The 2003 Teen Titans series jumped right into the action; the series premiere opens the show with the fully formed and thoroughly trained Titans battling formidable enemies employed by Slade, Robin's arch nemesis who is building an army to take over Jump City. Opening Teen Titans with the team already a well-oiled machine with good control of their powers leaves little time to delve into the origins of each member's ability- at least at first. Throughout the series, a combination of flashbacks, reminiscing, and the unexpected arrival of people and things from the Titans' past slowly reveal the team's fleshed-out beginnings.
In one of season one's later episodes, "Nevermore", the source of Raven's power- and moodiness- is revealed to lie in the demonic spiritual plane of Azarath, where her father, Trigon, resides and continues to plague her mind. Starfire's upbringing on her home planet, Tamaran, is addressed multiple times throughout the series as viewers are introduced to her status as Tamaranean royalty, her evil-inclined sister Blackfire, and her childhood caretaker, Galfore. Robin, arguably the most well-known Titan going into the series, has his background merely alluded to with a significant flurry of bats as he firmly tells Slade that he already has a father. Cyborg's background, however, is not explained quite so clearly in the show. The human sports a robotic eye, arms, and legs, among other tech additions to his body, the failure of which render him immobile. Why did Cyborg need such invasive technological implants, and how did he get them?
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What Happened to Cyborg?
In an incident that is explained in the comics and implied in the series, Cyborg is critically injured at the experimental lab where his parents worked. The event killed his mother and left Cyborg- Victor Stone at the time- in need of extensive treatment beyond the bounds of typical medical care. His father, an experimental scientist, saved Cyborg's life by fitting him with cybernetic technological enhancements that, while empowering him with superhuman abilities, made him stick out like a sore thumb. This, paired with the demise of Cyborg's promising athletic career that was only just beginning, left Cyborg lonely and resentful. And so, he struck out on his own.
Season 5, episode 10, "Go", is a flashback episode depicting the formation of the Teen Titans. The episode appears to catch up with Cyborg at this point in his story as he walks Jump City alone, a hoodie largely concealing his blue tech. At this point in time, the Titans are an unnamed trio consisting of Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy, who stumble upon Cyborg and an erratic Starfire, who had just escaped a spaceship carrying her towards a life of slavery. Cyborg proves helpful in defusing the situation, and once they learn Starfire's true intentions, the five of them officially form the Teen Titans. Cyborg, reveling in the feeling of acceptance, builds Titans Tower himself from the remains of Starfire's grounded spaceship.
Where Did Cyborg's Tech Come From?
Cyborg's father had the resources and knowledge to personally fit Cyborg with his cybernetic enhancements. They function as a titanium exoskeleton that afford him several superhuman advantages, as well as a couple of key vulnerabilities. Cyborg's identity as a human is very important to him, despite the fact that more than half of his body is robotic. Like anyone, Cyborg sleeps, eats, and feels fatigue. Unlike everyone, he also has GPS tracking and sonic rocket shooters built into his detachable arm- an arm that can function independently of his body, as it does in one of the show's first episodes, "Final Exam".
If you take out my biological components, you take out the best part of me! The part that makes me who I am!
However, Cyborg's technology-based powers can at times be a weakness. Cyborg was separated from his arm in "Final Exam" when the Titans lost a battle with the H.I.V.E. Academy's brightest students: Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo. Gizmo is a fraction of Cyborg's size (or any of the Titans, for that matter), but, as his name suggests, he is a technology whiz that primarily uses electronic devices to fight his enemies. He and Cyborg are regularly at odds throughout the series, as Gizmo often plants devices on Cyborg or finds other ways to dismantle Cyborg's literal power source.
Both Cyborg's weaknesses and his human core are on full display in season 1, episode 5, "Sum of His Parts" when he disturbingly shuts down at a Titans picnic in the park. While running to catch a football, Cyborg's blue tech turns black, the light goes out in his robotic eye, and he freezes and falls to the ground. He comes to and checks the status of his tech, declaring that he needs to go back to Titans Tower and change his battery- "just a natural part of being unnatural". At that moment, the Titans are interrupted by Mumbo Jumbo, and Cyborg delays changing his battery to fight with his team. When Cyborg is nowhere to be found when the Titans regroup after the fight, they assume Mumbo has taken him. In reality, though, Cyborg has been brought to the dark underground lair of a robot named Fixit who hooks Cyborg up to a plethora of wires, promising to "fix" him.
It quickly becomes clear that Fixit perceives Cyborg as "broken", all of his human features as weaknesses, and plans to finish the job of turning him into a full-fledged robot. Cyborg panics as the human half of his face is fitted with an ominous mask, hiding his human form entirely. Fixit finally has a change of heart when downloading Cyborg's memories and personality; completely robotic himself, Fixit is affected by the reminder of human life and joy, and finally acknowledges that perhaps Cyborg is not the one who needs fixing. Languishing in sunlight and his retained biology, Cyborg returns to the park with a more profound comment to the young boy with his arm in a cast, who excitedly recognized him at the beginning of the episode.
I am just like you. But it's not your arm that makes us the same. It's the stuff connected to it.
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Teen Titans
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2003 - 2006-00-00
- Network
- Cartoon Network
- Directors
- Michael Chang, Alex Soto, Ben Jones, Ciro Nieli, Matt Youngberg
Based on the characters from DC Comics, Teen Titans follows the adventures of Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy as they fight to protect the world from various evildoers and make a name for themselves. The original animated series spans 5 seasons, and was the basis for the more comedic Teen Titans Go!
