Fanfic / New Tamaran

Cover Image by CaptainEdwardTeague

New Tamaran is a fanfic by Saberlord_Oboeshoes acting as a sixth season to Teen Titans (2003). The story is mostly centered on Starfire, who is looking forward to a normal adulthood with her boyfriend/fiance Robin.

But that all changes when her home planet Tamaran is destroyed, and what's left of her people need a new home and a new leader. With the encouragement of her friends and fiance, Starfire helps her people turn Earth's moon into New Tamaran, and Robin/Nightwing hopes their marriage will form a peaceful alliance between them and humanity.

However, the evil that destroyed Tamaran has come to Earth, and it won't stop until it has destroyed everything Starfire loves.

This story is 45 chapters long and features a good amount of non-Titans DC characters — Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Oracle, the Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, Steve Trevor (who is President of the United States), Dr. Michael Holt, and The Spectre.

There is also a sequel, Justice Returns, which wraps up loose ends and sets the stage for a new generation of young heroes and villains.

The author has also written some side-stories/prequels as well:

- One Bad Day After, a sequel to The Killing Joke

- A Brief History of Superheroics by Lois Lane: the author's alternative take on the history of the DC Universe

- Unlikely Alike: Supergirl and Raven have a chat

- An Offer Luthor Can't Refuse: Lex Luthor makes a deal with the Big Bad

- As Long As I Believe In Us: A love story between Wonder Girl and Kyle Rayner.

In addition, the author has expanded on the backstory of some of the characters:- Raven- Wonder Girl- Terra- Speedy- Cheshire- Aqualad- Bumblebee- Kid Flash and Jinx

See also League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tempest Rewrite from the same author.

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New Tamaran, Justice Returns, and their side-stories contain examples of:

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Scarecrow can normally be easily taken out by Batman, but here he goes toe-to-toe with an Amazon princess and an overpowered half-demon. Of course, he does fight both with magically enhanced fear toxin.
  • While Steve Trevor has never been a weakling, he tends to be overshadowed by characters with god-like strength. Here, he leads an assault on an invading Tamaranean army, and even after he loses his plane, he still manages to take out several alien attackers before going face-to-face with Wildfire and punching him into the Washington Monument.
• Adaptational Consent: In the comics, Speedy and Cheshire have consensual intimate relations. In Justice Returns, Speedy learns that, before turning him over to the Brotherhood of Evil, Cheshire drugged and raped him, resulting in the conception of a baby girl (Lian Harper).
• Adaptation Name Change: A few minor ones.
  • The Star Sapphires are instead called the Violet Lanterns (probably because "Star Sapphire" and "Starfire" sound too similar).
  • Aquaman is never referred to as Arthur Curry, but by his Atlantean name Orin. Likewise, his son isn't called Arthur Jr but Orin II.
  • Since Nightstar is the Princess of New Tamaran, her name isn't Mar'i Grayson but Mary Kura-Kori.
• Adaptational Origin Connection:
  • Beast Boy's parents created the serum that gave their son his shapeshifting powers by studying Circe's magical staff.
  • Zauriel aided the priests of Azarath in neutralizing Trigon's mental influence over Raven by linking her mind to that of the purest human - Dick Grayson a.k.a. Robin.
  • Flash and Kid Flash discovered the speed force while studying Amazonian artifacts (namely, the Helmet of Hermes, which had previously belonged to Jay Garrick).
  • Bumblebee's great-grandfather created the original suits for Doll Man and Doll Girl, who have a Legacy Character in the The Atom. Bumblebee outdoes them by splicing the size-changing tech into her DNA.
  • Cheshire was initially recruited by Kobra.
  • Terra is the last of the Stratans, who were wiped out by Aquaman and Mera.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Wonder Girl is Wonder Woman's daughter instead of her adopted sister.
  • Like the show, Bumblebee and Herald aren't a couple. Bumblebee has a sexual relationship with Speedy and Aqualad (the latter of whom she marries), while Herald's love life isn't mentioned.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • All female characters are bisexual, along with Aqualad and Speedy
  • Amazons are also bisexual, and after WWII, they helped society quickly accept LGBT rights.
  • Tamaraneans and Atlanteans are also said to all be bisexual.
• Adaptational Species Change:
  • Argent and Hot Spot aren't half-alien hybrids, but metahuman sidekicks to The Ray and Firestorm respectively.
  • Terra is a Stratan rather than a metahuman.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Wildfire/Ryand’r begins as a hero like the comics, but the death of Starfire sends him on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that ends in an invasion of Earth.
  • The Spectre is usually an anti-hero, but once finding a new host in Raven, he becomes mad with power.
  • Damian Wayne is pretty hot-headed, but here he remorselessly kills his mother in a fit of rage. Justified, since this Damian was never raised by Batman and becomes one of Slade’s apprentices.
  • In the comics the Stratans cared greatly about the sanctity of the Earth and took great measures to protect its ecosystem. In Terra's origin story, they blackmail humanity and Atlanteans throughout history with the threat of earthquakes, and are responsible for every recorded one; this ultimately leads to their destruction by Aquaman and Mera.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: The role of Oracle is passed on to Gear, who later passes it to Max Gibson.
• Age Lift:
  • In The Killing Joke, Barbara Gordon is a young adult. In this story, Barbara is an ex-girlfriend of Robin, who has turned 18 at the story's beginning, implying that this version of Barbara was still in high school when the Joker crippled her.
  • Kyle Rayner is or was a sidekick to the other Green Lanterns, thus also turning him from a young adult to a teenager.
• Altar Diplomacy: The marriage between Robin and Starfire is the final clause of peaceful coexistence between Earth and New Tamaran.
• Alternate Continuity: Many story details - particularly involving Wonder Girl, the Amazons, minor character backstories, and Blackfire - contradict the show's tie-in comic.

• Arch-Enemy: Cheshire sees herself as this to Wonder Girl, and Scarecrow wants to be this to Raven.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Raven ultimately achieves godhood, gaining full power over the laws of physics and magic and the ability to travel throughout the universe (and enter the multiverse). However, she can't risk using too much power or else she risks severing the emotional connections to her friends.
• Ascended Extra: Cheshire is given a speaking role in the main story, and her origin ends with her playing a big role in future villainy.
• Ascended Fangirl: Raven idolized Batman, and is now on a team led by his former sidekick.
• Asshole Victim: After everything he's done, Lex Luthor is captured by his lover Queen Bee and sent to Belle Reeve, which Icicle and Killer Frost have converted into their playpen as they're free to torment the other prisoners.
• Author Tract: The author will occasionally take time to preach his social-political views.
  • In Chapter 37, Control Freak randomly starts spouting off SJW talking points, and is promptly ridiculed for it.
  • Steve Trevor serves as a mouthpiece for pro-military views, explaining why war is sometimes a necessary evil.
  • Wonder Girl's origin has Abner Smith, a stand-in for Chelsea Manning, release documents that aid terrorists in hunting down their targets, much like how Manning's leaks did. While Manning is considered by many to be a hero, Smith is clearly a smug self-righteous coward.
  • Speedy's origin has brief commentary on Native American reservations, and crooked cops who plant drugs (and the war on drugs itself).
  • Cheshire's origin has her radicalized by Kobra after a US drone strike kills her family, much like real world ISIS recruitment.
  • Bumblebee's origin is a thorough condemnation of riots and looting done in the name of Black Lives Matter.
  • Subverted when Kid Flash discusses his origin, which deals with school shootings and gun politics. At first, Wally comes across as rational and educated, while Jinx's father is emotional and clueless, but they both end up letting their tempers flare at each other until Jinx screams in emotional distress. They both reconcile and agree to respect each other's opinions.
  • Finally, there's the recurring promotion of sex-positivity, and how each individual should discover the type of intimate relationship that is best for them.

• Baby Trap: Oracle puts a unique spin on this. After being kidnapped by Slade to create a new apprentice from the DNA of Robin and Starfire, she sabotaged his plan and impregnated herself with the embryo. Her plan was to let the unborn hybrid grow within her into a baby that would force Robin to stay with Starfire, ensuring that he wouldn't become a sad loner like Batman.
• Back from the Dead: Raven had made her own version of the Purple Ray underneath Titans Tower, modified to resurrect her or her friends if they were ever killed.
• Badass Boast: Beast Boy and Raven each give one at the start of Justice Returns:
  Beast Boy: (to Kalibak) You see, I’m a shapeshifter. I can transform into any animal, from both zoos and fairy tales, and from any planet. So, you’re not just up against one enemy – you're up against BILLIONS!!! And you have no idea which one is gonna come next!
  Raven: (to Darkseid) You call yourself a god? My father was a real god. Conquered his universe, then my mother’s, and then tried this one. He could destroy an entire planet just by setting foot on it. But thanks to my friends, I got over my fear of him, and destroyed him. And that was BEFORE I became this! You want fear? You want power? I’ll give you both.
• Be a Whore to Get Your Man: Selina Kyle finally gets to be with Bruce Wayne once she starts a new career as a High-Class Call Girl.

• Bio-Augmentation: In Bumblebee's origin, we learn that she used bio-hacking to give herself insect wings and shrinking powers, making both of them genetic.
• Canon Character All Along: Kitten's real name turns out to be Betty Kane. Custody was given to her aunt Kathy, who reformed her into the heroine Flamebird.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Despite having more mature content than the original show, the fic still starts off as a fairly light-hearted superhero tale. Then a certain someone shows up at the wedding...
• Chekhov's Gun: The morning after Robin proposes, Starfire accidentally reveals she's been given a Violet Lantern ring, but hasn't put it on due to fears that being a Lantern will take her away from her friends. Guess what she uses to defeat her Red Lantern sister.
• Child Prodigy: Barbara Gordon was 11 years old back when she earned her PhD. in computer science.
• Composite Character:
  • The Scarecrow of this story is a successor to Dr. Crane, and his first name - Sebastian - is taken from the original Brother Blood from the comics (as well as his son's obsession with Raven).
  • Wonder Girl is heavily based on the pre-Crisis Donna Troy, but she is also the daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor a la Fury from Earth-Two, and she's best friends with Supergirl like Cassie Sandsmark.
    • Kyle Rayner takes Terry Long's role as Donna's lover and father of her son Robert. After he dies, both roles are filled by Speedy.
  • In Terra's origin story, she learns that she is a Stratan like the second Terra Markov and Atlee (and is the last known Stratan).
  • Near the end, we learn that Phobia from the Brotherhood of Evil was an adult Ace from the Royal Flush Gang, now has reformed as Mirage. She joins Killowat's Team Titans, which includes Mammoth (now Battalion), See-More (now Prestor John), Kyd Wykkyd (now Nightrider), Angel (now Redwing), and Private HIVE (now Guardian).
  • Also near the end, when Bumblebee moves to Atlantis with Aqualad she renames herself Dolphin, who was Aqualad's wife in the comics.
  • Jinx turns out to be the TT version of Linda Park (Wally West's girlfriend/wife).
• Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: Downplayed. It's stated that STAR Labs provide the funding for Titans Tower and clean up after their battles, but we never see any Titans doing any promotions for them.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Scarecrow (or rather his fear toxin) delivers one to all the Titans, and Wonder Girl.
  • Which is immediately followed by Raven giving one to him via Mind Rape.
  • President Trevor's defeat of Wildfire.
  • Spectre-Raven gives a brutal one to Blackfire, and then as White-Raven gives one to Darkseid, while Beast Boy gives one to Kalibak and his troops.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Ironically, Scarecrow signs over his fear toxin to Lex Luthor … who then uses it for benevolent purposes.
• Darker and Edgier: The author is well aware that the original show's child audience has grown up.
• Dead Guy Junior: The full name of Nightstar (Robin and Starfire's daughter) is Mary Kura-Kori, named for Robin's mother. Also, Aqualad and Bumblebee's daughter Tula is named for the original Aquagirl (although she died before she could become Aquagirl in this verse).
• Death by Adaptation:
  • The story has the deaths of Dr. Light, Mumbo, Mad Mod, Silkie, Joker, Supergirl, and several Honorary Titans.
  • In Justice Returns, Wonder Girl reveals that Kyle Rayner had been murdered by Cheshire.
  • In Aqualad's origin, Tula dies before she can become Aquagirl.
• Deconstruction Fic:
  • Despite the show's kid-friendly nature, teenaged superheroes would not be chaste or celibate, dealing with their raging hormones and stresses of hero life by pleasuring themselves, finding sex buddies, or forming a Battle Couple. The only exceptions are Raven (who has great control over her emotions), Starfire (same reason, at least prior to becoming a couple with Robin), and Cyborg (who lacks genitals).
  • Also, it's quite dangerous for humans to have sex with metahumans or powerful aliens ... unless the stronger lover has remarkable control over their strength and other powers.
  • If superheroes join a war of any scale, most of them will die, and the rest will probably be too traumatized to return to hero work.
  • Superheroes can't raise a family unless at least one parent completely abandons hero work.
• Deity of Human Origin: Raven is a mortal who becomes a goddess, although being the daughter of a demon-god definitely helped.
• Destructo-Nookie:
  • Robin taking Starfire’s virginity ends with the top floor of Titans Tower reduced to rubble.
  • A wing of Wayne Manor suffered a similar fate when Robin deflowered Supergirl.
  • Averted with Beast Boy and Raven. Their first-time making love tears open space-time and creates the Green Martians across the multiverse.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Control Freak aids Blackfire and orchestrates her plan as paypack for not making the Titans' villain list.
• Divine Date: Once Raven achieves godhood, she becomes a couple with Beast Boy.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Strongly averted, as it's always done for drama or horror.
  • After his failed escape attempt, Cheshire puts Red X under mind control and brings him to Red Lantern Blackfire, and both villainesses agree to share him.
  • Cheshire loses her virginity by raping a fellow student at HIVE Academy.
  • After capturing Speedy for the Brotherhood of Evil, Cheshire drugs him and then seduces him while pretending to be Wonder Girl, resulting in the conception of their daughter Lian.
  • Subverted with Lex Luthor - his fate as a plaything for Killer Frost and Icicle is rather well-deserved.

• Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: Earth militaries quickly put a stop to the Tamaranean invasion, but not without losses and collateral damage.
• Enemy Mine: In "An Offer Luthor Can'ts Refuse", it's revealed that Bruno Mannheim got Luthor to work with Superman and Luthor hates him for it.
• Ethical Slut / Good Bad Girl:
  • Supergirl is rather proud of her sex addiction and is Friends with Benefits with other young heroes around the world. Yet she’s still a sweet, kind-hearted, inspiring superheroine who won’t hesitate to rush into danger or comfort the hurting. She also only sleeps with her single friends, and is seeking a genuine romantic partner to stay faithful to.
  • Wonder Girl follows Supergirl's example - and often accompanies her - until she and Speedy become a couple
  • While undercover at HIVE Academy, Bumblebee got most of her intel via pillow talk with other students. As leader of Titans East, she has regular threesomes with Speedy and Aqualad, which stopped once they all got serious relationships.
  • After coming back to Earth, Wonder Woman brags about banging the entire Justice League (and more) while off-planet. Steve Trevor is unfazed by this.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Upon learning that Oracle is pregnant, Adonis and Johnny Rancid turn on Cheshire.
  • Lex Luthor is disgusted by Blackfire turning against her sister and her own species, yet he still teams up with her to benefit his own agenda.
• Exotic Extended Marriage: All Tamaraneans (except royalty) have intermingling group marriages, uniting the whole species together in love.
• Extreme Libido: Supergirl is a voyeur, thinks mostly dirty thoughts, has had sex every day since losing her virginity, uses her super-senses to make the act perfect every time, her list of partners includes most other young heroes, and she’s gladly unapologetic about all this.
• Falsely Reformed Villain: Lex Luthor seems to have gone clean, but only for good PR. He also agrees to play a part in Blackfire’s plan.
• Fantastic Racism: The Tamaraneans believe black hair to be cursed, something Blackfire is too familiar with. However, they seem to follow Wildfire's lead of accepting Starfire's love for Robin, primarily because he's already taken in an abnormally-hair-colored wife (the blonde Zirral).
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • This is how Blackfire views her fate for her crimes across the galaxy, which is why she lets Starfire deliver a Mercy Kill.
  • In Justice Returns, Lex Luthor is sent to Belle Reeve, where Killer Frost and Icicle are free to sadistically torture and rape the other prisoners, who are kept alive solely for their continued amusement.
• Foil: The origins of Wonder Girl and Cheshire are this
• Foreshadowing: Wildfire is unfaithful to his two lovers when he gets Supergirl to have sex with him by claiming to be single, showing that he's not as moral as he appears.
• For the Evulz: Blackfire was only sent to Earth to find the Anti-Life Equation; everything she does to her sister and her native people is all for fun.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Blackfire hates her own species for how they treated her for being different, but realizes that she rejected the love of her sister, whom she made into the target of her anger. When Starfire finally sees her as Beyond Redemption, Blackfire finally admits it's her own fault she's unloved.
  Blackfire: Mother, father, Tamaran - it's their own fault they never loved me; it's my own fault nobody does.
• Friends with Benefits: The general sex life among all heroes who are age-appropriate and not in a serious relationship
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • While Scarecrow is normally a B-list villain, here he manages to take over the mind of an overpowered half-demon whom he almost turns into a God of Evil.
  • Blackfire has gone from a petty two-episode villain to a Red Lantern and Fury of Darkseid (whom she intends on overthrowing and replacing) who starts a war between her people and Earth using the Joker and Lex Luthor as puppets. Oh, and she kills her sister at her wedding.
  • Also, the above-mentioned plans were orchestrated by Control Freak.
  • Cheshire’s story has her going from third world village girl to master assassin to leader of a terrorist organization to triggering a xenothium bomb in Dubai.
• Gender Flip: Killowat turns out to be a male version of Livewire, who turned good after a Sex–Face Turn with Supergirl.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Red X once he learns the full scope of Blackfire’s plan. He later becomes a law-abiding citizen and marries Terra.
  • Kitten becomes the TT version of Flamebird, and Phobia becomes Mirage.
  • The epilogue has the Team Titans, made up of former HIVE Students turned good.
• Hero of Another Story: During the Teen Titans series, the Justice League was off-planet to aid in the war effort against Darkseid, while Supergirl and Wonder Girl had their own adventures as Lovely Angels, and Oracle acted as their Mission Control. Also, Static and Shazam! are both briefly mentioned as the defenders of Dakota City and Fawcett City respectively. Oh, and Batwoman is the new defender of Gotham.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: The side stories love to emphasize how the life of a sidekick or young hero would make sexual feelings worse in a teenager, and how their mentors allow them to act on these feelings.
• Hotter and Sexier: The main story and the origin flashbacks aren’t shy about discussing the young heroes’ sex lives (to the point where it can be awfully disjointed from the rest of the story).
• Humanity Is Advanced: The armies of Earth prove to be far superior over the Tamaranean invaders.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Starfire’s ultimate desire, which is the reason she starts a modeling career. Robin shares her dream, which is why he decides to retire from hero work and proposes to her.
  • Once Wonder Girl finds out she’s pregnant, she asks Speedy to have a normal life with her. He agrees.
• Insufficiently Advanced Alien: The Tamaraneans may be a Living Weapon race with Faster-Than-Light Travel, but all their technology is from their former Psion overlords. Being a species driven by emotion and not reason, they've made no scientific advancements of their own.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Robin and Starfire and Barbara.
  • Aqualad (Atlantean) and Bumblebee (augmented human).
  • Kid Flash (metahuman) and Jinx (Homo magii).
  • Jason Todd Sandsmark (human, formerly known as Red X) and Terra (Stratan).
  • Supergirl admits to having romantic feelings for Jimmy Olsen, and would happily give up her promiscuity if he wanted to become an official couple with her. This implies that she becomes his Lost Lenore, though.
  • While off-planet, Wonder Woman had several such romances both in and out of the Justice League, while her husband President Trevor fell in love with Mera. Diana happily accepts them both when she returns.
• Legacy Character:
  • Scarecrow is one to Dr. Poison, and Cheshire sees herself as this to The Joker.
  • Raven ultimately fills the role of Spectre, with Darkseid the first to receive her judgment.
  • At the end of Justice Returns, the new female Titans are following after their parents, and Donna’s son Robert (being the son of Kyle Rayner) has the Green Lantern mantle. On the villain side, Damian Wayne is the new Red X, while Ravager and Gemini are taking over the roles of their parents (Slade and Madame Rouge, respectively).
• Let's Play: Beast Boy has started doing these
• Magical Realism: The Homo magi are well-integrated into human society, performing the jobs no better or worse than their Homo sapiens counterparts, as magic and science both have limitations.
• Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex:
  • Robin's first attempt at making love was with Supergirl, who accidentally broke most of his bones (and his bed and bedroom). Likewise, his deflowering of Starfire ended with him having to be restored by Raven's version of the Purple Ray.
  • Also discussed and averted in Unlikely Alike:
  Raven: Yes, and don’t forget your habit of making love every new young hero that comes along.
  Supergirl: Hey, just to be clear, I instruct them in making love to me, otherwise they’d all snap like twigs!
  Raven: Yes, well, I could never indulge myself like that, unless I wanted to trade my virginity for blowing up the whole planet.
• Marry for Love: Starfire is the first Tamaranean royal to do so, as all previous spouses for the new monarch was Tamaran's greatest warrior of the opposite gender (and no, siblings weren't exempt).
• Meta Origin: A Brief History of Superheroics begins by explaining how in this version of the DC Universe, all the Amazons left Themyscera to aid the Allies against Ares and the Axis. It's also explained how Homo magi once ruled humanity, with the most powerful ones being the gods of old, but they wiped each other out until the end of King Arthur's reign, at which point the surviving members swore to never use magic. However, with the return of Ares, they made their presence known again. After the war, the surviving Amazons and Homo magi integrated into human society, with only a select few becoming the ancestors for all the magic-based heroes and villains. Meanwhile, super-science was derived from studying magical artifacts used during the war.
• Monumental Damage:
  • Before they invade Earth, the Tamaraneans destroy the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Site, the Hubble Telescope, and the Justice League Watchtower.
  • President Trevor's defeat of Wildfire involves leveling the Washington Monument.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The future revealed in the epilogue has characters from Kingdom Come, Batman Beyond, and Earth-Two.
    • Slade's new apprentices include Galatea.
  • Supergirl calls Lex Luthor a diseased maniac.
    • In another reference to that movie, Justice Returns has Lex Luthor calling himself "The greatest criminal mastermind of all time!".
  • The iconic scene from Crisis on Infinite Earths of Superman screaming as he's holding Supergirl's corpse is recreated with Wonder Girl in Superman's place.
  • The warden of Arkham, and later Belle Reeve, is none other than Lyle Bolton.
  • Bumblebee was a sidekick for the Atom, just like she was in Young Justice (2010).
  • Wonder Girl reveals that Kyle Rayner made her a heart-shaped necklace from green ring light, just like he did in Green Lantern Vol. 3 #78. As Long As I Believe In Us expands on this moment, incorporating modified dialogue straight from that issue.
  • The end of Justice Returns is a Shout-Out to the beginning of Divide and Conquer, the first Teen Titans episode.
• Never Say "Die": Averted; while the original show heavily avoided any variation of "death", "die" and "kill", this fic has no qualms with such language.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In setting up her Baby Trap scheme, Oracle allowed Slade to escape, thus all his future crimes will be on her head.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • The Tamaraneans were originally a Slave Race to the Psions, who genetically modified them into organic weapons of war; rather than take orders, the Tamaraneans overthrew and exterminated their masters and claimed Tamaran as their own.
  • In Bumblebee's origin, Karen Beecher never would've become a superhero if it weren't for a racist cop.
  • Blackfire was sent to Earth by Darkseid for the Anti-Life Equation, who turns out to be Raven. Thanks to Blackfire, Raven becomes both the new Spectre and a Goddess, who delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to both Blackfire and Darkseid.
• The Not-Love Interest: Romance isn't an option until retirement or semi-retirement^note except for Superman and Lois Lane, it seems; until then, everyone is either a Battle Couple or Friends with Benefits.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In Unlikely Alike, Supergirl and Raven come to realize they have much in common despite their contrasting personalities and public receptions.
• Not What I Signed on For: Upon learning his allies were helping Darkseid to invade Earth, Red X says it's not what he "signed up for".

• Papa Wolf: After his daughter was crippled, Commissioner Gordon has become much harsher on criminals, to the point of shooting to kill and having prisoners lobotomized.
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: Before their final battle, Blackfire realizes what a monster she is and delivers this reasoning to Starfire.
• Pocket Dimension: Raven creates one for Robin and Starfire to use for their love-making and later comes in handy as they deal with PTSD.

• Polyamory:
  • The norm in Tamaranean culture, to the point where all Tamaraneans have intermingling group marriages, uniting the whole species together in love. This is why Starfire is actually happy at the possibility of sharing Robin and ultimately does with Barbara Gordon.
  • Amazons and Atlanteans are also like this. With their respective others away, Steve Trevor and Mera fall in love, and Wonder Woman accepts them both when she returns.
  • The epilogue states that Mirage has this with the other members of the Team Titans.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title:
  • Chapter 11 - ''Prophet Still If Bird or Devil"
  • Chapter 16 - "The Moon Is A Loving Mistress"
  • Chapter 17 - "Queendom Come"
  • Chapter 22 - "A Wedding and Many Funerals"
  • Chapters 24 and 25 - "One Bad Day" and "I've Proven My Point!"
  • Chapter 29 - "No More Heroes"
  • Chapter 30 - "War Were Declared"
  • Chapter 42 - "Princess of Peace"
  • Justice Returns Chapter 5 - "Dine Under The Sea"
• Powered Armor: President Steve Trevor wears this in his fight against Wildfire.
• Pregnant Badass: Wonder Girl reveals she's pregnant in Chapter 4 and is still a heavy-hitting Action Girl. Also, Oracle briefly holds her own against Cheshire.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: In Kid Flash's origin, he and The Flash respectively kill a school shooter and a security guard who hid instead of protecting the students, which goes against their standard Thou Shalt Not Kill moral set. Also, while both the killer and the guard were scum who deserved to die, their deaths would legally be classified as murder. Yet neither Flash nor Kid Flash face any type of repercussions for the blood they spilled. (The author wrote a second revised origin which fixes these problems. The security guard is erased, and while Kid Flash still beats the shooter to death, he's traumatized over it, and isn't considered a murderer because he did stop a killer.)
• Race Lift:
  • Both Speedy and Green Arrow are both part Magical Native American, from which they have inherited their Improbable Aiming Skills.
  • Jinx being a version of Linda Park makes her of Korean descent, as opposed to her Indian comics counterpart.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) is the daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, making her a Composite Character with Fury of Earth-Two.
  • In Aqualad’s origin, Tula is the daughter of Mera.
  • Red X is revealed to the reader to be Jason Todd, but in Justice Returns he changes his surname to Sandsmark and marries Terra, implying they’ll have a daughter named Cassie, who will be the second Wonder Girl.
  • Kitten is revealed to be the TT version of Bette Kane, thus making Killer Moth and Batwoman either siblings or in-laws.
  • Justice Returns reveals that the Brotherhood of Evil, HIVE Academy, and the League of Assassins are all fronts for Kobra. It also makes Killer Frost the mother of Icicle Jr.
  • The end of Justice Returns introduces the Kingdom Come Titans, but only Nightstar and Red Hood (Lian Harper) have their original parentage. Kid Flash (Irey West)’s mother is Jinx, Aquagirl (Tula II)’s mother is Bumblebee, and Kyle Rayner is the deceased father of Donna’s son Robert. Since Roy and Donna are married, this makes Lian and Robert stepsiblings.
• Relationship Upgrade: Robin and Starfire. In Justice Returns, there's also Kid Flash and Jinx, Aqualad and Bumblebee, and Speedy and Wonder Girl.
• Royal Inbreeding: Starfire unashamedly admits to coming from eight generations of brother-sister marriage; one could imply that Blackfire’s “defects” are a result from this.
• Self-Insert Fic: In Chapter 33, Robin and Starfire read a letter from Saberlord Oboeshoes, in which he explains why he loves the Teen Titans, how much them mean to him, and reminding them of what makes them heroes
• Sex Is Good: The stories definitely have a sex-positive message.
• Shout-Out:
  • Raven and Beast Boy's favorite band is Linkin'Essence, which the author admits "is a lazy portmanteau of Linkin Park and Evanescence".^note Both bands were very popular during the show's initial run.
  • The Global Freedom Strategic Defense Program is likely based on the Strategic Defense Initiative.
  • President Trevor ends his fight with Wildifre by saying "I am a man!" and punching him into the ground.
  • In Aqualad's origin, the Atlantean Nereids are described just like the ones from Age of Mythology.
  • In Speedy's origin, he loses his virginity to Wonder Girl much like how Jim did to Michelle.
• Straight Edge Evil: When Luthor meets Blackfire, he refuses to smoke or drink, as they prevent the human mind from being its sharpest.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: When asked how he knows about Cyborg's source of wealth, Beast Boy says "I … most certainly do not use my shape-shifting to sneak in and watch!".
• Take That!:
  • Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl both at one point say, “Sometimes we need to destroy what we hate to protect what we love” – a blatant inversion of a line by Rose Tico.
  • Chapter 8 of Justice Returns has jabs at Teen Titans Go!, Titans (2018), and the DC Animated Movie Universe.
  • Cheshire’s origin begins as a condemnation of drone strikes and civilian casualties in The War on Terror
  • In Bumblebee’s origin, her followers devolve into a parody of the extremist side of Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
  • The origin story for Kid Flash and Jinx involves commentary on school shootings, gun politics, and political extremists.
• Taking the Bullet: When Raven loses control over her powers and fires lightning at Starfire during the latter's marriage to Robin, Reverend MacDuffie jumps in front of Starfire and crumbles into a thousand pieces.
• The Mafia: Blackfire meets Lex Luthor while dressed up like a member.
• The Power of Love: How Starfire defeats Blackfire, and why Raven becomes a benevolent deity.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. After Joker and Blackfire attack their wedding, Robin and Starfire are given much-needed counseling from Michael Holt. Beast Boy also gets mental healing from Raven after killing Scarecrow, and other Titans are implied to get this after the final battle.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: President Steve Trevor delivers a two-parter (chapters 30 and 34) to Wildfire:
  Trevor: I'm calling to reason with you. Let me begin by asking a question: how is what happened at your sister's wedding any different than what you did in Metropolis?
  Wildfire: Oh, I see; you're the wise, old man giving bullshit wisdom to the stupid young kids, right?
  Trevor: Yes, I am a man. A man who has seen war for nearly a century. I've witnessed every atrocity that grown adults will do to each other, every act of sadism done against innocents, every type of cultural erosion done in the name of country, religion, power and greed. And now, you have just joined them in the ranks of evil. You treat war like it's a game, a game that you have initiated out of your own childish pettiness.
  Wildfire: That's not true at all. We still need a bunch of supplies to continue our colonization, and I've decided on a much better trade proposal. We're going to invade your planet, rule your people, and take everything we want in exchange for imposing on you the superior culture of a much more advanced species!
  Trevor: So, Congress was right to quickly reach a resolution then. You really are going to war over your neighbors. Well, as inferior as we are, we've known about the existence of intergalactic imperialists for quite some time. We wouldn't be so foolish as to not have some type of defense prepared.
  Wildfire: "Oh yeah? Well, bring it on, bitch!
  • (later, after defeating Wildfire’s army in Washington DC)
  Trevor: You are a king without an army, which doesn't make you a king at all. Tell me, how does it feel to lead your soldiers to defeat and ruin, all in vain? How does it feel to repay kindness with violence? How does it feel to go turn an oppressed people into a legion of brutes? How does it feel … to murder an angel?
  Wildfire: Well, you're a warrior. You should know
  Trevor: So, you and I are the same, is that it? Here's where you're wrong. Yes, my whole life I have devoted to killing, but I kill so that my children's children won't have to wake up one day under the rule of a tyrant, and I kill so that those children who do wake up under a tyrant will no longer have to. I don't kill because I hate my enemies, but because my enemies' hate drives them to kill me. And I kill because I love my wife, and she will not return to this planet turned into your playpen!
  Wildfire: Well, I kill because I love my sister! And I can't look at you or any of your kind without seeing the face of that demon who took her away from me!
  Trevor: Then you’re not even a soldier. You’re just pathetic.
  • Raven/Spectre gives one to Blackfire
  "Your sister that you love to torment so much IS MY FRIEND! NOBODY HURTS MY FRIENDS! And that's exactly what you are - a pathetic nobody! You will have no friends to mourn you, no family to carry fond memories of you, and no legacy but one of sadistic misery. Your removal from this universe will be the only good thing anyone will ever say about you ... and I am going to enjoy making it happen!”
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: In Chapter 7 of Justice Returns, Dick and Barbara listen to a recorded message left by Batman. When Batman mentions putting enhancement drugs on Dick's food, Dick guesses it was so it'd be harder for hero life to kill him but Batman says it's so he could make love to Supergirl without breaking half his skeleton again.
• The Worf Effect: Mumbo and Mad Mod were two of the Titans' most challenging villains; Scarecrow effortlessly kills off both.
• Touched by Vorlons: Apparently, sex with Amazons or exposure to the Purple Ray grants humans low-level Super-Strength and a Healing Factor. This is how all the Badass Normal heroes can walk off injuries that most people would be crippled by.
• Tsundere: In Speedy's origin, Wonder Girl briefly acts like a stereotypical version after they have sex. Played for Laughs.
• Tuckerization: Jump City Police Commissioner Slack is named after Teen Titans writer/producer David Slack
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: When Shimmer is briefly introduced near the end, she isn't referred to as Mammoth's sister, but as an ex-sidekick of Firestorm.
• Villain Has a Point: Lois Lane finds herself agreeing with Lex Luthor in that letting Tamaraneans, a race of emotionally-prone living weapons, live among or near humans isn’t a good idea.
• Waxing Lyrical: When she becomes the new host for the Spectre, Raven proclaims, "I'm the Hand of God! I'm the Dark Messiah!"
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Thunder, Lightning, and Wildebeest are all introduced on the long list of Supergirl's sex partners, and aren't mentioned again until they're unceremoniously killed by Blackfire.
  • Subverted with the other Honorary Titans, as they're still alive at the end; Herald also plays the important part of getting characters in and out of Raven's mind.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • Lex Luthor’s hatred of space aliens (as well as Amazons and Atlanteans) is fueled by his desire to protect the human race from being conquered
  • Barbara breaks off her friendship with Supergirl so that she won't ever be used to hurt her. She also turns herself into a Baby Trap to force Robin and Starfire to stay together because she believes it's the only way to ensure Robin won't become a brooding loner like Batman.
• Wham Line:
  • Chapter 23: "Crown Princess of Tamaran … meet The Clown Prince of Crime!"
  • Chapter 24: “I won’t forget this … SISTER DEAR!!!”
  • Chapter 32: "See the baby I'm carrying? Not mine!"
  • Chapter 45: “Beneath his mask, Slade smiled for the first time in ages.”
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: The pocket dimension created by Raven for Robin and Starfire's love-making lets the lovebirds use it for as long as they need without missing anything outside.