I think it was a cool handoff to the Titans to let them handle things. Though, I think the Justice League name could have stood, with just inserting the Titans in it… but then I am sure that was thought of and someone was like er, lets just let the Titans have it. I havent picked up the series this year, maybe later in the future. Should they replace the Justice League entirely … Meh, nah, truth is there is enough room in DC for the Titans to be Justice League big on their own. They are no longer the Teen Titans and infact if anything, it might be time for some new Teen Titans altogether who then graduate to Titan or Justice league status. But with so many variations of Justice League, the Titans can hold their own. An of course everyone comes together for a Crisis now and then.
During the golden age, the premier teams were justice society and seven soldiers of victory. DC now has plenty of adult teams like justice society, justice league, titans, outsiders, doom patrol, wildcats, stormwatch, authority. For wildstorm, wildcats was the premier team for a while until authority started. justice society, justice league, titans, wildcats, authority, blood syndicate, shadow cabinet, etc. can maybe all be premier teams. For the heroes from Quality, Freedom Fighters is the premier team. For the heroes from Fawcett, Squaron Of Justice is the premier team. For the heroes from Charlton, Sentinels Of Justice is the premier team.
I think the “premiere” and “replacement” terminology was a misstep. These Titans are powerful and experienced heroes that have a history of working well together. They shouldn’t be called kids or treated like they just graduated from being teens. Many have been in the JL, Dick led the JL, Wally was the Flash for decades. The expectation of all parties should be that of course the Titans can protect the planet as the JL recovers/thinks about a restructure or whatever. Honestly, it felt like the Titans were talked down to recently (such as in Dark Crisis) to artificially build them back up for this “transition,” which apparently still really bothers me, lol.
I have two competing thoughts on this. The first being that, in some ways, this is long overdue. If you think of the Titans as the generation of heroes who were supposed to eventually grow up and replace their mentors then it’s way past time that this happened. Some have already mentioned Robinson’s Pre-Flashpoint Justice League run where this almost happened, but was obviously derailed by the New 52 reboot. If you were ever going to do it, now is as good a time as any with the JL on hiatus and the Titans at an appropriate age/standing in the hero community to pull it off. I’d also point out that, in some eras (like the 80’s), The Titans have been more popular than the JL and the Detroit era of the Justice League was designed to make them more like the Titans. All good arguments for.
However, the Titan’s popularity may, in part, be attributed to the fact that they aren’t like the JL. The Tians are a flawed group of people who became a found family whereas the League are like the unbeatable all-star team. The Titans worked so well because they felt more relatable than the Justice League. You could make the argument that portraying them as the premier superhero team could take away from that appeal. It could pull the Titans so far away from what makes them work that it just falters (much like the Detroit era did to the JL).
So… I think the Titans deserve it and I’m open to the idea, but I’m cautious as it is a different sort of story than the Titans runs that have worked so well in the past.
I like the idea of the Titans getting this push because DC overall has a strong sense of legacy and progression. A lot of traits and characterstics of certain mythos and heroes from DC only became a thing during the Bronze age. And some more changes in recent years are now considered essential.
However, the differences between the League and Titans are obvious. The JL got together as adults after gaining experience on their own. While certain members may be friends, they are more like allies. The Titans grew up together and have that familial bond which has advantages. But I’m also aware the dynamics and relationships with the Titans have been dysfunctional and perhaps toxic at certain points because of that bond. But I’m willing to chalk most of that up to them being teens and still growing up.
I’m good with this for a time. If the story works, great. My problem comes when the announce some MAJOR CHANGES, that last six months. Commit to a couple years, then when you bring the JL back it means something
Titans can be a premier team as long as dc does not make superman too powerful. If Superman is like 10x more powerful than cyborg, then maybe Titans is not really needed. Dc can reduce some of the powers of superman, and increase the powers of other heroes like Cyborg.