With its first episode dropping on October 12, DC Universe's Titans is finally here, and it's already created a lot of internet chatter.

For some, this live-action adaptation of Teen Titans is far too dark and mature for its own good, with excessive violence and strong language that, to some, felt unnecessary and only used to reinforce its own edginess. Additionally, it's being labeled as DC's attempt to replicate Netflix's Marvel shows, but with the wrong characters.

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The truth is, you'll never please everyone and DC realized that. There's no point in recreating a live version of Teen Titans Go! or the original Teen Titans animated series. Those things already exist, and if they were replicated, there would be criticism at very least equal to the vitriol directed at Titans.

So, what did DC do instead? It took tonal inspiration from the gritty New 52 era.

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Titans TV team photo

The 2011 revamp and relaunch of DC is still a controversial and hotly debated topic. The storylines were far more dark and series than they'd ever been, as the line targeted a decidedly more mature audience. While many fans felt like the comics lost sight of what the heroes stood for during this period, there's no denying the sales reinvigorated the publisher.

It wasn't all doom and gloom for the storylines, of course, as titles such as Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman and Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's Justice League were some of the most critically acclaimed and financially successful runs the company had seen in years.

As one of the chief architects of the New 52 and now Titans, it should come as no surprise that Johns revisited DC's past for its future. Yes, Johns was one of the people involved in the 2017 disaster-piece known as Justice League, but he's undoubtedly learned that DC fans aren't looking for a Marvel carbon copy; they just want good content.

Johns revealed that Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's iconic New Teen Titans run remains the reference point for the Titans series, adding that the book was very controversial at the time of its publication. "It pushed the envelope really, really hard," he said, "and we wanted to do a show that did the same thing."

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Of course, one could argue that Wolfman and Pérez's series was the prototype for the New 52. Just look at the infamous "Judas Contract" storyline, which saw the teenage Terra enter into a relationship with the much older Deathstroke. The series ended on a bloody and brutal note, with Terra crushed by a mountain of debris. If this story was written today, Zack Snyder would undoubtedly be blamed for the darkness of its most contentious corners.

One could also argue that the current comic book zeitgeist promotes lighter and more heroic characters, as are found in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The world is cruel and dark enough as it is, some fans say, so we should create art that opposes it. The counterpoint to that argument, of course, is that art is always a mirror reflection of its time, so why hold backfacing the real world and its problems?

That second point is where the New 52 leaned in most.

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teen titans new 52

In this world, the heroes didn't always win the battle and there were casualties, but they continued to fight the war despite the odds. Titans already served Rachel Roth, aka Raven, her first big blow; however, there's still hope for her in the form of Dick Grayson. Undisputedly, she's suffered a trauma and major loss that would shatter anyone's world, but her hero's journey will be stronger because of it.

At the end of the day, both "dark and gritty" and "light and fun" storytelling can exist; they don't have to be mutually exclusive, even at DC! If fans don't like what Titans is trying to do, there's always The CW's Arrowverse. There, viewers can enjoy things like seasonal weddings and heroes introducing themselves on a weekly basis.

The point is, there is certainly room for both, and Titans will scratch the itch for those who want it... though it may leave a mark.