In the extra-sized TITANS ANNUAL #1 by Dan Abnett, Minkyu Jung and Adriano Lucas, the Titans teamed up with the Justice League… and that wasn’t even the most amazing thing about it.
As the story begins, four of the Titans—Wally, Garth, Dick and Donna—find themselves locked in a strange and extraordinary prison alongside the four members of the Justice League who mentored them: The Flash, Aquaman, Batman and Wonder Woman. None of them know how they got there. They weren’t physically kidnapped. In fact, they seem to have been instantly teleported. But by whom?
Yes, unknown to our heroes, they were brought together by the Key, the brilliant master manipulator who has unlocked new levels of intelligence within his own mind. However, the Key doesn’t seem to be doing this solely for himself. There seems to be someone else beneath it all. Someone who yearns for freedom, and they can only obtain it through the disruption that’s created when a strong mind—like one of the eight currently in captivity—breaks.
To break the heroes, the Key will have to put them under a great deal of stress. He’ll need them to question each other, to turn on each other. He’ll also need them, as Garth points out, to fight.
The Key unleashes a series of familiar villains against them, hoping that the pressure will cause the bonds between the two teams to fray. First they take down Metallo, then a squadron of Parademons. They’re not real, just masterful recreations, and our heroes defeat them all, working together as one team.
But with no knowledge of where they are and who’s doing this to them, mistrust runs high, especially with a legendary skeptic like Batman in the midst. The Dark Knight and Wonder Woman believe that it’s possible not all of them are who they say they are. Surprisingly, it’s a suspicion that seems like it might have merit when a look through a Parademon scanner reveals that there are only seven heat signatures in the room, rather than the eight that Batman’s cowl is reading. Someone doesn’t appear to be human—Donna.
But she’s not an impostor. In fact, the truth is far more devastating than that, and it all comes out in a shocking revelation by Wonder Woman.
Donna’s anguish is powerful enough for Omen to pick it up, and the rest of the Titans and Justice League are on their way. At the same time, the Parademon sensor also picks up the power surge that was created within the Key’s lair and the imprisoned heroes are able to force their way in. Faced with the combined forces of the full Justice League and Titans teams, the Key has no choice but to flee. However, it’s clear this victory was anything but clean, and the secrets that came out today will have an effect on Donna Troy and the Titans for some time to come…
Oh, there’s nothing worse than when you lock your Key inside!
Good riddance to him, but as for Donna, we’ll have to keep reading Titans to see what this annual’s revelations will mean for her and Diana. And you thought their relationship was strained before!