The Teen Titans are DC's most popular teen team and one of the best teen teams in comics. First brought together as the sidekick team, they represented the place where the next generation of superheroes hung out and learned how to do their thing away from their mentors. One of the great things about the Teen Titans is how many of them actually became big deal superheroes.
Of all of the teen teams, the Titans have the greatest percentage of heroes who moved on from the team to bigger things. They outgrew the group and while they'll come back to help, they've become greater than ever.
10 Starfire Is A Team Specialist Who No Longer Needs The Teen Titans
Starfire was one of the biggest stars of the New Teen Titans era. She was also one of the group's most powerful members, her super strength, starbursts, and warrior training making a huge difference in the team's fights. While she would come back to the team multiple times over the years as a trainer, she outgrew them years before.
In recent years, she's joined both the Outlaws and the Justice League Odyssey team. She's great on teams, and that's one of the reasons she's moved away from the Teen Titans; she's aged out, and her skills are better used in battle than teaching.
9 Raven Brought The Team Back, But She's Learned All She Needs From Them
When Raven's father Trigon first went after her, she went to the heroes for help, and the only ones who stepped up were the Teen Titans. For a long time, she needed the team. Her upbringing on Azarath was all about control and denying her humanity. The Titans taught her a completely different way to live, as her friends showed her what life could really be like.
Raven was always the most powerful member of the team, so once she had learned the team's lesson of humanity, she no longer needed them. Like other members, she would come back to the group to help train new members, but she no longer really needs them.
8 Tim Drake Was Always Kind Of Better Than The Teen Titans
Tim Drake is arguably the best Robin. Unlike the others, he wanted to be Robin and worked to figure out exactly who Batman was so he could join him. He founded Young Justice before joining the Teen Titans, and he quickly became the leader of that group. The irony is that he didn't really need the Titans at all; Tim Drake was always an A-list superhero.
It often feels like Tim just joined the team because it was what Robins do. He was always better than the Teen Titans and has pretty much never gone back to the group.
7 Cyborg Got An Upgrade
Cyborg's change into a Justice League level hero came not because he graduated from the Teen Titans but an editorial choice. His time in the spotlight showed that he had outgrown the Teen Titans. For years, fans wanted to see Vic Stone do bigger and better things. He proved himself as a hero in every way, so his upgrade to the League was a big deal.
Since then, it's impossible to see Cyborg go back to the Teen Titans. He's proven himself on the biggest stage in the DC Universe, so seeing him go back to the Titans would feel weird for all involved.
6 Damian Wayne Joined The Teen Titans To Prove A Point
Damian Wayne has always been known for taking things too far, and his tenure as a Teen Titan is another example of this. Damian Wayne likes to prove that he's the best at everything, and every Robin has been a Titan. Wayne had to prove he was a better Robin than them, so he brought together his own group of Teen Titans.
Damian's entire time as a Teen Titan wasn't because he wanted to be a Titan. He just wanted to show that he could do it and do it better than the Robins who came before him. In this way, he outgrew them before he ever joined them.
5 Donna Troy Became Wonder Woman For A Time, But Even Before That, She Was Beyond The Group
Donna Troy's a founding Teen Titan and was with the group for some of its biggest moments. The Titans defined her for a very long time, but she eventually left the group to find herself, first by joining the Darkstars and dating Kyle Rayner. Over the years, she would work hard to define herself away from the Teen Titans, joining the grown-up version of the team and having a stint as Wonder Woman.
Donna's complicated origins make her a tough sell, but of the New Teen Titans generation, she's the one who has stayed away from the team the longest. She's been able to become a hero on her own without the team.
4 Roy Harper Had A Long Career Beyond The Teen Titans
Roy Harper's superhero career hasn't been easy, but he's more than proved himself over the years. Harper was part of the original team of Teen Titans. He sat out the New Teen Titans generation and eventually became Arsenal, working with Checkmate. From there, he'd join the Titans and the Outsiders before becoming Red Arrow in the Justice League.
Harper's time in the Teen Titans was a long time ago, and he's spent years moving beyond them. He's worked with many groups over the years, and his time in the Teen Titans is something that stopped defining him years ago.
3 Tempest's Power Upgrade Took Him To New Places
Tempest is one of many sidekicks who has grown in power over the years and is another member of the original Teen Titans who didn't come back to the New Teen Titans. He spent a long time in Atlantis before reappearing as Tempest, a master of Atlantean magic. Since then, he's stayed away from the Teen Titans completely, mostly hanging out with his friends in the Titans and protecting Atlantis.
Tempest's time with the Teen Titans was short, so he was never as defined by it as other members were. He's spent so long doing different things that no one really even thinks of him as Aqualad of the Teen Titans anymore.
2 Wally West's Time As The Flash Eclipsed His Teen Titans Career
Wally West was one of the first three Teen Titans. As Kid Flash, he helped define the team before leaving because of his weakening powers. After his uncle Barry died in Crisis On Infinite Earths, Wally took up the mantle of the Flash and became arguably the best Flash ever. Since then, except for the mistake that was the New 52, he's been an A-list hero.
West has been a member of the Titans and the Justice League since. He's one of the most successful Teen Titans alums and easily the most formidable. His mastery of the Speed Force has made him one of the most powerful heroes on the planet.
1 Nightwing Started Outgrowing The Teen Titans The Moment He Left The Robin Mantle Behind
Dick Grayson is one of the first Teen Titans and the most iconic sidekick in comics. Grayson led the team through two incarnations and it was as a Teen Titan that he shed the Robin name, becoming Nightwing. While he stayed on the team as Nightwing for a while, his personal evolution would put the Teen Titans in the rearview mirror.
Since leaving the team, Nightwing became one of the greatest heroes on the planet. He's taken over as Batman and defended his own city, Bludhaven, from crime. While his time on the team is important, he's far beyond that time in his life.