DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures have been criticized for making their live-action superhero movies too dark and angsty, but that doesn’t appear to have changed their approach to Titans, the upcoming streaming series based on DC Comics’ teen superheroes The Teen Titans.
The first trailer for Titans debuted during Comic-Con, and among other grim and gritty moments, it features Robin telling the world how he really feels about his former partner, Batman.
Set to debut on DC Entertainment’s new, subscription-based streaming video service DC Universe, Titans casts Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) as Dick Grayson, aka Robin. The cast of teenage superheroes is filled out by Teagan Croft (Home and Away) as Raven, Anna Diop (24: Legacy) as the alien Koriand’r, a.k.a. Starfire, Alan Ritchson (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Hawk, and Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) as Dove. Supporting cast members include Bruno Bichir as Dr. Niles Caulder, and Lindsey Gort as Police Detective Amy Rohrbach.
Titans is one of three original, live-action series planned for DC Universe, the company’s streaming video platform. During its Comic-Con panel, DC Entertainment announced that subscriptions to the service would cost $75 for a year or $8 monthly. Subscribers would have access to the shows as well as an archive of digital comics, movies, and television shows from the Warner Bros. vault.
Although the price for DC Universe certainly makes it competitive with more established platforms like Netflix and Hulu, it remains to be seen whether access to even more grim and gritty versions of DC Comics heroes and villains can command an additional monthly or annual financial investment from fans.
In DC Comics continuity, the Teen Titans were a group of teenage heroes largely composed of sidekicks to more prominent characters like Batman, Green Arrow, and Flash. The series was a popular one and was celebrated for the way it balanced real-world issues for teenagers with the trials and tribulations of fighting super-powered villains. The Teen Titans’ adventures were typically lighthearted events but occasionally delved into more serious subject matter.
DC Universe is expected to launch later this year.
