Raven (DC Comics)
| Raven | |
|---|---|
| File:RavenOYL.jpg | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman George Pérez |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Rachel Roth |
| Team affiliations | Teen Titans Sentinels of Magic |
| Abilities | Umbrakinesis, teleportation, emotional healing ability, psionic emotional manipulation, astral form (Soul Self), psychokinesis. |
Raven is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe, specifically the Teen Titans comics. She first appeared in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980), created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez.
Character history
Raven has been a prominent member of The New Teen Titans, and is currently a member of the modern Teen Titans. She 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.
A dark, moody character, Raven is the half-breed daughter of a human mother named Arella and the demon Trigon. She grew up in a pacifist alternate dimension called Azarath, where she was taught to "control her emotions" by the goddess Azar, a sworn pacifist, in order to suppress her inherited demonic powers. During this time, Raven rarely saw her mother and grew detached from her. Upon Azar's death, 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, and she vowed to stop him. 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 Changeling. Kid Flash only agreed to be a member after Raven used her powers to coerce him into loving her. On another meeting with the Justice League, Zatanna revealed this information, which caused the other Titans to turn away and mistrust Raven. This separation didn't last long when Trigon 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 wasn't completely destroyed. For a period of time, Raven lost control several times in high-stress situations, but managed to regain control before Trigon could assert himself. Eventually, however, Trigon escaped his prison, came to Earth and took control of Raven, destroying Azarath in the process. The Titans came together and were forced to kill Raven, thereby allowing the souls of Azarath to possess her and guided by the spirit of Azar, who was acting through the body of the Titan's ally Lilith, used her as a channel to kill Trigon. After this battle, Raven rose again from the ashes, purged of Trigon's evil, and vanished.
Later on, the minions of the Titan's enemy, Brother Blood, captured 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.
Some time later after being free to feel, Raven found she was able to not only sense but control others emotions; a power she learned to handle only after unintentionally forcing Dick Grayson/Nightwing to love her for a brief time. It was during this incident Starfire and Raven became close friends. Raven also fostered a relationship with technopath Erik Forrester, who was using the life force of women he seduced to regain some of his lost humanity, a result of interfacing with computers. 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.
Raven's life went on without change until she was kidnapped by the Wildebeest Society during the "Titans Hunt" storyline. The Wildebeest, lead by the Trigon-possessed souls of Azarath, Jericho, was going to use several Titans to bring about the return of Trigon. During a massive battle in the remains of Azarath, 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; however, through the battle her body was destroyed, and Arella and Danny joined the cleansed souls of Azarath to become Phantasm.
Now free of its bodily prison, the evil energy that was Trigon's in Raven's soul took on sentience and possessed a meta-human with a resemblance to Raven. Raven appeared possessed by her evil conscience, and attempted to implant Trigon's seed into new bodies. She arrived at Nightwing and Starfire's wedding, and implanted a seed 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, who implanted seeds into several other superheroes. The Titans were able to defeat her with the help of Phantasm.
Raven returned later, still evil, in order to destroy the good version of herself implanted in Starfire. The Titans defeated her once again, for the last time. The good Raven became a being of golden energy without a physical body.
In this spirit form, Raven wandered Earth looking for her place in the world 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 which 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. 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 Gar Logan (a.k.a. Beast Boy), and the two recently became romantically attached. Despite speculation to the contrary by the shipper community, writer Geoff Johns confirmed that this relationship had long been intended by him before the animated series began.
Infinite Crisis and "One Year Later"
- Main articles: Infinite Crisis and One Year Later
Due to the effects of the Spectre's destruction of magic during the Day of Vengeance storyline, Raven found her own magical powers weakening and slipping out of her control, but continued on the good fight nontheless, helping the Titans both in evacuating the shattered city of Blüdhaven and battling Superboy-Prime.
After the events of Infinite Crisis, it was revealed in Teen Titans (Vol. 3) #34 that Raven quit the team after she and Beast Boy broke up their relationship. In issue #37 of the series, a recording of her told Cyborg that Beast Boy was stressed by being team leader, and even compares him with Nightwing. Raven then left the Titans because she learned a secret about the new members of the team, though she let them think she was leaving because of Gar.
Template:Spoiler-solicitation Raven will also star in a five-issue mini-series starting in September. Marv Wolfman will write the series with art by Damion Scott. In the Wizard #177 magazine, Wolfman briefly described the series:
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.
In addition, through various press releases and creators' blogs, it is suggested that Raven will return to the pages of Teen Titans with an updated costume (see the picture in the infobox). Teen Titans writer Geoff Johns recently revealed that Raven will return to the team, although whether this will be before or after the Raven miniseries is unknown. A few aspects of her new costume, such as her belt, are based on that of her animated counterpart. Template:Spoilers In Teen Titans #38 (vol. 3), Raven is seen, apparently on the lam, with a book that is of unclear significance. She was incredibly tired from teleporting for a whole night.
Teen Titans animated series
Appearance
In the Teen Titans animated series (2003-2006), Raven (voiced by Tara Strong) appears much younger than in the comic book variants (as do all the other characters), though her costume is relatively unchanged. Her skirt was, however, changed to a leotard by the animators to avoid several animation complications; she wears a chain belt around her waist as well. Raven is also depicted with light grey skin and short, violet hair.
Personality
Raven's personality is more child-like and emotional, and slightly more morose. She is straightforward, moody, sarcastic, and has a dry sense of humor. Despite this, she shows signs that she cares very much for her friends.
Raven often worries that her fellow Titans don't like her, possibly because she is the daughter of a demon and has a complex lifestyle that her friends don't understand too well. Her room inside Titans Tower is decorated with things from her past, as well as statues and pictures abound of the peculiarities her powers like to conjure up. Not surprisingly, she becomes highly offended when anyone sets foot in it against her will.
Character history
Before "Birthmark"
Template:Spoiler In "Nevermore", episode 6 of the first season, Raven is angered by the villainous Dr. Light. She then transforms into a demonic version with four red eyes, grabs the villain with her tentacles and drags him under her cloak; he is seen to be dramatically traumatized when he reemerges.
Later, Beast Boy and Cyborg find a mirror in her room, which accidentally transports them into her subconscious. There, they encountered the personified aspects of Raven herself. Each aspect is represented as wearing a different colored robe, including green (bravery), gray (timid), pink (happiness), orange (rudeness), yellow (intelligence), and others.
Red Raven
When Raven went after them, she tells them that her dark side (the red eyed tentacled transformation that traumatized Dr. Light) was let out by accident and had taken over her other sides. Red Raven (complete with four glowing red eyes) soon gathers herself and transforms into a huge hulking red beast, at which point Raven comments "Let's just say I have issues with my father", a hint in the animated series that the beast is a younger incarnation of Trigon, her father.
Red Raven was later let loose briefly during Raven's battle with Terra in a giant mud pit (season 2, "Aftershock Part 1"). Enraging her was apparently Terra's plan all along, because Raven's anger made her lose the control of her powers.
White Raven
The white cloak, boots, and leotard from that episode are seen in at least one episode of the series' seasons. In "Nevermore", her cloak turns white after she absorbs her other aspects (except red) to defeat her mind's view of Trigon (Red Raven).
The cloak was next seen in the first episode of season two, "How Long is Forever?", where Raven's future self dons the white cloak after losing control of her powers and sanity.
In season three's episode "Spellbound", Raven dons her white attire as a result of her being attracted to the wizard Malchior. The final appearance would come in the three-part episode "The End", representing a Raven purified of her father's evil.
Birthmark and Trigon
In season four's episode "Birthmark", it was revealed that Slade had made allegiance with Trigon, who spared him from being destroyed after being tossed into lava by Terra ("Aftershock Part 2"). The demon also empowered Slade in order to accomplish his task.
In a scene of Raven's birthday, Slade comes to deliver her the "news" that she is going to bring her father to Earth and end the world. In "The End Part 2", she gets regressed back to her childhood form by her father, so that he may succeed in his plans of world domination.
In her final confrontation with Trigon, Raven's robes changed to white (as they had in two earlier episodes, as well as in the Teen Titans comic books). She overcame Trigon's spell and reverted back to her former teen self. She then continually attacked Trigon while renouncing him as her father. Then, by reclaiming the energies that she had left behind in her friends, Raven transformed into her soul self, which took on the form of a gigantic white raven, banishing Trigon from the world. Though her uniform and power were white when this happened, and her hair long, by the end of the episode Raven had once again donned her standard black and blue outfit.
Powers
Empathy
Raven has the psionic ability of empathy, the power to absorb emotions, enabling her to feel the feelings of others. She can also use her empathy to steal emotions from others, rendering them emotionally "numb". She can absorb the pain of injured people to ease their suffering, and induce rapid healing.
Soul-Self
Raven can manifest her "Soul-Self" through astral projection. It normally takes the form of either her human shape or a giant raven. Through the use of her soul-self, Raven can project her consciousness into the mind, for therapeutic purposes (to aid in her own meditation, or to help calm an agitated ally), or for offensive attacks, rendering her enemies unconscious. It also serves as a way to travel into other dimensions. Using her soul-self, she can teleport herself and others over vast distances.
Soul-Self Metamorphosis (Animated)
When the animated Raven is highly upset, her soul-self can also transform her body's appearance to a variety of demonic forms and sizes. Worst of all, when she can't control her anger, she transforms into a demonic Raven, usually with four glowing, red eyes and sprouting black tentacles from under her cloak. The four eyes seem to symbolize her demon father, Trigon — when Cyborg was infected with a virus, she threatened Gizmo into helping by lifting and then pulling down her hood. The face was not shown, but it appeared to be a dragon's head with tentacles.
Psychokinesis (Animated)
In addition to an affinity for magic and spell casting, the animated Raven possesses powerful psychokinetic abilities which manifest in the form of Dark Energy, serving as her primary means of attack and defense. She can use her abilities to levitate objects (and also herself), project concussive blasts, and form simple shapes like grappling hands and razor sharp plates to use as barriers and/or restricting binds. Raven can use her Dark Energy to create portals to phase through solid barriers like floors and wall. In episode "Car Trouble", after Cyborg's newly built T-Car was stolen, and he's lamenting about how the loss hurts him emotionally as he had put his own circuits into it, Raven admits she sympathizes: "When I use my powers, I have to put a little of my soul into whatever I'm moving. I become a part of it, and it becomes a part of me".
Mantra (Animated)
The animated version of Raven often says the phrase "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" to help her focus her powers. She even uses this as her attack phrase as well. These words are her mantra. As previously mentioned, Azarath is the dimension in which she was born and raised, and where she learned her powers from the monks. The words "Metrion" and "Zinthos" were created by Glen Murakami for the spell, and have no assigned meaning yet.
One theory holds that since Azarath is a sanctuary, that it's inclusion in a mantra intended to focus her thoughts implies that the remaining words refer to a principle relating to the followers of Azar--much like a Bhuddist mantra. A related theory suggests that the words have a "Subject Object Verb" grammatical order--the command-like and finalizing nature of "Zinthos" being the cheif reason for this assumption (not to mention that the Japanese language has the same word order). From this, two theoritical possibilities are derived:
- "Metrion" is a word refering to "calm", "peace", or a some particular but unspecified order of thought or thinking; followed by a copula, "Zinthos".
- "Metrion" refers to her own "state of mind" in the generic sense regardless of her present mood, with "Zinthos" being a commanding verb which with reference to "Azarath" sets her own mind to recollect her earlier teachings.
If this theory is true, or rather if it could be assumed (since Glen Murakami never made any defining statements or references), then this would be similar to the Litany Against Fear, depicted in Frank Herbert's Dune (novel).
Raven sometimes uses the mantra to aid her in her daily meditations, which she performs to keep her emotions in check so they do not clash with her conscious self control.
Other Powers (Animated)
The animated version of Raven also posseses a large number of limited powers used only under special circumstances. These include teleportation (both of people and objects), time manipulation, precognition, rapid healing, extremely powerful magic spells and the (unwilling) creation of various monsters.
Trivia
- There was a Quality Comics superhero named "The Raven", who helped out Spider Widow. This hero was more based on the bird and didn't have magical powers.
- After rejoining the Teen Titans, and wanting to find ways to express herself, Raven gets a lower back tattoo featuring her bird symbol (Teen Titans Vol. 3, #13).
See also
- Raveniya, an Amalgam Comics version of Raven.
External links
- DCDP: Raven - DC Database Project
- Titans Tower Biography
- Overview of Raven
- Raven's description on the animated series