The first episode of DC Universe’s first original series Titans is out now on the streaming service. Following Dick Grayson after just recently leaving the side of Batman, he now works in Bludhaven as a detective when not working under his alter ego Robin. Rachael Roth soon travels to meet him after her mother is gunned down.

Titans is a 2018 superhero series it is produced by Berlanti Productions and is distributed by WBTV. It currently airs weekly on WB’s DC Universe streaming service.

Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers for the Titans series premiere. 

Dick Grayson as Robin in Titans.

After a falling out with former mentor Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson has ventured off into his own life. Still working the nights as Robin, he now works the day as Detective Grayson in Bludhaven. A young girl with dark powers named Rachael Roth suddenly enters Grayson’s life following the murder of her mother and informs him that the two may share a strange connection with one another.

Rachael “Raven” Roth as she appears in Titans.

THE GOOD: While it doesn’t dive too much into the falling out Dick & Bruce had which caused the former’s departure the first episode of Titans does try to establish an early connection for the members of the team. Specifically with Robin & Raven who are the first characters we’re introduced to before we get the beginning of Starfire’s storyline and a very brief introduction of Beast Boy. Admittedly, earlier trailers looked like they were of in-production material for whatever reason but I’m happy to say that the final product definitely comes off as much better. At least as far as the pilot is concerned. The effects for Raven look pretty cool and choreography for the fight & action scenes are all solid.

Starfire as she appears in Titans.

Season 1 is going to be very Raven focused, in fact her father Trigon is rumored to be the big bad. An interesting first major villain choice for the Titans to tackle, but it does make sense. Acting performances are all pretty spot on for the most part. The dark tone will take some getting used too for this property, but it’s fine. I can’t help but feel that things would come off a lot better if Damien Wayne was the Robin, however Dick becomes Nightwing over the season’s progression so that wouldn’t have worked story wise. One of the biggest changes to Titans is the lack of Cyborg who was a founding member of the Teen Titans, however in 2011 DC Comics rebooted him as a founding member of the Justice League. We aren’t entirely sure how involved Cyborg will be with the DC Universe…verse, but the character was cast to be played by Joivan Wade, so who knows how far his involvement will reach.

The darker tone works better than you’d expect but not 100%.

THE BAD: Due to Cyborg being rewritten as a founding member of the Justice League in the 2011 reboot his appearances will be extremely limited, though it has been confirmed that not only does he exist in the Titans universe, but he will have appearances in it as well as spinoff Doom Patrol. This will still be an understandably big deal to core Teen Titans fans. The dark tone while refreshing doesn’t always fit, especially for Robin considering which version of the character is being used.

Titans’ pilot is a very solid first step into something much bigger.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: After an initial rocky introduction to the first live-action Teen Titans series the final product has definitely given us new light into the potential quality of this version of their world. While core concepts and ideas such as Cyborg are missing, what they do have is satisfying enough to keep fans of the property invested. I mean there’s a reason the show is referred to as “Titans” instead of “Teen Titans”. Otaku Dome gives the Titans pilot an 85 out of 100.