Spinning out of Convergence, Titans Hunt is an 8-issue comic book series written by Dan Abnett that will re-introduce the past history of the Teen Titans into the post-Flashpoint DC Universe. A young precog named Lilith has visions of a forgotten Teen Titans team, and the series will revolve around her quest to seek out characters such as Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Roy Harper, and Garth.
This mini-series leads into Titans (Rebirth).
Not to be confused by the New Titans storyline, or the final arc of Teen Titans (1996).
Titans Hunt (2015) features examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: Dan Abnett has mentioned that because the current versions of Donna Troy and Garth are evil, there will be some tricky obstacles to making them part of a superhero team. The book is also questioning Roy Harper's current moral alignment and his less-than-heroic tendencies.
- All There in the Script: The collected edition includes uncoloured versions of several of the flashbacks, and show that the flashbacks were originally drawn to include Kid Flash/Wally West alongside the rest of the Titans, before deliberately removing him from the final versions of the pages.
- Bait-and-Switch: To an extent. From the way the story began and how promotion of the series was conducted, many believed that the original pre-Flashpoint Wally West was a Forgotten Fallen Friend. As the story concludes, it's later revealed that the deceased Titan is Don Hall, the original Dove. However, Wally is missing, and no one remembers him.
- Big Bad: It's implied that someone out there is responsible for the Titans not remembering they were a team and that they were friends, and said someone is also constantly watching them. The only person who is aware of this villain is Lilith. That Dick Grayson feels weird looking at a whirlpool and Lilith looks as though she's seen a ghost when she sees two kids playing Twister implies the villain is Mr. Twister, the first bad guy the Titans ever fought. While Mr. Twister has appeared in the second issue and mentioned in the solicits for future issues, said solicits referring to a third party. This is revealed to be Dr. Manhattan
- The Bus Came Back:
- This is the first time Gnarrk has been included as a main character in any Titans media besides the cartoon since the 1980s.
- Mister Twister, the first villain that the Titans ever fought, appeared in the second issue bedeviling Roy Harper.
- Covers Always Lie: The first cover has the Justice League and the current Teen Titans standing solemnly at the grave of the fallen Titan (who is revealed to be Don Hall in the final issue). Not only does this never happen, but those two teams never even appear in the series.
- Darker and Edgier: Mister Twister is channeling the creepiness he gained pre-Flashpoint when he became the Gargoyle.
- Fix Fic: The goal of this storyline is the straighten out the mishandled and self-contradicting Titans history set forth in Scott Lobdell's Red Hood and the Outlaws and Teen Titans.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: As the Titans regroup and piece together the fragments of their missing memory, it's made apparent that they are forgetting someone—someone who died—whose death had been hinted since the series was first announced. It's the original Dove, Don Hall, but even when he's eventually remembered absolutely no one, not even Lilith—the mastermind behind the memory wipe—remembers who the final member of the original team was.
- Godzilla Threshold: The looming threats to everyone is enough to force Dick to don the Nightwing costume for the first time since Forever Evil (2013).
- Greater-Scope Villain: The final issues reveal that Mr. Twister is indeed the Big Bad, but he's serving an interdimensional beast that's consuming worlds. It's possibly it may be the Antithesis, the monster he served in the previous continuity. It's later revealed to be an evil Donna Troy form the future in Titans (Rebirth)
- Happily Married: Mal Duncan and Karen Breecher. They were originally this before they unceremoniously split up during the last Doom Patrol comic. And not only are they married, Karen's pregnant.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mr. Twister being around the other Titans allows him to regain corporeal form. This allows the Titans to wound him and Gnarrk to throw him into the dimension his monstrous master resided in.
- Insistent Terminology: The word "Flash" appear quite a bit in the narration of the first issue.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The story is driven by the original Titans being drawn together after pieces of a forgotten past start reforming in their minds. It's revealed that Lilith wiped the memories of the original Teen Titans to remove Mister Twister's tether on them, foiling his plot. But by the conclusion of the story, no one can remember the 10th Titan, hinting at larger forces at play.
- Male Gaze: Dove's first transformation gives us an ass shot, and it keeps going from there. She's also notably the only female character who wears a skintight costume.
- Off the Wagon: Roy Harper, who was retconned into being a recovering alcoholic instead of a recovering heroin addict, officially falls off when he drinks an entire bottle of whiskey. However, the narration claims that Roy drinks because he's trying to remember something.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Lilith Clay was last seen in the previous volume of Teen Titans as around the same age as Tim Drake's team. Here, Lilith appears to be in her early twenties.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Roy gets one in the second issue, which comes off as a Take That! to his handling in Red Hood and the Outlaws and Red Hood/Arsenal.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Averted. It's implied that Mal's success in the music industry is owed to the subconscious use of his forgotten sonic abilities.
- Reimagining the Artifact: The members of Diablo are all characters who were originally Fad Super villains in the Silver Age Teen Titans stories, like Mad Mod, Honeybun and Ding-Dong Daddy.
- Retcon:
- The whole purpose of this storyline is to retroactively introduce past Teen Titans history for the post-Flashpoint versions of Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Roy Harper, Garth, Mal Duncan, Gnarrk, and Hawk and Dove.
- Lilith's history in the current DC universe also seems to have been revised. She was formally introduced as a brainwashed ally of Titans villain Harvest, and then later appeared without any powers and no longer serving Harvest. The first issue of Titans Hunt establishes her as a counselor specializing in helping substance abuse addicts and it appears she's been doing this for a while as one of her longtime patients is Roy Harper.
- In the New 52 Hawk and Dove series, it was stated that Don Hall, the original Dove, had been killed in "the worst crisis the world has ever seen." The Reveal in Titans Hunt #8 is that Mister Twister killed Don during his last battle with the Teen Titans.
- Ret-Gone: Kid Flash/Wally West, as revealed in the collected edition. The trade paperback includes unfinished versions of several of the flashback pages, and show that they originally included Wally alongside his friends, before he was removed from the final pages.
- Sequel Hook: After all is said and done, no one—not even Lilith—can remember who the forgotten tenth Titan was. Cue a yellow lightning bolt streaking across the sky, setting the stage for DC Universe: Rebirth #1.
- Sidekick Graduations Stick: A very interesting case of this - all the heroes here have graduated, but, for some twisted reason, Mr. Twister keeps seeing the Titans as their younger selves, constantly calling them by their old codenames.
- Take That!: Dick Grayson's first appearance in the series has him dealing with the head of a global organ theft ring specializing in metahuman organs for rich clientele. The organization's name is "Harvest." That Garth arrives and promptly murders the men leading this group might be considered a jab to the Harvest of Scott Lobdell's Teen Titans volume because of how poorly received he was.
- Threshold Guardian: Lilith was serving as one to the rest of the Titans after their memories were erased, though it becomes clear she wasn't keeping complete tabs on all of them as she seemingly wasn't aware that Dawn Granger is the new Dove when they meet. This is actually the second time she's acted in this role, the first being as Omen during Teen Titans (1996).
- Vagueness Is Coming: At the end of the series, a police officer catches sight of a storm brewing, mentioning "thunder and lightning", with the last panel showing a lightning bolt hitting the ground.
- Visions of Another Self: Lilith receiving visions of a forgotten Teen Titans team is what kicks off this storyline.
