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The originalTeen Titansseries doesn’t offer much in the way of villain backstories. Foes appear in single or sporadic episodes to fight the Titans, and are typically not heard from again after being defeated. Cinderblock, Killer Moth, Doctor Light, Mad Mod, The Brain, and many more enemies are battled with little insight into their motive or where their abilities came from. Even the mastermind, Slade, is portrayed as simply evil as he recruits many of these villains into his army.
Yet occasionally,Teen Titansprovides some answers to where its villains came from. The formidable Plasmus is discovered to be an innocent man who is only able to retain his human form while sleeping; against his will, all his conscious moments render him a bloodthirsty monster made of plasma. The mysteriousRed X is in fact Robin himself. The playful Thunder and Lightning, the brothers who control Jump City’s stormy skies, were momentarily led astray by Slade, but talked back into using their powers for good by Beast Boy. But the biggest clue into Jump City’s disproportionate evil population may lie in the ominous H.I.V.E. Academy.
What is the H.I.V.E. Academy?
H.I.V.E. stands for Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Determination, and the academy’s abbreviation stands for Academy for Extraordinary Young People. The institution’s values mimic that of a beehive. The career prospects for Academy graduates are evident in one ofTeen Titans' earliest episodes, “Final Exam”. The episode opens with H.I.V.E. Academy’s headmistress presenting a demonstration to Slade. Her finest students run obstacle courses, dodging lasers and destroying dummies. Slade appears nonplussed by their feats, but enlists them in a mission that he refers to as their final exam: destroy the Teen Titans. It’s clear that the Academy’s priority is training future villains into strong candidates for recruitment by the world’s biggest names in evildoing.
Well-organized, highly trained, and combat-equipped, these new H.I.V.E. agents are the perfect fighting force. And for the right price, this ideal team can be yours.
Later, H.I.V.E. Academy’s headmistress is ousted by the nefarious Brother Blood, who has an even more sinister and aggressive approach to the institution. Brother Blood began orchestrating crimes through H.I.V.E., having students steal money and resources as he works to invent a new weapon. The uptick in crime puts H.I.V.E. back on the Titans radar,prompting Cyborg to infiltrate the Academyas an undercover student, going by the alias of Stone. The situation intensified as Cyborg learned about the Ion Amplifier that Brother Blood was aiming to mass produce. As the conflict heightened, one of Cyborg’s signature sonic blasts was (as the name implies) amplified by the new weapon, destroying the Academy.
However, this isn’t the last of H.I.V.E. or Brother Blood. In season three episode eight, “Wavelength”, the Titans are alerted by their ally Aqualad of a new undersea headquarters; Brother Blood has moved his Academy underwater, and on top of that, has used Cyborg’s technology from his undercover time as Stone to design a new weapon that will wipe out Jump City. The Titans join Aqualad in a siege of the new Academy, where they encounter several enemies, including Blood’s student Bumblebee. The Titans nearly meet their match until Bumblebee reveals herself as an undercover student as well, aiding the team in dismantling Blood’s new device before it can flood Jump City with a tidal wave. Working together, they manage to destroy this H.I.V.E. headquarters as well, though Brother Blood escapes and goes into hiding.
Season 1, episode 3, “Final Exam”
Season 3, episode 8, “Wavelength”
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H.I.V.E. Headmistress Brother Blood
H.I.V.E. Villains
While the Academy is under the leadership of the Headmistress, H.I.V.E.’s top students are Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth, who have magic, technology, and super strength abilities respectively. These are the young villains who are tasked with destroying the Titans following their demonstration in “Final Exam”. The trio proves to be a perfectly even match for the Titans in terms of skill and power, and the opposing teams soon form an intense rivalry. Thecomparable abilities of Raven and Jinxcause the two to get under each other’s skin, while Gizmo’s gadgets interfere with not only Cyborg’s weapons, but the technology he needs to live and function. Mammoth’s brute strength proves capable of keeping Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy all busy as the other two pursue their personal vendettas.
Cyborg especially forms a close relationship with the Titan’s mission to destroy H.I.V.E., as evidenced by his passionate pleas to take the lead in “Wavelength” and annihilate Brother Blood with his “own two hands”. In “Final Exam”, the H.I.V.E. trio manages to temporarily take over Titans Tower, making themselves at home while the Titans regroup on the mainland. In the takeover, Cyborg loses his robotic arm to the villains, and Gizmo mounts it on the wall. The influence of Cyborg’s technology on the H.I.V.E. is a constant throughout the organization’s story line, and creates a perpetual source of guilt for Cyborg as an important piece of him is being used for evil. To compound his guilt, in “Wavelength”, Bumblebee admits to reading Stone’s H.I.V.E. file, where it’s documented thathe had a crush on Jinx.Ultimately, though, Cyborg manages to destroy the H.I.V.E. twice over, and even considers leaving the Titans to continue pursuing Brother Blood.
Teen Titans
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!
