Titans: The First Season's 5 Darkest, Most Violent Moments

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Titans Season 1, streaming now on DC Universe.

While the DC Extended Universe has been criticized for being too cold and unnecessarily grim, Titans (while disconnected from Warner Bros.' DC filmverse) has somehow seen its gritty story resonate with the same fans who have been asking for a warmer approach to superhero storytelling on the big screen.

A big part of this is the perception that Titans' darker moments aren't just wanton violence for the sake of wanton violence as the Zack Snyder era of the DCEU was often accused of. Rather, the show has been giving audiences proper character studies that highlight the emotional turmoil the young vigilantes are enduring, and how this manifests as aggression. As a result, while the Titans universe is admittedly bleak, it ultimately works. With that in mind, let's look at the darkest moments from Season 1.

5. RAVEN'S ORIGIN

Even though Titans stuck to the comics when it came to Rachel Roth (Taegan) being the child of the demon Trigon and human named Angela, her origin was tweaked to keep her in the dark as to her parentage. In the season premiere, "Titans," however, she's put on the path to becoming a superhero thanks to the brutal murder of her foster mom, Melissa.

When the troubled Rachel comes home from school, she finds Melissa held at gunpoint by an assassin from Trigon's cult. He tries to get her to reveal Rachel's true heritage, but Melissa instead tells her that even though she's not her real daughter, she still loves her and that she has good inside her. As this happens, the assassin puts a bullet through Melissa's skull, bringing the brutal scene to a close. It's a graphic moment you don't expect from a superhero series, but an important one. Melissa's death leads to Rachel's powers manifesting in full, and her eventual fleeing to Detroit where she meets Dick Grayson, all while she's still reeling from the traumatic incident.

4. BATMAN'S TRAIL OF BLOOD

In the season finale, "Dick Grayson," the former Robin is held in a dreamscape by Trigon where his worst nightmares come true. There, Joker killed Commissioner Gordon, which leads to Dick returning to Gotham to save it from a Bruce Wayne gone mad. At Arkham Asylum, he sees how truly far gone his ex-mentor really is as he walks among the bodies of Ventriloquist, Scarface, Riddler and other inmates murdered by the Bat.

All hope is extinguished when Dick witnesses Batman killing Joker in the hospital he was admitted to after surviving being thrown off a rooftop by the Dark Knight. This leaves the former sidekick no choice but to reveal Batman's identity to the world, and lead a task force to attack Wayne Mansion. But, being the Batman, Dick's mentor is ready and takes out the squad the most violent Batman fight we'v ever seen, including the Arkham video games and Batfleck's warehouse scene in Batman vs. Superman. Dick finally sees how merciless Bruce has become when he takes a sharp-edged Batarang and slices open the face of Gotham's new Commissioner, giving us the most unhinged Batman ever, on the big or small screen.

NEXT PAGE: Titans' Darkest Moments: Dark Robin, Hawk's History and A Hero's Murder

3. ROBIN NO MORE

As Titans progressed, we witnessed Dick trying hard not to give into his bloodthirsty tendencies. But as he was consistently driven to beat villains to a bloody pulp, it became clear he really was struggling after being conditioned this way by Bruce. In Episode 7, "Asylum," we finally see him doing away with the Boy Wonder identity in the most lethal fashion imaginable.

After being drugged, Dick and his teammates, including Raven's mom, Angela, manage to escape an asylum where Trigon's followers were holding them. As they depart, Dick instructs Starfire (Anna Diop) to blow the establishment up by igniting the gas lines. It's a shocking turn of events because earlier he warned her about causing an explosion. But after cruelly beating down the asylum staff, Dick decides to play judge, jury and executioner. In the fiery aftermath, we see him looking at a Robin suit on fire, emphasizing that he's ready to walk a new path.

2. HAWK'S SEXUAL ABUSE

When we met Hank (Alan Ritchson) and Dawn (Minka Kelly) in Episode 2, "Hawk and Dove," all we knew was that they had fought alongside Dick in the past, and Hawk hated the former Boy Wonder for once dating Dove. But as the series went on, we realized there was something darker stirring deep inside Hawk.

In Episode 9, "Hank and Dawn," it's all revealed as we learn that when he was a child, Hank had been sexually abused by his football coach. He bore the brunt of the molestation to save his younger brother, Don, from being assaulted, which led to serious anger issues as he tried to bury the past. Pedophilia a subject rarely dealt with in superhero stories, and while it was sensitively handled on Titans, seeing the coach luring the boys and locking the gym with Hank was truly unsettling. When Hank and Dawn descend upon the coach for revenge years later, it was unsettlingly violent, and yet somehow felt like justice being served.

1. BATMAN'S MURDER

In Dick's nightmare, Trigon smartly played the vigilante so he could be consumed by his inner-darkness. That's why he actually took the form of the Commissioner Batman killed to help nudge Dick over the edge. However, Bruce using a freeze-gun on Starfire was the final straw, pushing Dick to set off explosives and bring the mansion down.

With the Bat trapped in the rubble, Dick enters the cave and sees Starfire dead. It's here where he finally gives in to the demons that plagued him throughout the first season, placing his boot on the Caped Crusader's throat, stamping down and suffocating Bruce Wayne to death. Seeing the pent-up rage as the camera zoomed in on Dick's eyes and hearing the Dark Knight gurgling was one of the season's scariest moments, because Dick held nothing back as he killed his father figure. At this point, Dick became the very thing he hated, allowing Trigon to take control of the hero in the real world and setting things up for an even darker Season 2.

Now streaming on DC Universe, Titans stars Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson, Anna Diop as Kory Anders, Teagan Croft as Rachel Roth and Ryan Potter as Garfield Logan, and guest starring Rachel Nichols as Angela, Seamus Dever as Trigon, Minka Kelly as Dawn Granger, Alan Ritchson as Hank Hall and Curran Walters as Jason Todd.