Terra

Current Events

• Doomsday Clock: Terra is revealed as member of Markovia’s Outsiders.

Origin

The king of Markovia had one affair which resulted in him having an illegitimate daughter named Tara Markov (Terra). The king decided that it would be best to send her to the United States of America to prevent his public image from being ruined.

Because of Tara’s heritage she inherited earth moving powers similar to the ones of Geo-Force, who was her brother, and with the help of a doctor named Helga Jace, Terra gained control. How much the doctor helped Terra in gaining control hasn’t been explained, neither which was the process to do it, the doctor only implied that Terra got her powers by meddling.

Soon after gaining control over her powers Tara Markov (Terra) decided to leave Markovia with a lot of hate and anger towards her father because of the fact that she was an illegitimate daughter. When Tara was fifteen years old she decided to use her powers to do illegitimate work for people.

Creation

Terra was created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Perez is quoted as saying that she was created to be a traitor, and to have a finite existence. Further, she was illustrated to look young and “elfin” so that when she’s shown as having been in bed with Deathstroke and dressed very provocatively, there’s visual shock value.

Major Story Arcs

Meeting the Terminator

Tara’s criminal life lead her to accept a contract that had been declined by Deathstroke himself and which implied killing an African king. Tara decided to come close to the king and his family, one day betraying them and killing the king like the contract wanted. During this mission Tara met and had an affair with Slade Wilson (Deathstroke). He invited her to become his partner on a vendetta against the New Teen Titans because Slade blamed them for the death of his son. Tara Markov accepted the offer and took the codename Terra, at the same time she and Deathstroke invented a story that involved Tara being a prisoner of terrorists.

A Traitor

Changeling (Beast Boy) decided to offer Terra membership in the New Teen Titans after he saw her trying to destroy the Statue of Liberty. It was soon after her joining that Changeling (Beast Boy) started to have romantic feelings toward her, it was also during her time in the New Teen Titans that she was reunited with her cousin Geo-Force when both the “New Teen Titans” and the “Batman and the Outsiders” confronted the Fearsome Five together.

During the time that Terra was a Teen Titan she worked as a spy for Deathstroke, collecting information for him to find out the identities of the members of the team and use it as a way to capture them and take them to the H.I.V.E who were the ones that hired Deathstroke.

After everyone in the team revealed their identities to Terra both Kid Flash (Wally West) and Robin (Dick Grayson) left the team for different reasons, having lost two of their members (Robin being the leader), Donna Troy became the new leader of the team until Dick Grayson decided to come back after figuring out what he would do with his life. Dick Grayson was attacked a few days later by Deathstroke in an attempt to capture him. The strange part of the attack was that Deathstroke didn’t attack him as Robin, but as a civilian. After the confrontation Dick manages to escape Deathstroke by losing him in the city and goes to see if his teammates are okay. After Dick notices that every single one of the New Teen Titans has been captured he meets Adeline Kane and her son Joseph Wilson (Jericho) who tells him that Terra has been working with Deathstroke, and it was because of that that Deathstroke had learned their identities and was able to attack them at their homes. Dick Grayson (Having taken the identity of Nightwing), now with the help of Jericho went to rescue the New Teen Titans from the H.I.V.E and Deathstroke. During the fight Jericho took control over the body of his father and used it to fight Terra, during the fight she lost control over her powers and caused the building to fall over on her, killing her.

Blackest Night

In Blackest Night: Titans #1 Terra seemingly returns, confusing Beast Boy. Terra claims she had survived her apparent death and gone into hiding. The illusion is shattered when Starfire and Cyborg discover and attack the Black Lantern version of Lilith Clay, whose telepathy had been hiding Terra’s true appearance, that of a rotting corpse. The Titans fight Terra, who is backed up by other Black Lantern Titans, including Pantha, WIldbeest, and Aquagirl. When Dove steps in, she destroys most of the Black Lanterns with a white energy blast. Terra is able to escape, along with Hank Hall and Tempest, and goes to torture her brother, Geo-Force, a member of the Outsiders. When Terra gets to the Outsiders headquarters, she meets Geo-Force, and plays innocent. She tells him what she’s done as a Black Lantern and that she wants to have her connection severed. The rest of the team goes along with destroying her, but Geo-Force couldn’t bear killing his sister. Terra eventually turns on the team, and tries to kill them, until she is stopped by Halo. Halo uses her light powers to turn Terra to stone.

Post-Flashpoint: The New 52

The Culling

After the events of Flashpoint, the entire DC Universe is revamped with new twists on its heroes, villains, and origins.

The new version of the earth shifting hero Terra was captured by a shadowy organization called N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Not much is known about her past though Omen’s words suggest that she comes from a slightly privileged lifestyle though she is a ‘fighter.’ They triggered her powers by psychological means instead of direct genetic manipulation as they did with Beast Boy. When Fistpoint attacked Beast Boy, she came to his defense but said it was because he ‘got way too friendly’ with her at some point. She then went on to say that she would eat Beast Boy alive if he got in her way. Despite these words, she came to his defense before the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. security force could toss him into the gladiatorial pit. She was thrown into the arena in his steed, where she encounter Fistpoint again though he had cronies. Beast Boy came to her rescue and they presumably bonded from there.

The Kids From N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Led by Fairchild, she escapes captivity as part of a group of fugitive superheroes referred to as the Ravagers. Terra appears to have the same abilities as the other versions of the character and immediately leaves the group with Beast Boy, not trusting the leadership of Fairchild to get them to safety. She and Beast Boy robbed a convenience store for bagels where they were confronted by the owner and several of his comrades. They absconded with their prize, which Terra noted were quite good, and argued about going to save the others after Beast Boy’s dream. Ultimately, they headed that way and fought a number of Brother Blood’s cultists before heading to the church to face him and save the others. She is almost seduced by Blood, but Beast Boy snaps her out of it and she helps free the others. They escape together, sans Lightning, and head to Los Angeles, where they meet up with Niles Caulder.

Terra and Beast Boy follow the group (Fairchild, Thunder, Ridge and Superboy, who wants to talk with Fairchild) through the base, and Terra and Beast Boy threaten to leave after seeing Niles training arena, which is similar to the Culling arena . Fairchild and Superboy begin to argue, giving Thunder a headache. Thunder suddenly collapses in pain, and his powers go out of control, with hundred of high power sound waves crashing through the building. Having no other option, Superboy flies through the sound waves and knocks out Thunder. Thunder is rushed to surgery by Niles and his medical crew.

Terra and Beast Boy watch as the doctors begin surgery, and Niles tells them that Thunder has a chip in his brain that could kill them, and Harvest could have easily put them in all the other kids too. Terra becomes determined, and joins the team in the arena.

Niles later confronts Fairchild about a mission. A psychic child is about to be targeted by N.O.W.H.E.R.E, and she would be a great help to the team. Fairchild and the team head out. As they approach the house, they are suddenly ambushed by a resurrected and brain washed Windshear and Bright-eyes. The Team dispatches them easily, only to be attacked by Rose Wilson and Warblade. During the fight, Caitlin is knocked back, and encounters the child. She shows Caitlin a destructive future, in which Harvest has brainwashed the team and has taken over the world.

Meanwhile, the team begins losing. Terra suddenly becomes enraged and violently knocks back Rose, and then impales Warblade with a rock. Warblade regenerates, and Terra begins fighting the duo on her own.

Deathstroke is then seen at his base, watching Terra and Rose fight.

After meeting up with Caulder and Superboy, the Ravagers explored the former’s base, Terra ready to bolt at the sign of anything suspicious. Despite her claim, she stayed even after seeing the Arena, where they would fight to hone their skills. The group took to exploring on their own until Thunder began to suffer from seizures and lose control of his powers. Caulder and Fairchild treated him as the others watched on, and Terra asked Beast Boy if there was an ‘us,’ referring to the team. The doctors discovered there was a kill implant in Thunder’s head that they couldn’t remove and that there were at least 18 Colonies. Heading to the Arena to train, they decided that they would take out N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and all its bases.

Rebirth

Terra makes her debut (in the Rebirth era) in Deathstroke #21 – Defiance Chapter One. She joins Slade’s new team, calledDefiance. With an attitude more closer to the original Terra. How much the events of Rebirth retconned part of her history is not clear.

In Doomsday Clock it was revealed than Terra is part of Markovia‘s Outsiders.

Character Characteristics

• Real Name: Tara Markov
• Status: Antihero
• Occupation: Princess (Terra is the illegitimate daughter of the king of Markovia; thus, making her a princess), Adventurer
• Base: San Francisco
• Height: 5 feet 9 inch
• Weight: 132 lbs
• Eyes: Blue (Glow yellow when using her powers)
• Hair: Blonde

Powers and Abilities

Terra has the ability of geokinesis, exhibiting psychokinetic control over the earth and minerals. While she can control massive amounts of earth and rock, shaping it to her will, she has also revealed an incredible amount of fine control, making artistic shapes, or even transmuting raw materials into different crystalline forms. Her primary forms of mobility include flying on a rock platform or extremely quick tunneling.

Atlee has also been revealed to have a degree of superhuman toughness, surviving even after being battered by rocky shards and being immersed in lava. She has shown to have very rapid regenerative powers, with moderate to severe burns disappearing in a matter of hours, leaving no visible scars. She later revealed that earth in all its forms does little or no harm to her. She stated this after she allowed herself to be caught between the North American continental bedrock while she lowered the entire island of Manhattan on top of her. Her degree of geomorphic control is shown to be greater and more refined than what the original Terra has been shown capable of, moving volumes of many many square miles of earth at one time.

Alternate Versions

Team Titans: Terra’s clone?

After the events of Titans Hunt and around the time of Armageddon 2001, a new Terra debuted, claiming to be the resurrected one. She was revealed as a modified clone from the future.

Atlee: The New Terra

A new individual took up the Terra mantle named Atlee. Atlee is from the underground city Strata. When she first appeared, she met Supergirl, and questioned why a hero of Supergirl’s caliber was out partying instead of patrolling the city. After leaving Supergirl, she met Power Girl and the two became instant friends. In Titans of Tomorrow, Today!, Terra has joined Lex Luthor’s Titans Army.

Flashpoint Terra

In Flashpoint, Terra, depiste being Geo-Force’s sister, works as one of the Furies of the Amazons. She protects Themyscira from being swamped by the Atlanteans.

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Gaia

In one of the doomed universes o f the Dark Multiverse, it was revealed a version of the Judas Contract than evolved different. Here, Terra gained more power and overcame the control of Deathstroke over her, killing him. Mad with power, and rebranding herself as Gaia, Terra killed all the Titans as the rest of her world, becoming the only survivor of her universe.

Tiny Titans

She is known to throw rocks. She is creeped out by Beastboy’s affection for her. She has a crush on Superman. This made Beastboy decide to dress like him.

Other Media

Television

Teen Titans

Terra appeared in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Ashley Johnson as a small teenage girl with big powers. Gifted with amazing earth-moving abilities, Terra can make rocks fly, mountains crumble, and the ground tremble beneath her feet. She ran into the Teen Titans and became friends. In the series she could not control her powers and feared what the others would think about her if they found out. Beast Boy found out and Terra made him promise not to tell the others. When they were in battle with Slade’s henchmen, Terra was trapped by Slade. He then proposed that she come with him, and he would teach her how to control her powers. Terra refused, knowing that Slade was the Teen Titans enemy, and she could not betray her friends. Slade told her that Beast Boy would tell the others of her inability to control her powers.When they escaped from Slade and back at Titans Tower, Robin asked Terra to become a Teen Titan. Terra accepted, but she mistakenly thinks Beast Boy told Robin their secret (that she can’t control her powers). She ran away – with Slade continuing to watch her every move. She later returned to the Titans tower later on, and asked if she could still be a Titan. After gaining their trust, she became the sixth Titan to live in the tower. The Titans later found out that she was working alongside Slade–giving him information on their weaknesses, their Tower defense system and more. Though Beast Boy promised that no matter what she did, he’d never stop being her friend–but the handing of his friends over to the mad-man was too much for him to handle. Beast Boy’s rejection turned Terra completely over to Slade’s side, and felt no remorse till the very end about her decision. Terra took each of the Titans down, one by one, until the city belonged to Slade and her.

What she didn’t realize was that she hadn’t been thorough enough in disposing of the Titans–they returned to defeat her and Slade, only to find out that she had decided to leave Slade’s side. Once she found she was unable to, Slade gained control of her body via the suit he had given her–it tied into her nervous system, forcing her to fight. She turned her powers onto Slade in her last effort to save herself from a horrible fate. Though it seemed everything would be all right in the end, Terra’s powers had triggered a volcano that would annihilate everything in its path. Sacrificing herself to save her friends and the city, Terra stopped the volcanic eruption from happening.

For this sacrifice, she was turned into a statue made of the rapidly cooled lava. Though no safe way is known of extracting her now, the Titans are actively seeking a way to free her. Despite many spells and chemical analysis by Raven and Cyborg, the Titans were unable to free Terra from her stone prison. Upon returning from France and defeating the Brotherhood of Evil, however, Beast Boy discovered that she was no longer stuck in stone and attending the local Murakami High school. Filled with joy, Beast Boy ran to see Terra and was heart broken when he found that she remembered nothing of her former life.

Teen Titans Go!

Terra is set to appear in an upcoming episode of Teen Titans Go! titled “Terra-ized”. The plot for the episode is similar to the original Teen Titans show.

Young Justice: Outsiders

Princess Tara and her brother, Geo-Force will be in Young Justice season 3. Appearantly, she was kidnapped by a group of metahumans trafickers and her brother will evoke the help of the Young Justice to find her.

Films

Justice League VS Teen Titans

Terra can be seen seen approching the Titans tower at the post credit scene of the movie. This was a way for the director to introduce her in the movie without explaining who she is.

Teen Titans: Judas Contract

Terra is a main character in the team, voiced by Christina Ricci. She has been a member of the Titans since one year ago, being anti-social with her teammates, especially with Beast Boy, who has a crush on her. During the film she’s been revealed to be a double agent from Deathstroke, who betrays her by the end of the film. After she is freed, she fights Slade, bringing down the Brother Blood sanctuary over them (saving Beast Boy life before). Beast Boy digs the place and finds Terra, who gives him a smile and dies in his arms.

Games

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

She will be a playable character as part of a DLC content with Raven, Killer Frost, Plastique, Starfire and Vixen.

DC Legends

Terra: Troubled Teen Titan is a playable character in the game. She is a villain with Energy affinity.

Her bio in the game says: With the power to control the earth and a troubled past, Tara Markov is not someone to turn your back on.

The illegitimate daughter of the King of Markovia, Tara inherited the ability to control all earthen matter. But while her half-brother was raised as a super-hero, Tara had a more troubled upbringing estranged from her family. She fell in with the mercenary Deathstroke and was used by him as an agent within the Teen Titans. With divided loyalties and psychological trauma, Tara is a dangerous enemy and an even more treacherous ally.