Terra (September 9, 1982) This Day In Comics
Tara Markov, half-sister of Brion Markov (Geo-Force), was the illegitimate daughter of the King of Markovia. Terra’s first appearance was in the New Teen Titans #26 (DC Comics) in 1982, followed by her joining the team four issues later.
While in Markovia, she came under the care of a Dr. Helga Jace and, through her experiments, Terra obtained Earth manipulation powers—specifically, the ability to control all forms of earthen matter. After obtaining these powers, her father requested that she leave Markovia for the United States, to prevent the scandal of the king having an illegitimate daughter from becoming public. Unlike her more heroic brother, Geo-Force, Terra had deep-rooted psychological issues including malignant narcissism, believing that, with their powers, they should rule Earth rather than help the weaker masses.
As a result of this belief, Terra became a hitwoman, doing dirty work for others. A notable client was Deathstroke the Terminator, whom she met when she was fifteen and had a relationship with. 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, with no regrets. Eventually, the captured Titans were held in a stronghold of Deathstroke’s contractors, the H.I.V.E. Nightwing, and Deathstroke’s son, Joseph Wilson (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 the H.I.V.E. Not knowing of Jericho’s powers, Terra believed Deathstroke to have turned against her. In retaliation, she went berserk. When the misunderstanding was cleared, she was still murderously furious at Deathstroke for going “soft” with love for his son. Changeling (Beast Boy), in an attempt to stop her rampage, shape-shifted into a small fly, then flew into her eye as a way to distract her. This finally pushed her over the edge as she pulled the whole H.I.V.E. complex down upon herself while trying to kill the Titans. Despite the discovery of her true intentions of joining them, a statue of her was placed in the memorial in Titans Tower. Her true activities were never made public, with her brother simply being told that she had died in battle.
