When there’s trouble, you know who to call.Teen Titans! For an entire generation of kids, these were the lyrics that greeted them as they sat down to watch the popular DC animated series Teen Titans. While originally dismissed by comic book fans at the time of its release for being both different from the source material and also a drastic departure in tone and art style from the popular Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League series, Teen Titans quickly found an audience and is fondly remembered today. Yet despite this popularity, Warner Bros. never capitalized on it with a big-budget live-action feature film.
Just after the hiring ofJames Gunn and Peter Safranas co-heads of DC Films, it was announced that DC would be telling a long-form, MCU-style story across its films, television shows, and other media. This would kick off withSuperman: Legacy, written and directed by Gunn. Several other major characters are set to star in the DCU’s first phase, ‘Gods and Monsters’, but sadly the Teen Titans were not part of the equation.
However, new rumors suggest that theTeen Titans may finally be getting a live-action movie. While these are only rumors at the moment - albeit rumors teased by Gunn himself - the Teen Titans would make a perfect addition to DC Studios' slate of upcoming projects.
Update July 22, 2025: This article has been updated following rumors of a new Teen Titans film being in development at Warner Bros. and why we think that would be such a great pick for the new DCU.
Brand Appeal
Even putting aside the creative opportunities that a Teen Titans movie would have on an interconnected slate, the success of the team’s previous iterations makes a compelling argument that audiences would be interested. The Teen Titans were created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani for the 1960sDC Comics anthology,The Brave and The Bold, featuring a line-up of superhero sidekicks including Robin, Aqualad, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash.
The team truly reached their new level of popularity in the 1980s with “The New Teen Titans” by the late great artist George Perez and legendary writer Marv Wolfman, which featured cast members like Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven. “The New Teen Titans'' served as the basis for the cult-classic, anime-inspiredTeen Titansanimated series that aired on Cartoon Network from 2003-2006. Over a decade after its cancelation, the animatedTeen Titansseries was rebooted into a more comedic animated series,Teen Titans GO!, which kept the same cast of characters but with a more cartoonish art style. While initially met with trepidation from fans,Teen Titans GO!eventually brought the team to new heights.
Related:5 Reasons Why Teen Titans is One of the Best Cartoon Network Shows
It is often overlookedhow successfulTeen Titans GO!has been both as a DC adaptation, and as an introduction to the cast of young heroes. The Cartoon Network show has been on the air since 2013 and has expanded into feature films withTeen Titans Go! To the Movies, which was a critical and financial darling, earning over double its budget.
Suffice it to say, there is a wide-ranging audience that is already familiar with the team, whether it be from its decades-long publication history or recent animated successes. The Teen Titans might be one of DC’s biggest brands that is known to the general audiences thanks to the various animated series. This might make them similar to Marvel’s X-Men, who reached a newfound level of popularity when their animated series started airing on Fox Kids, which introduced them to a wider audience of fans that had never read a comic but became lifelong fans and likely turned 2000’sX-Meninto a must-see movie event. One look at thepositive reaction that the trailer forX-Men ‘97got, and one knows a new Teen Titans project would likely get a similar response for DC.
Charting The Past
Where most superhero teams can be formed from the ground up, the mere presence of the Teen Titans necessitates a more lived-in history for the DCU. Rather than starting from scratch, the Teen Titans build themselves off of a line-up of pre-established, “older” heroes. In their original iteration, the team wascomposed exclusively of superhero sidekicks, arriving only four years after the Justice League’s first appearance. This sidekick-heavy lineup was also an inspiration for the starting team for the Cartoon Network/HBO Max seriesYoung Justice. Even without more direct superhero lineage, the New Teen Titans line-up set themselves apart as younger heroes, contrasting against the adult-aged adventures of the Justice League.
Marvel Studios has made a habit of rewriting its own past in order to introduce characters with deeper ties to the origins of its interconnected universe. Teen Titans would fill in the past of the DCU with their introduction, establishing a lineage of heroes that has reached its latest form with the Teen Titans.Superman: Legacyalready seems to be hinting at a lived in DC Universe as the film will not only feature Superman but also Metamorpho, Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern, and Mr. Terrific as well asThe Enginer from the Authority. The newest Batman movie,Brave and the Boldis already set to introduce the Robin known as Damian Wayne and will introduce the Bat family. Bringing in a Teen Titans movie could go a long way in establishing a lived in DC Universe.
Diversifying Tones in the New DCU
If you take a look at DC Studios’ current slate of films in the ‘Gods and Monsters’ phase, you might notice a distinct lack of something, youthfulness and fun.Currently, the slate is filled with gritty projects, like the Wonder Woman prequelParadise Lost, dark characters, likeSwamp Thing, and omnipotent groups, likeThe Authority. While these all have the potential to be amazing projects, they also run the risk of causing DC Studios to repeat past mistakes.
The old DCEU, starting withMan of Steel, was heavily criticized for being ‘too dark’ and trying too hard to be ‘edgy’ - especially in the case of Superman. Even the Titans couldn’t escape unscathed, as their standalone series took the youthful group of ex-sidekicks and made them all miserable teenagers filled with angst and bloodlust. It is unlikely that Gunn will fall so far into dark territory, at least with his more optimistic characters like Superman, but the Teen Titans can help cement the new DCU as a tonally diverse franchise, capable of bouncing effortlessly between tragedy, horror, comedy, and violence within the same universe.
Related:20 Justice League Heroes Who Deserve Their Own Movie
The animated outing of the Teen Titans has seen the group’s story told across a range of ages and tones.Teen Titans Go!takes a comedic approach to the superhero group. However, some projects set in the long-running DC Animated Universe (DCAU) have taken the team down a darker path. Movies like Sam Liu’sTeen Titans: The Judas Contracthave taken the team into darker waters - although still not as dark asTitans- as the team are tasked with taking on the brutal mercenary Deathstroke.
A Teen Titans movie would also allowGunn to play around with new genres in his re-imagined DCU. While there is endless potential for a Teen Titans movie, considering the team’s long history and eclectic cast of characters, one fun possibility is to imagine a coming-of-age story told through the lens of the Teen Titans. Imagine a story where the sidekicks crave independance, and desire to form a legacy of their own as they grow out of adolescence into adulthood, resulting in them forming the Teen Titans.
Building Legacy
Not only does the existence of the Teen Titans establish a storied past for the DC Universe, it also sets up the future of DC as well. Where Marvel Comics has often featured the same ageless heroes in shifting status quo, DC Comics stands apart as more legacy-focused, seeing characters age and take on new roles. Wally West, perhaps best known as The Flash, is actually the third person to take on the mantle.
If Robin is included in the line-up for aTeen Titansmovie, DC would also have its pick of which Robin, as the moniker has been taken on by numerous characters, including Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne, all of whom became Batman at some point. The same goes for Superboy, who, depending on who holds the title, is either a clone of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor or the biological son of Superman and Lois Lane. The younger ages of the characters signify a potential for growth, or change, something the Teen Titans are famous for. Dick Grayson is arguably just as well known as Nightwing as he is as Robin. The entire team was even renamed when the founding members got older, shifting into the adjective-less “Titans”.
While comic characters don’t age without a creator’s choice, real actors age no matter what and eventually leave their roles. WhileMarvel Studios is just now introducing younger charactersthat are adjacent to members of the Avengers, DC Films could get ahead of this trend by introducing the hopeful successors of the Justice League early. From a planning standpoint, Warner Bros could sign younger actors that would play their characters well into adulthood. This would not only lend itself to a more natural passing of the torch but also let the Teen Titans interact directly with their mentors.
How the Teen Titans Can Slot Into the New DC
As previously stated, the problem with aTeen Titansmovie is that the charactersrequire establishment through other franchises and movies, given their nature as sidekicks. However, the ‘Gods and Monsters’ phase already has the projects to set up the beloved team.
The most obvious example is the upcomingThe Brave and the Boldadaptation, which will see Bruce Wayne come face to face with his son, Damian Wayne. Damian, who later takes on the mantle of Robin, is a frequent member and occasional leader of the Teen Titans, and his establishment and arc in that film could potentially set up the Teen Titans movie by itself. If Gunn’s new DCU does follow the traditional continuity of the comics, the appearance of Damian Wayne means that Nightwing, Red Hood, and Tim Drake’s Red Robin are likely already established characters within the franchise’s continuity and could help to establish the team.
However, the Bat Family isn’t the only announced link to the Teen Titans. Therecently castSupergirlmoviecould also tie into the Teen Titans film. While she is more commonly known as a standalone hero, Supergirl has made several appearances working with and under the Teen Titans in the comics. While this is less of a secure link for Gunn to work with, there is no singular set text for him to follow when establishing the team for the big screen, meaning Supergirl could be the link to the first live-action feature film iteration of the Teen Titans.
Paradise Lostcould lay the groundwork to introduce a version of Wonder Girl, while it is already confirmed thatBlue Beetle will returnand he was added to the Teen Titans roster in the 2010s. ATeen Titansmovie could also be used as the introduction to a core team that does not need to be established in other projects. Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg could all be introduced as a team of heroes coming together in one movie without the need for separate origin stories. After all, this is what Gunn did withGuardians of the Galaxyand that turned into one of Marvel’s biggest sucessus stories.
While aTeen Titansmovie remains a rumor, it is certainly a project that Gunn should consider for his new DCU as it is a popular brand that is well known and liked by a wide audience, has the potential to expand the DC Universe, and lays out some interesting storytelling possibilities for the future. As every kid in the 2000’s knows, when there’s evil on the attack, you may rest knowing they got your back cause when the world needs heroes on patrol…Teen Titans, go!
Check out what James Gunn has planned for the DCU in our video below!
