Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Oh Yeah, That Forum: The Titans Re-imagine a Titan

Lash, you are always welcome in this thread. And I have my fingers crossed for you. If it's of any help, I've been going through something similar and I'm trying to recover my creativity by reaching outside my comfort zone for a fresh creative challenge. Maybe you could try the same.

Wally West was excited about touring the STAR Labs in Central City where his Uncle Barry works. A budding young scientist himself, Wally was impressed with the wave particle accelerator Barry was working on, but also the AI robotics of Will Mangus, the protective armor John Henry Irons was developing for space exploration and exploration of the ocean, and the miniaturization experiment of Professor Palmer. After the tour Wally is in the cafeteria with his uncle having lunch when there is an explosion in the North wing of the complex. Alarms start blaring when a second explosion occurs in the South wing. Barry starts heading Wally to the exit amongst the crowd of fleeing workers, but soon disappears from Wally's view. More explosions rock the complex. People don't know where to run to for safety. Wally finds himself in a deserted corridor. As he is catching his breath, the entire ceiling is pulled up by a pair of giant yellow hands. A red faced man dressed in black, but with a faint yellow glow is hovering in the now open sky. "At last, it shall be mine!" "Not so fast Sinestro!" Wally sees a ray of light hit Sinestro on the chest. He falls into the corridor Wally is in. Another man, this one dressed in black and white, descends into the corridor seemingly standing on a platform of light. "Dr. Light!" spat out Sinestro. "The Secret Society rejected your membership. Don't think besting me will grant you membership." The two men ignore Wally as they face each other. Wally decides that he had better make a run for the other hallway just 5 feet across from him. But as he ran, Dr. Light let loose a highly focused beam of light and from Sinestro's ring came an equally focused beam of yellow energy. The two beams struck Wally simultaneously and caused a great flash. The Flash came running down the corridor and saw the beams converge on Wally, but he was too late to stop them. When the light cleared, Wally was gone. Althought there were many wounded employees, the only presumed fatality was Wally even though no body was found.

The next day as a crew began cleaning up the mess in the corridor, they notice a bunch of small points of light. The points of light start to come together and more appear. The lights coalesce into the form of a young boy. It is Wally. He had been turned into living light. As such, he has the properties of light. He is able to travel at the speed of light. He can travel through glass and other transparent substances. He can also cause a huge flash of light, although this causes him to disperse and it takes a couple of hours for Wally to come back together. However, Wally is limited in his ability to interact with the physical world. He is mostly insubstantial and cannot hold things or handle matter. Luckily, in his light form, Wally does not need to eat or drink, although he does miss doing both. His Uncle Barry and the other scientists at STAR labs have vowed to find a way to reverse the process and turn Wally back into flesh and blood. In the meantime, Wally has joined the Titans as Kid Flash

Nice update on Kid Flash's powers, and I like the way you wrote his origin - really pulls us into it!

I think the only Silver Age Titan left is Charlie Parker aka Golden Eagle

Your update of Wally is awesome, Quis.

Don't make me re-imagine Golden Eagle.
You wouldn't like me when I re-imagine Golden Eagle.

I cannot take any credit for Bumblebee-as-the-Wasp. That's the way she is portrayed in the Young Justice Saturday Morning TV Show. Like many of the characters on that show, however, she doesn't have an "origin story".

Any takers for Golden Eagle?

Taken in part from a Hopi myth.

There once was a young lad whose name has been forgotten. This lad had angered Coyote, the trickster. Coyote changed the boy into Man-Eagle, a creature that had a man's form but the head, wings, beak, and talons of an eagle. He looked so hideous and scary that when he tried to return to the tribe, he was not recognized and driven off.

Angered about this, Man-Eagle made a home for himself high in the mountains and would from time to time sneak into the village and steal away a warrior's wife. He would keep the woman in his house for a week, making her work and act as his wife. Then he would slay the woman. This went on for one hundred years, for when Coyote transformed him, he became immortal.

Although many warriors tried to rescue their wives, none succeeded. Then Man-Eagle stole the wife of Son of Light. On his way to Man-Eagle's house, Son of Light met Spider Woman and the Mole. After hearing his tale, Spider Woman and the Mole agreed to help Son of Light. The first thing Spider Woman did was weave a copy of Man-Eagle's magic shirt. The Mole dug a tunnel up through the mountain to Man-Eagle's house so that they could approach it unseen.

Upon entering the house, Son of Light saw Man-Eagle's magic shirt and swapped it for the copy Spider Woman had made. They then enter the first room and found Son of Light's wife tied up. They free her, but this wakes up Man-Eagle who was asleep in the next room. Man-Eagle then challenges Son of Light to a series of contest, which Son of Light is able to win with the help of Spider Woman and the Mole. The last contest had Man-Eagle prepare two piles of dry wood and sticks. Each of them are to sit on the pile of wood and it would be set on fire. The one who could stand the flames best, would win. Man-Eagle donned what he thought was his magic shirt, but was in fact the copy. Son of Light was wearing the magic shirt. When the piles were set on fire, Son of Light was unharmed because of the magic shirt, while Man-Eagle was burnt to ashes.

Spider Woman then mixed up some medicine and had Son of Light spit it on the ashes. From the ashes arose Man-Eagle, but back in his human form. Spider Woman asks Man-Eagle if he had learned not to do evil. When he replied that he had, Spider Woman renamed him Golden Eagle. Golden Eagle then divided his time between the spirit world and the physical world. He is able to shift his form between that of the young lad that he was when he was first turned into Man-Eagle, the Man-Eagle form, and a full eagle form. In the Man-Eagle form, he can fly and has razor-sharp talons.


The original Hopi Myth

I have to say that I never really liked Golden Eagle. His "origin" was pretty stupid. But after I read the Hopi Legend and reworked it to be Golden Eagle's origin, I kind of like the character now.

Wow. Quis, I love each new entry from you more than the last.

Thanks. I've been trying to make the powers and origins different from the original.

Even though the title says Silver Age, should we continue on? IB did do Kole and she wasn't silver age

Although I just thought of Red Star aka Starfire. He was a Silver Age character.

I've always liked Red Star. He could be really cool if re-imagined the right way.

I do kind of want to keep it on the side of the 60s and 70s. I made an exception for Kole because she's obscure and she was only around for a short time.

I knew Kole wasn't Silver Age, but since I referred to her in my Lilith entry I went ahead and did an origin for her.

Now that we have done the Silver Agers, perhaps Fanfic Lady can just edit the thread title to 'Re-imagine a Teen Titan!' and we can continue with the next generation?

Nice reworking of that origin, Quis! I like your version a lot better than I like the comics version (which is not very much).

Done.

OK. I think I have something for Red Star.


In 1945 Josef Stalin returned to the USSR from the Yalta conference. Much had been discussed. Some had been decided. But most important for Stalin was his belief that the US and the USSR would soon cease to be allies and become rivals, if not enemies. He was also worried about the reports he had been getting regarding the appearance of "mystery men" in the United States. Some seemed to be just ordinary men using theatrics to overcome their foes. Others though appeared to have powers and abilities beyond normal men. If the USSR was to compete and dominate the western democracies, thus proving the superiority of the communist system, they would need to develop their own "mystery men".

As so Project: новый мужчина (New Man) was started. Biologists and chemists were charged with creating a serum that would increase the strength and speed of a man in top physical condition. Engineers started working on various weapons and devices such a new Soviet soldier would find useful. From 1946 until 1980, the scientists labored with some small sucesses, but mostly failure. Thousands of men and hundreds of women were injected with various concoctions, serums, and potions.

All this was in the past when Leonid Konstantinovitch Kovar was born. From his birth Leonid was bigger and stronger than all the other babies. As he grew, his strength increased. His speed and reflexes likewise increased and were greater than anyone else. In all other respects, Leonid had a normal average life.

Moscow had changed from the break-up of the USSR. Various criminal elements fought for control of the city. It was not unheard of for gun battles to take place on the streets and for innocents to be harmed or killed. At one such street battle, a young girl named Maladi Malannva became a fatality. Leonid and Maladi were engaged to be married in just a month. His grief almost destroyed Leonid. As his grief subsided, his anger grew. Knowing of the costumed heroes in the United States, Leonid created his own costume and took the name Red Star as that was Maladi's pet name for him. Red Star now became the scourge of the Russian crime organizations.

In the course of his crusade, Leonid was assisted by another young girl named Polina Panthovich. Polina, in searching the old Soviet records, thinks she knows where Leonid got his powers from. In 1947, Leonid's maternal great grandfather was one of the test subjects for Project: New Man. The papers indicated that there had been no noticable results and so the serum was discontinued. Then in 1961, Leonid's paternal grandmother was also a test subject for Project: New Man. She was among the first subjects for a new, more promising serum. This serum did increase the strength of some of the subjects (not Lenid's garandmother though), but not beyond what rigorous training could also accomplish. Polina thinks that the two serums altered the DNA structure of both Leonid's grandmother and great grandfather, but not to any effect on them. However, when the 2 altered DNA strands combined in Leonid, it gave him his strength, speed, and reflexes.

Leonid's campaign against the Russian mob eventually brought him to Gotham City. There he met the famous Batman and his sidekick Nightwing. Nightwing and Red Star struck up a friendship and Nightwing introduced him to the Titans. Although Red Star has returned to Moscow, he does aid the Titans when he can.

Now we need an artist to do some drawings of our re-imagined Titans.

Ooh, with Golden Eagle, Quislet, Esq busts out the mythology! (Creepy story, but how rare is it that Hopi myth gets mixed up with a super-hero origin?)

And some more mythology;

...

Niamh Moraghain was born in a lighthouse on the coast north of Boston during a driving thunderstorm. Her parents were driven off the road by the weather, unable to make it to the nearest hospital, and little Niamh was delivered by the lighthouse keeper, who became her godfather, Kent Nelson.

Unknown to her parents, the storm was no natural occurence, and Niamh herself was touched by otherworldly forces, something her godfather recognized too well. As she grew, he took the dark and stormy child under his wing, and taught her of her secret heritage, as a blessed child, touched by the power of the Morrigan , the celtic goddess of war and the storm, whose symbol was the raven.

Most importantly, he taught her to control the rages that came with her heritage, resulting in the young woman seeming unnaturally calm, as she has fought all her young life to master the great temper that burns within her. Only when she or those she treasures are threatened does she allow what she thinks of as 'her darkness' to consume her, and as shadows obscure her face, the winds whip her clothing and clouds gather in the sky, the shadowy ravens that are her wrath manifested pour forth from her body, to rake at those who have spurred her wrath with talons of solid darkness.

As Raven, she can choose to scout an area with her shadowy ravens, or even bid them to lift her in their wings and carry her a short distance (particularly at night, when they are strongest), and instead of sending them in a swarm to rake at foes, she can send one directly into a foe, to 'darken his eyes' and cause them to enter a forgetful state, submit to her suggestions, or even fall into a mindless frenzy of violence, channeling all of the frustrated aggression that she so strictly controls within herself.

I love this thread!

Can I call Starfire, or does someone else already have something in mind?

It is 1961 on Earth-1 (or maybe 1.5?) and Superman, Batman, and Robin are known as “the World’s Finest Team”.

Beta Zak-Kul is the pre-teen daughter of a renegade Kandorian scientist, inventor of an Enlarging Ray. With her father exiled to the Phantom Zone, Beta is cared for in a Kandorian orphanage, but is left much to her own devices. Observing (through a super-telescope) the condescension with which Superman, Batman, and Robin treat Batwoman (Kathy Kane) Beta uses a speck of the exotic material which powers her father's ray to escape Kandor. Teaming up with Kathy Kane, she creates a false human identity, "Beta of Kandor" becoming "Betty Kane". Masquerading as Kathy's niece, she also creates the alter-ego of the green-and-scarlet clad "Batgirl".

She pretends to be an ordinary earth-human, although a superb gymnast, but secretly uses her Kryptonian abilities to make herself and Batwoman appear supremely competent crime fighters, putting the "World's Finest Team" to shame.

An accidental exposure to a particular variety of Red Kryptonite causes Beta to develop a permanent immunity to Brainiac's shrinking ray, stranding her on Earth, cut off from the miniaturized but more technologically and sociologically advanced world of Kandor forever.

Later, when Kathy Kane hangs up her cowl, "Betty" continues her career with Teen Titans West as Batgirl. By now, many of her associates, (including Robin) know of her Kryptonian nature and powers, but she still prefers to keep these abilities secret from the general public, giving her a supreme advantage when facing powerful opponents.

Quote: "Hand-held laser. And what? You never heard of Kevlar?"

Go for it! Even if someone has already done a Titan, it might be neat to see different interpretations anyway!

Tara Markov had an ideal life as the eldest daughter of the king of Markovia. One of her favorite past times was to research her family's history and the legends of Markovia. But her ideal life was brutally destroyed when at the age of 13, she was watching her father and mother at one of the routine ceremonial rites that it was their duty to Markovia. She watched in horror as a man strode forward, revealed explosives strapped to his body, and detonating it. The assassin, the king,and the queen all died in the explosion. At the same time explosions occurred in various parts of the city, at Star Labs Markovia, at the Cathedral of St. Marco, at the airport terminal, at the Ministry of the Treasury, and at an orphanage. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by a group calling themselves Terror, Inc. Their reason for the attacks was to show the world what they could do.

Tara, Markovia, and the world were stunned by the attacks. Grief, guilt, and anger all swirled around inside Tara. Her brother Brion, although only 4, was the new king. A month after the attacks, Tara was attempting to distract herself by going through the royal library's archives. There she found an old ook which told the tale of her ancestor from the year 1246 and how through the use of a talisman was able to repel invaders using the very earth itself as a weapon. The talisman was pictured in the book and Tara remembered seeing it on display in the Royal Museum. Two weeks later, the museum was broken into and the talisman was stolen.

As soon as Tara clutched the talisman, she could feel its power and could sense the ground beneath the museum. Taking the talisman to the countryside, Tara found she could cause the earth to erupt, form a wall, make the ground like liquid, and even cause stones to fly through the air. Vowing to use her new found power to avenge her parents and the innocents who lost their lives in the attack, Tara enbarked on a mission to destroy all terrorists. She made a costume to hide her identity, so that no one would harm her brother in order to hurt her. She named herself Terra.

And so, various terror organizations suddenly found themselves under attack. The attacks were quick but brutal. The one or two survivors of these attacks claimed that the earth itself rose up to crush them and they saw a young girl standing there watching and seemingly directing the earth. Everyone else perished.

The Titans were in the process of detecting and dismantling H.I.V.E. bases around the world. At some they saw Terra's handy work. And in a few they saw Terra herself. After several encounters, they met Terra at the main headquarters of H.I.V.E. Knowing that most of the people at the base were locals who were forced to work for H.I.V.E., the Titans convince Terra to call off her attack and to come with them. As they flew back to New York, with the main leaders of H.I.V.E. as their captives, they failed to notice that behind them the ground had turned to liquid and the whole building and everyone in it was swallowed up by the earth.

Tara smiled as they flew away, thinking that she could use the Titans as a resource in her quest for vengence.

Awesome! Love how Batgirl's new origin makes her crafty AND ties her into the Flamebird name.

Terra's still a potential traitor, but isn't nearly so evil now; makes for even better conflict, I think.

And Raven is positively terrifying in a good way!

Arrggh. Overslept. Will try and post it tonight or tomorrow.