Tragic backstories are a staple of superhero comics, andTeen TitansheroRaven is often considered to have one of the darkest – but longtime fans know that her teammate, Starfire, has an even more bleak backstory. When looking at their actual histories and what they went through, it’s easy to recognize how bad Starfire had it.
Of course, part of the conceit of the Teen Titans, as a team, is that it involves a bunch of superpowered teens finding solidarity with one another and proving themselves as heroes. While many of these young vigilantes had support from their mentors, there’s something different about growing alongside people of the same age.
One of the characters who needed the most support was Raven.Multiple iconic Teen Titans' storiesrevolve around her past and her relationship with her demonic father, but surprisingly, this tragic history isn’t as dark as fellow teammate Starfire.
Admittedly, Raven’s History With Her Father Is Almost As Dark As It Can Get In DC Comics
The Hero Struggles Against Her Destiny: To Destroy The World For Her Demonic Dad
Rachel Roth was born to a human mother and a demonic father, Trigon. This granted herincredibledemonic powers and intense magical abilities, but Trigon had dark plans for her future. Trigon intended to use his daughter to summon him into the earthly realm, allowing him to take over the dimension and make it his new kingdom. Fearing this fate, Rachel’s mother, Angela, fled with Rachel into a dimension out of Trigon’s reach, known as Azarath. While Rachel seemed safe at first, she was found by Trigon and fled to Earth to prevent her father from destroying Azarath.
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From there,Rachel has had many dark conflicts with her father, the latest of which was when Raven’s demonic side took over,and she was transformed intothe Dark-Winged Queen. A lot of people can relate to an abusive father who wants to transform their child into something they don’t want to be. That’s an experience a lot of people have gone through, and Rachel’s story ramps that up to the absolute limit with a demonic father. It’s easy to see why a lot of fans would believe she has the darkest Titan’s backstory.
As Dark As Raven’s Story Gets, Her Teammate Starfire’s Origin Is Even Worse
She Lost Everything & Still Became A Beacon Of Hope
On paper, it seems like Starfire had the perfect childhood. She was the princess of the royal family of Tamaran and had everything she wanted. She grew up in a loving family and was even next in line to become the Queen of the Kingdom. Unfortunately,this gave Blackfire, Starfire’s sister, a deep resentment of her, one that resulted in her practically destroying everything. Blackfire ran away from home and joined the enemies of Tamaran, providing enough information that allowed them to assault the planet, very nearly taking it over.
Starfire went from being a princess, who was in line to become a queen, to being exiled from her planet after suffering years of mental and physical torture.
To protect the kingdom, Starfire was handed over to the invading forces,resulting in her being experimented on and abused for several years.Some interpretations of this backstory even include her being sold into slavery. In either situation, she still eventually manages to escape and ends up on Earth. Yet just because she’s on Earth doesn’t mean things are magically better for her. She still lost everything. Starfire went from being a princess, who was in line to become a queen, to being exiled from her planet after suffering years of mental and physical torture.
Raven & Starfire Both Came From Tragedy, But Most Fans Agree Starfire’s Backstory Is More Bleak
Raven Was Born Into Darkness, Starfire Fought Her Way Out Of It
Both Starfire and Ravenhave incredibly dark backstories, but there are some major differences between them. Ravenchoseto leave her home in Azarath to protect her family from Trigon. From there, she went to Earth, where she was pretty accepted on account of being a human. She was also able to defeat her father several times, even sealing him away for a long period after their first battle. While the threat of Trigon always looms over her, she has beaten him on numerous occasions, which makes the actual threat he poses to her significantly lower, letting her live a relatively normal life.
This is a lot better than Starfire’s backstory. Starfire didn’t choose to be kicked out of the royal family and handed over to an enemy faction that tortured and enslaved her. She was a child when all of this happened, and she spent years in slavery because of it. While she was able to escape, she had to flee not to her home planet, but to the alien planet of Earth. Starfire didn’t know anyone there and wasn’t as accepted due to the fact she was very obviously an alien. These are important distinctions that showStarfire has the darkest backstory of theTeen Titans, not Raven.
