WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for "True Heroes," the mid-season finale of Young Justice: Outsiders, streaming now on DC Universe.
From the moment Nightwing, Black Lightning, Artemis and Superboy rescued Brion Markov from Markovia, the young man has been obsessed with finding his missing sister, Tara. She was abducted two years ago as part of a metahuman trafficking ring, which the DC heroes have been investigating.
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The Tara subplot has been a major part of the third season of Young Justice, with the mid-season finale "True Heroes" bringing it to an end -- for now. Because as one chapter closes another opens, and if we look at a classic Teen Titans storyline for source material then Tara's rescue will have huge ramifications for the Young Justice superheroes moving forward.
Who Can You Trust?
Nightwing's Outsiders originally learned Tara was in the clutches of the League of Shadows, but a trip to Infinity Island earlier in the season revealed she was no longer with the assassins, according to Ra's al Ghul. Nightwing and Batman continued their search, resulting in the discovery that Tara was being held in Bialya, home of the villain Queen Bee.
The heroes were able to free Tara along with the other meta-teens held captive. With the mission a success and the siblings reunited, Nightwing believes Geo-Force, Tara, Halo and Forager are ready to officially join the Young Justice Team.
"True Heroes" ends in Star City, where Halo and Tara are living temporarily with Artemis and Red Arrow. Tara is shown pulling out a cellphone after waking up on a couch. The scene then cuts to Deathstroke in Santa Prisca, where he receives a text message stating, "I'm in." Before the screen cuts to black, a smile forms on Deathstroke's face. This all appears to be leading to Young Justice: Outsiders setting up its version of the popular New Teen Titans storyline, "The Judas Contract."
Written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez in 1984, "The Judas Contract" took place in Tales of the Teen Titans #42-44 and Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3 and featured Deathstroke placing Tara (known as Terra) inside the Teen Titans in order to take them down from the inside. The Teen Titans were never the same after the betrayal, with Wally West quitting the team and Robin moving on to become Nightwing. The storyline was also adapted into a DC animated movie in 2017.
What we're possibly looking at for the remaining episodes of Young Justice: Outsiders is Tara gaining the trust of her new teammates, only for her to help Deathstroke and The Light defeat them when they least expect it. This would be a callback to how Aqualad secretly infiltrated The Light as a spy to work alongside his father Black Manta. Once Aqualad's true intentions were revealed, The Team was able to severely weaken The Light in Season 2's "Summit." We could be looking at the same outcome play out in reverse.
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Young Justice: Outsiders is now available to stream on DC Universe. The series will return for the second part of Season 3 in June.