While we have yet to see the first project of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU, the ambitious reboot of DC’s cinematic universe keeps adding new movies and TV shows to its packed slate. More recently, we learned that the Teen Titans are getting a live-action film.
The idea of a Teen Titans live-action movie is definitely exciting for DC fans. So, of course, the question remains of what previous version of the team will be used as inspiration for the upcoming movie. As it turns out, Gunn already has the perfect blueprint for the Teen Titans movie, and it’s not the one you think.
Who are the Teen Titans?
Created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani in 1964, the Teen Titans were initially the sidekicks of some of DC’s biggest heroes, such as Batman and Aquaman. The team didn’t have much success, which led to a long cycle of cancelation of their comic books and revivals.
The Teen Titans became a staple in DC Comics after a relaunch led by Marv Wolfman and George Perez in 1980. This version of the team not only used DC sidekicks, but also incorporated Beast Boy and created brand-new characters, such as Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire. Wolfman and Perez’s Teen Titans run was a huge success, turning the team into a fan-favorite for comic book readers.
The Teen Titans took another step on the path to stardom with one of the best animated series developed by Cartoon Network. The Teen Titans animated series helped the team to become wildly known and helped all its main characters establish themselves as major DC players. The Teen Titans show was so successful that Cyborg would even go on to become part of the Justice League in the comic books and, later on, Zack Snyder’s DCEU movies.
Thanks to the Teen Titans’ first animated series, the team became mainstream. A second animated series, Teen Titans Go!, is still running after seven seasons and almost 400 episodes. The team also got a live-action series, Titans, set in the same universe as the wonderful Doom Patrol TV show. There are plenty of material the upcoming project can use to see which ideas get better received by the fans. Yet, the Teen Titans DCU movie should actually be based on Young Justice.
The Teen Titans movie should draw inspiration from Young Justice
Young Justice is unanimously acclaimed as one of the best – if not the best – animated adaptations of DC storylines. Expanding beyond the scope of the Teen Titans, the Young Justice team includes dozens of young heroes working together in covert missions for the Justice League. The idea is to let young heroes hone their skills while remaining outside the public eye so that they do not have to worry about the media-facing side of the business and the frequent retaliation by supervillains.
While the original Teen Titans animated series also puts character growth above everything else, Young Justice has a few obvious advantages. For starters, Teen Titans focused on the team independently of a bigger superhero universe. In Young Justice, however, the young heroes are constantly dealing with the senior members of the Justice League, which helps to establish their place in the larger DC universe. Since Gunn and Safran are now working on an interconnected universe that will tell a single story, the Teen Titans movie also needs to position the young team as a piece of the larger DC puzzle.
In addition, since the members of the Young Justice team have to answer to the Justice League in the animated series, the show successfully depicts the differences between the two teams. What changes between the Justice League and the Young Justice are not only the people and powers, but also the level of accountability and the consequences of their mistakes. From projects such as The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, we can tell Gunn is determined to tell stories grounded in real-world problems and complex characters. Young Justice perfectly captures this tone.
Finally, Young Justice has one more advantage over Teen Titans: it allows its characters to get older and take on new roles in the DC universe. Each new season of Young Justice introduces new young heroes, while the previous team members join the Justice League, retire, or decide to brave their own crimefighting path. Young Justice perfectly balances bringing new people into the fold, and giving old favorites different stories to tell, which is precisely what Gunn needs to do to keep the DCU alive for many years to come.
It’s too soon to know which direction the upcoming Teen Titans movie will take. Still, Gunn is committed to creating a cohesive cinematic universe with a select group of artists he trusts. That’s why Teen Titans will be written by Ana Nogueira, who’s already penning the script for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The first DCU project we’ll watch is the animated series Creature Commandos, expected to hit Max by the end of 2024. The first movie of the cinematic universe, however, is Superman, currently scheduled for July 11, 2025.
