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Mirage |
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| Alias: Miriam Delgado |
Titans Member
first appeared as Team Titan in New Titans #79 [1991];
joined New Titans in New Titans #0 [1994] |
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| Mirage Quick Bio: Brazilian Miriam Delgado became the illusion-casting Mirage to repel Lord Chaos' brutal armies. Believing she was from an alternate future, Miri later learned she was implanted with false memories. Mirage left the Titans when she gave birth to her daughter, Julienne. |
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MIRAGE |
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Mirage becomes a freedom fighter, as her origin is recounted in TEAM TITANS #1 [1992]. |
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The Team Titans mysterious leader gives the order to kill Troy in NEW TITANS #80 [1991]. |
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Future Origins
Mirage'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. In turn, Lord Chaos sought to destroy the rebels known as the Team Titans.
Miriam Delgado had a very traumatic childhood. She was abused as a child and killed her own father. Miriam joined the rebellion at an early age. Her shape-shifting abilities gave her an advantage. Eventually, she was captured by Lord Chaos, who sought to exploit her abilities for his own needs. Chaos brainwashed Mirage - as he now dubbed her - and subjected her to a number of abuses, both mental and physical.
Chaos' brainwashing of Mirage was successful. He used her as a member of the Force Elite and she was perfect for spy missions due to her abilities. On one mission, she infiltrated a rebellion camp, and her brainwashing began to fade. She fought Chaos' control and escaped to rejoin the rebellion.
It was at this time that she joined the Team Titans and met the future version of Nightwing, who trained the Teamers. Mirage fell in love with Nightwing and they entered into a relationship.
Team Titans: Back to the Past
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 traveled to the past and came into conflict with the Titans. As a way to get close to the Titans, Mirage impersonated Starfire. During this time, she met the younger version of Nightwing, the man she loved in the future. Mirage took advantage of the disguise and shared a night of passion with Nightwing.
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. Mirage constantly made advances toward Nightwing, which angered Starfire.
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The Team Titans cease to exist! It all happened in ZERO HOUR [1994]. |
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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.
Shortly after that, the future version of Nightwing entered this timeline. Mirage was reunited with her lover only briefly. A dark version of Raven attacked the future Nightwing and corrupted him by planting a Trigon-seed within him. Nightwing now renamed himself Deathwing, and became violent and brutal. Deathwing visited Mirage, where he attacked and raped her. Mirage then learned she was pregnant with Deathwing's child.
Soon, the Teamers lives were disrupted by the time crisis known as Zero Hour. It was then revealed that the Team Titans leader in the future was the villainous Monarch - who created a false future world so he could train meta-humans (The Team Titans) to act as sleeper agent assassins. He knew of the impending time crisis, and wanted a super-powered army at his command. The time-villain Extant commanded all the Team Titans to attack the heroes who were trying to unravel this time crisis. 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.
Arsenal's New Titans Team
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The Time Trapper reveals the truth: Terra, Mirage and Deathwing are from this timeline!
From NEW TITANS ANNUAL #11 [1995].
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Mirage discovers some new tricks in NEW TITANS #126 [1995]. |
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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. Shortly after the team was reformed, a strange orb appeared, with messages for Mirage and Terra.
The orb was sent by the Time Trapper, who revealed that Mirage, Deathwing and Terra were from this timeline, not an alternate timeline, as they had thought - which is why they survived the time crisis. Mirage was actually a runaway street urchin from Brazil. Mirage had been implanted with false memories by the Time Trapper and turned into a "sleeper agent" who would fight the villainous Monarch in the coming Zero Hour event.
The Titans then encountered their old foe, Psimon, after reforming the team. Psimon revealed that Mirage had much untapped power, including psionic abilities. These abilities have surfaced on a few occasions, but Mirage has yet to explore the full extent of them.
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| Deathwing - under Evil Ravel's thrall - continues his sadistic interest in Mirage. It happened in NEW TITANS #119 [1995]. |
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The Titans eventually came into conflict with Raven once again, now reborn as an evil avatar of Trigon. During this conflict, Mirage was captured by Deathwing, who took a sadistic interest in his unborn child. During the ensuing battle where the dark version of Raven was at last expunged, it appeared that Mirage had a miscarriage.
In truth, Mirage was still pregnant and used her illusion abilities to make it appear otherwise. While a Titan, Mirage began to develop romantic feeling for Arsenal, but he appeared oblivious to her flirtations. Mirage eventually went into labor while the Titans were off-world on another mission. She gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Julienne. Mirage then elected to spend time with her baby, and shortly after that, the Titans disbanded.
Mirage aided the Titans again during the Technis Imperative conflict, which involved the Justice League as well as all Titans, past and present. The two teams eventually worked together to save the earth and former Titans teammate, Victor Stone (Cyborg). Mirage aids the Titans when needed, but devotes much of her time as a mother to Julienne.
Mirage has the ability to alter her appearance by casting illusions. She has used these abilities mostly for subterfuge, but has also learned she can project illusions from a distance as well - an ability she is still learning to control. Mirage's powers have great unrealized potential; During a conflict with Psimon, some new psionic abilities were unlocked. This psionic abilities have yet to be fully catalogued.
Mirage has fought as a soldier in Lord Chaos' army and has also been trained by Battalion. She is a superb hand-to-hand combatant.
DC Secret Files, supplemented by titanstower.com
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New Titans #79 [1991]: A mysterious group of teenagers try to track down Donna Troy in an attempt to kill her. This issue features the first appearance of the Team Titans. Story continued in New Titans Annual #7 [which establishes the back story of the Team Titans].
New Titans Annual #7 and New Titans #80 [1991]: Waverider leaves an unconscious Nightwing to meet Joe Wilson, while in the future, the mysterious leader details his plans to the Team Titans on how they will go back in time to eliminate Donna Troy before she can give birth to her son, who will turn out to be Lord Chaos.
Total Chaos: New Titans #90-92, Team Titans #1-3, Deathstroke #14-16 [1992]: The Team Titans have been sent to the past to kill the pregnant Troia before she gives birth to her son, who could become a god-powered dictator named Lord Chaos in the future. The Team is defeated, and Troia, having lost her powers, gives birth to a normal baby boy. Mirage of the Team Titans kidnaps Starfire and impersonates her so that she can date Nightwing. Team Titans #1 is released in five different versions, but unlike variant cover gimmicks, all five are double-sized while selling for the regular price. Although all contain a common story, each also includes a different full-length origin story for a group member [Origins of Mirage, Terra II, Nightrider, Redwing and Killowat].
Team Titans #6 [1993]: The Team Titans celebrate the holidays, by going in search of their pasts, here In the present. Phantasm eases Terra's and Mirage's pains. Both Titans teams unite for a holiday gathering.
Team Titans #7 [1993]: The future-Nightwing emerges in the past and is reunited with the Teamers.
Team Titans #8 [1993]: The future-Nightwing has been attacked by the mysterious figure [later revealed to be a transformed Raven, having corrupted future-Nightwing with a 'Trigon seed']. This triggers startling changes in him, as he adopts the name Deathwing. Later, as Deathwing is reunited with an amorous Mirage, he plans on attacking her.
Team Titans #9-10 [1993]: After a night of passion, Deathwing savagely attacks Mirage, leaving her devastated.
New Titans #116-117, Green Lantern #57 [1994]: Psimon attacks the Titans, and psychologically tortures each of them, while also unwittingly unlocking new abilities in the Titan, Mirage.
New Titans #119-121 [1995]: Deathwing captures Mirage and takes a sadistic interest in his unborn child. The Titans defeat Raven and her thralls [including Deathwing]. Later, Mirage seemingly has a miscarriage in issue #121.
New Titans Annual #11 [1995]: A YEAR ONE tale featuring Arsenal's Titans team. The Time Trapper reveals Mirage, Deathwing and Terra are all from this timeline. Mirage learns she is a street urchin from Brazil.
New Titans #127-130 [1995]: Mirage goes into labor and reveals she had been concealing her pregnancy. Mirage has her baby [mistakenly referred to as her 'son' when it is established as a daughter later on] in issue #130. Raven is cleansed of evil and given a new golden body in issue #130. Chronologically, the Titans appear next in Titans Secret Files #1, where the dissolution of Arsenal's team is told.
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Team Titans Series Overview
Team Titans #1 to 24, September 1992 to September 1994
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| The Team Titans - From DC Cosmic Teams Card Set, 1993 |
The Future Is Now
The "Titans Hunt" storyline included the introduction of the Team Titans, a group of time-tossed teenagers from a bleak future ruled by Lord Chaos. Introduced in New Titans #79 [1991], a mysterious group of teenagers was trying to track down Donna Troy in an attempt to kill her. On the last page, the Team Titans membership is revealed: Mirage, Redwing, Nightrider, Killowat - and Terra! This last page shocker was followed-up in New Titans Annual #7, where the alternate future world of the Team Titans was established. Given orders by a mysterious leader, The Team Titans were sent back in time to eliminate Donna Troy before she could give birth to her son, who will turn out to be Lord Chaos. The Teamers' arrival in the present is detailed in New Titans #80.
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A 2004 convention sketch of Mirage
by TEAM TITANS artist, Terry Dodson. |
When the Team Titans were created for the 1991 New Titans Annual, writer Marv Wolfman said he had no idea that the group would get their own title. Editor Jonathan Peterson suggested that the annual feature Nightwing leading a Titans group in the future. "I didn't just want to have him lead a group fighting Monarch, and I realized it would be more exciting to develop a parallel story," recalled Wolfman. "Rarely can you come up with many characters all at once that work, but in this case, all the characters and their origins jelled quickly. It was very much like when I did the original Teen Titans group. They came one right after another. The Team Titans were all designed by [artist] Tom Grummett, and we realized we had more than an annual story. There was immediate interest at DC, because the characters worked. So, we figured out a way to bring these characters back into our present."
The Team Titans continued to track Donna Troy in New Titans #85-89 [1992], as Terra II made herself known to Changeling - while Mirage made her own plans to win the heart of Nightwing. As Donna's pregnancy accelerated, it led into a final three-way conflict with the Team Titans, New Titans and Lord Chaos. Team Titans #1-3 featured a crossover with New Titans #90-92 and Deathstroke #14-16 called "Total Chaos." The Team Titans first clashed and then teamed up with the Titans to ultimately defeat Lord Chaos.
Team Titans was written by Marv Wolfman and #1-3 featured art by Kevin Maguire. Later, art chores were assumed by Phil Jimenez with issue #7. Wolfman left the title with issue #12.
Wolfman later reflected on his Team Titans tenure in a titanstower.com interview: " Jonathan Peterson asked me to do a one-shot annual featuring these alternate universe characters. I came up with them for a one-shot only and somehow they get put into their own book. Had I known that was going to happen I would have spent a lot more time working on them so they could sustain a book. I never thought they should be their own title as they were a one-note concept. The Team Titans title was not one of my favorites. I did like the individual members, though, and I really liked what I did with their origin stories. It's just the book itself never should have been published."
X-Force-Fitting The Team Titans
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Extant's manipulations of the
Team Titans unfold in ZERO HOUR [1994]. |
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Jeff Jensen and Phil Jimenez co-wrote the book starting with #13 until its cancellation with #24 [1994]. The last few issues of the book featured art by Terry Dodson.
The book seemed to be conceived as an answer to Marvel's popular X-Force, with its teenage warriors and tough drill sergeant mentor/leader (Battalion subbing for X-Force's Cable). The concept never caught on with readers and the book was ultimately canceled. The Team Titans' fate was revealed in Zero Hour, where their timeline collapsed, thus erasing all the characters from existence (except Terra, Mirage and Deathwing).
Jimenez later reflected of his Team Titans tenure on an AOL chat: "I signed on to do a particular kind of self-aware, kitschy project while the higher ups wanted the new X-Force - and everything we had planned got screwed up by Zero Hour - none of which were particularly good for the team, DC Comics, or my career. We had originally intended to explore various things with the Team; Mirage's psycho pregnancy; Killowat's subtle racism, the possibility that Terra was a lesbian earth elemental. Kole was Marv's doing, not mine and we had to explain her away. In our original plan, the Team Titans were from an alternate time line and Terra was that time line's Earth elemental and she was going to be a lesbian."
"Mirage was going to go nuts during her pregnancy, and try to shape change it out of existence and it would be invulnerable to that, and she'd eventually kill herself. Mirage was never a favorite. But I found the drama of her after-rape period ripe with possibilities."
"We were going to explore the Joker's Daughter angle. We were going to find out that the Joker's Daughter was insane - that her memories of the Titans (now non-continuity) were just ravings in her head. She was going to steal the Time Commander's hourglass and reshape Manhattan into the island that she remembered, recreating a 70's world of heroes, villains, and icons that the Titans would find themselves in."
Alternate Futures
The Team Titans seemed full of possibilities - and missed opportunities. Kole returned in the pages of Team Titans only to mysteriously disappear. Phil Jimenez's plans for the book were contrary to DC's vision. The Joker's Daughter appeared in issue #13 - and was never seen again. And then there's the Team Titans leader...
The idea of Monarch as the leader of the Team Titans seemed like a last minute Zero Hour shuffle - and it was. Phil Jimenez revealed as much, "We were told to write that this second Kole, as well as nearly every other character we introduced in Team Titans, was a creation of Extant/Monarch, in order to lead the Titans down the path they would need to be super-powered assassins. So Kole was nothing more than an Extant-created construct."
But who was intended as the original Team Titans leader? It was actually the much-loathed Danny Chase. "That was part of the idea of making Danny Chase tolerable," editor Jonathan Peterson admitted in a 2005 interview with titanstower.com. "We could make him like John Conner from Terminator 2. He goes from whiny kid to leader of the rebellion."
Perhaps the most interesting angle to the Team Titans was editor Jonathan Peterson's original plan, " I thought, if Marvel has X-Men and New Mutants, we should do the same, so Marv said, “Okay, so we’ll have a new Teen Titans,” and then Kevin Maguire suggested we alter it, and call it Team Titans. "
"[...] I wanted to get the Teen Titans back, so I explained my whacked out idea. I really wanted Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg back to what they were originally, so I wanted to do an alternate dimension or timeline, and I turned to Kevin and said “You get to launch an all-new Titans book and design them from the ground up.” Not only that, but this alternate universe would have an alternate young Robin, and alternate young Starfire and all the rest. The plan for Team Titans was a secret one. With the first Team Titans Annual, or at the end of the first 12 issues, I told Kevin he would then be re-launching the Teen Titans with alternate versions of the core-seven members."
"My plan there was to have those members slowly grow in those twelve issues. They would grow or move on or be phased out. That would lead into the first Annual. That Annual would introduce our alternate [universe], younger Teen Titans. The book would change it’s title to Teen Titans and feature the alternate, younger versions of those core-seven Titans. That was the plan."
Short List of Notable Appearances
Team Titans #1-24
Team Titans Annual #1-2
New Titans #79-80, 85-92
New Titans Annual #7
Deathstroke #14-16
Zero Hour #0-4
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Mirage's Strange Pregnancy |
Mirage's pregnancy and subsequent birth was filled with all sorts of ups and downs and twists and turns. But it wasn't a result of clever writing, just confusing storytelling. Witness the story of Mirage's Strange Pregnancy...
TEAM TITANS #6-7: The so-called future version of Nightwing entered this timeline. Mirage was reunited with her lover only briefly. A dark version of Raven attacked the future Nightwing and corrupted him by planting a Trigon-seed within him. Nightwing now renamed himself Deathwing, and became violent and brutal. Deathwing visited Mirage, where he attacked and raped her.
TEAM TITANS # 14: Mirage took a home pregnancy test and learned she was pregnant with Deathwing's child.
NEW TITANS # 119-121: The Titans eventually came into conflict with Raven once again. During this conflict, Mirage was captured by Deathwing. Deathwing took a sadistic interest in his unborn child. During the ensuing battle where the dark version of Raven was at last expunged, it appeared that Mirage had a miscarriage. As a matter of fact, STAR Labs confirmed this. Mirage seems genuinely distraught. It appears this sub-plot is put to rest.
THE NEW TITANS # 127: Mirage goes into labor. So much for that miscarriage! In truth, we are told, Mirage was still pregnant and used her illusion abilities to make it appear otherwise [she was supposedly embarrassed]. This seems to make little sense, especially since the series was slated for cancellation in three issues. It is unknown why the creators chose to revisit this subplot
THE NEW TITANS # 130: Mirage goes through labor while the Titans were off-world on another mission. She gave birth to a baby boy, we are told. Mirage then elected to spend time with her baby, and shortly after that, the Titans disbanded.
JLA/TITANS #3: Mirage introduces us to her baby GIRL, who she named Julienne. Yes, GIRL.
Pregnant, then not pregnant, then pregnant again. A baby boy that turns into a baby girl.
That's gotta turn out to be one weird kid.
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Arsenal's New Titans Team |
The Premise
The Titans were pressured to place themselves under the government's watchful eye, due to increased public scrutiny [NEW TITANS #93-114]. Sarge Steel was their chief liaison, and Nightwing stepped down as leader and allowed Arsenal to take command. Arsenal led this new group of Titans [NEW TITANS #114], and was consistently challenged by the burdens of leadership. Many members left, but new faces emerged as well. Arsenal's team consisted of Darkstar (Donna Troy), Green Lantern, Supergirl, Damage, Mirage, Terra II, Minion, Impulse and Rose Wilson. Eventually, each members' dedication to the team began to waver, and the team disbanded.
The series lacked some focus, as team members were introduced, then not used, then reintroduced into the series.
"The Titans have had a series of problems in the past year," says Titans writer Marv Wolfman. 'They lost a number of members. They were sued by the government and people generally hated them. Finally, their leader Dick Grayson - Nightwing - left them."
Left in such disarray, the road to rebirth has been a long one. "Even before Zero Hour, Ray Harper, once known as Speedy and more recently known as Arsenal, was approached by Checkmate's leader, Sarge Steel, to align the Titans with the government," Wolfman says. "It seems that the JLA has broken ties with the government and Checkmate wanted a new superhero team to replace them. After going over the problems and being assured [his team] will have complete autonomy, Roy agreed to sign with Checkmate.
"Trouble is, he had no members to go with him. On his own and with Sarge Steel, new members are found recruited and a brand new Titans is formed." Wolfman reports that this new group will have a slightly different focus than past Titans teams. "Long ago, when the Titans were first created, the team featured already-existent heroes. In many ways we are going back to that original premise," be maintains. "Arsenal leads a group consisting of Damage, Green Lantern and Impulse, characters who either have their own titles, or in Impulse's case, is featured in Flash. Also in the New Titans are Mirage and Terra from the now-defunct Team Titans. Finally, rounding out the title is Donna Troy, now a Darkstar. So we're bringing in characters from other books as well as several already-known Titans.
"Interestingly, all the heroes mentioned are in one way or another orphans whose past lives are shrouded in mystery," he continues. "Where the last Titans team came together to fight Raven's demonical father, Trigon, the new team comes and stays together because they are all in a similar situation. The Titans is a place for these people to get together, to find themselves, to be with others like themselves. They are not coming together to fight some great battle, but to understand themselves and to grow. This common need will allow them to become close and eventually became friends.
"So the role of the New Titans is a club for the young DC heroes, a way of getting together with their peers, a place where they can be with their own kind and learn from each other as they grow."
"The book has gone under a lot of changes in the past few years, but all were evolutionary," Wolfman says. "Heroes died, new heroes replaced them, tempers flared and, because they were young, mistakes were often made. That is the way life is. But now we begin with a new group. A revolution, so to speak. New heroes, all with their own lives, hopes and desires. This allows us to create a very different kind of Titans book."
The Commentary
The Arsenal-led Titans didn't last too long [from NEW TITANS #115-130]. Sales on the book had slid, and many readers had already left the book. When the series was canceled in 1995 with #130, the Titans team was still active, although with some members having left. It wasn't until TITANS SECRET FILES #1 that we saw the final dissolution of the team.
The team had potential. Check out NEW TITANS #126 and NEW TITANS ANNUAL #11 to see what the team might have been.
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