8 Things Young Justice Does Better Than The Original Teen Titans

When the original Teen Titans show on Cartoon Network was canceled and replaced with Teen Titans Go, most fans saw the move as an insult. Young Justice arrived much later and gave fans of the more serious tones Teen Titans had hit a superhero show to follow.

Young Justice follows Dick Grayson’s Robin and a group of younger heroes as they set out to prove to their famous mentors that they’re more than just sidekicks. There are many things that Young Justice chooses to do differently than the original Titans would have, but what do they do better? Let’s find out!

8 8) Coming Back!

Young Justice: Outsiders character designs

One of the most annoying things about Teen Titans has always been the fact that it ended so abruptly. No matter how good a series is if it’s cut too short and not allowed to finish the story that it set out to tell, then it’s never going to measure up to a story that has been allowed to say everything it has to say.

With that in mind, Young Justice actually managed to make a comeback after being canceled for a short while. With the recently released third season, Outsiders, Young Justice has managed to do something that Teen Titans, as of yet, has yet to accomplish. One can always hope for another season on DC Universe.

7 7) Including Other Heroes

Something fans of the original Teen Titans really loved about the series was that it spent the majority of its time focused on the five main characters. While focusing on developing the main characters is always something that’s appreciated, Young Justice took it a step further by introducing new characters and heroes in the mix.

The Teen Titans mostly felt like their own unit that worked completely outside of the influence of any other, older superheroes, but Young Justice manages to bring in some major heroes while still giving the young stars their own space to grow.

6 6) Illustrating Relationships With Mentors

Fans of Young Justice have always loved that the series doesn’t shy away from the larger DC Universe the way that Teen Titans had in the past. Something that is very endearing about Young Justice is the fact that it really takes time to focus on the relationship that the older heroes have developed with their young sidekicks.

Beyond that, once the younger heroes of the first season have grown up a little bit, they, in turn, give back to the younger generation of heroes below them. It goes a long way to illustrate that while some heroes are often painted as solitary, there is still some level of teamwork and camaraderie permeating every aspect of the journey the heroes all travel along.

5 5) Drama

Aqualad and Black Manta in Young Justice

While both Teen Titans and Young Justice are cartoons design for a younger demographic, Young Justice wasn’t afraid to explore some darker themes from the very first season, while Teen Titans tended to shy away from the more complex issues. Teen Titans spent time dealing with the PTSD and paranoia Robin suffered through his relationship with Slade, eventually going on to deal with the issues Raven faced throughout her childhood due to her father.

However, Young Justice dives into some fairly tough issues involving identity, growing up in isolation, and how deeply ingrained lessons from mentors can take root and grow into something toxic. But hey, sometimes that’s just growing up.

4 4) Various Villains

Teen Titans may, at this point, still have had a longer run than Young Justice but in the three seasons of Young Justice that has aired it’s managed to introduce a plethora of villains from the extended DC Universe.

In a much longer period of time, Teen Titans really only managed to introduce and develop a few key villains for the Titans to face. A lot of what makes Young Justice feel more impressive is simply the sense of grandeur in comparison to the relatively small world of the Titans.

3 3) Telling A Bigger Story

A lot of what makes Young Justice so great is due to the sense of scale it has in comparison to a smaller show like Teen Titans. Looking back, Teen Titans feels rather small when compared to the globe-trotting (and sometimes galaxy-trotting) adventures of Young Justice.

Perhaps, if given more time to grow, Teen Titans would have explored larger portions of the DC landscape and introduced fans to storylines and characters that were designed to pull the Titans out of their comfort zone, but that seems to be a lesson Young Justice had already learned before it left the gate.

2 2) Introducing New Heroes To The Team

While Teen Titans sort of dabbled with the idea of adding some new members to the team with characters like Terra, Aqualad, and Bumblebee, Young Justice has let enough time pass in their story that the Young Justice team itself has grown far beyond its original members.

Characters like Dick Grayson, a founding member of the original Young Justice team, are now leading a younger generation of heroes as mentors, much like Batman, The Flash, and Superman before them. With recent addition like Beast Boy, Jaime Reyes (The Blue Beetle), and a few others, it seems like Young Justice is continuing its pattern of growth and bringing more members of the DC family into the mix.

1 1) Experimenting With The Source Material

One thing that Young Justice been afraid to do since it’s inception is having the courage to experiment with what’s been done in the source material. The team behind Young Justice has never been afraid to change around the team a bit, add a few new details to a characters origin story, and even go so far as to change certain character’s ages in order to populate multiple incarnations of the Young Justice team.

While Teen Titans didn’t exactly stick to the comics for everything that the team produced, they didn’t exactly push the boundaries the way that Young Justice has. In the end, Teen Titans played it a little close to the chest, with its characters and plot lines while Young Justice has just been more willing to expand past the boundaries that had been previously established.