surprising just about everybody, when the first trailer for the new dc universe show titans dropped it boasted a line in which robin -- breaking away from his longtime mentor and father-figure -- says "f*ck batman." now, comics veteran and titans producer geoff johns has weighed in on the decision to make the series' robin so aggressively dark.

for san diego's comic-con international, johns appeared on ign’s comic-con 2018 live show to discuss the upcoming dc universe show and explained why grayson’s attitude towards his mentor is so abrasive.

“this is after he’s obviously split from batman if that wasn’t clear enough," johns said.

he then went on to discuss dick grayson’s place in his life and how he searches for a new family among the titans. “there’s a story to be told in the series," johns continued. "dick grayson is really trying to find a new place in the world -- a new spot, a new life, just like all the other titans are. they’re all lost, and they find one another to form this surrogate family.”

titans is loosely based on marv wolfman and george perez’s early-1980s publication the new teen titans, which revamped the original '60s teen titans team. new teen titans is praised for its expansive rogues gallery, adventurous storytelling, and in-depth character development for its central group of young heroes.

“that book was, for its time, very controversial," johns said with regard to wolfman and perez's run. "it pushed the envelope really really hard, and we wanted to do a show that did the same thing.”

debuting on dc universe, titans stars brenton thwaites as dick grayson, anna diop as starfire, teagan croft as raven, ryan potter as beast boy, alan ritchson as hawk, minka kelly as dove and lindsey gort as amy rohrbach.