Terra (comics)
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Terra is a fictional character in the DC Universe. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, she first appeared in New Teen Titans vol. 1, #26 (December, 1982).
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[edit] Character history
[edit] Early career
Tara Markov, half-sister of Geo-Force, was the illegitimate daughter of the King of Markovia. While in Markovia she came under the care of a Dr. Helga Jace, and through her experiments Terra obtained Earth manipulation powers: specifically, the ability to control all forms of earthen matter. After obtaining these powers, she left Markovia for the United States.
Terra became a mercenary, doing dirty work for others such as Deathstroke the Terminator (who she shared a romance with, despite being barely sixteen years old). She joined the Teen Titans, fooling them by staging a battle versus Deathstroke. She then operated as a spy for Deathstroke, eventually giving him the information he needed to kidnap the Titans.
Eventually, the captured Titans were held in a stronghold of Deathstroke's contractors, The H.I.V.E.. Nightwing and Deathstroke's son, Joseph William Wilson, alias Jericho, raided the complex to rescue them, but were captured. When presented to Deathstroke and the organization in general, Jericho possessed his father and freed the Titans who then attacked H.I.V.E. Not knowing of Jericho's powers, Terra believed Deathstroke to have turned against her. In retaliation, she went berserk and fatally pulled the whole H.I.V.E. complex down upon herself. Despite her betrayal, a statue of her was placed in the Memorial in Titans Tower.
[edit] "Return" and Revival
In 1991, Terra reappeared as part of Team Titans from a possible 2001. Unlike the original, this Terra was a true hero, and was attracted to Beast Boy, although he rejected her. This new Terra was revealed to be a young girl who had been exposed to a DNA virus designed to transform her into a genetic doppleganger of the original Terra.
After the events of Zero Hour, Terra joined the main Teen Titans team and was told via a messenger orb that she was not from the future but from the present day, having been recruited by the Time Trapper to serve in the Team Titans, in order to one day oppose the group and its leader, the villainous Monarch.
Before the orb could tell her where she was taken from in the past, Terra destroyed the orb and later dug up the original Terra's grave only to find it was empty. The character was then promptly dropped into limbo, partially due to fan response to these changes and the fact that many fans were apathetic about the new Terra and her good girl persona. Marv Wolfman further went on the record and stated that he was forced against his will to bring Terra back by his editor; the notion of the new Terra being a genetic doppleganger was a compromise he and the editor came up with regarding his demand that Terra return though once Zero Hour happened and Team Titans cancelled, Marv found himself forced to include Terra against his will into the book and reveal her to be the original Terra. While he included her into the book's line-up, Wolfman put his foot down and refused to retcon her as the original Terra, opting instead to simply cryptically imply, but never confirm that she was the original.
Terra remained in limbo until the 1999 revival of the Teen Titans; in the pages of a "Secret Files" special for the new Titans series, Terra was brought back and shown with Geo-Force, who agreed to perform tests to figure out who she was. The story was controversial for several reasons, most notably in that it had Geo-Force testing Terra to see if she was a clone of his sister, which was irrelevant given that it was already established that Terra was a genetic match from the original Terra due to the DNA virus she was exposed to. The story ended with Geo-Force telling her, when she expressed her fears that she was the original Terra, that she was not his sister even as the genetic tests came back positive that she was. Under circumstances which have yet to be revealed, Terra also became affiliated with the Outsiders. The extent of her involvement with the team is unknown. (Day of Judgment #3-4)
In the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline, wherein the Titans glimpsed a grim possible future, Terra (in a costume modeled closely after her original) is a member of the Titans East, a more benign rival group that opposes the fascist future versions of the current Teen Titans (this future's version of Beast Boy, calling himself Animal Man, still bears a grudge against Terra and wants nothing to do with her.)
Terra was one of the many Titans who showed up to help Conner Kent defeat the Earth-Prime Superboy.
[edit] One Year Later
A new Terra will be getting her own miniseries after appearing in Supergirl #12. The series will be written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with illustrations by Amanda Conner. Gray said on the series, "Terra as a character has never had a definitive origin. That includes Terra 1 and 2. This mini will address that fact in some surprising ways and open the door to a new corner of the DCU. Aside from that the emphasis will be on heroism, true blue hero stuff."[1][2] [3] Palmiotti later stated, "Terra is an enigma for obvious reasons. Every hero in the DCU is in the dark about who she is and why she’s doing what she’s doing, which is running around the planet saving and helping people. We’ve been working with Terra for months and months trying to find and develop what’s special about her. In the end, it was a very simple angle, make Terra a superhero with plenty of emphasis on heroism. Everything she does is selfless and in the service of life." [4]
[edit] Powers and abilities
Terra has control over the Earth and can transform the consistency of earth and rock. She can use this power to cause earthquakes, tap into lava flows and create shapes out of solid rock.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Teen Titans Animated Series
Terra is also featured in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Ashley Johnson. In this version, Terra appears much less physically developed. Her diminutive frame, skinny limbs, and longer, lank blonde hair work to create a dramatic contrast between her tremendous power and her apparently frail body. These changes also make her look closer to Beast Boy's age relative to the other Titans.
In this setting, she also betrayed the Titans to Slade (a.k.a. Deathstroke), despite her relationship with Beast Boy, but was portrayed as more of a lost soul than an irredeemable villain. Also, her dysfunctional relationship with Slade more closely resembles the twisted family dynamics exhibited between the comic's Deathstroke and his daughter Rose Wilson, than the comic book Terra and Deathstroke's extremely illicit romance.
Terra was portrayed as an outgoing, fun-loving, tomboyish transient. Her poor control of her Earth manipulation caused earthquakes, avalanches or mudslides wherever she settled, causing her to be ostracized by those she tried to aid. When she joined the Titans, Beast Boy quickly discovered the volatility of her powers, though Terra, fearing rejection, made him promise not to tell the others.
On a mission with the Titans, Terra was approached by Slade, who, playing on her vulnerabilities, told her he knew her secret. He offered to train her to better control her powers, warning her that Beast Boy would break his promise. When Robin figured out her lack of control on his own, Terra left in panic, wrongfully believing that Beast Boy had betrayed her trust. She then defected to Slade.
After training with him, she returned to the Titans as his undercover agent, under orders to spy on them and compromise Tower security, which she did not without her own doubts and hesitation. When she took Beast Boy on a date to occupy him (thus, trying to keep him from harm due to her affections for him) and cover the attack, Slade followed, and revealed his alliance with Terra to Beast Boy as the two young lovebirds were about to kiss. A battle ensued where Beast Boy, who refused to believe Slade, was crushed by Terra's admission of betrayal. He left in anguish and rage, saying to Terra, "You don't have any friends." Terra is heartbroken, and joins forces with Slade.
Now Slade's villainous apprentice, she was given armor with a neural link to Slade to ensure her complete obedience, and instructed to hunt down and kill her former friends. However, after taking a beating from both the Titans and Slade, she had a change of heart, and with Beast Boy's help (she pleaded at him to kill her so she could be free, but Beast Boy refused and turned the tables on her), broke free of Slade's control.
During the ensuing fight, Terra moved small plates in the ground which triggered a small volcano, killing Slade. When it began to erupt, the Titans told Terra to flee with them. However, she realized that only she could stop the upcoming disaster, and stayed to sacrifice herself and save the city. As a result, Terra was turned into a stone statue after tearfully saying good-bye to Beast Boy. The Titans vowed to find a way to reverse the process, and laid a plaque at her "grave" reading: "Terra: a Teen Titan, a true friend."
The series finale, titled "Things Change", centered around the possible return of Terra, when Beast Boy crossed paths with a civilian high school student who looked and sounded exactly like her. Although Terra's underground statue had disappeared, the girl claimed to have no memory of her former life. There are hints throughout the episode that she truly does remember, such as her statement that "Things were never the way you remember [...] Things change, Beast Boy. The girl you want me to be is just a memory." The girl's true identity and the mysteries behind her appearance are left unexplained. Even in the script and storyboards, the girl is never actually identified as Terra, the only name given was "Schoolgirl."
Terra also appeared in the Teen Titans Go! comic based on the show, in stories set between the episodes "Titan Rising" and "After Shock". Most recently, the schoolgirl who Beast Boy believes is Terra made a cameo in issue #34.
[edit] The Judas Contract movie
The Judas Contract will be adapted into a direct-to-video animated movie, the first of three Titans stories that will be adapted. The story will be more faithful to the original storyline. [5] Writer Marv Wolfman, who is involved in the adaptation, said on the movie:
| The Judas Contract movie will be closer to the original comic than even the show Teen Titans was, and the show was very faithful to the spirit of the original. I loved what they did, but I'm hoping we can be more adult in the handling of this story. Whereas the Titans cartoon show was obviously aimed for kids, this is not being aimed at the youngest kids as it will contain mature content. It will be closer to the original comic, but hopefully even stronger as we'll have actors, which means we'll be able to do some more subtle material. In comics, you have to make readers read the dialogue as you want them to, but of course that's impossible. Here, we can have those little verbal moments where a simple ‘grunt’ or ‘sigh’ or sound can replace paragraphs of prose. Because it's a different medium, we alter the way we tell our stories, playing to this medium's strengths as George and I tried to do with the original, playing to the strength of comics. And yes, Tom [DeSanto] and I intend for the ‘nightgown and cigarette' scene to be there. |
[edit] Other Versions
During the Amalgam Comics run, Terra was infused with Terrax of Marvel Comics to create the character of Terra-X, who appeared during the second X-Patrol issue.
