This next episode of Titans could be very interesting…but it is loaded with potential mouse traps!
In the TITANS universe, thus far, they have avoided any references to “heroes” at large. Yes, the cops in Detroit seemed to know of Batman…Dove wore a SUPERMAN “S” T-shirt, and when Robin revealed himself to the other Titans, they seemed to know of “Batman” and “Robin” ; Beast Boy even seemed to Geek out about being in the presense of The Boy Wonder.
But, you would think, a newspaper headline about (you pick the hero) doing this, or a stray comment on the radio about another hero doing that… or heck…a fly over by Captain Atom…some thing like that would have happened by now…but no it hasn’t: and that’s been okay…until now.
Because…Donna Troy is a whole other thing. If she turns out to be from Themyscira, then that implies that Wonder Woman exists as well as all that Amazon Lore. (The Walking Dead has gone on for years without any real concrete information about the “rest of the world” in terms of surviving Governments and things like that…one of the reasons I gave up on that show three years ago).
But…the universe of DC is far more epic than the world of Rick Grimes. TITANS has done a great job of creating an edgy atmosphere thus far, and the lack of any real glimpses of the “greater world” in which it exists was probably by design for practical reasons (licensing and budgetary).
But each episode expands that world, much like a balloon. If they skirt around the issue then some people will grow tired of the tease; if they tip their hand and start mentioning Amazons, Atlantians and Green Lantern Corps or heroes like Dr. Fate or villians like Darkseid…then …the show faces the same situaton that Daredevil/Agents of Shields and the other Marvel TV shows face, especially since most of the Marvel properties (Avengers, Spiderman, the Netflix shows) all take place in New York, meaning; why don’t they ever all trip over each other when someting big happens?
Or…maybe not. If Titans exists in its own universe (one that is hopefully unreachable by the loopy CW shows!!) then, they can do all they want in terms of mentioning the greater DC Universe. With the Doom Patrol not that far away from debuting, and existing in the TITANS universe as well, this world they are creating is going to get interesting real fast.
And what if the stakes that Raven’s backstory implies are as grave as they seem to be? Then where are the BIG GUNS? Where is Superman/Batman and the Justice League if Trigon is really the big bad??? TITANS will be up against the wall that Agents of Shield has been up against ever since it debuted.
I have always thought the ARROWVERSE went off the tracks with the spinoffs. I find it hard to believe that the Time Bureau wouldn’t be all over the events of The Flash since, IMO, the antics on THE FLASH these past few years should be sending out waves of time disruption nearly every week. The lack of adhereing to established “time” dynamics in the Arrowverse is, IMO, is starting to weigh it down. I think it is to the point that the writers just don’t bother with it and write whatever they want now.
But…I trust Geoff Johns and Akiva Goldsman (he of Fringe fame) will be able to keep this Titanverse anchored with some sort of consistant writing (and adhering to the continuity they establish) and that they will be cautous about “Jump the Shark” obstacles the CW shows simply ignore.
By the way…I love LEGENDS OF TOMORROW! This week’s episode (when Steel’s dad…Biff…went on a mission with them to France 1927) was really funny. I don’t know who is writing the humorous parts of the scripts, but they are doing great. And because the Arrowverse (in which Legends exists) has been playing fast and loose with Time laws they established already, I don’t care if Legends breaks the rules anymore…it makes up with it with all the lunacy in the stories!!) Maybe that is was CW is hoping for???
Titans!!! Don’t get lured in by cheese on the traps!