Awesome / Teen Titans (2003)

"When there's trouble, you know who to call!"

Animated series

Starfire

• Given that it's the first battle of the series, it's no surprise she gets one in "Divide and Conquer":
  • Punishing Cinderblock for underestimating her with a well placed boot to the head, all in her cheerfully character-defining way.
    Starfire: [cheerful voice] I am sorry to disappoint you... [eyes start burning green] but I am stronger than I look! BAM!
  • That line was heavily used in the commercials for the show during its first season, and for good reason. That one line told you everything you needed to know about Starfire.
• The episode "Haunted" provides a truly hardcore example of this trope. She, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy have been locked in the Tower's infirmary by a psychotic (albeit on an accidentally-inhaled hallucinogen) Robin, and though each is trying their best to batter through the walls and air ducts, nothing seems to be working. Raven, mentally linked to Robin, suddenly gasps out, "I can feel him...he's not going to make it!" Starfire looks horrified for a moment, then narrows her eyes and declares, "Then let us end this battle now!" as she swoops down, digs her nails into the inches-thick steel floor, and rips up a swathe of it like a can of beans.
  • Earlier in that episode she has a similar moment. Robin has just been confronted by his team, who are swearing that Slade—whom he thinks he's fighting—is not there. It reaches a peak when he snarls, "I have to stop him. I'm the only one who can. And I'll take down anyone who gets in my way!" Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy stare at him in horror, but suddenly Robin is electrified by a flash of green. He yelps and topples forward... to reveal Starfire, her fist smoldering, having just shot not only her leader, but her love interest.
  • Her expression clinches it. It's a calm but firm look that clearly says "Sorry Robin, but you needed this."
• In the origin episode "Go," it is revealed that Starfire escaped to Earth while en route from Tamaran, having been taken as a slave/trophy by the Gordanians. Her captors are so afraid of her that she is locked in the securest cell they have... which she proceeds to break out of. She then beats the crap out of the entire crew, blows up the ship, and jets off to Earth. But it doesn't end there: terrified and in literally alien surroundings, she battles Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy simultaneously, to the point of picking up a sedan with her foot and flinging it at Robin, while wearing handcuffs that prevent her from firing starbolts. There's a lot of other badassery from her in this episode—chief among them kissing Robin to learn English, then pushing him to ground and growling, "If you wish not to be destroyed, you will leave. Me. Alone." And she's the sweetest character on the show!
  • Likewise, she brusquely explains her reasons that she doesn't want the others rescuing her: the Gordanians will blow up the planet as retaliation. Starfire would rather take them on alone than endanger innocent beings. Of course the others are having none of that but it shows she is hero material.
• Starfire was willing to go through an Arranged Marriage for tradition and a Scarpia Ultimatum. When the Titans crash the ceremony and tell her it was a Blackfire trick (again), she shreds her wedding gown, revealing her hero outfit was underneath.
• Defeating Blackfire (amped up with the power of the Jewel of Charta) in a brutal one-on-one battle for the crown of Tamaran. Keep in mind that Blackfire is implied to be more powerful than her even without the jewel, but Starfire was still able to defeat her!
  Blackfire: You'll always be my little sister.
  Starfire: I am not so little anymore!
• Likewise, her Take a Third Option when she becomes Queen of Tamaran and banishes Blackfire. Starfire then makes an announcement that she can't be their ruler, and gives the crown to Galfore.
• "Date With Destiny"
  • She cures Robin's poison paralysis with Tamaranean acupressure. Not even human paramedics could do that with some unlucky promgoers.
  • Before learning what prom is, she assumes it's a duel and glove-slaps Kitten through the Titans' TV screen. That shouldn't even be possible.
  • Rather than go with the Titans to investigate Kitten's identity, she attends the prom in a stunning gown and tucks a flower into Robin's tuxedo. She logically tells Robin that he may need protection since Kitten is technically a villain. Robin concedes the point and lets her stay.
  • The Cat Fight with Kitten and starbolting Fang in the face:
    Starfire: Keep your legs off my boy!
  • Likewise, Starfire the whole time has been holding back on her powers. She's been venting her jealousy on Kitten's limo, a bowl of punch, and some guests. She has the opportunity and excuses to skewer Kitten...and instead uses a Starbolt to shoot the moth trigger from her hand so that Robin can smash it. A reminder: Starfire is naive but she's not stupid.
• A brief moment in "Betrayal", during the attack on the Tower: Starfire grabs a Sladebot by the arm, rips him apart, slams the remains into another robot, and continues to plow through at least three more, putting them all down in one hit. With her bare fists. In a matter of seconds.
• Heck, her very first episode with Blackfire had one.
  • After being the passively long-suffering victim throughout the episode, Starfire watches at the end as Blackfire cheerfully flies off to make her getaway, and Robin tries reassure her that Blackfire won't get away with it. Cue Starfire's clenched fists and glowing green eyes right before she launches into the air like a missile to chase down her sister...
    Starfire: No, she will not!
  • The ensuing battle proves to be epically amazing, particularly the song playing in the background when Starfire flies through a storm of Blackfire's starbolts to reach her target, complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom. And when the starbolt hits Blackfire's hand, cut to Starfire rising up in front of her, poised to strike.
• She instantly computed the number of molecules in a kilogram of oxygen.
• Even though it's based on an incomplete understanding of Raven's history, her calling Raven out on her bad attitude in "Switched" was pretty awesome:
  Raven: Nice flying, by the way.
  Starfire: [angrily] At least I am able to fly! On my planet, even a newborn can unleash the joy of flight, but you are too busy being grumpy and rude to feel anything at all!
• In "Troq" Starfire gets repeatedly insulted and beilittled by supposed "hero" Val-Yor, who turns out to be a racist Jerkass who hates Tamarians, calling them "troqs", and Starfire still insists on putting the mission first and helping Val-Yor destroy the Locrix despite him being an Ungrateful Bastard towards her the whole time. Then when trying to destroy the core of the robot planet, Val-Yor gets trapped in a forcefield and looks to be doomed, until Starfire Breaks the forcefield and manages to save him in spite of him insisting there's nothing she can do for him, showing how truly selfless she is.
  Starfire: You may not value my life, but I still value yours!
• A subtler moment in "Masks". After Robin gets chewed out by the rest of the team for pretending to be a villain to try and trap Slade, fighting his teammates, not telling his teammates, the list goes on he's somberly looking at Slade's mask, knowing he deserved to be yelled at, but not looking very sorry. Starfire comes in, and he invites her to yell at him too. She doesn't, and simply asks him why. Robin explains, still justifying his actions. And maybe on purpose, maybe by accident, Starfire says one simple sentence that haunts the immovable Robin for seasons.
  Robin: It doesn't matter. Slade figured it out, and I still haven't figured out anything about him.
  Starfire: That is not true. Whoever Slade is, you and he are... similar. Slade did not trust you... and you did not trust us.
• The fact that she doesn't use contractions and speaks rather emphatically can be a source of humor. It can also make her incredibly intimidating, such as her face-off with Robin in "Apprentice pt. II".
  Starfire: [leveling a starbolt at Robin] Stop. Do not move.
• She figures out that Robin is not acting of his volition when Slade activates the probes, and Robin holds her while begging him to stop. Starfire gains a look of Tranquil Fury when saying Slade must have learned new tricks. She also shows no fear on learning that there are self-destructing probes in their body.
• Another moment from the same episode is her leading the Big Damn Heroes moment by simply blasting Slade, who had just threatened the lives of the Titans to make Robin obey him, with a starbolt and saying three words:
  Starfire: Leave. Him. Alone!
• In the episode "X," Red-X tries an I Have You Now, My Pretty on her when she's bound by one of his gadgets. The result: Shut Up, Hannibal! via Eye Beams.

Beast Boy

• In the episode "Betrayal," he holds his own quite well against Slade one-on-one. Slade had also regularly beaten Robin around in the previous season, despite Robin being shown several times to be the most competent fighter on the team. Not only that, but since Beast Boy comes out of the fight without a mark while Slade is severely damaged, it can be assumed that Beast Boy won this fight.
  • The REAL crowning moment is the look of shock and fear in Slade's eye as Beast Boy doesn't back down. He then proceeds to demonstrate why martial arts masters don't go around challenging bears to hand-to-hand combat.
  • Slade is possibly the most dangerous foe the Teen Titans have. Which is what makes Beast Boy actually taking him on one-on-one so awesome.
  • He does it again in a solo fight against Slade in "Things Change". Slade's suddenly tough enough to handle his gorilla, bear, and dromaeosaurid, so what does he do? Shifts to T-Rex, snatches Slade with his teeth, and then stampedes him through the park until he crashes the creep into a roller coaster, bringing the whole structure down on top of him. Kind of a shame that it turned out to be a doombot, but still.
  • In a way, just the fact that Slade sent a robot after Beast Boy is subtly awesome, since it means that Slade considered going himself too risky. Slade is afraid of Beast Boy.
• After The Brain gloats and recites his Speech Of Doom to the captured Robin, it finishes with, "Who among you can possibly stop me now?" Cut to Beast Boy looking pissed, surrounded by the broken remains of the robots sent to capture him, growling, "Now try and follow me," then blowing up his section of the T-Ship so they can't use it to track him anymore.
• Taking out his anger at Terra on everything in his path in "Aftershock Part 2," starting with "a robot army and a giant Franken-thingy" and ending with Slade when his anger is redirected toward him for taking physical control of Terra.
  • The way he just walks through Slade's defenses. Security camera? He just nonchalantly turns into an insect and disables it, practically without breaking stride. BB is terrifyingly competent when he's done playing around. His power is almost without limit, as shown in his fight with Slade earlier in the season. Just as you start to get a handle on one form, he shifts into another. If he gets serious, he will relentlessly come after you, taking just the right form to come at you at an angle you aren't prepared for, until you're beaten.
• During the fifth season, Beast Boy is taking on the Brain's right-hand ape, Monsieur Mallah, while also using the form of an ape. After getting knocked around and insulted for a while, Beast Boy turns into a triceratops and knocks Mallah out cold, even saying something to the effect of, "Now who's dumb?"
• "The Beast Within"
  • Because even when he's going crazy and out of control and is doubted by his team, Beast Boy remains a hero who WILL NOT let someone get away with attacking his friends.
  • And in that same episode, he made Robin (yes the very person trained by Batman) flinch.
  • Even later in the episode, Robin was seemingly about to KO Beast Boy while in his "beast" form. Before throwing a KO disk, Robin pronounces "Sleep Tight". Guess who ends up being the one to "sleep tight".
  • A case of Jerkass Has a Point, because despite how wrong he was to treat his teammates the way he did, he was right in calling Raven out on how much she picks on him and insults him (though it's somewhat undercut by the fact that Raven was genuinely apologizing for bumping into him this time).
  • "I'm not a man. I'M AN ANIMAL!" Cue No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Adonis.
• In "Calling All Titans", one second, he's screaming at the sight of Kardiak, and the next, Beast Boy glares and launches himself at the thing.
• Every single second of "Titans Together." Arguably one of the best episodes of the series.
• Becoming 'The Beast' when Slade comes for Raven in "The End"
• Using his lack of Shapeshifter Baggage as an attack against Trigon. He does this by flying inside Trigon's ear as a hummingbird, then immediately transforming into a whale.
  • Made even more awesome when you consider that earlier in that episode Beast Boy says jokingly (or at least the audience assumes so) he'll use his "patent wet willy maneuver" on Trigon. And then he actually does it.
    • And makes Trigon cry in pain. Trigon is so powerful that his very presence transformed Earth in an hellish world, and Beast Boy made him suffer so hard he cries.
• After several seasons of Beast Boy wanting a moped, he finally rides one in style in "Employee Of The Month."
• In Revolution, when Mad Mod captures the Titans, he remarks on the absence of Beast Boy, only for him to land from the sky as a flying squirrel, crawling all around Mod and tickling him into letting go of the cane.
• Beast Boy turning into an alien dog in "Betrothed". In the process, he single-handedly scares away a group of armed guards who presumably all have the same powers as Starfire.
  Cyborg: How did you know you could do that?
  Beast Boy: Lucky guess!
• In the episode "Wavelength", the entire team is deep underwater and the T-Ship gets destroyed by a mind-controlled squid. Beast Boy turns into a whale and catches everyone in his mouth. Although it's downplayed for being "gross", he essentially saved his teammates from drowning while being pursued by aforementioned squid and taking it out by working together with Aqualad.
• "Deep Six". So, you're surrounded by an army of clones of the egomaniacal villain who believes he's the epitome of "perfection," and they have you and your teammate outnumbered about a thousand to one. How do you beat them? Ask them, "So... which one of you is the best?"
• In "Apprentice Part 1" he calls out Robin for getting a bit too carried away in finding Slade, even pointing out that Robin is acting like Slade (arguably his biggest Berserk Button). Even better, when Robin angrily gets in Beast Boy's face and yells at him, Beast Boy stares back unflinchingly and continues to give him an angry look.
• In "Homecoming Part 2", Beast Boy finally stands up to Mento, calling him out for his stubbornness after the entire Doom Patrol has been defeated except them. The best part is when Beast Boy rips off his mask and refuses to wear it, calling it stupid to Mento's face. It shows just how much he has grown over the show.

Raven

• Slade is the unfortunate victim of Raven's truly brutal CMOA (though after the things he did to her before, he certainly deserves it). After Slade tells the other captured Titans, "This won't hurt a bit," Raven announces herself with a badass "Wanna bet?", bowls him over like a speeding train, cuts off his escape with an icy, "I'm not finished yet," telekinetically reaches into the ground, pulls Slade back up, tells him, "This time, I have a message for you...", and then mercilessly flings him about the room like a ragdoll, crushes him in all of the rubble she's made beating the living crap out of him, and then sends him running back to Trigon with his tail between his legs. Good thing he's already dead, because he definitely would have been after that.
  • This also marks one of the few times in the history of the show that we see Slade truly frightened.
• In "The End Part One" even while Raven has accepted her fate and the end of the world, she still manages to take out some of her anger on Slade as he escorts her to the chamber in which she is destined to summon Trigon to Earth. She speaks to him, with a kind of bitterness you don't ordinarily see in Raven, and demonstrates that his own army shows more obedience to her than him. Since her demon mode is on during this whole exchange, it amplifies the sheer kickassery.
  Raven: You're a fool. Whatever he promised you, he won't deliver.
  Slade: Dear child, you don't know what you're talking about.
  Raven: You think I don't know my own father?
  Slade: You are merely the portal. An insignificant pawn in Trigon's game.
  Raven: Then I guess we have that in common. And once he gets what he wants...you'll be insignificant, too.
  Slade: Shut your mouth! [His minions grab him] Get off me! Do as I command!
  Raven: Come to think of it, Slade, you're already insignificant. Even your own army won't listen to you.
• Raven, knowing her end is near, manages to give her powers to her four friends in a last desperate act of defiance toward her father. The remaining Titans, realizing what she did, make use of her powers as they've seen her do since the beginning:
  Starfire: I have used Raven's powers once before. They are controlled by emotion. The more we feel, the more energy is released.
  Cyborg: In other words, get angry!
  Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg: AZARATH!! METRION!! ZINTHOS!!
• "The End Part Three":
  • Raven denouncing Trigon as her father. And then proceeding to totally own him.
    You may have created me, but you were never my father. Fathers are kind. Fathers protect you. Fathers raise you. I was protected by the monks of Azarath. I was raised by my friends. They are my family, this is my home, and you are not welcome here! Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!
  • Raven totally pwning her demon father and sending him back to Hell. AWESOME.
• In Season 1's "Nevermore," Raven loses her temper after being taunted and tossed around by Dr. Light. She commands him, "Don't come any closer." After another taunt from the good doctor, she lets her demonic side loose, towering over Dr. Light and dragging him towards her with writhing tentacles of shadow. She pulls him into her cloak, despite his cries of surrender, and when he emerges a moment later, his suit is ripped up and he's mumbling about the traumatizing darkness. Creepy? Yes. Dubiously moral? Possibly. Awesome? Intensely.
  Raven: What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?
  • This is even given a Continuity Nod in “Birthmark” - when Dr. Light fights the Titans again, all Raven has to do is show up in front of him with tentacles and say "Remember me?" to get him to beg to be taken to prison.
    • However, in his next appearance after that, the good doctor displays no lingering fear of Raven at all, and casually blasts her when she tries the same trick of intimidating him. So, that implies that he somehow got over his trauma... which, when you think about it, is a moment of awesome for Dr. Light.
• In "Nevermore," she fuses with all her personality sides to become a white-clad giantess and takes out the demonic version of her own anger rampaging in her mind.
• What Malchior did to Raven in "Spellbound" was absolutely awful; everyone is agreed on that. Which is what makes Raven's comeback in the climactic battle of that episode even more awesome than it already would have been to begin with. Did Malchior ever realize that in giving her the tool to let him out, he also gave her the power to put him right back where he came from? Cue the Ironic Hell for Malchior.
• In "Switched", when Raven and Starfire are, well, switched, Raven can't use Starfire's powers because they're linked to powerful emotions Raven usually represses. The starbolts, for example, are powered by "righteous fury". Even during the finale battle with Puppet King, she can't get them to work... and then he tries to destroy the puppets containing the spirits of the other Titans. Blam.
• In "The Beast Within": Raven bumps into Beast Boy, who's turning feral, and drops her book. As she apologizes, BB snaps at her for not looking where she was going. Raven doesn't even hesitate to say, "I take it back. I'm not sorry. You're a jerk." And after that, she doesn't back down even when Beast Boy gets straight in her face.
• How Raven beats Mumbo in "Bunny Raven": The Titans are in Mumbo's hat, which is a universe where Mumbo has near-godlike power. Mumbo turns the Titans into animals and traps them. How they escape? Raven has the team paint themselves to look like the back of their cages, so it appears that said cages are empty. When Mumbo, understandably confused, opens Raven's cage for a better look, she gives him a kick that boots him out of his hat, thus freeing the Titans. Even the hat world audience thought it was cool.
  Balcony Mumbo 1: That really was the greatest trick ever!
  Balcony Mumbo 2: Eh, it was old hat. [Both Mumbos crack up]
• Raven's triumph at the end of "Fear Itself": after spending the entire episode denying the fear she was feeling, even as her friends are picked off by shadowy monsters that suround her, she finally realises what she has to do is not reject her fear, but face it- and unleashes a devastating wave of power which not only blows the monsters away, but manifests itself above Titans Tower as a giant shrieking shadow raven the size of a city block, lit by a bolt of lightning. Pure awesome.
  Raven: I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid... I... I am afraid.... I'm afraid- but that doesn't mean I can't fight back!

Robin

• Let's start with the fact that he's the leader of the team despite being the only one with no superpowers and has been implied on several occasions to be the strongest out of all of them. By season five, he's considered the leader of all the young heroes on earth.
• Defeating Slade in the first season finale by using his Arch-Enemy's greatest weakness — his obsession with himself: "New deal, Slade — if I lose my friends, you lose your apprentice. And I know how you hate to lose."
  • To clarify, the only reason Slade had any say over what he could do was that he had infected the other Titans with nanites that would eat them from the inside out. If Robin didn't do what Slade wanted, he would activate the nanites until he complied. To get around this, Robin infected himself with the same nanites to force Slade to back off for good.
  • Double dose of awesome in this moment: How does Robin know that Slade hates losing? Because he hates to lose too. He beats Slade by finally acknowledging how similar they are, something he's been trying very hard to deny.
  • Even before that, he was actually holding his own in a fight against Slade. Throughout the fight Slade acts smug and cocky...until Robin knocks him down and cracks his mask.
    Slade: You're going to wish you hadn't done that.
    Robin: I only wish I'd done it sooner^note (tears off the "S" emblem Slade had him wear and throws it at Slade's feet, sending Slade into rage).
• In "Apprentice pt. I" when the whole team is surrounded by dozens of bad guys and he takes down ALL of them, not even giving the other Titans a chance to fight.
• This exchange:
  Slade: Who knows... I might even become like a father to you.
  Robin: I already have a father. (cue bats and Batman music)
• Robin pulling out a sword in "The End Part Two" and using it to thoroughly slice up Trigon's flame demon minions. Awesome.
• His Colossus Climb assault on Brushogun in The Movie is particularly badass.
• "Lady, you are not my mother." Oooh BURN!
• In "Masks," Robin emerges from the opening of a tunnel cut into the side of a cliff, jumps off said cliff, fires off a grapple line to rescue Starfire (who's unconscious and falling beneath him), twists around in midair and then sends another grapple line to snag the Sladebot flying ABOVE him (trying to escape with a stolen disk).
• The lengths to which he goes for Starfire in "Betrothed" are pretty impressive. Highlights include climbing up to her top story balcony by scaling the wall with bird-a-rangs and later fighting off dozens of armed Tamaranian guards in the way of his timely interruption of her wedding.
• In "Haunted", Robin, just inches from dying, finally figures out that the Slade he's been fighting all night was just a hallucination. How does he do this? Robin realizes that while he's covered in bruises, Slade doesn't have a scratch. Slade is a fantastic martial artist and Robin know this, but he was never so perfect that Robin couldn't give as good as he got. In a mix of smarts and just a tiny sense of pride, Rob finally figures out how he recieved such a horrible beatdown and how to dispel the illusion. And with a Bond One-Liner as well!
  "Lights out, Slade."
• In "X", when X breaks into a vault while leaving Robin in a room with a laser cannon with its sights aimed at him, Robin tears off the cannon from its mount and uses it to break down the vault.
  • Speaking of "X", when Robin was the Red X as part of a ploy to get Slade, he fights the other Titans a couple of times as part of it, and he absolutely curbstomps all of them both times, and unlike the last time he went up against the Titans as Slade's apprentice, they weren't holding back.
  • While undercover, he saves Beast Boy from a subway. Then knocks him over when Beast Boy asks if Red X just saved him.
  • Robin vs Red X, a thief in a suit loaded with every gadget Robin could stuff in there. Robin fights him to a draw. It helps that he designed the suit in the first place, but still.
• Robin calling out Cyborg for quitting his team to join Titans East:
  Robin: So now this is my fault?
  Cyborg: It's not ABOUT you!
  Robin: No! It's all about YOU! Because that's all YOU care about! You talk about being a man, but if you can turn your back on us after everything we've been through, you're nothing but a spoiled child!
• "Aftershock":
  • Robin giving Terra one last chance in to redeem herself leads to this awesome line:
    Terra: I don't need you to save me!
    Robin: You can only save yourself.
  • Hell, the fact that he is giving her a last chance is awesome. Terra had just seemingly killed Starfire, the girl Robin loved. And yet Robin doesn't lose control of his emotions or sacrifice his honor, he keeps the promise he made to Beast Boy to make one final attempt to bring Terra back to the side of good. Now that is a hero.
  • Round two shows that he was holding back. Robin unleashes hell on Terra, and she's torn apart.
• Rescuing young Raven from what was more-or-less Hell easily qualifies, and proves his worth as a leader as he encourages her to face down Trigon.
• A subtle, but impressive one in "The Quest." As part of the titular quest, Robin has to fight a monkey while balancing atop a bamboo forest. Robin casually strolls out across the slender tips of the bamboo as if he were walking down the street. Barefoot.
• In "Mad Mod", after an entire episode of the whole team being mindscrewed by the titular villain, Robin realizes he has them all trapped in an enormous house of smoke and mirrors. He then jumps into a hole made into the side of the wall during the final battle, destroying the circuitry and shattering the illusion just as his teammates are captured again.
  "Time for a reality check!"
• In "Date With Destiny", Killer Moth forces Robin to be his daughter Kitten's prom date, or else he'll unleash his mutant moths on the city. He agrees, in order to buy some time for the rest of the team to find and stop Killer Moth. But then Kitten reveals later on that she's the one holding the trigger, and will enact her father's plan unless Robin kisses her. Just when she's about to steal a "Take That!" Kiss from him, in front of Starfire, he stops her in her tracks by simply placing a finger on her lips, and tries to wrestle the trigger away from her.
  "Not even if you paid me!"

Cyborg

• Cyborg gets a pretty awesome moment in "The End Part One," when he leaps in front of Slade and a horde of flame demons trying to storm the Tower declares that "No one's getting in here!", punches a button in his arm, connects to Titans Tower as a power source, and turns himself into a freaking tank with huge versions of his sonic cannon on both arms. And then blasts away at the whole swarm. It doesn't do a thing to slow Slade down but it was a worthy effort anyway.
• The end of the episode "Only Human". That was when he proved to himself that 100% was just a suggestion.
  • To further explain this, he's fighting the powerhouse robot Atlas, who is in an arm lock gets him to his max, and then beats him, sending off Cyborg in shame. It takes an inner conflict with his mechanical limitations and his human determination, but our boy goes back for a rematch. During the fight, they end up in that same arm lock, and he's again at 100%. But this time through Heroic Willpower, he pushes forward until his reader is at 110% before the screen cracks and goes all the way to 130%, and he emerges victorious. He even goes on to turn a previous insult into a Badass Boast.
    Cyborg: I'm only human.
• His first confrontation with Brother Blood, which involved fake defection and sacrificing the chance to be fully human again.
  • The best part of which is this moment: "Sorry. But I have new friends... PSYCH!"
  • His Final Battle with Brother Blood, when they both realize that it's not a mechanical brain but just a badass strength of spirit that allows Cyborg to resist his Mind Control. Blood has a Villainous Breakdown and literally tears Cyborg limb from limb, and then starts ripping into his torso, ranting about Cyborg's continued resistance to his Mind Control. Cyborg, barely alive at this point, throws one last taunt, "It's not in the circuitry, is it?"
    • And then he proceeds to hack into Blood's mind, hijack his Psychic Powers, and reconstruct himself by tearing apart the Cyborg-Copy robots that had been surrounding him.
• "Cyborg The Barbarian" - killing hordes of green slimy bug-things with his sonic cannon is standard procedure. Killing the same amount with a goddamn sword thus being a Badass Normal is what makes this a moment of awesome.
  Cyborg: [charges cannon] The future says hi.
  • In the same episode, Cyborg grabs an incoming sword attack between his palms and snaps it in half. Note that this is with one of his hands heavily crippled and exposed to the air, thus making this at least a partial Barehanded Blade Block.
  • One more from the same episode. When the now supernaturally powered Krall brutally attacks Sarasim and Cyborg is finally overwhelmed by the bug monsters, he brings out his sonic cannon and aims it at Krall. At this point he has barely any power and even one sonic blast would probably drain his battery, but he was willing to sacrifice himself to save her.
• Cyborg's Curb-Stomp Battle against Adonis in "Overdrive", with the new Max-7 chip installed in his head, he beats Adonis so fast the other titans don't get a chance to land a single hit!

Terra

• When she makes her Heel–Face Turn in "Aftershock Part 2," declares to Slade "YOU CAN'T CONTROL ME ANYMORE!", and proceeds to blast him into a freaking volcano, which actually kills him... for a while at least.
• Her sacrifice at the end of "Aftershock Part 2" using all of her powers to stop the volcano from destroying the city, complete with Awesome Music too.
• That scene in "Aftershock Part 1" where Terra has a short one-on-one fight with Robin. At one point he grabs her arms from behind and slams her into a nearby fence. Proving she's no pushover, Terra immediately turns the tables on him, grabs his arms, and slams him into the fence.
• "Aftershock Part 2" begins with a moment of awesome for Terra's voice actress, Ashley Johnson in the form of a monologue listing all the terrible things Terra's done and how she has no regrets. With little to no help from the character's expressions, the voice actress delivers her lines in a tone that could be either apathy or hopelessness. Which, given the situation, was absolutely perfect.
• Ashley Johnson also deserves a mention for her excellent performance in "Aftershock Part 2" because the Never Say "Die" rule is in full effect, making a majority of her dialogue with Beast Boy narmy, but she pulls off an awesome delivery despite hackneyed wording that feels awkward when it's spoken out loud.
• Also, her "surfing on rocks" performance in "Titans Rising," even if she was just doing,it to show off, it looked so awesome!
• Her introduction was one. We have the standard "Giant monster chasing girl", Titans here to save the day! And then suddenly an earthquake, and it's revealed that it was all a trap and she drops a rock bridge onto the monster.
• If you believe that Schoolgirl is Terra and she has Laser-Guided Amnesia, she's surprisingly mature and poignant when telling Beast Boy she's not the girl he remembers. Heck, she's not the girl that she remembers if she believes him. When a visit to Titans Tower to jog her memories goes wrong, Schoolgirl accepts Beast Boy's apology while gently saying she's no hero, just a girl with a geometry test. Terra encourages him to be with his friends. The episode has a lot of holes and questions — who the heck are her parents, why did a Sladebot tell Beast Boy to stop investigating— but it at least shows that Terra is in a life where she is content.

Slade

• Robin and Slade during their Enemy Mine moment in the Teen Titans (2003) season four finale, where they took down dozens of demons in perfect sync, showcasing their eerie similarities. They even have the same boot prints.
• In the episode "Birthmark":
  • Cyborg rips a huge metal pillar off the wall and swings it at Slade. Slade burns through it.
    Cyborg: Whoa!
    Slade: "Whoa"? That's it? No clever comment? I was looking forward to that.
  • To elaborate on the above, Slade didn't simply burn through it; he superheated his own body to the point that the solid metal pillar liquefies before it even touches him, all without him moving a muscle.
  • His delivery of the message to Raven was done in such an intense and intimidating manner, it managed to be one of the most intense moments of the show.
• Raven goaded him about the fact that Trigon was using him and won't give him what he wants. It turns out Slade anticipated that; he stole a ring that protected him from the apocalypse. Then he gives it to Starfire as a show of trust so that the Titans can distract Trigon while he and Robin breach the Underworld.
• In "The End Part 3," where he travels to the Underworld to get his body and soul back from Trigon. Perhaps the best bit comes from his confrontation with Trigon's giant demonic guard, who tells Slade that he "cannot hope to defeat pure evil!" Slade's response? "Actually, I'm not such a nice guy myself." He then proceeds to activate a bomb that blows the guard to smithereens.
  • The bit immediately afterward, where Slade takes his soul, as well as the guard's giant flaming ax, and just before leaving, pauses to toss the guard's severed head a Bond One-Liner: "Don't get up. I'll let myself out."
  • Later in the same episode, Slade gets to confront Trigon himself and tell him off after pulling a Villainous Rescue.
    Slade: For the record, I'm nobody's servant.
  • Special mention must be given to the moment when Slade leaps out of nowhere when the Titans seem to have lost and slices off one of Trigon's horns with a flaming two-headed axe.
• This little exchange in "The End Pt. 2" might just be the Crowning Moment of Awesome for Slade and the writers of this show. Truly underrated.
  Cyborg: We already tried fighting him (Trigon). Look where it got us!
  Slade: It's the end of the world. Did you think it would be easy? I don't expect you to win. I don't even expect you to live. Only endure.
• How about the entirety of "Haunted"? He beat the ever-loving crap out of Robin, and he wasn't even there!
  • He also socked Raven in the face through a psychic connection.

Red X (II)

• His Big Damn Heroes moment in "X".
• Kung. Fu. On motorcycles.
• Not to mention how he single-handedly defeats all the rival racers. These rivals are nine villains in their tricked-out cars. And Red X does it in forty seconds.
  Gizmo: Whose side are you on, barf brain!?
  Red X: Mine!
• In "X", Red X essentially invites Robin to chase him through an obstacle course full of laser triplines or whatever. He does it backwards, without looking, and dodges every single one. While Robin is chasing him. And Robin still doesn't manage to catch him.
• Red X himself is essentially a Crowning Character of Awesome. He managed before getting the suit to deduce its continued existence and location, and steal it out from under the Titans. While most of the other villains spend at least a little time in Cardboard Prison, Red X is never captured, never completely defeated, and never identified.

Group

• The Titans' line from the very first episode, epic.
  Beast Boy: You know, Cinderblock, normally the bad guys break out of jail.
  Robin: And I can think of five good reasons why you don't want to break in. [leaps into the scene and lands in a crouch] One!
  Starfire: [swoops and lands] Two!
  Beast Boy: [as a tiger, lunges in. When he comes down, he has taken human form] Three!
  Raven: [drops in ready to fight] Four!
  Cyborg: [jumps in] Five!
  Robin: [Titans stand ready for battle] No matter how you do the math, it all adds up to you going down. So, are you going to go quietly...
  Cyborg: ...or is this gonna get loud? [Cinderblock roars and barrels straight toward the team]
  Robin: Titans! Go!
• Robin and Starfire prove their worthy status as a Battle Couple in "Stranded" by taking out the Monster of the Week together. Twice.
• In "Apprentice Part 2":
  • The other four Titans' Big Damn Heroes moment, starting with Starfire announcing their presence by blasting Slade with a starbolt and made even more awesome by the accompanying dialogue:
    Robin: Get out of here! Go! You don't know what those beams did to-
    Beast Boy: Dude.
    Raven: We know.
    Cyborg: And we don't care.
    Starfire: We are your friends, Robin. We are not leaving without you.
  • When Slade deactivates the probes just before the Titans die, he is furious at Robin and he tries to kick him while he is down. To his surprise, Robin catches the attack and knocks him back. Knocked off-balance, he is then attacked by the full force of the Teen Titans. First, Beast Boy becomes a tiger and slashes him brutally, Cyborg and Starfire blast him with full force, Raven psychic grabs him by the feet and slams him to the ground, and Robin finishes the job with a mean kick that destroys half of his mask.. Slade covers his face and retreats in true fear for the first time in the series.
  • Come on, how about Round 2 with Terra? They win and send her running.
    • Win? They completely thrashed her, which she herself used to describe the beatdown she got. It just shows you don't mess with the Titans, especially all five at once, AND when they're pissed off.
    • They don't just win, they stalk her. You can see they're playing with her, not even showing what they're capable of.
• The entire final battle in the second-to-last episode "Titans Together" was one big CMOA for everyone...
  • Specifically, when Beast Boy rallies together the remaining four Titans and crashes The Brotherhood of Evil's headquarters and proceeds to challenge all the villains from every episode (except for Slade and Brother Blood)... after having seen that nearly all the other Titans are frozen. And then, when the "presumed dead" Titans also come crashing in just in time to save Beast Boy from Madam Rouge.
    Cyborg: Lesson number one: Never throw me down a hole unless you make sure I stay there!
    Starfire: The lesson two: We never give up!
    Raven: Lesson three: Your secret lair isn't very secret.
    Beast Boy: Titans, together!
  • As for the “honorary” Titans:
    • Gnarrk using Kole's crystal form to smash Ding Dong Daddy's car.
    • Bushido slicing through Atlas's leg.
    • Mas y Menos taking down and freezing Prof. Chang and his henchmen
    • Panthra doing an old-fashion lucha match with Wrestling Star and taking his mask “as per wrestling code.”
    • Herald taking down Malchior by sending him to another dimension.
    • Bobby facing down Monsieur Mallah, who had just previously swatted away Cyborg and Gnarrk with ease. What makes it even better is that Raven told the kids to stay away from anyone older then them and they end up fighting one of the most powerful villains there.
    • Kilowatt absorbing Overload
    • Aqualad and Tramm washing away Gen. Immortus and his army.
    • Jinx's betrayal and taking down both the rest of the HIVE FIVE and Madam Rouge with Hot Spot and Wildebeast.
    • Thunder's epic flip and releasing a shockwave that knocked over Warp and Trident
    • Argent taking down Johnny Rancid
    • Redstar beating the crap out of Steamroller
    • Speedy defeating Fang
    • ...And many more.
  • Special mention should be made to the orchestra-and-electric-guitar version of the main theme that plays once the tide changes and most of the above happens.
  • After the big battle (a very, very well done one by the by) we cut to Dr. Light robbing a bank. The camera turns around to the five members, watching him rob the bank. Cyborg says, "Maybe we ought to show him who he's up against." and the camera tilts upward to show ALL THE OTHER TITANS.
    Robin: Titans, GO!
• It's a comedy episode, and it's a Funny episode at that, but the Action Prologue in "Employee of the Month" might be the single best one in the entire series. The panning, zooming effect as the farmhouse couple's revealed to be Robin and Starfire in disguise, the music that starts playing as Cyborg leaps out of the fake cow with a "mooyah" to ambush the flying saucer and continues through the scene, the shapeshifting animation effect where Beast Boy changes from a pig to a hovering, diamond form and then expands out into a T-rex, the team's aerial pursuit of the saucer... it's odd that such an epic battle sequence is the cold open to a comedy episode, but it truly is epic.
• Titan East passes Control Freak's challenges with style in "For Real". He even congratulates them for it.
  • Bumblebee has to stop a train before it reaches a certain station or else the bomb attached to it will detonate, while wearing a collar that forces her to shrink. After several failed attempts to stop the train, she instead uses the electric rails and her stingers to short out the bomb.
  • Aqualad has to close a valve before it dumps toxic waste into the city's water supply, with a mechanical shark guarding the valve. With the shark preventing Aqualad from closing the valve in time, Aqualad instead uses the shark to plug up the valve.
  • Mas y Menos have to disarm a bomb in the city center, but the switches for it on opposite ends, and have to be pressed at the same time. To get around the "have to be touching" rule, the two begin running around in a circle around the bomb, turning into a centrifuge, and using centrifugal force to propel them to their respective switches.
  • Speedy has to stop a swarm of missiles before they blow up the bridge, and his arrows have been confiscated. Speedy instead improvises a giant bow using a tow truck and launches himself at the missiles and then from there redirects the missiles so that they collide with each other and harmlessly blow up in midair.
• In "Betrayal":
  • The tower is invaded by Slade's robot army. The defenses are down, the security system is locked, the Titans are a man down and facing literally fifty-to-one odds. And it's the middle of the night.
    Starfire: They are too numerous to fight! What shall we do?
    Robin: Fight anyway.
  • And they win. By the end of it, they're exhausted, emotionally drained, and the tower is a wreck. But they win.
• The Titans giving Billy Numerous a taste of his own medicine in "Overdrive" by multiplying themselves tenfold to combat all of the Numerous clones, highlights Robin using his baton to take out dozens of clones at once, Raven sealing a bunch of clones in a large forcefield, Beast Boy taunting the clones and then chasing them off in a tiger form, and they completely exhaust Billy and cause his clones to disappear, it's made even more awesome when it's revealed that the Titan "clones" were actually holograms created by Cyborg.
• In "The End Part 3" the Titans minus Raven (who gets her own moment soon after) and Slade try fighting Trigon one last time and actually do a decent job! Though he takes them out in one hit each once he gets serious, they still were able to cause him harm and even seem to have a chance at defeating him for a second!

Other

• For Mumbo, the entire musical number in "Bunny Raven", particularly the ending. It manages to take a goofy and fairly harmless villain, and make him genuinely scary.
• Jinx vs. Madame Rouge, both times. That Madame Rouge is a good deal stronger than her counterpart in the comics makes it that much more awesome, since Jinx clearly isn't expending any real effort and still comes out on top (granted, she wasn't doing the actual fighting the second time, but still...). Special mention must also go to her Heel–Face Turn in "Titans Together", where she wipes out her former villain team with a single finger snap (which creates a giant energy wave to hit them).
• Kid Flash's fights against the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. and his showdown with Madame Rogue.
  • What fight against the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E.? He toyed with them, and the only reason it was not a Curb-Stomp Battle in his favor was that he was too busy making them look stupid and flirting with Jinx to fight back.
• Did we mention Madame Rouge? Every battle with her is filled with awesome moments. The two episodes that featured her as a sole villain show her as being on a level of badass just short of Slade. She even gets to T-1000 her way through a fence. And she can stretch fast enough to beat Kid Flash as he as moving at superspeed! An episode with her is in fact quite like one with the Terminator: the heroes spend most of the time on the defensive against an opponent that just. Won't. Stop.
• Brother Blood definitely gets his share. When his cyborg copies invade Teen Titans Tower East, the alarm systems are shut off so he's free to enter through the window into the main living area where Cyborg is. He then pulls off a Slow walk across the pool and proceeds to block all of Cyborg's blows and cut through to his heart/power generator with only two fingers!!!
  • Just to be clear, he blocks punches that have taken out extremely powerful baddies with only two fingers. And we all know how strong Cy is.
  • Honestly, Blood is pretty much a walking CMOA whenever he busts out his full powers- another example would be his final battle with Cyborg, where he tears his opponent literally to pieces with his bare hands while simultaneously holding the rest of the core team and Titans East immobile with his telekinesis. He's probably tied with Slade and Madame Rouge for being the most physically dangerous villain.
• Let's not forget Mad Mod. He manages to first capture the Titans in a mundane but surprisingly effective way (by pumping knock-out gas into their tower), then proceeds to screw with their heads in a funhouse of Op Art illusions, Hypnoscreens and equally awesome Pop Culture references. He does all this despite being a fairly old man.
  • In "Revolution", Mod manages to hypnotize the population of the city, replace the whole city with newspaper cut-outs of British buildings, replace the sky with the goddamn Union Jack, creates nigh-invulnerable robots and has the gall to attempt striking Robin with his cane. He does this to trap Robin and transfer his youth into himself. Yes, that's right, an old British guy manages to attack and steal the youth out of the Boy Wonder.
• This version's Killer Moth is actually competent and flat-out badass. He has many moments in this series that make you forget his Batman counterpart.
  • His first appearance on the show, where he's in his cave about to release an army of moths, while performing his Badass Boast:
    Killer Moth: Patience, my children. Soon you shall wreak the havoc you crave. Soon I shall have the power I deserve. Soon, the entire city will bow before its new master, Killer Moth!!! [Evil Laugh]
  • Later that episode, when the Teen Titans find out where he lives, he appears on top, as well as he comes down and takes them out with ease.
• Aqualad is generally only known for breathing underwater, control over water in general, and communicating with aquatic life. However, in "Titans East, Part 1", while he did fight an army of Cyborg-copies with water attacks, he did manage at one point to tear off one of their arms, then tear them apart with that same arm. In addition, with one punch in the right place, he made one explode. All that takes some serious strength.
  • In "Wavelength" he also demonstrates his super strength by punching his way through the Titans front door (a solid steel door, mind you) and then collapses a massive rock outcropping with a single punch (underwater too).
• How about in "Hide And Seek" when the kids, who had up until that point mostly played The Load, get captured by Mallah, but when he overpowers Raven, their innate superpowers kick in and they begin fighting back a super-intelligent, talking gorilla. Special mention goes to Melvin, and her awesome line, "Hey, you big ape! Why don't you Pick on Someone Your Own Size! Bobby, get him!"
  • Also, Bobby was real! If Melvin can imagine a gigantic, ass-kicking, oddly cute bear, at that age, imagine what she'll be capable of in the future!
• What about Control Freak in "For Real"? If the original Titans had been home, those gadgets might very well have worked!
  • With Villainous Valor, he retreats when Titans East point out his tests are incompatible with their powers so it will be unfair for either of them. He takes the time to make new ones that are fair.
  • And he almost defeats the Titans East with similar traps.
• Trigon has the Titans fighting evil duplicates of themselves. Duplicates spawned from them. Duplicates that know everything they know. Such as the fact that Robin and Slade are trying to retrieve Raven. When the Titans start to win that fight, Evil Starfire decides that she'll flip the tables on them by letting Trigon in on their little secret. Trigon's response? A calm and disinterested, "I know."
• Robin and Cyborg pulling off their Sonic Boom in the "Titans Together" finale. Not only is it a CMOA, but it's also a Call-Back to the very first episode in which they got into a fight after not being able to do the move right.

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