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The Jump City heroes in Cartoon Network’s famous animated show Teen Titans are intricately woven into the DC Universe. The original series ran for a triumphant three years, and spawned a standalone comedic offshoot titled Teen Titans Go!
Both chronicle the exploits of the eponymous five-member superhero team, charged with the formidable task of combating a myriad of criminal machinations and safeguarding their beloved city while dealing with their own struggles.
With the exception of Starfire, each of the five main characters received their own season in the original series, which explored their histories and abilities. The five are Robin, the team’s fearless leader and the only Titan with no superpowers; Starfire, an alien princess from the planet Tamaran; Cyborg, a half-human and half-robot tech-wizard of the team; Raven, a telepathic sorceress from the parallel world Azarath who uses dark energy and psionic abilities; and Beast Boy, a friendly shapeshifter who can transform into any type of animal.
Despite the titular label of “Teen” Titans, the series intriguingly shrouds their ages in ambiguity. Unlike many superheroes who meticulously guard their identities behind masks and aliases, the Titans maintain their superhero identities at all times. However, through fleeting flashbacks and cryptic hints, the show reveals the characters’ real names, also allowing us to tentatively piece together the puzzle of their ages. Are you itching for it now? Here we go.
1. Robin
The head of the gang, Robin is a little power-crazed and a perfectionist, and his primary gripe is that the other Titans won’t follow his instructions. He is revealed to be Dick Grayson, the first Robin, in the series through hazy flashbacks to his boyhood at Haley Circus.
He was Batman’s previous protege, but fled Gotham to fight for justice in Jump City since he thought the Dark Knight was treating him like a child. He soon came to the realization that he was powerless and decided to form a group of young superheroes, of which HE would be the leader. Robin was 15 when he left Batman, and he likely grew older for a few more years before founding the Teen Titans.
2. Starfire
Princess Koriand’r, Starfire’s real name, is used in the season 3 episode “Betrothed.” She is a superhuman alien princess with orange skin and green eyes, who lands on Earth after eluding the alien overlord Trogaar, who wants to sell her into slavery.
In Tales of the New Teen Titans #4, Starfire recounts her life and says that while training under the formidable Warlords of Okaara, she “grew from a young child into a young woman.” She then goes on to describe how her older sister held her captive for six years and subjected her to abuse. This puts her in her early to mid-20s at the time of meeting the other Titans on Earth.
3. Raven
Ravel is a mythical half-demon with a variety of magical superpowers from a parallel universe named Azarath who embodies the conventional, indifferent “goth” stereotype. She is a master of extrasensory perception that’s capable of reading minds, and possesses telekinetic and psychokinetic skills.
In the original story, Raven landed on Earth shortly after turning 18 when she felt Trigon’s (her father’s) strength reappear, as stated in Tales of the New Teen Titans #2. This fits with the plot because Trigon spared her and Arella (Raven’s mother) after concluding that he could woo Raven into joining him when he returned when she was an adult. However, the reboot puts her age at 16 at this time.
4. Cyborg
The half-cybernetic half-man, chief technological expert of the Teen Titans, Cyborg was once a promising strong athlete named Victor Stone, before an accident killed his mother and injured him severely. In Tales of the New Teen Titans #1, he states “I was 17 now”, then “almost a year” has passed when the accident transformed him into a Cyborg.
So, we know that Victor Stone was 18 when he became a Cyborg. Further, in the season 2 episode “How Long is Forever?,” Starfire is transferred to 20 years in the future where she meets a future Cyborg whose light circuits have failed and who appears to have wrinkles. This means that Cyborg in the present is somewhere around his early to mid-20s, to be old enough 20 years later to have wrinkles.
5. Beast Boy
Beast Boy’s real identity is confirmed in the season 5 premiere “Homecoming” when Elasti-Girl, a prominent member of the Doom Patrol, addresses him by his real name, Garfield. He is a teenage juvenile with green skin, fangs, dark green hair, and jungle green eyes with the superhuman capability of shapeshifting into any animal.
Beast Boy’s journey into the world of superheroes began within the esteemed ranks of the Doom Patrol, where he stood as the youngest member of the group. His age in Teen Titans is cleared in Tales of the New Teen Titans #4, where Cyborg mentions that Garfield is only 16 years old while they’re having a celebratory drink.