A different take
The DC Universe streaming app got its first new content when the “Titans” live-action TV program was released last week.
The DC Universe streaming app got its first new content when the “Titans” live-action TV program was released last week.
Starring Brenton Thwaites as Robin, this show draws much of its inspiration from the Marv Wolfman-George Perez “New Teen Titans” comic-book series of the 1980s.
In the program, Robin is semiretired and officially split from his partnership with Batman. While Robin still suits up from time to time, Dick Grayson does more of his crime-solving as a police detective in Detroit. It’s in this role that he meets Rachel Roth, a teen girl with a supernatural dark side, who is on the run from the cult that killed her mother.
Readers of the comics likely will know what Roth’s secret is, but the show is willing to let it take a slow burn to get there. It’s also taking its time introducing other key members of the “Titans” cast; the beastly green boy who is a core member of the comics team gets basically a cameo in Episode One. Anna Diop’s Starfire can’t remember who she is as the series begins, and how her story line will intersect with the others is as yet unclear.
This certainly isn’t “Teen Titans Go!” This darker take on the Titans has more in common with Marvel’s Netflix programming than the lighthearted cartoons featuring the characters. The look of the show is dark, both in tone and visually, at times making some of the fights hard to follow. And the fights are definitely brutal.
But the main team behind the show, Akiva Goldsman, Greg Berlanti and Geoff Johns, appear to be aiming for a grittier, more realistic take on superhero violence.
The exclusive-to-theapp programming is set to drop a new episode each week; in the episode released Friday, viewers are introduced to Hawk and Dove. Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly, both best-known for “Friday Night Lights,” play the crime-fighting pair.
The characters of Hawk and Dove in the comics originally were brothers; one violent, the other peaceful, created by writer Steve Skeates and artist Steve Ditko in 1968.
Bringing deep-cut DC characters like Hawk and Dove to live-action is a promising feature for the DC Universe service. And “Titans,” perhaps as befits a show debuting on such a streaming app for DC fans, is probably best for those who have some familiarity with the characters who likewise want a serious, darker take.