In one of the classic cases of superheroes making a positive change in the real world, a Teen Titans episode, titled ‘The Sum of His Parts,’ had a heartwarming effect on kids. In a past interview (via TitansTower), writer David Slack revealed how kids with prosthetics felt their connection to Cyborg after watching the episode. He said:
But it was nice to touch on some of the stuff from the comic book. There’s that relationship that Cyborg has with the kids that have prosthetics.
He also explained how the episode is quite chilling to watch, which added that much more depth to Cyborg’s character arc. This DC animated show, in itself, was quite a mature offering to the fans, which elevated the characters so much that DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn may be bringing them to the DCU.
This Teen Titans’ Episode Wasn’t the First Time the DCAU went Dark
After Cyborg is unable to capture a villain due to his battery cell running out of juice at a critical moment, he starts to blame himself for this failure. With psychological hard-hitting topics such as self-doubt, self-loathing, and feeling like you’re not enough, it’s no wonder that this episode was called dark by the writer. In the same interview, he said:
That was another episode that pushed the boundaries of the how far we could go in the show. The stuff that happens with Cyborg in that episode is really scary and dark.
But this isn’t the first time the DCAU delved into the world of grave, dark avenues such as this. For a long time, the franchise was known for being extremely gritty and emotionally impactful. Its flagship show, titled Batman: The Animated Series, is still applauded for being very mature in its themes, despite being created mainly for children and young teens.
At the same time, there were cases of the franchise taking such dark turns that even the fans were left baffled and shaken to their core. As an example, Batman: The Killing Joke was thematically and visually jarring, with no stone of gritty violence and psychological horror left unturned. In fact, creator Bruce Timm’s vision was to leave the most disturbing parts of the story untouched.
Ultimately, instead of taking the entire franchise down due to the excess mature undertones and themes, the DCAU only grew in popularity, where today, it stands as a cult classic among diehard DC fans.
Is James Gunn Bringing the Teen Titans to the DCU?
With major characters like Cyborg and Robin in the team, it was highly likely that the Teen Titans were on James Gunn’s radar to bring into the developing DCU franchise. In fact, there were rumblings of a Teen Titans movie being planned for the future by DC Studios (via ScreenRant).
But in their most recent update, it was revealed that this project may take a long time before it sees the light. In a recent conversation with a fan on Threads, he revealed how the development and concept of the project were a closely guarded secret. Therefore, with no concrete script at hand right now, even Gunn can only wait before he does anything with it.
But the good news is that he hasn’t outright claimed that the film wasn’t happening anymore, which means we are still getting this team up in the DCU in the future.
Here’s more information about Teen Titans below.
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Teen Titans is available to stream on Prime Video (US).
