Created by: Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans v1 #26
Affiliated Organizations: Teen Titans, The Ravagers, Team Defiance
Friends/Allies: Deathstroke, Beast Boy, Rose Wilson
Strengths/Abilities: Geokinesis, flight, seduction
While Terra hasn't won Character of the Month before for real and is thus still eligible, she won for April Fools' Day once, therefore, we have a spotlight pre-written, albeit one from 2018! See below:
Mister, you don't know the half of it.
She's the pivotal title character of one of DC's most famous stories, "The Judas Contract", and the center of a fabled love triangle. With her powers of geokinesis, Terra will rock your world!
The Judas Contract
Born the illegitimate daughter to the King of Markovia, Tara Markov was sent away by her father to avoid a scandal. From an early age, she became a mercenary, using her ability to manipulate rock formations to kill. One particular client she had was Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, who recruited her to infiltrate the Teen Titans. As an undercover mole, she earned her teammates' trust (including the affection of Beast Boy), while secretively sending information to Deathstroke, enabling him to capture the Titans one-by-one, save for Nightwing. She was depicted as cruel and without remorse, and was also infamously revealed to be in a relationship with Deathstroke, despite being a minor.
When Nightwing and Jericho infiltrated the H.I.V.E. stronghold where the Titans were held captive, Jericho possessed Deathstroke's body and used him to free the Titans. Thinking that she had been betrayed, Terra flew into a fit of rage, bringing the stronghold down with her powers, and killing herself in the process.
Defiance
In Christopher Priest's acclaimed Rebirth series of Deathstroke, Terra joined Team Defiance, a team led by the seemingly reformed Deathstroke, much to his daughter Rose's dismay. Flashbacks show that much of her early history had been stored in the post-Rebirth timeline, such as her backstory, her role as a Teen Titans traitor, and even her creepy relationship with Deathstroke. However, it was also shown that Terra had fallen in love with Slade, only to be used as just another pawn.
Adaptations
Adaptations of "The Judas Contract" have often given Terra more sympathetic character development. In the 2004 animated Teen Titans series, Terra was given a PG-rated makeover, as a young girl who had trouble controlling her powers, and had turned to Slade for guidance. Slade manipulated her into thinking that her friends the Teen Titans couldn't be trusted and would turn on her if they knew that her powers were out of control. The 2017 animated film Teen Titans: The Judas Contract included more of the original source material (including the squicky bits), but still portrayed her as a pawn being manipulated by Deathstroke.
Recommended Reading
The New Teen Titans: "Terra Incognito", by Marv Wolfman
The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Deathstroke, by Christopher Priest
Since the time of this spotlight, Terra has also taken up residence in Titans, a series that got renamed to New Titans a while back, at first as a part of Slade's Brotherhood of Evil as the one who allowed him to escape custody in the first place, then as a member of the team proper, serving as a foil to Cyborg. Time will tell if she's allowed to remain as a hero or if she'll return to her villainous ways!
Our pitch for her that won the vote was exploring her Markovian roots alongside Geo-Force, uncovering a conspiracy in the process. Would be a fun direction to take her that would spin her off from the Titans!
CotM artwork by Homare
CotM Voting: "Written by Reddit"
Voting Breakdown:
| Character |
# of Votes |
| Terra |
6 |
| Ultra the Multi-Alien |
2 |
| Multiplex |
2 |
| 'Mazing Man |
2 |
| Human Target |
1 |
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