In the third season finale of DC’s series Titans, the young superhero team wrapped up its time in Gotham and headed out for San Francisco. Opting for a bus drive instead of taking Bruce Wayne’s Bat-jet, Dick Grayson will have the team make a stop in Metropolis on this fourth season journey. As the CW Arrowverse sees Stargirl canceled and the last vestiges of DC Comics on the CW Network wind down, you may want to give the HBO Max take on DC Comics a try. It’s HBO, which of course means unnecessary violence and profanity, so it won’t be for everyone. But it does offer some characters and the actors behind them with a less stilted approach to superhero TV than Greg Berlanti’s network versions. Think of it as the next iteration of Smallville.
The team includes Dick Grayson aka Nightwing played by a Dawson (of Dawson’s Creek) ringer Brenton Thwaites, Kory aka Starfire played by Anna Diop, Gar aka Beast Boy played by Ryan Potter, Rachel aka Raven played by Teagan Croft, Connor Kent aka Superboy aka cloned Superman played by Joshua Orpin, and Tim Drake aka young Robin in training played by Jay Lycurgo. The best part of Season 3 was probably Savannah Welch’s Barbara Gordon, who doesn’t look to be returning this coming season. But the interplay between Nightwing and Tim Drake was good stuff, too, and they are both returning.
Check out this preview of season 4 of Titans:
One of the better parts of the series sees the writers and cinematography echo scenes we’d like to see on the big screen, with A-list “adult” versions of these characters (Raven using her enchanting powers is a great take on Madame Xanadu from Justice League Dark). You could see this version of the characters carry out the Nightwing/Batgirl relationship, Batman “A Death in the Family,” and all sorts of 21st century comic book iterations of the Wayne family tales.
It’s a different take on DC Comics on TV, from the same creators behind the several CW series adapting DC to the small screen. Catch the first three seasons now, and look for season 4 of Titans, beginning this Thursday, November 3, 2022, on HBO Max.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
