Despite Batman having been name-dropped on various episodes of Titans, you can’t really take for granted which DC characters exist within that universe. After all, much red tape has separated various divisions of Warner Bros. for years. Heck, The Batman, an animated series, was prohibited from using Scarecrow, Ra’s al Ghul and Two-Face, lest viewers confuse them with the live action iterations existing in Christopher Nolan’s movies. Seriously.
Well, thankfully, this week’s episode, “Donna Troy,” shed some light on the landscape in which this take on the beloved super team exist. You see, in the opening moments, we’re treated to a flashback scene showing a young Dick Grayson having a heart-to-heart conversation with Donna following the former’s latest run-in with the Joker.
Much like anyone else would, Dick has a hard time grasping the motives of the Clown Prince of Crime. What’s more is that this little sitdown comes while Bruce and Diana are meeting downstairs discussing how to handle the villain. And according to Donna, even Wonder Woman finds Joker to be scary.
With that, it’s said this is part of “Justice League business,” therefore we know that Batman and Wonder Woman are among at least two of those making up the pantheon in this continuity. Granted, I doubt we’ll ever see them, but it provides reassurance knowing they’re out there.
If you think it’s crazy to assume the Titans could exist without the Justice League, then I’ll refer you to the Teen Titans: Earth One graphic novel. In that, we go in with the premise of there being no other established heroes around, therefore allowing for the creative team to have much in the way of storytelling freedom. Admittedly, that’s not what’s happening here, but you can never be too sure of from which books TV producers will draw inspiration.
Titans airs on Fridays on DC Universe.
