“Fuck Batman”
The trailer Titans, an upcoming TV show based on the Teen Titans, the team of DC’s younger heroes, has not got the reaction DC might have hoped for.
A good sign to see if a Batman comic/movie/cartoon is trying to be a super-serious, ‘adult’ take on the character is if it includes Robin. No Robin, and it’s probably Tim Burton or The Dark Knight. But if Robin is there, it is probably kid-friendly, and like Adam West or The Brave and The Bold.
However, that’s not the case with Titans. It is going to be the first show from DC Universe, the new streaming service which will include new series based on existing DC Comics heroes (yes, DC are trying to make their own Netflix. Go figure).
The trailer for the show dropped this week, at San Diego Comic Con. It is very dark, and grim, and capital-S serious. It focuses on the psychic heroine Raven tracking down Robin – and this isn’t your parent’s Robin. Oh no.
Midway through the trailer, Robin gets in a scuffle with some bad dudes in an alley. They ask where Batman is, and because this is NOT FOR KIDS, Robin replies:
“Fuck Batman.”
(Skip to 0:53 and prepare to be shocked)
https://twitter.com/DCUTitans/status/1019945074161942528
Oh, damn. He did not just say that, did he?!
And while it is meant to be all grown-up and edgy, let’s be real: it comes across as pretty childish. Like, is Robin gonna start wearing all black, listening to Marilyn Manson, and screaming about how much he hates his parents? (Yes, I know Robin’s parents are dead, but it’s just a joke, ok).
Fans have been quick to make fun of it.
I legit did a spit take at “Fuck Batman”.
Wish I’d somehow been recording.What a performatively edgy line of dialogue
— Graham Stark (@Graham_LRR) July 20, 2018
Holy shit that Teen Titans live action trailer. I thought it was a student fan project, but it's an official one. How? How can DC keep doing this? "Fuck Batman" the edge is right out of a fanfic, it just can't be real
— Charlie (@MoistCr1TiKaL) July 19, 2018
imagine the heart attack alfred would have listening to his golden boy master dick say "fuck batman"
— ⛧ hellbabe ⛧ (@timdrrake) July 19, 2018
Would love it if the “Fuck Batman” scene from the Titans trailer was followed up with the criminals being like, “You okay, dude?” and “Hey, don’t be like that, man”
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) July 19, 2018
Series writer and executive producer (and DC Comics legend) Geoff Johns defended the line to Polygon, saying it did not represent the whole show.
“The trailer shows a piece of the tone of the show — the show’s not all that.”
“But it does make you go, ‘Why is he saying [Fuck Batman?]’ If you look at when Robin first left Batman in the comics, there was a lot of uneasiness and him being lost. Titans is really a series about these different characters that are all lost in their lives.”
“And we’ll learn a lot more about it and what that is and why he is the way he is.”
Titans is set to debut later this year, when DC Universe launches.
