The Original Animated Teen Titans Returned in the Most Unexpected Way

There are few animated superhero series that feature the longevity of the Teen Titans. With its five spectacular seasons and a style that has often been imitated but never truly replicated, it has maintained a passionate fan following since its cancelation in 2006. While the demands by fans for a new season have never been met, the most popular version of the Teen Titans has returned in the last place any fan would have expected.

Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven are all classic DC heroes, and many versions of each of them exist across various forms of media. As various incarnations of them have continued to appear in the comics, as well as animated and live-action projects, the 2003 animated Teen Titans have continued to make sporadic appearances. Currently, they enjoy their newest resurgence as they team up with DC’s newest superstar in the brand-new series Primer: Clashing Colors.

The Animated Teen Titans Have Returned on Multiple Occasions

Since the conclusion of Teen Titans, the characters and their world have made appearances in various other DC projects. The 2003 Teen Titans have crossed over with their modern counterparts from Teen Titans Go!

The legacy of Teen Titans extends beyond its successful five-season run. The same year the series concluded, the TV film Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo premiered. While enjoyable and well-received, the film did little to bring closure to the series, which had ended on what many interpreted as a cliffhanger, apart from making Robin and Starfire an official couple. Despite the fan outcry for a sixth season following the film’s release, the controversial but exceedingly popular Teen Titans Go! was created instead.

Teen Titans Go! is known for featuring similar character designs and the same main voice cast as Teen Titans, with Scott Menville, Greg Cipes, Tara Strong, Khary Payton, and Hynden Walch all still playing Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire, respectively, while also sporting more simple animation and a purely comedic and childish tone. The series has been loved by kids since premiering in 2013, with new episodes still being aired in 2024 and the series having two films to its name. The first of these films, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, shocked fans with its mid-credits scene, as the original animated Robin appeared, looking at the camera, and saying that the Titans had “found a way back.” This led many fans to believe that a sixth season of Teen Titans was in development, but instead, this scene led directly into another film, Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, a crossover between the two incarnations of the team. Outside of Teen Titans Go!, the world of the animated Teen Titans made cameos in the DC Animated Movie Universe, establishing it as a part of that setting’s multiverse.

Primer is One of DC’s Biggest Hits in the Past Decade

DC released the middle-grade graphic novel Primer in 2020 to massive commercial and critical success. Primer tells the story of Ashley Rayburn, an enthusiastic twelve-year-old girl who acquires body paints that grant her different superpowers.

In 2019, DC began a new initiative, publishing lines of graphic novels targeted toward young adult and middle-grade readers. One of the first books published in this life was Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo. This title was immensely successful and led to other Teen Titans graphic novels, including Teen Titans: Beast Boy, Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven, and Teen Titans: Robin, with Teen Titans: Starfire and Teen Titans: Cyborg to be released in the near future. These titles have all been incredibly successful, with higher sales than nearly any other books in the DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults line. The only title to outsell all of them has been Primer, written by animation veterans Jennifer Muro and Thomas Krajewski and illustrated by Gretel Lusky.

Unlike most of DC’s other graphic novels, Primer does not focus on any pre-existing DC heroes or villains. Instead, it follows Ashley Rayburn, an energetic and trouble-making twelve-year-old foster kid who’s struggled since she was four to find a new permanent home. After being placed with her latest set of parents, Ashley stumbles upon her new scientist mother’s latest project, a collection of 33 body paints made from the DNA of superheroes, each granting a different superpower. Ashley steals the paints and uses them to become the DC Universe’s latest hero, Primer, while bonding with her new family, struggling in the face of her murderous and abusive biological father’s continued psychological torment, and battling against Cal Strack, the soldier the body paints were originally designed for.

Even without a familiar hero in the leading role, this middle-grade graphic novel is one of the most successful books DC has published in recent history. Primer‘s first printing quickly sold out, leading to it receiving four additional printings, and for the first three years following its release, it could be found ranking above Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and every other DC publication available on Amazon.com. Today, it continues to maintain a consistent presence among DC’s highest-selling titles. With its colorful and striking art, a lovable new hero who many kids can relate to, and a tone that strikes a perfect balance between being kid-friendly and mature, Primer completely blew up with its target audience, causing a sequel to swiftly be put into production, and hints to be dropped that there was more in store for Ashley’s future than just that. Primer debuted in the main DC Universe in a 2021 issue of Teen Titans Academy, and Primer: Clashing Colors was officially announced in 2022.

Primer: Clashing Colors Teams Up the Animated Teen Titans with DC’s Newest Star

Primer: Clashing Colors is the currently releasing sequel to Primer. Clashing Colors teams up Ashley with the classic animated versions of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.

Unlike the original Primer, Primer: Clashing Colors is being released in a monthly periodical format before it’s released in its entirety as a graphic novel, with its first issue having released earlier this month. Set a short time after the previous graphic novel, Clashing Colors sees a now thirteen-year-old Ashley attempting to prove herself as a superhero and to join the Teen Titans, encouraged to pursue this ambition at all costs by her new friend, Violette. At the same time, Ravager, Deathstroke’s son, attempts to save his father from prison following his latest defeat, seemingly working with Ashley’s father.

The Teen Titans featured in Clashing Colors are not just any versions of the characters but those from the Teen Titans animated series. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven in this title appear just as fans remember them, with all the same catchphrases, relationships, and jokes. The characters are written superbly, and even without their traditional actors or animation, their banter and humor land as well as ever. The consistently gorgeous and lively art the Primer books are known for perfectly captures each Titan’s personality, and renders them as expressive as they’ve ever been.

The role of the animated Teen Titans in Primer:Clashing Colors had been teased prior to the book’s announcement through unofficial art of the characters with Primer, posted by Lusky and shared by Muro and Krajewski. With the book’s writers’ strong ties to the animation industry, with Muro currently writing for The Legend of Vox Machina and Krajewski having written for series like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), this wasn’t as surprising a choice as it may seem, but it absolutely got fans hyped. No official data is available yet, but there’s every reason to believe Clashing Colors will be just as much of a sensational hit as the original Primer. Through this title, a whole new generation is being introduced to these versions of the Teen Titans, and with Primer being such a fan-favorite among young readers and being a character practically tailor-made for her own series, it could also be the launching point for a new animated legacy.

The Teen Titans will no doubt continue to shine throughout the remaining issues of Primer: Clashing Colors. With how successful Primer has been for DC, it would come as no shock to see her receive an animated series, and should this book end with her successfully joining the team, the Titans could potentially even star alongside her. Season 6 of Teen Titans will likely never be made, but through Primer, fans may one day get the next best thing.