Last year, Titans Season 3 delivered a lot of twists and turns, from Jason Todd being resurrected as the antagonistic Red Hood and Bruce Wayne killing The Joker for murdering his sidekick, to Red Hood orchestrating the death of Hank Hall and even Nightwing briefly dying. When all was said and done, the protagonists emerged victorious over Dr. Jonathan Crane, and for good measure, Raven made sure to mentally incapacitate the man who once terrorized Gotham City as The Scarecrow to ensure he could never hurt anyone again. With their time in Gotham done, the Titans began their journey back to San Francisco, paving the way for Titans Season 4, which is set to premiere in November to HBO Max subscribers.
Per the official Titans Season 4 plot description, after a stop in Metropolis, the starring heroes will find themselves in the crosshairs of a supernatural cult with powers unlike anything they’ve faced before. While that’s an enticing tease, there are eight specific things I’m excited in this new season of Titans, starting with Superman baddie Lex Luthor finally appearing on the show.
Titus Welliver As Lex Luthor
Although we saw a flashback of Lex Luthor as a child in Titans Season 2, up until now within the show’s present-day narrative, the character’s influence has only been felt offscreen through both Conner Kent, a.k.a. Superboy, joining the title team and his right-hand woman Mercy Graves carrying out his orders. This is finally changing in Season 4, with Titans casting Bosch star Titus Welliver as a bearded Luthor. While Luthor won’t be the season’s main antagonist, Titans showrunner Greg Walker said that will pose an intellectual and psychological threat, particularly for Superboy, but we’ll talk more about that later. With Welliver having already voiced Carmine Falcone in Batman: The Long Halloween, I’m eager to see how he does playing one of DC Comics’ most famous villains.
Nightwing And Starfire’s Potential Romance
Although Titans Season 3 played around with Brenton Thwaites’ Dick Grayson and Savannah Welch’s Barbara Gordon resuming their romantic relationship, by the end of the season, they decided to part ways as friends. This leaves Dick free to strike up a romance with Anna Diop’s Koriand’r following a hook-up in Season 1, and this might not be a hypothetical scenario. In an interview with ScreenRant, Diop said that Titans Season 4 will have “some long-awaited romance that people have been desperately seeking,” and that she hopes that means people will stop sending her DMs about this. That seemingly indicates she’s referring to Dick and Kory, but then in April, Thwaites told TV Line that the characters had agreed they work better as “friends.” So it’s unclear for now if these two are getting together, but I’m rooting for them.
Beast Boy Transforming Into More Animals
In addition to Ryan Potter’s version of Garfield Logan, a.k.a. Beast Boy, only boasting green hair rather than green skin, his powers are much more limited compared to his comic book counterpart’s. Throughout Titans’ run, we’ve only seen him transform into a tiger aside from two instances: when he turned into a snake in Season 2’s “Trigon” and a bat in Season 3’s “Prodigal.” It’s been implied that Garfield’s emotional state is tied to the type of animal he can become, and I imagine Titans Season 4 will bring in at least one new animal form given what happened the prior two seasons. Plus, Titans director Nicholas Copus shared a picture on Instagram of Ryan Potter wearing what looks like a red bangle. Maybe that’s only a fashion accessory, but don’t be surprised if it’s also meant to help Garfield hone his special ability.
Joseph Morgan As Brother Blood
Remember when I said Lex Luthor won’t be Titans Season 4’s main antagonist? That’s because this honor belongs to Brother Blood, who’s being played by The Originals’ Joseph Morgan. Morgan is the second actor to play Sebastian Blood in live-action, with Kevin Alejandro having previously played the character in Arrow Season 2, and Titans’ version of the character is described as “an introvert with a strong intelligence and a hidden darker nature.” He will be working in the aforementioned supernatural cult with Franka Potente’s Mother Mayhem, and considering that Brother Blood is one of the Teen Titans’ greatest adversaries, I’m looking forward to seeing how Morgan handles this menacing role.
Donna Troy Working With A.R.G.U.S.
As mentioned earlier, Titans Season 3 saw Donna Troy returning to the land of the living after being electrocuted in the Season 2 finale. Donna wasted no time returning to Gotham City with Tim Drake to help her superhero allies defeat Jonathan Crane, but afterwards, she didn’t return to San Francisco as a member of the Titans. Instead, Donna decided to go to Paris to check in with Dawn Granger (who left the team after Hank Hall died), but more importantly, she was also offered an opportunity from Margarita Vee to work with A.R.G.U.S. when she was up for it. As such, it stands to reason that Donna will reunite with Nightwing and the gang in Season 4 as part of her work with A.R.G.U.S., perhaps running into them while she’s conducting her own investigation into Brother Blood’s cult.
Superboy Struggling With His Connection To Lex Luthor
Like his comic book counterpart, Joshua Orphin’s Conner Kent, a.k.a. Superboy, is a genetic clone of Superman and Lex Luthor, and obviously he’s modeled himself after the former. However, Titans Season 4 will finally explore in-depth what it means to be partially made up of the latter, with showrunner Greg Walker saying we’ll see what happens when Conner gives his Luthor self “the keys to the car.” It remains to be seen how much screen time Conner and Luthor will have with one another, but evidently it will be enough to throw a wrench into the young superhero’s life, and it’ll be interesting to see how he’s pushed back onto the righteous path since it’s highly unlikely Superman will fly in to talk some sense into him.
Tim Drake Training To Be The New Robin
Titans Season 3 brought Jay Lycurgo’s Tim Drake into the fold, with this version of the character aiding the Titans after deducing that Dick Grayson is Nightwing and unsuccessfully pitching himself as the new Robin. Well, after enduring everything that Season 3 threw at him, including being fatally shot by Jonathan Crane and coming back to life with Donna Troy, Tim proved he had what it takes to become a superhero, as Dick invited him to train with the Titans in San Francisco. While there’s no guarantee that Tim will put on a Robin costume in Season 4, we at least know he’ll be better prepared to fight the bad guys. Let’s be honest though, Tim officially debuting as the third Robin would be an amazing reveal to save for the final chunk of the season.
Red Hood Embracing Being An Anti-Hero
Curran Walters’ Jason Todd spent the majority of Titans Season 3 as an antagonist, but eventually he hit a point where he could no longer help Jonathan Crane with his nefarious scheme and decided to work with his former allies to save Gotham City. Although Jason made amends with Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne afterwards, he decided not to rejoin the Titans. While it hasn’t been outright said if Jason is in Titans Season 4, after the Season 3 finale aired, Walters said on Twitter that Red Hood “isn’t going anywhere.” There’s a chance he might have been referring to the character getting a spinoff show, but we haven’t heard anything about such a project actually moving forward, so it’s probably reasonable to assume that Jason will resurface in Season 4. If that’s the case, then this is a prime opportunity to delve into him embracing his new antihero status, i.e. not willing to harm innocents anymore, but also not willing to follow the same moral code as the Titans.
Titans Season 4 doesn’t have a specific November release date set on HBO Max yet, but once it doesn’t, you’ll find it amongst the other premiere information found within our 2022 TV schedule. Feel free to also check out what other upcoming DC TV shows are on the way later this year and beyond.
