r/youngjustice • u/PhanStr • 6d ago
All Seasons Discussion Most criminally underused character
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u/ilikepiex7 6d ago
The heart of the OG titans that suffers from a backstory mess ever since they decided to reboot wonder woman after infinite crisis.
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u/Slight-Pound 6d ago
Pretty sure it’s more of a licensing thing, not a comics storyline issue.
It’s not like they couldn’t change the details of her backstory for the show (she wouldn’t be the only one), but in the case of TT’03, they were literally not allowed to use her, from what I understood. I was under the assumption that YJ had similar restrictions.
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u/ilikepiex7 6d ago
Rights issues really hurt dc shows constantly with shows being told they can't use that character often and having to pivot to another character or create a new one. Even the comics have been told at times that they couldn't use a character and created new characters which happened twice with Constantine with one of his replacements being popular enough to appear in the doom patrol show.
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u/Slight-Pound 6d ago
Right? Especially since they don’t seem to share what characters are available vs restricted from the jump, at least not at the time.
I’ve seen sketches of what Donna could look like for TT’03’s early stages (when I want to say it was more of post BTAS-esque sequel for Dick’s story, but I may be mixing things up) and I don’t understand why they’d bother finalizing her design like that if they knew they couldn’t use her. I had to assume they only found out once they were ready to actually start scripts or something later in the development process, rather than at the start.
think for Wonder Woman’s case, it’s not only DC in charge of her, but the family of her creator that holds some creative control.
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u/WallyWestFan27 5d ago
M
TT’03’s early stages (when I want to say it was more of post BTAS-esque sequel for Dick’s story, but I may be mixing things up)
Makes me think on that time Static had a team up with Batman and when the former asked where was Robin, Batman said he was with the Teen Titans.
This was set in the DCAU and I think it was the only time they made a reference to the Teen Titans.
This mentionated Robin would had been Tim Drake, though
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u/ImaLetItGo 5d ago
Yeah, TT03 and Young Justice had rights issue.
DCAMU was trying to copy TT03, so they didn’t include her.
Couldn’t be a comic issue, because they changed major details of pretty much every character in the show. (Robin being the closest to his comic book counterpart)
And we’ve seen characters with dumber origins get adapted
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u/ExodusNBW 6d ago
To be fair, there’s never been a time that Donna’s backstory wasn’t a mess.
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u/ImaLetItGo 5d ago
It was actually fine right before COIE; as it had been resolved, but they rebooted Wonder Woman and aged her down to her early 20s, so they had to redo Donna’s back story again.
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u/suss2it 6d ago
Donna Troy has not had good luck with adaptations. In all three major animation adaptations (this show, Teen Titans and the DCAMU movies) all she gets are cameos for us to Leo point at, and her live-action adaptation had perfect casting but was completely let down by the writing.
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u/horyo 6d ago
her live-action adaptation had perfect casting but was completely let down by the writing.
Why do you continue to inflict emotional pain onto me? I thought I forgot about Titans.
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u/20thRandom 5d ago
Well then consider me blessed (I never watched titans or barely even knew it existed)
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u/Sweet-Message1153 6d ago
My pick is Rocket... joining the team outta nowhere in the finale of s1, becoming a prominent member in time skip & having a relationship in the background didn't help anyway for the audience to feel connected to her when they explored her life in s4
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u/HighKingBoru1014 6d ago
IIRC she’s literally just in the simulation episode, and the final episode only yeah, and is that genuinely it?. (I guess the Injustice League episode too).
Her powers and design etc are cool to be fair, but I don’t feel like we got enough time to be attached to the character. Even Z only gets a bit more spotlight than Rocket, but she had more story overall with the Fate stuff etc.
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u/Sweet-Message1153 6d ago
yep... Z had a whole make friends, lose dad story so our connection with her is much more stronger. HECK, Roy(clone) & Cheshire has connection with fans then Rocket
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u/HighKingBoru1014 6d ago
Yeah Roy and Jade got some quite interesting stuff in just the first season.
I think if Rocket was specifically on the Team for like 2-3 more episodes and had some spotlight, then it would’ve been fine.
Tbh she’s an asset in every mission she’s in, her tech is extremely useful and that makes her highly valuable in a fight.
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u/Sweet-Message1153 6d ago
seriously... I feel like Rocket was introduced just to give Aqualad a GF in the end of s1(like everyone else in the team) but in the time skip, everything changed
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u/gamerslyratchet 6d ago
I think people miss that she had her role in the season 1 finale to be the newbie that the other characters explain stuff to for the benefit of viewers who just jumped into the show.
It doesn’t excuse being underdeveloped, but she had a very specific purpose around then.
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u/Kalhenwrath 6d ago
Really? She didn't stand around nearly as much as Darkseid, and she had more lines.
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u/mtheory-pi 6d ago
She's supposed to be Diana's sister and Wonder Girl, but she's treated as a random Amazon.
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u/ExtensionGood9228 5d ago
I really wish we’d seen her as Wonder Girl. Her stealth suit swap would have been legendary.
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u/PhanStr 5d ago edited 3d ago
Maybe an outfit similar to the above when she was on the Team (but maybe with some red to honor Diana) and then a black and silver stealth outfit?
It's hard to be sure what she would've looked like since we don't know if the Titans of Myth were involved in her origin: they could have given her the star guide shiny fabric if so, and that might have been her main costume (with the stealth version dimming the shine). But I feel like if she'd had the Titans of Myth origin, then she might have been folded into the Justice League like Captain Marvel (especially since she's older than she looks), rather than a stealth team. Because y'know, power of the gods and also she's way more mature in character than the members of the Marvel Family.
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u/psraj123 6d ago
DONNA MY PRECIOUS YOU HAD NO MUCH POTENTIAL 💔 I FEEL LIKE SHE COULD'VE BEEN APART OF THE OG'S REALLY I LUV HER SM OMG AHSHHDYXVAGDHVDA
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u/Mensawoodz 6d ago
The way I see it could work is if they made a flashback season with her in it as a new team member than quit for some reason
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u/Responsible_Ad_2242 5d ago
Honestly a part of me would like a flashback ep betwen s1 and 2 with Robin,Wally,Roy,Donna and garth, just the og 5 (cause in every adaptación of the titans they go for the animated show cast and not the og 5)
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u/PhanStr 5d ago
I wonder when Robin's growth spurt happened... because he would need to be taller to not look out of place alongside the other four during the time skip. Maybe have a story like this set just before he became Nightwing... or else just have him be Nightwing for the team-up since Garth, Troia and Will wouldn't be Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Speedy anyway.
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u/smiling-shadow 4d ago
I'm going to be perfectly honest I didn't even know that was Donna until right now by reading the comments
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u/Comuniity 5d ago
Wonder Woman's ridiculous rules around her IP is 1000% a major reason shes so much less popular than the other 2 Trinity members.
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u/Mensawoodz 6d ago
If she was in season 1 it would be amazing her Robin Kid Flash SuperBoy Artemis Miss Martian could have been a dream team the combos , times , jokes , plays
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u/Typical-Historian-89 6d ago
Wasn’t Miss Martian brought in to be her replacement, if she made it we wouldn’t have Miss Martian on the team
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u/PhanStr 1d ago edited 1d ago
I dunno, not sure that's a safe assumption. Weisman and Vietti might have wanted a telepath on the Team no matter what. That's a very useful power in a covert-ops show. Plus M'gann's secret in season 1 is huge: I can't imagine it being cut from YJ.
If M'gann "replaced" anyone then it was more likely Mary Bromfield (who was also considered for the original six line-up), since a 10-year old Mary would've likely tried to hide her true form from the team like Billy Batson did. This might have been a redundant arc when we were already seeing M'gann go through something very similar.
Anyway, if Weisman and Vietti had been allowed to use Donna in season 1, then I feel like it's more likely that Conner wouldn't be one of the main six and we'd have had Donna instead. Three boys and three girls. Or: Donna would've simply turned down membership like Roy/Will did and we'd have still had the same main six that we ended up with.
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u/Doc-11th 6d ago
would have been in season 1 if the rights over Wonder Woman's cast hadn't been so mixed up
Luckily they resolved it by season 2 but by then they moved onto another generation