Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is an American animated film of the superhero fantasy genre. It is part of the DC Comics line of animated direct-to-video features and was directed by Sam Liu with a script written by Ernie Altbacker. It was produced by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation and was released on April 4th, 2017. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract features the voice talents of Sean Maher as Dick Grayson, Kari Wahlgren as Koriand'r, Stuart Allan as Damian Wayne, Jake T. Austin as Jaime Reyes, Taissa Farmiga as Raven, Christina Ricci as Terra, Brandon Soo Hoo as Garfield Logan, Gregg Henry as Brother Blood, and Miguel Ferrer as Deathstroke.

Synopsis
Five years ago, the original Teen Titans (Dick Grayson as Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and Bumblebee) rescue the Tamaran Princess Starfire from her captors sent by her evil sister, Blackfire. As she is no longer able to return to her planet, the Titans offer her a home on Earth.

In the present, Dick Grayson (now Nightwing) rejoins the Titans to track down a terrorist cult led by Brother Blood, who plans on capturing the team to absorb their powers with a machine that he has tested on Jericho (whom his assistant, Mother Mayhem, quickly shoots afterwards). Blood hires the mercenary Deathstroke to deliver the Titans to him, which he obliges to do for both the money and the chance to get revenge on Damian Wayne. Deathstroke monitors the Titans through his double agent that joined the team a year prior, Terra, whom he rescued after her parents turned their whole village against her and tortured her. When Damian grows suspicious of Terra's behavior and starts tracking her, he is captured by her and Deathstroke.

Terra acts cold and distant towards the other Titans despite their welcoming attitude, but eventually warms up to them over time. During the night celebrating her one year anniversary with the Titans, she shares a tender moment with Beast Boy and kisses him. The next day, Deathstroke kidnaps Blue Beetle at the soup kitchen he works at, Beast Boy at a convention where he thought he would do a podcast with filmmaker Kevin Smith, and Starfire at the apartment shared by her and Nightwing. Dick discovers what happened to the other Titans and is attacked by Deathstroke at his apartment. He manages to escape by faking his own death, while Terra captures Raven.

Deathstroke and Terra bring the Titans to Brother Blood, but since the machine cannot operate properly without a sixth Titan (as Slade failed to capture Nightwing), Slade offers him Terra instead. Blood starts draining the Titans of their powers, but they are rescued by Nightwing. Nightwing and Robin fight Deathstroke while the rest take on Brother Blood (who has absorbed all of their powers). The two villains are stopped by the intervention of Terra, who is enraged at Slade for his betrayal. Blood is depowered by Raven and killed by Mother Mayhem while Deathstroke is buried underneath multiple rocks thrown by Terra. Too ashamed to face her former friends/allies after betraying their trust, Terra decides to bring down the entire area. Beast Boy attempts to assist Terra in escaping the crumbling fortress, but Terra pushes him back and is buried underneath multiple layers of rubble. Beast Boy digs her up and she dies in his arms.

In the epilogue, Beast Boy goes on Kevin Smith's podcast and talks about the Titans with the host. He mentions that the team has a "wonderful" new member and that he will miss Terra. In a post-credits scene, Jericho is shown to have survived the bullet Mother Mayhem shot at him earlier.

Appearances

 * Beast Boy, Garfield Logan
 * Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes
 * Nightwing/Robin, Dick Grayson
 * Raven, Rachel Roth
 * Robin, Damian Wayne
 * Starfire, Koriand'r
 * Terra, Tara Markov


 * Bumblebee, Traci
 * Kevin Smith
 * Kid Flash, Wally West
 * Speedy, Roy Harper


 * Brother Blood
 * Deathstroke, Slade Wilson
 * Mother Mayhem
 * Terra, Tara Markov


 * Alberto Reyes
 * Jericho, Joseph Wilson
 * Milagro Reyes
 * Bianca Reyes
 * Bryce Peterson
 * Donna Troy


 * Church of Blood
 * H.I.V.E.
 * Teen Titans


 * Humans
 * Altered humans
 * Gordanians
 * Tamaraneans


 * New York
 * New York City
 * Gabrielle's Horn
 * Titans Tower


 * Markovia


 * Blue Beetle scarab
 * Bow and arrow
 * Trick arrows


 * Computer
 * Deathstroke's energy lance
 * Fighting staff
 * Nightwing's eskrima sticks
 * Pistol
 * Sword
 * Katana


 * T-Car


 * Flight
 * Geokinesis
 * Multilingualism
 * Power transference
 * Shape-shifting
 * Superhuman durability
 * Technomorphy


 * Alien life forms
 * Alien parasites
 * Church
 * Cult
 * Cult leader
 * Gunshot victims
 * Laser weapons
 * Scientist
 * Shape-shifters
 * Shot in the head
 * Suicide
 * Super-hero
 * Super-villain

Notes & Trivia

 * The plot of this film adapts "The Judas Contract" storyline by writer Marv Wolfman and artist & co-plotter George Prez, which was originally chronicled in Tales of the Teen Titans #42-44 and Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3, published from May-July 1984. ''


 * The tagline for this film is "When evil is out for blood, loyalty is tested - for justice".


 * This film had its world premiere at WonderCon on March 31st, 2017. The film was released through digital download on April 4, 2017, and through home media on April 18, 2017, by Warner Home Video.


 * "The Judas Contract" was also adapted in episodes from season two of the Teen Titans animated television series. Given its serialized nature, the show offered more time to show Tara Markov ingratiating herself with the group and becoming a valued member of the team.


 * Movie director, comic writer and all-around uber-geek icon Kevin Smith makes a cameo appearance in the film as an animated version of himself. An animated Kevin Smith also made appearances in the Clerks: The Series cartoon, which was based on the Smith helmed independent comedy Clerks.


 * Although Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and Justice League vs. Teen Titans do not necessarily take place in the same continuity, the dynamic of the team is very similar in both films in terms of roster and personalities. All of the main voice actors who comprise the Teen Titans characters from that film reprise their roles for this film.


 * Although the name of the location is never stated in the film, Tara Markov hails from the country of Markovia. Presumably, it is a group of Markovian villagers that attempt to kill her in the flashback scenes to her origin.


 * Actor David Zayas is also known for playing the role of crime boss Salvatore Maroni on episodes from season one of Gotham.


 * This is the final film work for actor Miguel Ferrer. Ferrer passed away from throat cancer on January 19th, 2017 at the age of 61.

Differences from the comic

 * By and large, the general plot of the animated feature follows the same direction as "The Judas Contract" storyline, but there are some notable differences, the largest of which being the roster of the Teen Titans in both the five-year flashback and the modern timeline.


 * In the film, it is the Church of Blood that has a contract with Slade Wilson to destroy the Teen Titans. In the comics, it was actually the H.I.V.E. organization, whose influence is only alluded to in the animated feature.


 * In the movie, it is implied that Tara Markov kills Slade Wilson before allowing herself to be killed by her own powers. In the comics, Slade survived Tara's rebellion.


 * Bumblebee's real name is revealed to be Traci in this film. In the comics, Bumblebee's name is Karen Beecher.