Warning! Spoilers to Future State: Teen Titans #1 below!
DC's Future State has not been kind to the Teen Titans. Whether it was the ruins of Titans Tower, the makeshift graves of fallen teammates or the remnants of the team struggling to work together, this group of former teenage sidekicks has seen better days when they were better people. While some of the Titans, old and new, work to complete their mission, others train for what's to come like Raven, the team's half-demon empath and sorcerer who's been training herself in specialized training room, located inside a prisoner's mind. This unheroic situation and the reasons why Raven takes part in it bring to mind the X-Men's Danger Room, specifically when it gained sentience and was forced to train the famous mutant superheroes.
In this DC future, the current Titans are a mixed bag of older Titans working alongside other former sidekicks or new heroes out of a safe house under Queens, attempting to salvage useful weapons from the wreckage of the past to help save what's left of their world. While items such as the famous Dial H for Hero dial might still work, the location of the Spear of Destiny is the real prize as the Titans are aware of Barry Allen's recent discovery regarding Wally West and the Four Riders of the Apokolips. Blaming themselves for unintentionally releasing the Riders upon the world, the Titans are prepared to do whatever it takes to make it right, even if those actions go against everything they used to stand for.
In Future State: Teen Titans #1 by Tim Sheridan and Rafa Sandoval, Raven runs training simulations alongside other Titans, facing gargantuan, multi-headed monsters that she uses her powers to defeat. But just as she nears victory, the simulation ends and Raven is pushed out, since her training room happens to be inside a criminal imprisoned in their sub-basement. Not only is the prisoner someone Raven knows, but she discusses her battle strategies and training with him, meaning he is awake when these simulations occur and that it is part of his punishment, which he accepts. Although he's helped Raven improve her powers and skills, it's all in preparation for something that Raven—and only Raven—must deal with alone.
This situation brings to mind the Danger storyline from Astonishing X-Men, where the X-Men and their students are under attack from their Danger Room. After it creates a body and leaves to seek out Professor Xavier, the X-Men learn that Charles not only knew of the Danger Room's sentience but kept it a secret, forcing the mechanical mutant to serve and train the X-Men instead. Although Charles later explained he was unprepared and unable to properly free her without knowing what she was capable of, the fact that Charles knew and let the Danger Room suffer disgusted the X-Men. Although Danger would pursue her vengeance against Xavier, she eventually relented and accepted the X-Men's invitation to join them.
For the X-Men, Charles knew of Danger's self-awareness and used his inexperience with her specific kind of mutation to justify the needs of his X-Men, specifically to train them so they could be better prepared for battles to come. For Raven, she believes her prisoner is guilty and because of his crimes, she justifies using his mind to help her train, pushing her skills and powers to new limits in preparation for a dangerous and potentially life-threatening task. The only difference is that the X-Men didn't know of Danger's existence while other Titans like Nightwing are aware of Raven's training methods and don't care, making them complicit in these unheroic activities.
In the end, Danger ended up becoming one of the X-Men, helping them in various situations and later settling as one of the citizens living on Krakoa. The prisoner is eventually freed by Dick Grayson and given his Red X identity to assume as the Teen Titans seek to solve their problems divided instead of united. Time will tell if Raven's method of training will have negative consequences down the line for her.
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January 23, 2021 at 05:31AM
