Tara Markov (New Earth)

Tara Markov, half-sister of Geo-Force, was the illegitimate daughter of the King of Markovia. This royal blood gave her special geokinetic powers (the power to control all forms of earthen matter).

Place of Birth

Markovia

Creators

Marv Wolfman, George Perez

First appearance

Last appearance

New Teen Titans #19

Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3
(July, 1984)

History

Terra became a mercenary, doing dirty work for others such as Deathstroke the Terminator. She joined the Teen Titans, fooling them by staging a battle against Deathstroke. She then operated as a spy for Deathstroke, eventually giving him the information he needed to kidnap the Titans.

Eventually, the captured Titans were held in a stronghold of Deathstroke's contractors, the H.I.V.E. Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Deathstroke's son, Jericho, raided the complex to rescue them, but were captured. When presented to Deathstroke and the organization in general, Jericho possessed his father and freed the Titans who then attacked H.I.V.E. Not knowing of Jericho's powers, Terra believed Deathstroke to have turned against her, and thus she went berserk and fatally pulled the whole H.I.V.E. complex down upon herself.

In 1991 another Terra appeared, almost identical to the first as part of the Team Titans from a possible 2001. She was one of three people ostensibly from that future who were not wiped out in Zero Hour. She was told by the Time Trapper that this was because she was not from the future at all, although she destroyed Time Trapper's messenger orb out of panic before the story was finished. Subsequently, she discovered Tara Markov's coffin to be empty.

Further evidence suggested she is the original Terra, but due to her horror at what she did, Geo-Force decided to spare her this knowledge, thinking she would rather not have a past than have that one.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Geokinesis

Abilities

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985-86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.

Trivia

Terra was destined to become one of the Chosen but died long before the coming of the "Millennium". ^[1]

Appearances in Other Media

Main article: Terra (Teen Titans)

Terra as seen on the Teen Titans cartoon

Terra is also featured in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Ashley Johnson. In this version Terra appears much less physically developed. Her diminutive frame, skinny limbs, and longer, lank blonde hair work to create a dramatic contrast between her tremendous power and her apparently frail body; also making her look closer to Beast Boy's age relative to the other Titans. In this setting she also betrayed the Titans to Slade (not called Deathstroke in this continuity, though it seems he's the same character), despite her relationship with Beast Boy, but was portrayed as more "lost" than evil or vindictive. Also, her dysfunctional relationship with Slade more closely resembles the twisted family dynamics exhibited between the comic's Deathstroke and his daughter Rose Wilson (The Ravager), rather than the comic book Terra and Deathstroke's extremely illicit romance.

From the start, Terra was portrayed as a gregarious, fun-loving, tomboyish girl, driven to wander from place to place because her poor control of her terrakinesis caused earthquakes, avalanches or mudslides wherever she settled, earning the hostility of those she tried to aid. When she joined the Titans, Beast Boy quickly discovered the volatility of her powers, though Terra, fearing rejection, made him promise not to tell the others. When Robin figured out on his own, Terra left in panic, believing that Beast Boy had betrayed her trust. She then defected to Slade, who had previously told her he knew her secret, and that he could help her better control her powers. After training with Slade, she returned to Titans Tower to spy on the Titans and compromise Tower security for Slade. She took Beast Boy on a date to occupy him and cover the attack, during which Slade ultimately revealed his alliance with Terra to Beast Boy. Beast Boy's subsequent angry, impulsive rejection of Terra hurt her enough to prompt her complete turn to the side of evil.

After this point, she was given armor with a neural link to Slade to ensure that she would not rebel and turn back to rejoin the Titans. She was now a cruel villain who attempted to kill the Titans. After taking a beating from both the Titans and Slade, she wished to turn back, and with Beast Boy's help she turned on Slade. But during the fight Terra accidentally triggered a volcano, supposedly killing Slade. The base started erupting and the Titans told Terra to flee with them but she chose not to. She wanted to fix the wrongs that she had done and stayed. There she sacrificed herself to save the city and turned into a stone statue. The Titans, vowing to find a way to reverse the process that turned her into stone, laid a plaque at her "grave" that read:

TERRA. A Teen Titan. A True Friend.

Of course, Terra would not remain a statue forever. During the time when the Titans were off fighting the Brotherhood of Evil, some how, Terra was free from her stone prison. She adopted a new life as a high school students, where she seemed to be happy. When the Titans did return to the city, Beast Boy spotted her in the crowd. He pursued her the next day and attempted to make her remember her past, but she either refused to remember, or she simply couldn't remember. Beast Boy informed the others but they were baffled. All of their attempts to reverse the stoning process were futile and they came up with some possibilities such as maybe the the effect wore off. After fighting one of Slade's robots, which informed Beast Boy that he had nothing to do with her return and to just accept the change, Beast Boy confronted Terra at school who told him that the girl he knew is just a memory. She faded away into the crowd and Beast Boy left to assist his teammates.

Links and References

Footnotes

[1]

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Tara Markov (New Earth)

From DC Database

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