Beast Boy is the True Protagonist of Teen Titans
I know we typically think of Robin as the main protagonist of Teen Titans because 1) he’s the leader and 2) his nemesis is Slade, who is the de facto nemesis of the team; but recently rewatching the series made me realize that Beast Boy is actually the main protagonist.
If you look at his overall character development from season 1 to 5, you’ll see that it all builds towards his eventual leadership role in season 5. He’s initially presented as the “immature kid”, the one who doesn’t take things seriously and less intense in fights.
By the latter, I don’t mean he’s not as powerful as the rest of the Titans, but that he sometimes views himself or is portrayed as the weakest link. Quite a few episodes focus on this: Every Dog Has His Day (S2E2), which sees Beast Boy feeling unwanted and then concludes with the realization that his team needs him to defeat Soto—a similar theme underlines the last episode, Things Change; Employee of the Month (S4E5), where he struggles with keeping up during the chase scene at the beginning of the episode; or Deep Six (S1E8), in which Beast Boy views his ocean mission as a way to prove himself. Even the main plotline in The Beast Within (S3E9) (which is incidentally one of my favorite episodes as an unapologetic BBRae shipper) kicks off due to Adonis taunting Beast Boy that he’s not good enough.
Need more proof? Dark Beast Boy, pulled out by Trigon in the season 4 finale, while throughly whipping Beast Boy’s ass, quips, “Had enough? No wonder Terra dumped you!” Without going too deep into Beast Boy and Terra’s relationship, it confirms at least that one of his deepest fears is not being good enough: as a hero, as a man, as part of the team.
Beast Boy-centric episodes, overtly or subtly, conform to this overarching insecurity. He feels like he always messes up or is unwanted and worthless. His self-esteem is so low that when he first meets Robin in Go! (S5E10), he asks if he can be his sidekick. Not an equal partner, but a sidekick. In Starfire’s journey to a misbegotten future in How Long is Forever? (S2E2), we find out Beast Boy tried doing the hero thing solo, but got his butt handed to him. Useless. Lame. These are the things that haunt his character.
Season 5 is Beast Boy’s arc, and we see him step into the shoes of leader in Robin’s absence by mustering the Titans’ remaining forces and leading a charge on the Brotherhood of Evil. It’s a culmination of his overall story arc and the series as a whole. Because season 5 is the last season (unfortunately), it provides more of an impact and occupies a series-defining position that comes with the territory of a finale. Beast Boy, as the star, is therefore elevated.
But he’s not the protagonist simply because of that; it’s because of all those things I just mentioned. Beast Boy’s is a quintessential underdog narrative, a coming-of-age story that appears everywhere from visual to textual media.
I adore Robin, just like I adore all the Titans. But he’s not the main character, nor Raven, nor Starfire, nor Cyborg. Teen Titans is Beast Boy’s story, whether you like it or not.
An intriguing analysis!
