Teen Titans was a fan-favorite animated superhero series that premiered in 2003. The show ran for five seasons, ending with sixty-five episodes and a feature-length TV special. The original voice actors reunited for a series of comedic shorts as part of the short-lived DC animated programming block, DC Nation, on Cartoon Network. The Teen Titans shorts, featuring a more exaggerated style than the original series and playing up comedy beats, quickly became some of the most popular aspects of DC Nation. This success eventually led to the creation of Teen Titans Go!, a wholly wacky take on the team, which premiered in 2013.

While the new direction for the cast can be controversial in some circles of fandom, it's impossible to ignore just how successful Teen Titans Go! has become. On top of producing multiple films and specials, the series has reached over 250 episodes in six seasons, making it the single longest-running superhero television series ever produced. But what is it about this version of the teenage DC heroes that makes it so special?

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What Is Teen Titans Go!?

The series is produced by many of the same people who brought the original Teen Titans to television. It even shares the same voice cast as the original series. However, the new show tweaks the premise of a teenage superhero team into an outright comedy. The five heroes are portrayed as more inept and frantic than they usually appear, giving each member a comic spin on their usual portrayals:

Robin (Scott Menville) is the self-conscious, self-deluded and self-appointed leader of the team, keenly aware of his lack of powers. Starfire (Hyden Walch) is a peppy and short-tempered alien princess, who has trouble adjusting to Earth because of her space warrior upbringing. Cyborg (Khary Peyton) is a loveable goofball, often getting distracted from his various inventions by getting dragged into petty conflicts. Raven (Tara Strong) is the deadpan magical member of the team, hiding a sadistic side but also a shockingly sweet center. Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) rounds out the team, somehow proving to be even lazier and sardonic than any other versions, although his sloth has been compared to be almost zen at times.

TEEN TITANS GO!'s Humor

Teen Titans Go 200th episode

Teen Titans Go! pokes fun at the entire DC Universe. The Teen Titans have come up against a number of heroes and villains from across the entirety of DC continuity, often teasing the conventions and tropes of the genre. While the team has been confronted by their fair share of villains from the comics and original to the show, the team isn't exactly perfect either. The Teen Titans are shown to be more selfish and self-centered than any other portrayal of them, willing to cheat or bend the rules whenever it works best for them.

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The show even constantly breaks the fourth wall, which gives the team a goofy tone that's not too dissimilar to Deadpool. In the show's landmark 200th episode, the aptly-titled "The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular!," the Titans encountered the voice actors who portray them and the crew behind the series. After the Titans and their world start disappearing, they even try to make the 200th episode of their own series themselves.

Not All Fun and Games

Many of their biggest adventures have actually given the Teen Titans plenty of bigger threats to contend with. The team has been stranded on desert islands, been sent to superhero summer camp (where they recruited a constantly underappreciated Bumblebee briefly as their sixth team member) and auditioned to join the Justice League. They even had to assume the roles of the Justice League members when the team was captured by Darkseid, who was eventually revealed to be played by musical comedian Weird Al Yankovic, perfectly fitting along with the rest of the show.

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Their biggest adventure though might have been their transition to the big screen. Released in 2018, Teen Titans Go! to the Movies parodied the apparent decision to give every superhero a movie except the Teen Titans. Robin's jealousy over the issue plays right into the hands of Slade (Will Arnett), who is in the process of using films containing hypnosis technology to try and take over the world. In the end, Robin and the rest of the Titans are able to defeat him, coming to terms with the fact that while they may be sillier than most superheroes, they're still good people trying to do the right thing, and that's what matters more than anything else.

Into The Titans-Verse

The snarky tone and surprisingly dark sense of humor make Teen Titans Go! something of an acquired taste. The series can sometimes feel unrelenting in its break-neck pace and mockery of the DC Universe and everything else in pop culture. Teen Titans Go! has made fun of the conventional morals told by other animated and superhero shows, as well as spending some episodes doling out harsh lessons about the viability of college and the issues inherent to a capitalist society (seriously.)

One of their most recent episodes, "Nostalgia Is Not a Substitute for an Actual Story" takes a number of potshots at shows like Stranger Things and the general fetishization of bygone eras. That episode is also currently nominated for an Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program, which says something to the critical appreciation for the show.

RELATED: Teen Titans Go Vs. Teen Titans Is A Goofy Love Letter To The Team

At its very core, Teen Titans Go! is a goofball love letter to superheroes. Giving the voice actors more absurd range to play with has only freed them up for the genuinely heartfelt moments that seep through all the slapstick action. The new Teen Titans Go! feature-length special, Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans, especially works as a stand-alone film that pays tribute to the history of DC Comics while still slipping in the occasional dig. The film pits the original animated Teen Titans against the new incarnation of the team. Along the way, they are blasted across the multiverse and come across multiple other versions of the group. But at the core of the massive narrative are a group of young friends who are still trying to figure out who they are, hanging out with people they can sometimes hate but never stop loving.

Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans stars Greg Cipes as Beast Boy, Scott Menville as Robin, Khary Payton as Cyborg, Tara Strong as Raven and Hynden Walch as Starfire, with Kevin Michael Richardson as Trigon/Hexagon, Robert Morse as Santa Claus, Grey Griffin as Mrs. Claus, Rhys Darby as Master of Games, Sean Maher as Nightwing and "Weird Al" Yankovic as Gentleman Ghost and Darkseid.

KEEP READING: Why Can't Dc Just Let the Titans Have Fun?