Who Is…Terra?

Who is Terra?

Well, we’re on our third one so far, but they’ve had their impact on DC Comics for sure, usually on the Teen Titans.

The first Terra was shown to be a troubled young woman who the Titans rescued from being held captive by terrorists. She became the first recruit to join the New Teen Titans since they banded together. She was a bit rough around the edges, but her heart seemed to be in the right place, and there was even hints of a romance developing between her and Changeling. What was gradually revealed, stunning many comic fans, was that she was a sociopath mercenary in the employ of Deathstroke the Terminator in another bid on his part to destroy the New Teen Titans. She was Deathstroke’s spy, and lover, and was simply learning as much as she could about the Titans to rip them apart from within. Things built to a head in the classic comic story “The Judas Contract”, possibly some of Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s finest work, and that truly says something. She did betray them, and helped Slade capture everyone but Dick Grayson, who had abandoned his Robin identity but hadn’t taken a new one yet. Among the far reaching results of this arc were: Terra’s death; Changeling’s emotional trauma from her betrayal; Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing; Jericho joining the Teen Titans; and a story where the traitor working with the heroes not only doesn’t turn out to side with them, but tries her best to kill them.

In an odd development, wholly independently of each other, Wolfman and Perez were creating Terra about the same time Mike Barr and Jim Aparo made Geo-Force for their new title, Batman and the Outsiders. The two creative teams were bemused by the development of two earth powered characters at the same time, and created a mutual history, making them half brother and sister.

Years after the first Terra’s death, a group of time traveling teens calling themselves the Team Titans appeared in the DCU. One of their members was a young blonde with earth powers calling herself Terra, who greatly resembled the first. She was even interested in Changeling. Her own story became very complicated. At first, she was simply one of the time lost heroes who came back to prevent a horrible future, much like the Terminator movies with super heroes. Then, it was revealed that she was not from the Team Titans’ alternate timeline when they were wiped out by the fluctuations of Zero Hour, but she survived. Her destiny, and even history, were manipulated by such powerful beings as Lord Chaos, Monarch, and the Time Trapper. It was strongly hinted that she was somehow connected to the first Terra, with later scenes of Geo-Force discovering their DNA was the same and the first Terra’s coffin being shown to be empty. Terra II joined the New Titans, and served with another incarnation of the Titans. Later, during the rampage that was dubbed World War III, Black Adam killed her by punching through her chest.

Years later, yet another heroine appeared with earth powers, calling herself Terra. At least this one was clearly not a repeat of the first two, being a striking brunette with a much different look. After a few enigmatic appearances, she starred in a four part mini series which explained all the Terras. The first was given her powers by Dr. Helga Jace, at first an ally of the heroic Outsiders but later revealed as a Manhunter sleeper agent. Tara was never wholly stable, and Slade Wilson used an early version of a serum that made its subjects susceptible to suggestion on her, causing brain damage. He later would use this same serum on Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) and his own daughter, Rose Wilson (Ravager). Her insanity caused her death when she tried to kill Slade, the Titans, and everyone else nearby. The second Terra was a resident of a hidden subterranean city called Strata, whose body chemistry allowed her to gain earth powers from exposure to a rare element of theirs called “Quixium.” Quixium was to have played a part in the first Terra’s history as well, but in the real world, the nearly year long delay between Last Will and Testament and the Terra series forced some changes. The second Terra lost her early memories completely and then became a pawn in the game between Lord Chaos and Monarch. The third Terra was also from Strata, but they did not try and make her resemble Tara Markov when they changed her to her human appearance. During the miniseries, Terra struck up a friendship with Power Girl, later appearing in her ongoing series as a sidekick of sorts, being mentored in both heroics and human society.