Raven (comics)

For other Ravens in comics, see Raven (disambiguation).

Raven
Art by Ed Benes.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980)
Created by	Marv Wolfman George Pérez
In-story information
Alter ego	Raven Roth
Species	Half-demon and Half-human
Team affiliations	Teen Titans Sentinels of Magic
Notable aliases	Rachel Roth
Abilities	Demonic Transformation Astral projection Teleportation Dimension-to-Dimension Teleportation Healing Flight Levitation Sorcery Psionic abilities Empathy Telepathy Telekinesis Energy Manipulation Time Manipulation Emotion Manipulation Darkness Manipulation Mind Wiping Inducing and amplifying the Seven Deadly Sins Multilingualism Experienced Hand-to-Hand Combatant Expert Martial Artist

Raven is a superheroine who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in a special insert in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980), and was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. Raven is an empath who can teleport and control her "soul-self," which can fight physically, as well as act as Raven's eyes and ears away from her body. Raven's chronology is typically^{[citation needed]} separated into three lives. Her first life, 18 years, was spent in the Temple Azarath and creating The New Teen Titans. Her second life began once she started wearing the garb of White Raven, and lasted under two years. Her third life is her current form. Unlike the transition between her first and second lives, with her third life came a new, younger body.

Publication history

The character was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. The description from Wolfman to Pérez was of a female Phantom Stranger type character. Pérez notes that:

“

...the hood - which I designed to look like an actual bird's head - was my contribution, along with the fact that I wanted to give her a dress. She did not look like an action character, because she was wearing an impractical costume for action.

”

Fictional character biography

First life

A character with a morbid past and origins, Raven is the half-breed daughter of a human mother named Arella and the interdimensional demon Trigon. She grew up in an alternate dimension called Azarath, with pacifistic inhabitants whose spiritual leader was the mystic Azar. She was taught to "control her emotions" by Azar, in order to suppress her inherited demonic powers. Essentially, it was feared that if Raven was allowed to feel any emotion that was too strong, she could become a demon like her father.

During this time, Raven rarely saw her mother and grew detached from her. Upon Azar's death, Arella began the task of raising and teaching Raven. Around this same time, Raven's demonic heritage was revealed, as she met her father face to face for the first time. Soon after her 16th birthday, Raven learned that Trigon planned to come to her dimension; she vowed to stop him.

Cover of Tales of the New Teen Titans #2 (July 1982). Art by George Pérez.

Raven initially approached the Justice League, but they refused her on the advice of Zatanna, who sensed her demonic parentage. In desperation, she reformed the Titans as the New Teen Titans to fight her father. The team consisted of Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. Raven and her new friends later came to think of one another as family.

Trigon soon kidnapped Raven to his home dimension. The team defeated Trigon and sealed him in an interdimensional prison with the help of Arella, who stayed at the interdimensional door as Trigon's Guardian. However, Raven continued to fight her father's influence, as he was not completely destroyed. For a period of time, Raven lost control several times in stressful situations, but managed to regain control before Trigon could assert himself.

Popular storylines such as "The Judas Contract" took place during this period. Eventually, Trigon escaped his prison, came to Earth, and took control of Raven, destroying Azarath in the process. The Titans were manipulated to kill Raven, thereby allowing the souls of Azarath contained inside the ring of Azar to possess her and use her as a channel to kill Trigon. After this battle, Raven rose from the ashes, purged of Trigon's evil, and vanished.

Absent during Crisis on Infinite Earths

Between the periods that we know to be Raven's first and second lives, Raven's whereabouts were unknown. This suggests that during this period, Raven transcended Earth into a non-parallel dimension. Though she was not present, she has been mentioned a few times, including the fact that both the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor had an interest in her ability to cast a soul-self.

Second life (White Raven)

After Raven's disappearance, Arella went around the world in search of Raven. She tracked her down but both of them were kidnapped by Brother Blood. The minions of Brother Blood used Raven to control Nightwing (the former Robin) as part of Blood's plans of resurrection. The Titans rescued them both and prevented Brother Blood from returning. Raven then donned a white cloak to represent freedom from her father's influence.

After being free to feel, Raven found she was able to not only sense, but control others' emotions. She learned to handle this power only after unintentionally making Nightwing believe that he loved her when she thought that she was in love with him. Raven also fostered a relationship with technopath Eric Forrester, who was using the life force of women he seduced to regain some of his lost humanity. Forrester knew that Raven's soul-self could help him to permanently retain his humanity. This attempt was cut short by the intervention of Joseph Wilson (Jericho), who helped Raven overcome her love for Forrester by destroying him and saving herself.

Evil Raven makes her appearance in the "Terror of Trigon" storyline, which began The New Teen Titans (vol. 2). Art by George Pérez.

Raven was later kidnapped by the Wildebeest Society during the "Titans Hunt" storyline. The Wildbeest, led by the Trigon-possessed souls of Azarath, were going to use several Titans to bring about the return of Trigon. During a massive battle, Raven was possessed by the evil souls and once again became the evil doppelgänger of her father. Arella, along with Danny Chase, used the power of Azar's soul to cleanse Raven; in the result, her body was destroyed, and Arella and Danny sacrificed themselves and joined the cleansed souls of Azarath to become Phantasm.

Dark Raven

The evil energy of Trigon in Raven's soul possessed a metahuman. Raven appeared possessed by her evil conscience and attempted to implant Trigon's seed into new bodies. She interrupted Nightwing and Starfire's wedding, and implanted a seed of Trigon into Starfire. Instead of corrupting her, she actually implanted the soul of the good Raven. This caused Starfire to leave Earth in order to escape from the evil Raven. The Titans were able to defeat her only because of the help they received from Phantasm. Raven later returned, still evil, in order to destroy the good version of herself implanted in Starfire. With the help of the Titans, Dark Raven was reduced to ashes, and the good part of Raven was at last free of her demonic father's influence. In New Tamaraan, Starfire and the spirit form of Raven revealed that implanting Raven's soul in Starfire was actually her plan to get rid of her demonic soul.

Third life

In her spirit form, Raven wandered Earth when Brother Blood came to claim her. Her spirit was reincarnated in the body of a teenage girl by the Church of Blood. A new incarnation of the Teen Titans discovered that the Church of Blood were worshippers of Raven's father, Trigon. They also found a prophecy that told of the marriage between Brother Blood and Raven that would result in Armageddon. The team interrupted the wedding, and Raven forced the cult to escape. During this, her body age had been reduced from 23 to 16. She then joined the Teen Titans and enrolled at a high school as "Rachel Roth" in honor of her mother's birth name.

After her rebirth, Raven began developing romantic feelings for her teammate, Garfield Logan (a.k.a. Beast Boy), and the two became romantically attached.

Infinite Crisis & 52

During the events of Infinite Crisis, Raven makes a few appearances as a member of the Teen Titans. On the cover of the final issue of Infinite Crisis, Raven is seen be flying alongside Beast Boy. In 52, after the death of Superboy, the Titans are beginning to fall apart. Robin joins Batman and Wonder Girl leaves the team to find Conner. Beast Boy struggles to maintain the team, but the new members are obsessed in seeking fame and honor in joining than actually looking to fulfill justice. So when Beast Boy decides to help Steel on a mission, most of the members leave, leaving only Raven and Zatara. Later, Beast Boy, Raven, Offspring and Aquagirl aid Steel in launching an attack on Lexcorp. Raven also participated in World War III. Eventually, Robin, Wonder Girl, and a few new members join the Titans, making the team whole again. Beast Boy and Raven are among the only members that remained in the team during this period.

"One Year Later"

Main article: One Year Later

Raven's new look in "One Year Later".

Raven quits the team after she and Beast Boy end their relationship. Letting the others think she is leaving because of Garfield, Raven actually leaves because she has uncovered a secret of one of the other Titans.

Raven runs from unseen pursuers, with a book of unclear significance. Raven has a diskette containing Jericho's soul. She performs a cleansing ritual over his soul and transfers it into a new body before returning to the team as a full member.

Without warning, the Titans are captured by the villainous Titans East and transported to the original Titans Island in New York, where Raven is placed in the "care" of Enigma and Duela Dent, who took to torturing her psychologically. Raven manages her escape. After beating the Titans East, she gives hints that she still loves Garfield, but he refuses to dwell on the matter, leaving their relationship uncertain.

Following the death of Bart Allen, Raven, along with the other adult Titans, decides to leave the team. Raven decides to pursue her chance at attending high school, having never had the opportunity before.

Raven stars in a five-issue miniseries written by Marv Wolfman, with art by Damion Scott. It takes place during the missing year, following Raven's attempts at living as a normal teenage girl and attending high school. Unfortunately, she gets inadvertently drawn into a mystical fight for the lives of her classmates. In the Wizard #177 magazine, Wolfman briefly described the series, saying, "She needs to be on her own and in charge of herself for the first time in her life. This is more than just a 'tale of Raven'; it sets up her new life."

Titans

Raven discovers that Trigon had more than one child, and that a trio of children devoted to her father are behind the attacks. She is affected along with many of the other Titans by these three beings. Raven's three half-brothers use her and Beast Boy as keys to open a portal to Trigon's realm. Raven uses her own power to influence greed in others to make her half-brothers steal what little power Trigon had left. The portal is closed and Trigon's sons, believing they have gained great power, leave.

Raven's half-brothers later return and provoke her demonic side, causing her to leave the Titans and join them. However, the team was able to track them down and convince Raven to join the side of good once more. She later provided a number of other artifacts, all capable of killing her, to the Titans as terms for her staying with the team.

Wyld

With the Titans in a state of disarray in the wake of Justice League: Cry For Justice, Raven left the team and was promptly attacked by a demonic being calling itself Wyld. Battered and dazed, Raven arrived at Titans Tower, where she was rescued by the newest roster of Teen Titans. While she was recovering, Beast Boy stated that he was still in love with her and would remain so, despite whatever difficulties were involved.

Raven decided to stay with the Teen Titans, now acting as a mentor to the younger members. When the Teen Titans attempted to return home, Raven was kidnapped and taken to another dimension by Wyld. Wyld reveals that Raven was the one who created him. When Raven was traveling dimensions looking for her father, her soul self caused all of the animals she visited to merge into one being: The Wyld. The Titans enter the Wyld World to rescue Raven. The Wyld is eventually destroyed by Static.

Beast Boy and Raven share a kiss.

Raven has remained with the Titans. In the final issue of this incarnation of the Titans, Superboy-Prime and his Legion of Doom attack Titan's Tower. Raven stops Kid Flash just before he can kill the replacement Inertia. Then she reveals her soul-self to Headcase, terrifying and in so defeating him. After the Legion of Doom is defeated and Superboy-Prime is bound to the Source Wall, Beast Boy and Raven have a talk about her difficulty reading Solstice's emotions and their encounter with Headcase. Eventually, Raven starts to open up about her true feelings. While it was her inner darkness that scarred her entire life, she was even more frightened of what her love for Beast Boy might cause her to do. Beast Boy makes it clear he doesn't want to escape from any part of her. Touched, Raven decides that she needs to embrace the positive feelings inside her rather than just her negative ones. Beast Boy assures her this is part of being human, and points out, "I think you've worried enough about the bad....so why don't we focus on the good for a change?" With that, they share a heartfelt kiss to renew their relationship.

New 52

Raven in Teen Titans #16.

After the events of Flashpoint, the history of the DC Universe was altered, resulting in the New 52. Raven makes her New 52 debut in the first issue of the Phantom Stranger. There she is shown as a girl in a black and white striped sweater freaking out in a funeral over the level of overwhelming emotion that is emanating from the people there. The Phantom Stranger takes Raven to Stonehenge, the portal between Earth and the realm of Trigon. Being told by an "higher power" what must be done, the reluctant Stranger unwillingly hands her over to Trigon.

Teen Titans

Raven was due to appear in Teen Titans #8, but was replaced by Omen at the last moment. When questioned about the delay of Raven's arrival, writer Scott Lobdell stated,

"Something delayed her, but it wasn’t the crossover! It turns out DC has much bigger plans in store for the character and when you hear what they are you’ll understand why she’s too big for our little book!" hinting that Raven may play a very important part in the DC Universe in the future.

Raven makes her first Teen Titans appearance in Teen Titans #16. Raven, sporting a new costume, is introduced by Trigon as his "Black Bird of Terror" to his minions. It is strongly suggested that Raven has been controlling Red Robin's emotions. During Trigon's invasion on Earth, she approaches a near dead Beast Boy who had been assaulted by Deathstroke earlier in the remains of the Ravagers facility. After being touched by her, Beast Boy awakens and when he asks if Harvest has sent her she apologizes stating that she brought him into the fray much sooner than she expected and completes: "Hush. We are birds of a feather now... You are mine to control" as Raven mind-controlls him and teleports them to New York where Trigon and the Teen Titans are in battle.

Powers and abilities

Being a half-demon hybrid, Raven possesses a vast amount of abilities inherited from her father Trigon.

Raven can empathically absorb the pain of injured people to ease their suffering, and induce rapid healing. She has the ability to heal herself and others. This has limits, though, since she can't heal grave injuries. She almost died trying to accomplish such a feat. Her most prominent ability is to manifest her soul-self through a form of astral projection. Through the use of her soul-self, Raven can project her consciousness into the mind, for therapeutic purposes. It also serves as a way to travel into other dimensions. In many instances, her soul-self has also functioned as a shield and a method of attack, like absorbing objects and energy and regurgitating them moments later. Using her soul-self, she can convert her physical body into her soul-self and carry or teleport herself and others over vast distances in form of a giant black raven. Her soul-self can stay outside her body for five minutes, without risking any psychic pain.

Raven has also displayed the ability to control, manipulate and or generate pure shadows and darkness Raven can also manipulate energy blast, time, and emotions. This ability comes in different variations, from having supremely destructive capabilities to causing pain, tension, fear-based illusions, and steal people emotions. In a number of instances, Raven has also displayed sorcerous abilities, such as inducing unconsciousness on Tim Drake with a touch, releasing balls of fire "within the folds of her cloak"(as in The New Teen Titans Annual #4 (1988)), or hurling electric blasts strong enough to take down all her brothers and all of the adult Titans. Recently, she has been shown to completely annihilate the demon army of Rankor numbering more than three thousand individuals and which contained powerful individual demons that had taken the Titans down in ambushes previously. In her third body, Raven has acquired the ability to fly. Raven is shown to be able to fly unaided in space.

Raven has a very powerful telepathic mind, in her mind it consist of her different emotions that she keeps bottled in like sadness, happiness, anger, and more. She keeps these emotions bottled in because her powers are fueled by emotions and if she show these emotions especially anger she can cause mass destruction. Raven has a demonic emotion which is caused when she is very angry this causes her power to increase dramatically. She also possesses the ability of telekinesis, allowing her to pick up and move people or objects with her mind.

Like her brothers, Raven can induce and amplify one of the seven deadly sins (in her case, pride) in any living being, however doing so will cause her to suffer spells of nausea and vomiting for several days afterward as side effects.

Raven also has limited precognition which allows her to predict future events that are about to happen. But she cannot control this ability, which is why it is only limited, as it only happens randomly. She has also displayed telekinesis and has shown to be a good hand-to-hand combatant, despite the fact that she rarely uses these abilities.

Other Appearances

Sentinels of Magic

A group of magically powered heroes called the Sentinels of Magic appears in Day of Judgement #1 (November 1999). Raven is a founding member of the Sentinels of Magic, who gathered in order to oppose the Spectre as it was under the control of a fallen angel, later the Sentinels become the custodians of the Spear of Destiny and weapon that could kill the Spectre but infected with the madness of Adolf Hitler.

Titans Tomorrow

In the Titans Tomorrow storyline, Dark Raven, a future image of Raven is a member of the Titans Tomorrow. She is referred to the "Wicked Witch of the West" because she consumed the emotions of most of the American continent in order to maintain peace.

Brave and the Bold

In episode #18 and #19 of Brave and the Bold volume 3, Raven and Supergirl fight the son of Triumph. Initially Kara had sought the help of Nightwing, due to her troubles sleeping, where he father would constantly appear to goad her into killing Superman. Nightwing however pointed her to seek out Raven, whom Supergirl had steered clear of since their initial meeting. Despite their shared problem the two have some difficulty working together, as Supergirl has very little patience for the methods Raven employs in order to help her and begins to trivialize Raven's issues with her father.

Superman/Batman

Appeared in two versions when Batman, Superman, the Justice League and members of the Teen Titans came under assault in their dreams by Dr. Destiny. In her initial appearance, she was mashed with Zatanna to create Ravanna, an honored and deceased member of the Justice Titans, that also consisted of blends of Titans and Leaguers. When Batman realizes it is a dream world, because it was the magicians that were removed, the dream shifted. Where Raven appeared to Superman alone, having fallen to her father's influence and turned Earth into hell, killing a number of heroes while doing so. Superman was able to awaken Raven's spirit from the dream, dissolving her evil half and waking them both.

Amalgam Comics

In Amalgam Comics, an amalgamation of Raven and Marvel's Aliya Dayspring is called Raveniya Dayspring.

Tiny Titans

Raven is a major character in Tiny Titans where she lives at home with her father Trigon, who substitutes as a teacher at her school.

Flashpoint: Secret Seven

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Raven is a member of the Secret Seven, a group of powerful sorcerers of Earth. Raven, Zatanna, and Mindwarp are killed by Enchantress, who turns out to be a spy for the Amazon and has been ordered to infiltrate the Secret Seven. Enchantress is eventually killed by Superman. Curiously Raven and Zatanna's relations to their fathers appear to have changed in this reality, with Zatanna hating hers and Raven striving to live up to be the hero Trigon had been.

In other media

Teen Titans animated series

Raven, with her hood down, meditating.

A much younger version of Raven appears in the Teen Titans animated series (2003–2006), where she was one of the program's breakout characters. Her costume is relatively the same as her comic counterpart, but her blue dress is replaced with a black leotard to avoid several animation complications. Raven is depicted with light gray skin, violet-blue eyes, and shoulder-length violet-blue, bobcut-styled hair. Her origin as the daughter of the human Arella and the interdimensional demon Trigon is the same as in the comics.

The animated version of Raven (voiced by Tara Strong) chiefly employs powers which resemble telekinesis/psychokinesis encased in dark-colored mystical energy. Raven's power is displayed under various forms. She accomplishes this by putting a little piece of her spirit/soul into everything she telekinetically controls. She often chants the incantation "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" to focus her abilities even further, allowing her to perform much greater feats; she also uses this phrase as a mantra while meditating. She has the ability and power of levitation, as she cannot actually fly like Starfire. Raven has also been seen as a fairly good hand-to-hand combatant, although she only occasionally uses this skill during battle.

Another of Raven's chief abilities is her "Soul-Self", which allows her to detach her soul and spirit from her body in the form of a dark-energy raven. This ability can be used to enter the minds of others, teleport herself and others across great distances, pass through solid matter or through fire, and even alter her own appearance. Raven has displayed a number of seldom-used abilities. She can heal herself and others (to an extent), stop time, and manifest her fears as monsters unintentionally. She keeps a library of numerous spellbooks in her room on the occult, as well as a number of immensely powerful items, charms and talismans. Raven's powers are entirely tied to her emotions, becoming more powerful and more unstable with the intensity of the emotions fueling them.

Raven is often giving sage advice to the others about various subjects, and generally stays calm even in desperate situations. She is also the most emotionally-restrained of the Titans, appearing secretive and distant. The reason for her emotional restraint is due to the adverse effects her emotions have on her supernatural abilities. However, she eventually warms up to her teammates and comes to see them as her family.

The fourth season serves as an adaptation of the "Terror of Trigon" arc in the Teen Titans comics, and has five episodes that focus heavily on Raven. Over the course of the first two episodes, Raven tries to avoid her destiny of becoming the portal that will release Trigon into their dimension. However, with Slade having been empowered by Trigon, Raven loses hope and resigns to her fate by the third episode (The End Part 1). She leaves her teammates with a small fraction of her powers to protect them from Trigon's petrification blast when he emerges. Raven regresses into a small seven-year-old child, and is rescued from the depths of Trigon's prison by Robin. Robin and the other Titans decide to fight anyway, though they are ultimately incapable of defeating Trigon. Their efforts convince Raven to step out of her father's shadow, and she vaporizes Trigon with a pure-white version of her Soul-Self, returning the world to normal in the process. In the fifth season of the show, she starts to become more open and friendly.

Raven's only definitive romantic love interests within the television series was with the dragon Malchior (who posed as the wizard warrior who vanquished him, Rorek, by having the names reversed in the book where he was trapped) in the episode "Spellbound", which ended at the end of the episode when it was revealed that he was simply using her. She had shown attraction towards Aqualad in the episode "Deep Six", though this was mainly for comedic effect. In the episode "How Long Is Forever?", Starfire travels to the future via a museum artifact. During Starfire's attempt to return home, Raven is seen in her second incarnation, wearing the white robe.

In an interview, Tara Strong said, "I love playing goth characters. Out of all the goths I've played, Raven is my favorite and I love it how she is half demon and half good girl which is so different from all the other goths I have played."

New Teen Titans

Raven returns in the New Teen Titans shorts, with Tara Strong reprising her role. In one short, she goes on a date with the Goth Boy.

Teen Titans Go!

The members of the Teen Titans animated series including Raven appear in Teen Titans Go!. Tara Strong reprises her role as Raven. In Legendary Sandwich, it is revealed that she loves the show, "Pretty Pretty Pegasus."

Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo

The Teen Titans star in the Teen Titans animated series adaption film, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo.

DC Universe Online

Raven appears in the video game DC Universe Online, voiced by Adriene Mishler. She has been possessed by her father Trigon, who has begun a demonic invasion of Metropolis and Earth, using Raven. Hero and Villain players will fight with, or against the Titans to either free or keep Raven under Trigon's control. If she is freed, she will join Hero players along with Zatanna, and Doctor Fate in battling Brother Blood, who is the catalyst for Trigon's invasion.

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Raven is a playable character in the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, with Tara Strong reprising her role. Trigon appears as part of her super attack, and Raven from the Regime notes in a confrontation with Wonder Woman that she serves her father and Superman as Superman's actions will aid her father's return. In her single player ending, the "normal" Raven (the one not of the Regime) after having expended a large amount of demonic energy defeating Superman, she realizes too late that she has summoned her father Trigon into the world. Thanking her he summons an army of demons and sets about conquering the world. Raven also appears in a spin-off-comic Injustice: Gods Among Us by NetherRealm Studios. She is first seen in the Watchtower, recruited by Superman. She and Nightwing exchange solemn looks when Wonder Woman mentions about the destruction of Metropolis. Later, Raven helps capture Mirror Master, who has been holding Superman's parents hostages.

Other Ravens

There have been six other characters named Raven in DC Comics.

• Unknown (Flash Comics Miniature [April 1946]) - A hangliding criminal who fought Hawkman.
• Joe Parker (Detective Comics #287 [January 1961]) - Pitted against the Wasp (Willie Blaine), the pair are used by the aliens Kzan and Jhorl to seek out a meteorite and do battle with the Dynamic Duo.
• Joey Makk (Hawkman vol. 1, #17 [January 1967]) - A bird trainer that battled Hawkman when he tried to steal a valuable book.
• Dave Corby (Batman Family #18 [July 1978]) - An agent of MAZE who fought Robin and Batgirl.
• Unknown (G.I. Combat #228 [April 1981]) - An agent in the O.S.S.
• Tros Samoth (Hawkworld vol. 2, #12 [June 1991]) - The Shadowlord, a winged assassin of the high priests that orchestrated a rebellion against Thanagar.

External links

• DCDP: Raven DC Database Project
• Overview of Raven
• Raven Teen Titans Animated Database Project