BIOGRAPHICAL INFO
Fifteen year old Tara Markov, aka Terra, was the first new member to be admitted into the New Teen
Titans. Born to the King of Markovia and his mistress, Tara was sent off to America to avoid public
scandal. It was here that she began committing criminal acts, supposedly against her will, which caught
the attention of Garfield Logan, Changeling. After a couple of run-ins with Changeling, Terra was
brought to Titans Tower where she revealed that she had been held hostage by an unnamed terrorist
organization, forced to work for them less her father would be killed. With the Titans' help, Terra
discovered that her father was dead and the terrorists were keeping that information from her in order
to use her and her powers to further their own end. With no place left to go, Terra joined up with the
New Teen Titans, just in time to aid them in their battle against the Brotherhood of Evil.
Raven, the team's empathic healer, sensed from the very beginning that Terra was
not exactly what she presented herself to be. And with good reason. Terra was
planted in the super-team by Deathstroke, the Terminator. Deathstroke hoped to
use Terra to finish out his contract with the H.I.V.E. She would fight side-by-side
with them, gaining their trust and learning their secrets. The Titans were hesitant
at first to reveal anything to Terra, but as time went on, she learned everything
she and Deathstroke needed to know about them. One by one, the team was
ambushed and turned over to the H.I.V.E. Only Dick Grayson, the former Robin
and future Nightwing, managed to avoid capture.
At the Rocky Mountain H.I.V.E. base of operations, Terra's career as Titan
infiltrator came to an abrupt end. Believing herself betrayed by Deathstroke, (who was actually under
the control of his son, Jericho), Terra went insane, lashing out with her earth based powers, apparently bringing her
own death. However, the truth of her continued existence moves on to "Terra II".
Terra II's story began 10 years in the future; Or, rather, the false future where Lord Chaos reigned
and a force known as the Team Titans struggled to overthrow his tyranny. Lord Chaos sought to destroy
the rebels known as the Team Titans.
Lord Chaos planned
to plant a spy in
their group and
infiltrate them from
within. Chaos' men
broke into a rebel
hospital, and
kidnapped a girl who
bore a passing
resemblance to the
original Tara
Markov. Chaos
extracted the
residual DNA from
the first Tara's
bones and injected it
into the girl, giving
her earth powers like
the original Terra.
His scientists them
planted false
memories in her
brain, so she believed
herself to be the
daughter of Brion
Markov (Tara's
brother, the hero
known as Geo-Force).
As a final touch, the
doctors gave her
plastic surgery,
making her a dead
ringer for the
original Terra. This
Tara was brainwashed into serving Chaos. Chaos thought her ties to the original Titans would easily
ingratiate her into these new Team Titans (apparently, there were no records of the first Terra's
betrayal of the Titans). Chaos' assumption was correct; She successfully infiltrated the Team Titans.
Before she could reveal their location, however, the Team Titans' leader discovered her duplicity.
The Teamers used a cerebro mind probe to discover the truth about her. Even they were shocked to
discover the horrors Chaos was capable of. Tara's body would reject the DNA in a matter of weeks; she
would die. Chaos gave this no thought, as long as she was useful to him. At this time, Tara also discovered
that she was not Brion Markov's daughter, and was merely a pawn of Chaos. With super-computer
Prestor Jon's help, the DNA would not be rejected by her body; she would not die. Having learned the
truth, she joined the Teamers in battle with Lord Chaos. She proved herself to be a valuable member,
finally free of Chaos' influence. She was quickly offered membership into the Team Titans, and
accepted.
Shortly thereafter, the Team Titans leader gave the team a mission: travel 10 years into the past to stop
Chaos from ever being born. To accomplish this, the Teamers were assigned to kill Donna Troy before
she would give birth to the child who would become Lord Chaos! The Teamers successfully travelled to
the past and came into conflict with the Titans. Donna gave birth to her son before the Teamers could
intervene. However, the Titans and the Team Titans were able to stop Chaos and spare Donna's life at
the same time.
After this, the Teamers found themselves stranded in the past, unable to return to their future. With
nowhere else to go, they resided at Donna Troy's New Jersey farmhouse. The Teamers tried to find a
place in this new world. Tara also found herself attracted to Gar Logan (Changeling), who was rather
unnerved by her appearance!
As the Teamers started settling into their new world, their lives were disrupted by the time crisis known
as ZERO HOUR. It was revealed that the Team Titans leader in the future was the villainous Monarch!
He created that false future world so he could train meta-humans (The Team Titans) to act as sleeper
agent assassins. He brought various super-powered beings from alternate realities and trained them as
Team Titans. He knew of the impending time crisis, and wanted a super-powered army at his command.
Extant (the time villain that Monarch had transformed into) commanded all the Team Titans to attack
the heroes who were trying to unravel this time crisis. Extant sought to use the time disruption to his
advantage. His plan was thwarted; the heroes contained the Teamers. Time continued to collapse, erasing
the false timelines that had emerged. As a result, all the Team Titans were erased from existence!
Strangely enough, three people remained unscathed from Monarch's false timeline: Tara Markov (Terra
II), Miriam Delgado (Mirage) and Deathwing (who was believed to be a future Dick Grayson). Terra and
Mirage remained members of a new Titans team, led by Arsenal (Roy Harper). Shortly after the team
was reformed, a strange orb appeared, with messages for Mirage and Terra.
The orb was sent by the Time Trapper. The Time Trapper revealed that Mirage, Deathwing and Terra
were from this timeline, NOT an alternate timeline, as they had thought. That is why they survived the
time crisis. Mirage was a runaway street urchin from Brazil. The Time Trapper kidnapped her and
implanted false memories in her brain; she believed she grew up in Monarch's false timeline.The Trapper
became aware of Extant's petty manipulations of time, and set up his own sleeper agents (Terra, Mirage
and Deathwing) that would be able to fight Extant's programming. The Time Trapper also revealed that
Terra was from this timeline as well. The Trapper explained: "Terra, you come from this time period. I
found you moments befo--". At that point, Terra destroyed the orb, not wanting to know the truth about
her past.
Terra was curious about what the Time Trapper's message might have said. She visited the first Terra's
gravesite soon after... only to find an empty coffin! She has since come to believe that she is in fact the first Terra, and was somehow altered by the Time Trapper so that she would live, and have no memories of her past.
Most recently Terra has enrolled in NYU, taking some night courses while maintaining her status as a full-time Titan. She's gone on a few dates with Shockwave, but they are not yet serious.
POWERS
Terra was given the ability to control the earth. She could create volcanic eruptions, form walls and
pillars of stone, fly on a mass of rock. Her control over her powers was very polished. She was able to
shape rock into fists and monsters, among other things. She could also form a solid shell of rock around a
person.
