented.

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Roy Harper/Arsenal

So I also got Roy figured out pretty quick, only because I was looking for someone who just kind looks rough. Roy in the comics usually has a past with addictions, and also he is almost always portrayed with long hair and a trucker hat. So for Roy, I found someone who has long red hair and looks a little rough around the edges(which is fine, I also look rough about 90% of the time). And that person is Caleb Landry Jones!

Caleb is most well known for being in Get Out, but he's been in other films and projects since then. He was pretty menacing in Get Out, which is also why I picked him, because Roy has a pretty complicated relationship with Green Arrow and even the other Titans at certain points in the comics.

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Rose Wilson/Ravager

Okay, so this one might be my magnum opus. Rose Wilson is the second child and only daughter of Deathstroke. As a child, he wanted her to be exactly like him so he blinded her in one eye to match his. Rose has enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes, senses, intellect, accelerated healing and decelerated aging. She's also an expert marksman and swordsman like her father.

Originally I was going to try and find a Black woman with albinism to portray Rose, because Rose has stark white hair, just like Deathstroke. But there sadly aren't any actresses that fit the part. So we are going to have to break the mold a little bit.

Thando Hopa. She's a South African model with albinism. She is the first person with albinism to strike the cover of Vogue magazine. She's a little older than my age cutoff, but honestly she's clearly been blessed with the no-age gene because she looks like she's in her early 20s

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Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl II

Wonder Woman is my favorite superhero. There, I said it. She is the moment, and Cassie is probably my favorite sidekick ever because she's just so unique. Something that the writers at DC did that really surprised me is that they actually took tropes from Ancient Greek myths when they wrote Cassie's stories in the early 2000s.

One of Cassie's follies is rage. Like the story of Heracles, she becomes enraged to easily and often just relies on her strength and lets her anger fuel it. So, naturally, Ares gives her a lasso that can channel Zeus' lightning bolts, but only when she gets angry. Ares wants Cassie to be his champion, and often tries to fuel her own anger to convince her to join his side.

Obviously, this is metal as hell and needs to be a plot point, so we need an actress that can actually portray mad. Who can portray that primal feeling of anger and show no remorse for nearly leveling a town because of it. And that can only be done by one person specifically(at least for this role): Samara Weaving.

I don't know if you guys have seen Ready or Not but she absolutely slays the house DOWN in this. She takes no prisoners, kicks ass, and has no remorse for it. She is absolutely perfect for this role.

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M'gann M'orzz/Miss Martian

Hoo boy. You thought my rant on Raven was bad? Put your seatbelts on, we are about to enter a new level of rant.

I grew up watching Young Justice. It was the show I would watch everyday before going to school. And M'gann's story of desperately wanting to fit in and doing anything to achieve that? Yeah, super felt. Being constantly rejected or left behind left me clinging to this character like a life line, waiting for life to reel me back in. And honestly? I'm kind of still waiting.

But anyways, M'gann is one of my favorite animated characters, and she is so complex. Her motivations, wants, needs and even attributes are all in an attempt to hide her true Martian heritage.

In DC lore, there are 2 main races of Martians on Mars. Green Martians(duh) and White Martians. They were once the same, some stuff happened, they split, and now they're somehow the same but different? Comics are weird. Anyways, M'gann is a White Martian that 'disguises' herself as a Green so that she can have more acceptance due to the constant rejection and bullying she received as a child. So, she uses the name Miss Martian and shapeshifts her skin green.

This is a SUPER important part to her character and cannot be fudged up. It's the ultimate motivation for her, and her slowly coming to accept it and be more open with her true self.

The reason why I say her appearance is so important is because in the Young Justice show, she ties her appearance to a show that her uncle, Martian Manhunter, used to send to Mars when she was a kid that she latched onto. So, her appearance is super important and it's why whenever I see her being played by someone who just kind of looks normal or doesn't look recognizable, it does a giant disservice to M'gann and her character. So, I chose Sadie Sink as the actress to play M'gann.

The reason why I chose Sadie is because Sadie is recognizable. You know what she looks like and can instantly say "oh, that's Sadie Sink". I think that either Stranger Things or something similar that Sadie has been in that is very recognizable to the audience should be the reason why M'gann uses this as her "face" essentially, because then it would be more relatable to the audience, and make M'gann's reasonings and motivations more clear. And, they could literally just essentially paint Sadie green it would still work- that's how committed M'gann is to keeping her true form a secret. She doesn't need to be unrecognizable, she needs to look like Sadie Sink but green.

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Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle III

Oh Jaime, how thankful I am that the Blue Beetle movie exists. Xolo Maridueña is somehow my dream casting and the perfect role for Jaime, so thanks for doing my job for me, Blue Beetle movie!

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Bart Allen/Impulse/Kid Flash

Sooooo, two speedsters on one list? Shocking, I know. But Bart is one of the funniest characters known to comics(at least for speedsters) and that's saying something because Wally exists. There's this great comic of Bart getting a Green Lantern tattoo or something(because he can't get a Flash one, that would give away his secret identity, duh!) and from just him going from tattoo shop to the Titans Tower, he shows the team(who are all thoroughly unimpressed) and it literally disappears due to his metabolism and healing factor. 100 bucks down the drain, my guy.

This makes me laugh every time I think about it. Truly one for the ages. Also those bangs and headband combo on Cassie? Iconic.

Anyways, I think that Wyatt Oleff would make a great Bart, just because of his one-liners in It and It Part II. I think with a good script, it would be a match made in heaven.

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Kiran Singh/Solstice

So Kiran is someone who is really important because good Desi representation in Western media is lacking, and with the release of Ms. Marvel, that gaping hole of Desi representation is becoming more and more visible. So, I added Kiran because we need good Desi and good South East Asian representation. Kiran has been described by her creators as "a positive spirit - influenced by the various cultures she’s encountered during her travels throughout the world. She embraces life and all the adventure and experiences it offers". She manipulates light and can fly. She basically can blast you with light, and therefore I believe she should be played by someone who just radiates kindness and light and smiles as bright as the sun.

And obviously is Desi or Indian. I was kind of stuck trying to find an actress that fit into this idea that I had until I found her- the brightest star(because all suns are stars) in the galaxy of actresses who could play Kiran- Alia Bhatt.

She is SO gorgeous and just has that radiant energy, even through pictures. She is also the moment.

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Tara Markov/Terra

Alright, now we have a heavy hitter. Terra is definitely one of those characters that is both a good character and a bad character. At her worst, she is a CSA victim that is used and abused by Deathstroke and then tossed aside when he has no more use for her, only for her to then take revenge at the last second, killing both herself and Deathstroke in an act of... self sacrifice? At her best, she is a complicated, abused character who has questionable motive and is manipulated by Deathstroke into betraying her family/team because he has convinced her that he is the only one that actually cares, only for her to break free of those chains and redeem herself and become a hero(thank you Young Justice season 3).

Terra is another one of those characters who you really have to understand to get right. If you don't get her right, then you're misunderstanding why The Judas Contract was such a big deal for the Titans history and why it keeps being adapted. Terra herself is both a martyr and a villain, but she's also someone who makes mistakes and has to work hard to earn forgiveness for those mistakes.

Now, do I prefer her and Beast Boy together or Beast Boy and Raven together? Honestly, I prefer Terra to be Beast Boy's first love- the one that got away, the one that he really thought was going to last forever and it just... didn't. Raven and Terra are so opposite from each other, but they're also very similar.

Anyways, rant aside, I truly believe that Terra needs to be played by a scream queen, because that girl is extremely emotionally stunted(which is totally okay and makes sense with her history) and has these outbursts a lot. So, I chose Jenna Ortega to play her.

If you haven't seen the clip of Jenna screaming in X, then you need to see it because that girl KNOWS how to scream like she means it.

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Mia Dearden/Speedy(aka Artemis Crock/Tigress)

Okay LISTEN. You really didn't expect me to just not include my girl Artemis in this list? Hell no.

So, Artemis in the comics is actually a villain. Like a super crazy big villain. She's actually married to Icicle Jr.. Her father is Sportsmaster, her sister IS Cheshire/Jade Nguyen(told you she'd come back!). But, Artemis has mostly been unused since, which sucks because the Young Justice did such a good job with her. So, I'm bringing her here. I'm kind of mashing both Mia Dearden and Artemis Crock together, mostly because Artemis was never a hero in the comics.

Mia's backstory is really dark- she's also a victim of CSA, and a victim of human trafficking. Now, Mia is eventually rescued by Green Arrow and becomes 'Speedy'. So, I'm kind of mashing their characters, with Artemis' origins being the same, but having her taking the Speedy mantle. So, Artemis is half Vietnamese, half White, but I'm choosing to just have a Vietnamese actress play her, because wigs exist but also, like I've said- South East Asian representation matters. So, I chose Lana Condor(who is Vietnamese) to play Artemis.

I think it would also be a good subversion of what we're used to seeing from Lana, we're used to seeing her play these rom-coms, and seeing her play a tough and mean character that fights dirty is something that I think that would ultimately boost her even more. Sis can ACT, okay, and I want to see her in more roles, not just the To All the Boys type films.

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Alright, so that was all my picks for the 2025 Teen Titans draft. I tried to include as many POCs as possible, but if you have any other suggestions let me know!