DC’s Titans series should share continuity with the  DCEU. One of the most eagerly-anticipated shows to launch on the DC Universe streaming service, Titans is absolutely full of potential. The series stars a number of second-tier superheroes who have massive fanbases - characters like Robin, Beast Boy, and Wonder Girl. The episodic format is ideally suited to develop these characters, and the first images have teased a dark, comic accurate rendition.

Traditionally, Warner Bros. has kept their TV shows separate from their film universe. The bulk of the popular DCTV shows are set in the so-called “Arrowverse,” and in theory this allows DCTV freedom to maneuver, not having to consider the latest big-screen developments. It’s a matter of opinion whether or not that works, but it’s frankly time for it to change.

While it’s fine for most of the DCTV shows to be set in their own pocket universe, there’s no reason DC couldn’t use some series to further develop the DC Extended Universe. As the first show to hit DC Universe Titans should also be the first TV series to be explicitly set in the same universe as the movies.

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The Story and Aesthetics are a Great Match

The first reason is the most obvious - the aesthetic matches perfectly. The images we’ve seen of him suited up are absolutely gorgeous. It’s a fantastic modernized approach, blending the traditional design with real-world clothing and even armor. Combined with a dark color scheme, it creates a sense that this Robin is a soldier in the war against crime, and - just like his mentor - he’s most comfortable in the shadows. Thwaites’s facial expressions carry a sense of intensity to them, as though this Robin is something of a driven man. While the series is sure to capitalize on the sense of hope and optimism that should always be central to the Titans mythos, it’s clear this optimism is in the face of a very dark world indeed.

This aesthetic dovetails perfectly with the DCEU to date, particularly as developed by Zack Snyder. Snyder inroduced the DCEU as a dark and dangerous place, and while the franchise as a whole seems to have pivoted away from that, Gotham itself surely won’t get much brighter. If any location in the DCEU is destined to remain dark, it’s Gotham. The city whose greatest hero dons the cowl of the bat. The Titans series looks as though it would gel perfectly with that incarnation of Gotham City.

It’s important to note that, in terms of continuity, there’s no reason this should be an issue. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice revealed that a Robin had paid the ultimate price, dying in battle against the Joker. Although there’s evidence Snyder originally intended this to be Dick Grayson’s Robin, it’s officially been retconned into becoming Jason Todd’s. Of course, as any comic book fan knows, Todd didn’t stay dead; he was resurrected by Batman’s enemies and returned as the Red Hood. Curran Walters is confirmed to be playing Jason Todd in Titans. That means both Batman V Superman and Titans could assume an almost identical backstory; that Batman has had Robins, and that one of them was killed by the Joker.

Page 2 of 2: DC Universe Can Utilize Characters Who Won’t Get a Movie

DC Universe Can Utilize Characters Who Won’t Get a Movie

There’s a clear pecking order in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it comes to choosing how to develop characters. Marvel Studios gets first choice. It’s only when Marvel Studios don’t have any plans for a hero or villain that they pass them down to Marvel Television; thus when Marvel Studios dropped the Inhumans movie, the concept was passed down to Marvel Television and became a (disappointing) TV show. It would be good to see DC take a similar approach.

Unlike Marvel, DC never sold off film rights to their characters, and as a result, the DCEU movies are believed to have access to somewhere in the region of 10,000 heroes, villains, and secondary characters. There’s simply no way the films will ever be able to use all these ideas, meaning some of DC’s most popular superheroes will inevitably never turn up on the big screen. Warner Bros. could use the TV shows to develop characters and concepts that they simply don’t believe will ever be used in the films.

As little as we like to admit it, the Titans characters number among those heroes we’re unlikely to ever see in the films. It’s true that Batman V Superman referenced the death of a Robin, but there’s since been no hint of development of that idea. Frankly, it’s actually unclear whether or not the next Batman movie - Matt Reeves’s The Batman - will even be set in the DCEU. Given that’s the case, it really does seem unlikely that Dick Grayson’s Robin, or even Jason Todd’s Red Hood, will ever turn up in a DCEU film. Other characters like Hawk and Dove, Wonder Girl, or Beast Boy are even more unlikely. Setting Titans in the DCEU would allow these secondary heroes to still get their moment to shine.

It Would Be DC’s Response to Marvel Netflix

One of the advantages of Marvel’s approach is that it adds an even greater depth of diversity to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tonally, there’s a radical difference between the PG13 movies, which include the superhero comedy Thor: Ragnarok, and, say, the Marvel Netflix shows. These popular series are noted for their brutality, bloodiness, and sexuality. They’re aimed at a totally different demographic to the movies, and allow Marvel to explore mature themes in the context of a superhero world. Jessica Jones dealt with the prospect of psychological abuse and rape, Daredevil saw crime-lord Wilson Fisk beat a man to death with a car door, and Luke Cage repeatedly deals with issues of race. The movies shy well clear of this, aiming at a much broader audience. But the Marvel Netflix shows rejoice in their darkness and maturity.

Titans could conceivably be DC’s response to the Marvel Netflix shows, a TV series that adds another layer of depth to the DCEU, that develops ideas the movies would never dare to experiment with. To use just the most obvious example, this is the perfect place to explore the ethics of superheroics with Jason Todd torturing himself over the knowledge that even his death didn’t cause Batman to finally kill the Joker in retribution. There have already been indications Titans will have a more mature outlook than the typical superhero TV shows, with one rumor suggesting it’ll be violent, bloody, and strong language, including a lot of F-bombs. That would certainly set it apart from the other DC TV offerings, making it a valuable addition to the DCEU.

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The only real argument against this is that it could conceivably restrict Titans’ room to maneuver creatively. After all, this would mean Warner Bros. would only allow the series to use characters and ideas they had no plans for in the films, since it would be hard to get someone like Ben Affleck to show up on the show - assuming he’s still the DCEU’s Batman. In practice, though, that’s happening already. With the exception of their biggest brands, such as Superman, Batman, and the Flash, Warner Bros. is wary of diluting their brand by using characters on both the big and small screens at the same time. That’s why the Suicide Squad was pulled from the Arrowverse. Given that’s already the case, then, there’s no real practical reason not to see the Titans series in the DCEU; Warner Bros. has nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

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