5 Teen Titans Who Went from Heroes to Terrifying Villains

The Teen Titans stand next to the Justice League as DC Comics’ most iconic superhero team. Starting as a small alliance of teen sidekicks who wanted to step out of their mentors’ shadows, the Teen Titans have since evolved into a massive multi-generational family. Many of the adolescent team’s members are among the most light-hearted and inspirational heroes DC Comics has to offer. Yet even these shining beacons of hope can be tempted by the dark side. As is often the case with superheroes, many Teen Titans members have been corrupted and turned into terrifying villains and threats to the Earth.

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Some of the greatest Teen Titans heroes have been overtaken by their darker impulses, becoming fearsome foes of their fellow teammates.

5) Flash (Wally West)

As the first Kid Flash, Wally West was a founding member of the Teen Titans. Even when Wally grew up to become the third Flash and left the team, he still sees the Titans as some of his best friends. Unfortunately, one of DC’s most controversial events cast Wally as a villain. Heroes in Crisis centered on a massacre that occurred at the superhero mental health facility known as the Sanctuary that claimed the lives of 13 heroes, including several former Teen Titans like Arsenal, Hot Spot, Gnarkk, Red Devil, and Lagoon Boy. The killer is eventually revealed to be Wally, who accidentally killed his fellow heroes when he suffered a mental breakdown and released a powerful burst of energy. Not only that, but Wally then went on to frame both Booster Gold and Harley Quinn for the murder before eventually being caught. This storyline proved so controversial that it was retconned. It was revealed that the speedster villains Savitar and Reverse-Flash were responsible for the murders and Wally’s corruption.

4) Jericho

Jericho is the son of the Teen Titans’ archenemy Deathstroke. Thus, his fall to villainy was perhaps almost inevitable. Jericho can transfer his soul to other people’s bodies, allowing him to possess them. Ironically, when helping Raven fight Trigon, Jericho’s own body became possessed with the corrupted souls of the people of Azeroth. This possession drove him mad. The souls forced Jericho to take the lead of a supervillain gang and try to destroy the Teen Titans. When Deathstroke slew Jericho’s body, he would then spend the next few years hopping from body to body, from his father to the Bizarro clone of Superboy known as Match. By the time Jericho got his own new body, his mind was tainted by years of possessing supervillains and he was driven further into a deep insanity. He was so corrupted that Jericho attempted to assassinate a politician and kill the Teen Titans. However, over time Jericho’s mind began to heal, and he’s since returned to his role as a hero.

3) Hawk

Former Teen Titan member Hawk has had a very hard life, made worse by his being the avatar of war and chaos. This temperamental hero was once part of the superhero duo Hawk and Dove, but his benevolent Dove counterparts keep dying. The first Dove was Hawk’s brother, Don, while the second was his wife, Dawn. When the time-traveling villain Monarch killed Dawn, Hawk discovered her murderer was actually a future version of himself. Having snapped from the shock and grief, Hawk took the Monarch armor and moniker. If that wasn’t bad enough, Monarch soon grew even more powerful by absorbing the chronal energy of the hero Waverider, allowing him to transform into the villain Extant. With the power to bend time to his whim, Extant became the main villain of the event Zero Hour: Crisis in Time alongside Parallax. Together, they tried to reboot the universe. When Extant died during the Crisis, he was eventually resurrected along with Dawn. With Dawn by his side once again, Hawk can keep his darker half in check.

2) Raven

As the daughter of the demon lord Trigon, Raven is constantly trying to suppress her malevolent side to keep her father from entering the DC Universe and hurting her friends, as well as destroying worlds and their inhabitants. Yet despite Raven’s best efforts, the darkness within her soul has sometimes consumed her. In the New 52 reboot, Raven was retconned to have initially been not only Trigon’s daughter, but one of his followers. After reconnecting with Trigon at an early age, Raven joined his war campaign as one of his generals. For years, Raven helped Trigon conquer worlds and slaughter civilizations. For her loyalty, Trigon even made Raven the queen of the Under-Realm. However, despite the atrocities Raven committed in Trigon’s name, she eventually broke free of her father’s corrupting influence and fled to Earth, where she joined the Teen Titans and finally became a hero. Still, the threat of Raven losing control again remains, making her one of DC’s most dangerous heroes.

1) Terra

No Teen Titan committed a more shocking betrayal than Terra in the iconic “Judas Contract” storyline. When Terra first joined the Teen Titans, her geokinetic powers made her seem like a welcome addition to the team. Of course, it was soon revealed her becoming a member of the team was a setup. Terra was secretly working as an undercover agent for Deathstroke to destroy the Teen Titans from the inside. She would ultimately die trying to kill both her teammates and Deathstroke by bringing a cave down on top of herself. Of course, death is rarely the end in comics. After the New 52 reboot, Terra was resurrected. She then went on to have multiple stints as both a hero trying to reform and a chronic backstabbing villain. Now, Terra has once again tried to make up for the horrible things she’s done by becoming a hero and a member of the newly formed Titans. Still, the threat of Terra slipping back into her villainous ways is always on the table.