DC's TItans Vs. Marvel's Runaways: Which New Superhero Trailer Looks Better?

The DC Universe streaming service recently opened its virtual doors, with the introductory original series TItans set to introduce the comic supergroup in live-action for the first time. Meanwhile, Hulu is gearing up for the second season to its youth-skewing comic book drama, Runaways. Both of the superhero team series released new trailers today, with Runaways' being our first look at Season 2 and Titans' released with the announcement that Netflix will be its exclusive streaming home everywhere outside the U.S.. And we're putting the promos heads-to-heads in a Battle of the Trailers to see which show deserves more hype.

Titans

Let's start off with the second official trailer for DC Universe's Titans, a dark and gritty take on the fan-favorite comic squad, with Brendan Thwaites' Dick Grayson as a Detroit detective whose vigilante past can't stay buried for very long. The trailer above does a pretty solid job of showing off all the major heroes we'll be spending Season 1 with, along with each character's visually interesting elements, even if it doesn't show off a ton of new footage. It also plays up the balance between Dick's calm demeanor in his "real" life and the festering rage that gets release when he's out as Robin. Each time his fractured relationship with Bruce Wayne comes up in Titans conversations, I find myself getting more and more excited to find out what happened, which doesn't bode well for my judgment patterns.

Beyond Robin, Teagan Croft's Rachel Roth, who will later take on the alter ego Raven, is in need of help when Titans kicks off, and as it's hinted at in the trailer above, she has some freaky-ass demonic powers that are brought out by emotional stress. Then there's Anna Diop's alien princess Koriand'r, who comes to be known as Starfire for all of the blisteringly obvious reasons; it looks like Starfire is where Titans will really get to show off its CGI budget, as those moments in the trailer look absolutely gorgeous.

And then perhaps most promisingly, we have Ryan Potter's Garfield Logan, whose animalistic shapeshifting abilities earn him the moniker Beast Boy. It's quite possible the spritely hero will give Starfire a run for the CGI money with all of his transition scenes.

All in all, it's not entirely clear what Titans' narrative will actually be driving towards, beyond the fully realized superhero states of each of these characters. Like Robin, Alan Ritchson's Hank Hall and Minka Kelly's Dawn Granger appear to already be established as the crimefighting duo Hawk and Dove, but it's clear that Rachel will need to find a way to control her frightful powers, and Koriand'r will need to figure out a few things of her own. Still, I like everything we've seen so far. (And stay tuned for my full Titans review.)

Head to the next page to see the new Season 2 promo for Marvel's Runaways.

Runaways

On the other side of the country are the ragtag group of powered teens collectively known as the Runaways, even though they technically didn't get into the whole running away process until the very end of Season 1. No matter, though, because they're definitely all living as transients when Season 2 kicks off, having left behind their evil-doing parents, who were discovered to be sacrificing teenagers for their own greater cause. The trailer introduces the group finding a new dino-friendly headquarters, and then delivers a super-sequence of the heroes in action.

And that's some quite colorful action, too. Few TV effects have been more breathtakingly beautiful than Virginia Gardner's Karolina in full-on glow-mode, and the shot of her and Lyrica Okano's Nico kissing should have its own auditorium light show. As well, Nico's magical staff is capable of creating its own visually splendrous mayhem, as is the return of Gert's pet Old Lace. Sure, Chase's Fistigons are badass, but more badass than a genetically engineered beast from a previous era? Nah.

As created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, Runaways Season 1 was a slick and brooding origin story that was brimming with dark humor and flights of teenage fancy, which is exactly what was expected. And Season 2 looks to be upping the ante, since all the characters are fully aware of everyone else's situations when it kicks off. The trailer doesn't show all the much from the adult characters, which could be a sign that the Pride will start to take a backseat as other story elements from the comics come forth. Hopefully we'll see more development from Julian McMahon's demanding villain Jonah, who is trying to woo his daughter Karolina. Stay strong, girl!

So which trailer were you more impressed with? Let us know in the poll below. And don't forget that Titans will make its big debut on DC Universe on Friday, October 12, so be sure to subscribe and tune in. Meanwhile, Marvel's Runaways will return to Hulu on Friday, December 21. To see when everything else will be back on the small screen, head to our fall TV premiere schedule.

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