Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Oh Yeah, That Forum: The Titans Re-imagine a Titan

I'll go first.

Wonder Girl -- Donna Troy, orphan raised by the Amazons of Paradise Island (and not the DCnU Amazons, no, no) inherits the mantle of Wonder Woman when Diana dies in a battle against the Titans of myth. But she feels she is still too young and still has to prove herself, so she goes by the moniker Wonder Girl. She is an outcast in Man's World, and the comradeship of the other young heroes and heroines means a lot to her. She also wants to redeem the name Titan, thus she's the one who comes up with the name for the team.

Next?

Duela Dent: a mysterious modern day Crazy Jane. She has multiple personalities, though the one thing all the personalities have in common is that they staunchly believe they are the daughter of one of Batman's enemies.

Each of them are heroic (to varying degrees) though they all have personalities and powers somewhat based on their 'parent'. Mr Freeze's daughter is a tragically stoic cryokinetic; the Joker's daughter is an unpredictable clown who can cause people to become temporarily insane; Poison Ivy's daughter is a fierce environmentalist with plant control powers; and so on...

Batman and Robin found her fending for herself in the worst part of Gotham City, though nothing of her past before this is known. Her powers made her too difficult for normal institutions to deal with, her youth and natural altruistic nature made her a bad fit for Arkham Asylum...her personalities are all fiercely independent of one another, so the dynamic duo eventually came up with the idea of inducting her into the Teen Titans in the hope that being around heroic peers would be a good influence for her and that one day she would build enough trust to submit herself to proper psychiatric care.

Awesome thread idea, FL. Like how you have Donna taking up the mantle of Diana!

Taking Duela's craziness a tad further is awesome, raz.

How about Lilith as a modern-day Cassandra? She first encounters the Titans while trying to warn them about a flash-flood in the middle of town at the height of summer. Naturally, nobody believes her... and are shocked when it does happen!

Lilith joins up, but the Titans feel compelled to disbelieve every prediction she makes - even though they know her powers really do work. Fed up, Lilith embarks on a quest to find the origin of her powers, which leads her to predict the return of her real mother, Thia. She finds out that Thia messed with her, making sure nobody would believe her predictions so that Lilith would be unable to raise an army to stop her.

Confronting her, Lilith and the Titans (plus a reimagined Kole - hey, she's MY favorite Titan) manage to stop her. Lilith deals the finishing blow, and gains pyrokinesis and the ability to fly. She also retains occasional precognitive flashes of danger, but that's the only thing she can foretell.

Great ideas from Raz and IB!

We're on a roll now!

Who's next?

When young Garfield Craig Logan inherits the elixir and helmet of Bwana Beast, he becomes Beast Boy. Possessed of ape-level strength, speed, and agility, he also has the ability to talk to animals, and the power to create bizarre “chimeras” under his mental control by fusing together two different animals.

Unlike his predecessors, Beast Boy frequently uses his powers on human beings. Using ordinary dogs, cats, and flies, he creates small armies of nigh-invulnerable werewolves, cat-people, and human flies to come to his aide. As the—usually innocent bystanders—remember not only their transformations, but Gar’s mental control, he is one of the less popular Titans.

*************************************************

On one occasion, Beast Boy merged a high school student named Karen Beecher with a common bumblebee, reducing her to a height of only five inches, allowing her to flee a dangerous situation through an air duct. However, Karen was mysteriously immune to his mental control; in addition, he discovered he was unable to change her back. At the suggestion of his mentor, the green monkey named Sakutia, he gave her a tiny dose of the Beast Elixir. This allowed her to transform herself back into an ordinary-sized human girl. It also gave her the power to transform at will back into a five-inch-tall bee girl, who became known as the hero Bumblebee.

As Bumblebee, Karen can fly, has enhanced senses, and is able to project an aerosolized neurotoxin (bee-venom) capable of temporarily paralyzing her targets.

I love your idea for Bumblebee. Wish they'd used that instead of permanently transforming her into a doll-sized girl...

And your new Beast Boy, wow, what a shades of gray character!

I like Klar's idea for Bumblebee, too. Shades of Marvel's Wasp. Not so sure how I feel about his idea for Beast Boy, but far be it from me to discourage people from going to the extremes of the imagination.

Who's next?

When the vampire Vyrkolas, as part of his takeover of the circus, attempted to add young Dick Grayson to his 'family,' the boys parents put up a struggle, and died resisting the vampire ringleader. Bitten, and succumbing to the vampire's curse, Dick was rescued by the legendary Batman, the only full-blooded vampire to resist the dark urges of their kind, and serve as a protector of man, holding back the other predators that lurk in the night.

Now, as Nightwing, Dick Grayson takes a special formula designed by his mentor to keep his curse in abeyance, trapped 'one heartbeat away' from joining his mentor in the eternal night, and losing the sun forever.

His strength, reflexes, senses and toughness increased somewhat, by his partial transformation, Nightwing lends his superhuman acrobatics skills to the hunt, using gadgetry such as smoke bombs, trained animals and misdirection to allow the Titan's foes to believe that he has the full powers of a vampire, to turn into mist, or to shapechange into animals.

Very cool, Set. I had been hoping you'd chime in.

So far, we've had re-imaginings of Donna, Duela, Lilith, Garfield, Karen, and Dick.

That leaves Wally, Garth, Roy, Mal...and whoever I'm forgetting at the moment.

Hey Fanfic Lady, here is my take on Mal.


Mal Duncan was exploring the attic of the antique shop is grandfather owns. He discovers a stange looking dial. On the dial are the letters H, E, R, O. Pressing the letters, Mal is transformed into the hero Guardian. As Guardian, Mal has greater stamina, strength, and reflexes, along with a shield. Mal is thrilled with his new powers, however after going to sleep, he wakes up as plain old Mal again.

Expecting to be turned into Guardian again, Mal presses the letters on the dial again. This time however, he is turned into Hornblower. As Hornblower, Mal has a magical horn. Upon hearing the music, people come under Mal's control. A force of will can break a person free from Mal's control. The more people under his control, the less effort is needed to break free of the control. The control also lasts for an hour after Mal stops playing.


Waking up the next day, Mal has again reverted to his normal self. Pressing the letters this time changes Mal into The Herald. Like Hornblower, Mal has a magical horn. But this time when the horn is blown, a number of angels are summoned who will assist Mal. The angels can fly and are strong, but have no magical abilities themselves. The angels vanish when their task is done. The horn can also open up gateways to other dimensions, allowing Mal to seemingly teleport.


The next time Mal presses the letters on the dial he is transformed into Vox. As Vox, Mal is unable to speak, but can emit a sonic blast.


Mal finds that he is randomly changed into one of these four personas and that being unconscious changes him back into is normal self.

Nice way to tie all of Mal's alter-egos together, Quis.

Batman and Nightwing as actual vampires is an awesome idea!

...and the Wasp has always been one of my favourite Avengers, so I dig the new take on Bumblebee too!

I like the "real" vampires as well, and the new and improved powers of Hornblower and Herald for Mal are great!

Roy Harper, thanks to the backing of an anonymous, wealthy and connected sponsor (whose initials were O.Q.), went from inner city ne'er do well to the first former homeless gang rat street kid to make it to the Olympic archery team, only to be disqualified and dishonored by an event staged by a jealous rival, in which he was found, drugs in hand, and hookers in lap, just as the cameras flashed.

The rags to riches / local boy done good story was quickly abandoned by the media, who as quickly as they'd built him up, savagely tore him down, with his competitor, now taking his spot on the team, flat out stating in his interview that, "'some people' shouldn't be representing this country, trash is as trash does, after all."

Roy might have hit rock bottom after the manufactured scandal destroyed his dreams, but his anonymous benefactor was not ready to give up on him yet, and he woke up to find a strange man in his room, aiming a bow at him. The man asked a question that made no sense to him, "This arrow was a gift from a friend. Do you know anything about Thanagarian technology?"

He mumbled, "What?" and the man released the arrow aimed at his heart, an arrow that seemed to turn into cold sheets of liquid metal and tear through his veins like razors of ice.

He blacked out, and when he woke, there was no sign that anyone had ever been in his room, or that he'd been shot through the heart with a metal arrow. Indeed, he felt oddly refreshed, with no hangover from the previous nights liquid supper, and none of the ragged run-down sense of depression that had been dogging him since his disgrace and expulsion from the US olympic archery team.

It was later that day, when an angry member of his former gang showed up to teach him a lesson about trying to quit the gang, that he wished he had a bow, and the cold sensation returned, as a mechanical voice in his head said softly, 'Weapon Active.' A gleaming bow of silvery metal formed in his grip, and as he pulled back the string and wished for an arrow, an arrow melted out of his hand as well. The thug turned and ran, and he didn't even have to fire the arrow, which, danger passed, merged back into his flesh, along with the bow, with a cold slithering sensation.

Over the next weeks, he learned that he could cause any metal weapon he could envision to form from the strange alien metal substance now inhabiting his body (although he had no special skill with weapons other than the bow, leading to him beginning training in a variety of other weapons, from the common sword and staff to the uncommon bola and whip). He was a living arsenal, and so that became his new name, as he took up the life of a vigilante hero, as Arsenal.

Wally and Garth to go!

(And others like Lilith and Gnarrk and the original West Coast Titans, perhaps!)

Nicely done, Set. I didn't think anybody could make Roy even halfway interesting.

BTW, Lilith was already re-imagined, in one of IB's previous posts in this thread.

Gnarrk

While exploring some caverns as part of a team building exercise, the Titans come across what looks like a young Neanderthal male asleep inside a glass tube. As they approach the tube, a nearby console comes online and part of the tube slides open. The young man emerges and checks the console and then retrieves a pair of coveralls from a locker. Turning to the Titans, He says "I am Gnarrk!" Gnarrk then explained to the Titans that he is from the planet Feldspur in the Mu system. He had been on an exploration mission when his ship crashed on Earth. He was the sole survivor of the crew. He had jury rigged a statis chamber from the remains of the ship so that he could wait out any rescue attempt. His console was set to revive him when is people came for him. He is not sure why it activated when the Titans came within the proximity. Checking on his console again, Gnarrk figures that he has been in suspended animation for 150,000 Earth years. The console also has been monitoring radio transmissions on Earth and transferred the knowledge of all Earth Languages to Gnarrk while he was in stasis.

Contacting the Guardians of the Universe throough Green Lantern, Gnarrk and the Titans discover that his home world was destroyed in a supernova about 130,000 years ago. The people of his planet seem to have escaped the destruction of their planet, but no one knows what has become of them.

Gnarrk has twice the strength of an Olympic athlete. He has a genius level intelligence and has recovered some of the lost technology of his civilization.

Oh, I like the new origin for Arsenal. If you can eliminate his womanizing personality too...

Love Gnarrk being an alien from the past! Awesome!

Kole

Young Crystal Weathers couldn't understand why her parents were so paranoid. From a young age, she kept sane by avoiding them as much as possible, despite their fussy and overprotective ways.

One day, though, she couldn't escape. A young teenager of 16, she went on what she thought was a family vacation - only to find out her parents had joined a cult! The cult leader promised to bring them all to safety.

He separated the children from their parents and send them ahead - only to find they were being forced to work in a diamond mine.

Crystal lost track of how long she'd been in there. She wished, oh how she wished, that she could get out.

One day, she got her wish when the foreman was about to beat her. The coal she was holding suddenly turned to diamond, shielding her. She quickly got herself and all the other kids out, alerting the authorities, who shut down the cult - only to find her parents and many others had suicided under the cult leader's orders.

Still, Crystal was free and, with some help and guidance from the Justice League, found that she could manipulate carbon - changing it from coal to graphite to diamond and back, forming rudimentary shapes with it, and even gathering naturally-occuring carbon for her own needs. With practice, she could even alter the carbon in her own body to give her a degree of invulnerability and strength, though she is loathe to do that unless in an emergency.

She's still learning about her powers, and now fights crime as the superheroine Kole.

When Hank and Dave Yamaguchi failed admittance into the Legion of Super-Heroes, they traveled back in time 1,000 years to become members of the Teen Titans.

Intensively trained in a 31st-century version Shao Lin Kung Fu, Hank Yamaguchi is strong and agile, a master strategist and martial arts expert. If injured, he is able to focus his Qi inward, entering a healing trance which repairs the injuries to his body more quickly and completely than is possible for an ordinary Terran. He was rejected by the Legion because his powers were already completely replicated by Karate Kid (by whom he was easily defeated).

Dave Yamaguchi’s training was more in the spiritual and mental processes of the art. He is highly observant and aware, quick-thinking, gregarious, and charismatic. He has also mastered a number of mental disciplines- he is able to “cloud men’s minds”, appearing invisible, or, at least, unseen. He is frequently able to calm agitated minds, producing within their brains a combination of alpha-waves, endorphins and cannabinoids which suppress aggression, and give a sense of overall well-being and peace. The Legion felt his powers too limited.

Nor did the Teen Titans consider “Hawk” and “Dove”, as they call themselves, Titan material either. Thus the two travel to San Francisco and become founding members of “Titans West”.

Hawk and Dove are not above using their powers in tandem, with Dove reducing the aggression level of an opponent, and Hawk attacking mercilessly.

^^^More wonderful re-imaginings. I especially like Klar's take on Hawk & Dove.

Childhood friends Garth and Bette were kidnapped by a crazy man who wanted to "awaken their true selves". They were rescued by the Titans, but not before being subjected to some tests.

The two seemed unchanged. Then, one day, when Bette was trying to convince Garth to use their athletic skills to try out for the Titans (Garth being a champion swimmer and experienced scuba diver, and Bette being a champion tennis player and gymnast). Their heated argument resulted in Garth pushing Bette backwards with a spout of water... only for Bette to shield herself with a phoenix of flame!

They would learn that they were exposed, as babies, to a mysterious radioactive meteor - a fact their captor had learned via medical records. His tinkering apparently jumpstarted their powers.

Bette eagerly convinced a reluctant Garth to join the Titans. Bette can use her phoenix flame to burn or heal upon contact, and can surround herself with a protective shield. Garth can breathe underwater and manipulate water in all its forms - as liquid, steam or ice. Together, they are known as Flamebird and Tempest.

^I like it, IB.

I've so wanted to participate here, but I'm going through a dry spell creatively and besides, I'm enjoying everyone else's fun takes!

I hope I get some creativity back before the theoretical Round 2!

Thank you kindly, FL! Can't wait for you to join in, Lash.

I really like how Klar tweaked Hawk and Dove's powers so their differing philosophies manifest not only in their tactics but also in their abilities.

Lash, you are always welcome in this thread. And I have my fingers crossed for you. If it's of any help, I've been going through something similar and I'm trying to recover my creativity by reaching outside my comfort zone for a fresh creative challenge. Maybe you could try the same.

Wally West was excited about touring the STAR Labs in Central City where his Uncle Barry works. A budding young scientist himself, Wally was impressed with the wave particle accelerator Barry was working on, but also the AI robotics of Will Mangus, the protective armor John Henry Irons was developing for space exploration and exploration of the ocean, and the miniaturization experiment of Professor Palmer. After the tour Wally is in the cafeteria with his uncle having lunch when there is an explosion in the North wing of the complex. Alarms start blaring when a second explosion occurs in the South wing. Barry starts heading Wally to the exit amongst the crowd of fleeing workers, but soon disappears from Wally's view. More explosions rock the complex. People don't know where to run to for safety. Wally finds himself in a deserted corridor. As he is catching his breath, the entire ceiling is pulled up by a pair of giant yellow hands. A red faced man dressed in black, but with a faint yellow glow is hovering in the now open sky. "At last, it shall be mine!" "Not so fast Sinestro!" Wally sees a ray of light hit Sinestro on the chest. He falls into the corridor Wally is in. Another man, this one dressed in black and white, descends into the corridor seemingly standing on a platform of light. "Dr. Light!" spat out Sinestro. "The Secret Society rejected your membership. Don't think besting me will grant you membership." The two men ignore Wally as they face each other. Wally decides that he had better make a run for the other hallway just 5 feet across from him. But as he ran, Dr. Light let loose a highly focused beam of light and from Sinestro's ring came an equally focused beam of yellow energy. The two beams struck Wally simultaneously and caused a great flash. The Flash came running down the corridor and saw the beams converge on Wally, but he was too late to stop them. When the light cleared, Wally was gone. Althought there were many wounded employees, the only presumed fatality was Wally even though no body was found.

The next day as a crew began cleaning up the mess in the corridor, they notice a bunch of small points of light. The points of light start to come together and more appear. The lights coalesce into the form of a young boy. It is Wally. He had been turned into living light. As such, he has the properties of light. He is able to travel at the speed of light. He can travel through glass and other transparent substances. He can also cause a huge flash of light, although this causes him to disperse and it takes a couple of hours for Wally to come back together. However, Wally is limited in his ability to interact with the physical world. He is mostly insubstantial and cannot hold things or handle matter. Luckily, in his light form, Wally does not need to eat or drink, although he does miss doing both. His Uncle Barry and the other scientists at STAR labs have vowed to find a way to reverse the process and turn Wally back into flesh and blood. In the meantime, Wally has joined the Titans as Kid Flash

Nice update on Kid Flash's powers, and I like the way you wrote his origin - really pulls us into it!

I think the only Silver Age Titan left is Charlie Parker aka Golden Eagle

Your update of Wally is awesome, Quis.

Don't make me re-imagine Golden Eagle.
You wouldn't like me when I re-imagine Golden Eagle.

I cannot take any credit for Bumblebee-as-the-Wasp. That's the way she is portrayed in the Young Justice Saturday Morning TV Show. Like many of the characters on that show, however, she doesn't have an "origin story".

Any takers for Golden Eagle?

Taken in part from a Hopi myth.

There once was a young lad whose name has been forgotten. This lad had angered Coyote, the trickster. Coyote changed the boy into Man-Eagle, a creature that had a man's form but the head, wings, beak, and talons of an eagle. He looked so hideous and scary that when he tried to return to the tribe, he was not recognized and driven off.

Angered about this, Man-Eagle made a home for himself high in the mountains and would from time to time sneak into the village and steal away a warrior's wife. He would keep the woman in his house for a week, making her work and act as his wife. Then he would slay the woman. This went on for one hundred years, for when Coyote transformed him, he became immortal.

Although many warriors tried to rescue their wives, none succeeded. Then Man-Eagle stole the wife of Son of Light. On his way to Man-Eagle's house, Son of Light met Spider Woman and the Mole. After hearing his tale, Spider Woman and the Mole agreed to help Son of Light. The first thing Spider Woman did was weave a copy of Man-Eagle's magic shirt. The Mole dug a tunnel up through the mountain to Man-Eagle's house so that they could approach it unseen.

Upon entering the house, Son of Light saw Man-Eagle's magic shirt and swapped it for the copy Spider Woman had made. They then enter the first room and found Son of Light's wife tied up. They free her, but this wakes up Man-Eagle who was asleep in the next room. Man-Eagle then challenges Son of Light to a series of contest, which Son of Light is able to win with the help of Spider Woman and the Mole. The last contest had Man-Eagle prepare two piles of dry wood and sticks. Each of them are to sit on the pile of wood and it would be set on fire. The one who could stand the flames best, would win. Man-Eagle donned what he thought was his magic shirt, but was in fact the copy. Son of Light was wearing the magic shirt. When the piles were set on fire, Son of Light was unharmed because of the magic shirt, while Man-Eagle was burnt to ashes.

Spider Woman then mixed up some medicine and had Son of Light spit it on the ashes. From the ashes arose Man-Eagle, but back in his human form. Spider Woman asks Man-Eagle if he had learned not to do evil. When he replied that he had, Spider Woman renamed him Golden Eagle. Golden Eagle then divided his time between the spirit world and the physical world. He is able to shift his form between that of the young lad that he was when he was first turned into Man-Eagle, the Man-Eagle form, and a full eagle form. In the Man-Eagle form, he can fly and has razor-sharp talons.


The original Hopi Myth

I have to say that I never really liked Golden Eagle. His "origin" was pretty stupid. But after I read the Hopi Legend and reworked it to be Golden Eagle's origin, I kind of like the character now.

Wow. Quis, I love each new entry from you more than the last.

Thanks. I've been trying to make the powers and origins different from the original.

Even though the title says Silver Age, should we continue on? IB did do Kole and she wasn't silver age

Although I just thought of Red Star aka Starfire. He was a Silver Age character.

I've always liked Red Star. He could be really cool if re-imagined the right way.

I do kind of want to keep it on the side of the 60s and 70s. I made an exception for Kole because she's obscure and she was only around for a short time.

I knew Kole wasn't Silver Age, but since I referred to her in my Lilith entry I went ahead and did an origin for her.

Now that we have done the Silver Agers, perhaps Fanfic Lady can just edit the thread title to 'Re-imagine a Teen Titan!' and we can continue with the next generation?

Nice reworking of that origin, Quis! I like your version a lot better than I like the comics version (which is not very much).

Done.

OK. I think I have something for Red Star.


In 1945 Josef Stalin returned to the USSR from the Yalta conference. Much had been discussed. Some had been decided. But most important for Stalin was his belief that the US and the USSR would soon cease to be allies and become rivals, if not enemies. He was also worried about the reports he had been getting regarding the appearance of "mystery men" in the United States. Some seemed to be just ordinary men using theatrics to overcome their foes. Others though appeared to have powers and abilities beyond normal men. If the USSR was to compete and dominate the western democracies, thus proving the superiority of the communist system, they would need to develop their own "mystery men".

As so Project: новый мужчина (New Man) was started. Biologists and chemists were charged with creating a serum that would increase the strength and speed of a man in top physical condition. Engineers started working on various weapons and devices such a new Soviet soldier would find useful. From 1946 until 1980, the scientists labored with some small sucesses, but mostly failure. Thousands of men and hundreds of women were injected with various concoctions, serums, and potions.

All this was in the past when Leonid Konstantinovitch Kovar was born. From his birth Leonid was bigger and stronger than all the other babies. As he grew, his strength increased. His speed and reflexes likewise increased and were greater than anyone else. In all other respects, Leonid had a normal average life.

Moscow had changed from the break-up of the USSR. Various criminal elements fought for control of the city. It was not unheard of for gun battles to take place on the streets and for innocents to be harmed or killed. At one such street battle, a young girl named Maladi Malannva became a fatality. Leonid and Maladi were engaged to be married in just a month. His grief almost destroyed Leonid. As his grief subsided, his anger grew. Knowing of the costumed heroes in the United States, Leonid created his own costume and took the name Red Star as that was Maladi's pet name for him. Red Star now became the scourge of the Russian crime organizations.

In the course of his crusade, Leonid was assisted by another young girl named Polina Panthovich. Polina, in searching the old Soviet records, thinks she knows where Leonid got his powers from. In 1947, Leonid's maternal great grandfather was one of the test subjects for Project: New Man. The papers indicated that there had been no noticable results and so the serum was discontinued. Then in 1961, Leonid's paternal grandmother was also a test subject for Project: New Man. She was among the first subjects for a new, more promising serum. This serum did increase the strength of some of the subjects (not Lenid's garandmother though), but not beyond what rigorous training could also accomplish. Polina thinks that the two serums altered the DNA structure of both Leonid's grandmother and great grandfather, but not to any effect on them. However, when the 2 altered DNA strands combined in Leonid, it gave him his strength, speed, and reflexes.

Leonid's campaign against the Russian mob eventually brought him to Gotham City. There he met the famous Batman and his sidekick Nightwing. Nightwing and Red Star struck up a friendship and Nightwing introduced him to the Titans. Although Red Star has returned to Moscow, he does aid the Titans when he can.

Now we need an artist to do some drawings of our re-imagined Titans.

Ooh, with Golden Eagle, Quislet, Esq busts out the mythology! (Creepy story, but how rare is it that Hopi myth gets mixed up with a super-hero origin?)

And some more mythology;

...

Niamh Moraghain was born in a lighthouse on the coast north of Boston during a driving thunderstorm. Her parents were driven off the road by the weather, unable to make it to the nearest hospital, and little Niamh was delivered by the lighthouse keeper, who became her godfather, Kent Nelson.

Unknown to her parents, the storm was no natural occurence, and Niamh herself was touched by otherworldly forces, something her godfather recognized too well. As she grew, he took the dark and stormy child under his wing, and taught her of her secret heritage, as a blessed child, touched by the power of the Morrigan , the celtic goddess of war and the storm, whose symbol was the raven.

Most importantly, he taught her to control the rages that came with her heritage, resulting in the young woman seeming unnaturally calm, as she has fought all her young life to master the great temper that burns within her. Only when she or those she treasures are threatened does she allow what she thinks of as 'her darkness' to consume her, and as shadows obscure her face, the winds whip her clothing and clouds gather in the sky, the shadowy ravens that are her wrath manifested pour forth from her body, to rake at those who have spurred her wrath with talons of solid darkness.

As Raven, she can choose to scout an area with her shadowy ravens, or even bid them to lift her in their wings and carry her a short distance (particularly at night, when they are strongest), and instead of sending them in a swarm to rake at foes, she can send one directly into a foe, to 'darken his eyes' and cause them to enter a forgetful state, submit to her suggestions, or even fall into a mindless frenzy of violence, channeling all of the frustrated aggression that she so strictly controls within herself.

I love this thread!

Can I call Starfire, or does someone else already have something in mind?

It is 1961 on Earth-1 (or maybe 1.5?) and Superman, Batman, and Robin are known as “the World’s Finest Team”.

Beta Zak-Kul is the pre-teen daughter of a renegade Kandorian scientist, inventor of an Enlarging Ray. With her father exiled to the Phantom Zone, Beta is cared for in a Kandorian orphanage, but is left much to her own devices. Observing (through a super-telescope) the condescension with which Superman, Batman, and Robin treat Batwoman (Kathy Kane) Beta uses a speck of the exotic material which powers her father's ray to escape Kandor. Teaming up with Kathy Kane, she creates a false human identity, "Beta of Kandor" becoming "Betty Kane". Masquerading as Kathy's niece, she also creates the alter-ego of the green-and-scarlet clad "Batgirl".

She pretends to be an ordinary earth-human, although a superb gymnast, but secretly uses her Kryptonian abilities to make herself and Batwoman appear supremely competent crime fighters, putting the "World's Finest Team" to shame.

An accidental exposure to a particular variety of Red Kryptonite causes Beta to develop a permanent immunity to Brainiac's shrinking ray, stranding her on Earth, cut off from the miniaturized but more technologically and sociologically advanced world of Kandor forever.

Later, when Kathy Kane hangs up her cowl, "Betty" continues her career with Teen Titans West as Batgirl. By now, many of her associates, (including Robin) know of her Kryptonian nature and powers, but she still prefers to keep these abilities secret from the general public, giving her a supreme advantage when facing powerful opponents.

Quote: "Hand-held laser. And what? You never heard of Kevlar?"

Go for it! Even if someone has already done a Titan, it might be neat to see different interpretations anyway!

Tara Markov had an ideal life as the eldest daughter of the king of Markovia. One of her favorite past times was to research her family's history and the legends of Markovia. But her ideal life was brutally destroyed when at the age of 13, she was watching her father and mother at one of the routine ceremonial rites that it was their duty to Markovia. She watched in horror as a man strode forward, revealed explosives strapped to his body, and detonating it. The assassin, the king,and the queen all died in the explosion. At the same time explosions occurred in various parts of the city, at Star Labs Markovia, at the Cathedral of St. Marco, at the airport terminal, at the Ministry of the Treasury, and at an orphanage. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by a group calling themselves Terror, Inc. Their reason for the attacks was to show the world what they could do.

Tara, Markovia, and the world were stunned by the attacks. Grief, guilt, and anger all swirled around inside Tara. Her brother Brion, although only 4, was the new king. A month after the attacks, Tara was attempting to distract herself by going through the royal library's archives. There she found an old ook which told the tale of her ancestor from the year 1246 and how through the use of a talisman was able to repel invaders using the very earth itself as a weapon. The talisman was pictured in the book and Tara remembered seeing it on display in the Royal Museum. Two weeks later, the museum was broken into and the talisman was stolen.

As soon as Tara clutched the talisman, she could feel its power and could sense the ground beneath the museum. Taking the talisman to the countryside, Tara found she could cause the earth to erupt, form a wall, make the ground like liquid, and even cause stones to fly through the air. Vowing to use her new found power to avenge her parents and the innocents who lost their lives in the attack, Tara enbarked on a mission to destroy all terrorists. She made a costume to hide her identity, so that no one would harm her brother in order to hurt her. She named herself Terra.

And so, various terror organizations suddenly found themselves under attack. The attacks were quick but brutal. The one or two survivors of these attacks claimed that the earth itself rose up to crush them and they saw a young girl standing there watching and seemingly directing the earth. Everyone else perished.

The Titans were in the process of detecting and dismantling H.I.V.E. bases around the world. At some they saw Terra's handy work. And in a few they saw Terra herself. After several encounters, they met Terra at the main headquarters of H.I.V.E. Knowing that most of the people at the base were locals who were forced to work for H.I.V.E., the Titans convince Terra to call off her attack and to come with them. As they flew back to New York, with the main leaders of H.I.V.E. as their captives, they failed to notice that behind them the ground had turned to liquid and the whole building and everyone in it was swallowed up by the earth.

Tara smiled as they flew away, thinking that she could use the Titans as a resource in her quest for vengence.

Awesome! Love how Batgirl's new origin makes her crafty AND ties her into the Flamebird name.

Terra's still a potential traitor, but isn't nearly so evil now; makes for even better conflict, I think.

And Raven is positively terrifying in a good way!

Arrggh. Overslept. Will try and post it tonight or tomorrow.

Cleome, are you still planning to post it? I'd love to see how you'd re-imagine Starfire.

Ditto Not to pressure you, but I'd love to see your idea

[slaps forehead]

Okay, tomorrow. (I have to find where I saved my verbal "sketch.") I promise.

That's awesome, I love the whole Kandorian tie-in, with some Batfolks using the Nightwing and Flamebird heroic identities, originally from Kandor, it's a great turnaround to have a Kandorian adopting the name and identity of a Bat-family hero!

(An entire group of shrunken Kandorians, operating out of a Batarang-sized and -shaped Kryptonian scout vessel, could also be hilarious...)

After the murder of his family in a mob hit, D.A. Adrian Chase assumed the costumed identify of the Vigilante, before eventually spiralling into madness and taking his own life.

Unknown to D.A. Chase, his son Danny had been snatched away by one of Don Scarapelli's men moments before the explosion that killed the rest of his family, to be used as a hostage to ensure his father's future cooperation, but the enforcer assigned to this task had plans of his own, and hid the boy away from both his father and the mob boss, allowing everyone to think that the boy had died in the explosion.

Young Danny Chase was raised by a crazed man, who filled the traumatized young boy's mind with an assortment of lies and half-truths, eventually convincing him that his parents were spies, and had been killed as part of some international conspiracy. It was almost five years before the increasingly erratic behavior of his captor, whom he no longer recognized as such, but thought of as his sole protector against a world that wanted to capture him to extract whatever 'spy secrets' his parents had been killed over, ended up getting killed in a standoff with police, leaving the boy to fend for himself, and, for the first time, step forth from hiding into the wider world, which turned out to be nothing like the lies his kidnapper had been feeding him...

His kidnapper, especially after the Vigilante's public unmasking as Adrian Chase, had kept an eye out for the activities of the boy's true father, and Danny found a journal among the deranged mobsters effects, detailing information on 'the Vigilante' that he'd managed to amass. Following the rambling clues, he discovered one of his father's caches of weapons and equipment, and, unsure as to whether this equipment was that of the fantasy-induced 'spies' who were out to get him, or the 'spies' that were his parents, he took the gear and began to use it to begin his own one-man war against the underworld, whom his captor had convinced him were 'all spies, working to undermine America.'

For all the wrong reasons, a terribly unstable and misguided young man became 'the Phantasm,' striking from the shadows, using skills developed during a childhood of living off the grid and invisible to modern society, and the equipment of, unknown to him, his birth father.

He deliberately cultivated a mystique of being an untouchable ghost of vengeance, or perhaps just a quirky metahuman, using tricks, illusion and subterfuge, as well as spreading an assortment of outrageous lies about his goals, origins and abilities, to keep his 'enemies' off-balance and incapable of effectively planning a defense against his raids. He'd spend weeks setting up elaborate operations, breaking into 'impenetrable' locations and arranging 'impossible' escapes, faking his own death on multiple occasions (to further his reputation of being unkillable or invulnerable) and blowing up the scenes of his raids (to destroy any evidence of the trapdoors and other illusionist's tricks he'd used to fake his 'impossible' achievements).

The Phantasm only accepted an offer to join the Teen Titans out of paranoia, eager to pilfer their computers and files to learn what they knew of the vast international spy conspiracy that he was sure had infiltrated not just organized crime, but also the local police and government, as well as informal superhero / crimefighting organizations like the Teen Titans.

His mental state being what it was, the lack of evidence he found that the Teen Titans were part of the great conspiracy only deepened his suspicion, and led to his inevitable conclusion that the Teen Titans were puppets of the true leader of this imaginary conspiracy that has defined his life, the Batman...

Demanding cleome's take on Starfire!