If you’ve caught kids’ show Teen Titans, this Netflix series deals with the same characters – Robin, Starfire (Anna Diop), Raven (Teagan Croft), Beast Boy (Ryan Potter) – but Titans is not for children.
That much is obvious from a scene in which Detective Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) spits “F–k Batman” after dispensing his own brand of vigilante justice. Yep, this is dark stuff. The overwhelming darkness of the series – the tone, the violence, the literal darkness of the poorly lit visuals – is one of its defining characteristics. The other? Its slow pace.
As an origin story of how the Titans band together, that team-up doesn’t happen in the 11 episodes contained in Season 1. Instead, we dive deep into the back-stories of the characters, spending the most time with Dick. Probably not one for casual superhero fans, this is likely to appeal more to the hardcore. (On Netflix now) 3 stars