Summary
“Titans Forever” does a decent show of wrapping up the show completely, but it perhaps feels a little too neat and tidy all things considered.
This recap of Titans Season 4 Episode 12, “Titans Forever”, contains spoilers, including an open discussion of the ending of Titans Season 4.
After several years and multiple streaming platforms, we’ve finally reached the end of Titans. It has been a surprisingly fun time, all things considered, and a bumper-length finale clocking in at almost an hour brings us home after many ups and downs.
You’ll recall that we left things in Episode 11 looking rather bleak. LexCorp’s recently-discovered Project Starfire had failed to kill Sebastian, who was able to complete his transformation into Brother Blood, presumably kill Superboy, and, as we learn in this episode, bring Trigon crawling back through a pit of fire in a ropey-looking bit of steroidal CGI.
Let’s begin, shall we?
Titans Season 4 Episode 12 Recap
Why does Brother Blood kill Trigon?
With the other Titans stuck back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Rachel astrally projects as her White Raven form all the way to the Temple of Azarath, where she tries to point out to Brother Blood that his idea of he and Trigon ruling the world as equals is… well, painfully naive.
As it turns out, though, Sebastian has ulterior motives. He hacks Trigon to pieces, rips out his heart, and kicks him back down the hellfire pit. Rachel isn’t buying his pitch that they can rule the world as siblings, especially not when Sebastian squeezes Trigon’s steaming blood directly into his mouth.
Drinking from Trigon’s heart seems to give Sebastian all of his power and deep-rooted evil.
What is the Icarus Gate?
After recovering Conner’s body, Dick unveils a S.T.A.R Labs creation designed to bring Superman back from the brink if it was ever necessary — a cocktail of red kryptonite, nitroglycerin, and epinephrine. We don’t know right away if this works in reviving Conner, so more on him later.
In the meantime, the Titans track Sebastian to a black site used to store biochemical material, but it’s a dupe — when they get there, including Tim in his full Robin regalia, they discover that Brother Blood was projecting an illusion of himself to lure them away from S.T.A.R. Labs. Brother Blood turns up there and stars melting brains left and right to try and gain access to the Icarus labs.
Bernard, who is still in the lab, calls the Titans to let them know a) that Sebastian is there and b) what’s in the Icarus labs. It’s a wormhole called the Icarus Gate which can transport anything to anywhere in the universe. It’s entirely operational, but there isn’t enough power on Earth to run it. Or, at least there wasn’t.
Why does Brother Blood need Starfire?
Starfire immediately intuits that Brother Blood wants to use the Icarus Gate to destroy Tamaran, and races off to stop him with Dick in tow. She’s still adamant about sacrificing herself, and he’s still adamant about not letting her.
Calliope, the AI controlling the Icarus Gate, tells Brother Blood that it needs the equivalent of 10,000 suns to power it. However, the average Tamaranian can create more power than that, which means if Starfire uses her powers in the room, Sebastian will be sorted. And Starfire’s on her way.
Brother Blood possesses Starfire to lead her into the Icarus Labs and past his metahuman assault squad — no idea where he acquired those guys — just as the other Titans figure out what he’s up to.
Brother Blood hooks Starfire up to the Icarus Gate to siphon off her power, since she’s obviously not willing to use it voluntarily, while the others fight through the assault squad and then start beating up on Sebastian. Bernard guides Beast Boy through disabling the gate — it’s literally just pulling out some cables, which is hilariously simplistic when you think about it — while Dick and Tim fight Sebastian and Rachel tries to use her magic to get through to Starfire.
How is Brother Blood defeated?
A flurry of things happen at once here. Gar pulls out the cables, Rachel gets Starfire unhooked, and Conner arrives in the nick of time to blast Sebastian into the excess blue light energy that has been siphoned off of Starfire. It seems like the Titans have won. Dick wants to toss Sebastian into the Icarus Gate and eject him to the other side of the universe.
Starfire, though, realizes this is insufficient. What if Brother Blood returns, even stronger? She’s adamant that the only option is to sacrifice herself to destroy him, so she does just that, carrying him into the upper atmosphere and exploding them both with the full might of her powers.
Titans Season 4 Ending Explained
All the Titans watch Starfire explode into a thousand pieces. Through their teary eyes, they reminisce on simpler times, such as a Christmas they all spent together. But they’re forced to turn and walk away, contented by the knowledge that Starfire’s sacrifice not only saved them all but everyone else, too.
Of course, “Titans Forever” backs out of this immediately. Starfire floats back down to the ground like a comet, to be warmly greeted by Dick and everyone else. No explanation whatsoever is provided for how she survived.
Anyway, Dick takes everyone out for dinner on the roof of a hotel. Gar announces he’s leaving to fulfill his duties as the guardian of The Red. Rachel has enrolled at Bludhaven University. Tim is going to split his time between his Robin responsibilities in Gotham and his Bernard responsibilities in Metropolis. Conner is going back to Metropolis too, since Superman wants to spend some time with him, even though Conner worries the Man of Steel might not approve of his new haircut.
This leaves Dick and Kory together, ready to face their toughest battle yet — what seems like a legitimate relationship.
You can stream Titans Season 4 Episode 12, “Titans Forever” exclusively on HBO Max.
