Teen Titans: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Blackfire

Teen Titans is one of the greatest superhero teams comprised of superpowered adolescents besides Marvel’s Young Avengers. Known for its iconic heroes, such as Robin, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire, the cartoon series from the 2000s was also iconic for the villains these heroes faced, including the infamous Blackfire. Sister of the aforementioned Starfire, Blackfire is also from the planet Tamaran and a flying powerhouse in her own right.

Unlike her sweet and precocious sister, Blackfire’s personality is the polar opposite of Starfire’s, complete with a sharp silver tongue and a criminal nature. While Blackfire provides an interesting foil to one of DC’s favorite heroines, there were a few things about her character that didn’t make much sense within the context of the series.

Why Is Her English So Different Than Starfire’s?

In her debut episode, “Sisters,” viewers got the first look at the numerous differences between Blackfire and her sister, Starfire, including their speaking styles. While Starfire often speaks in formal, although awkward English, Blackfire’s command of English is so fluent and casual to the point she even understands slang and Earth jokes like Beast Boy’s quip at humor, “Nothing but the ceiling, baby.” This fact seems even weirder when we learn later in “Bethrothed,” that other English-speaking Tamaraneans also speak in formal tones like Starfire, while Blackfire is the only Tamaranean who speaks with contractions.

Why Was Her Costume Black?

In the episode “Bethrothed,” where the team travels to Starfire’s home planet for her wedding, fans get a glimpse of what other Tamaraneans are like. Among their distinguishing features, one noticeable trait is the fact that all Tamaraneans wear the same color scheme of purple and silver.

However, Blackfire’s costume is black and silver. While it is strange to see all citizens of a single society, even an alien one, wear color-coordinating outfits, it seems even stranger that Blackfire doesn’t have one true Tamaranean outfit.

How Did She Receive Starfire’s Transmissions?

In “Sisters,” viewers learned that before coming to Earth, Starfire had spoken to Blackfire “about the Titans in her transmissions.” However, for that to be possible the two would have been on friendly terms. This seems very strange given the fact Blackfire tried to trade Starfire to the Gordanians as revealed in the Teen Titans origin episode. One would think being sold into slavery would make one very unlikely to want to talk to the person who tried to sell them into slavery.

How Does Blackfire Know So Much About Earth Culture?

A reoccurring gag within the series is Starfire’s painfully funny misunderstanding of Earth customs. Despite living on Earth for a decent amount of Earth, throughout the show Starfire seems to demonstrate no social understanding of Earth slang or culture However, while Blackfire stays on Earth, she seems to act like any other local, with knowledge of all the social hot spots, like the party she drags the Titans to. Which makes one wonder how did she become so familiar with Earth?

Why Does She Look So Different From Other Tamaraneans?

While Starfire and Blackfire look so alike to the point the Centauri police mistake Starfire for Blackfire, there are notable differences in their appearances. While Starfire has gorgeous red hair and green eyes (both iris and sclera), Blackfire has beautiful black hair and black eyes (black iris and white sclera.)

It’s one thing for Blackfire to look completely different than her sister, but to look so completely different from other Tamaraneans who share the same genetic features as Starfire? Very strange.

How In The World Does She Have Kids?

One of Starfire and Blackfire’s most entertaining plotlines together took place during “Betrothed,” when Blackfire tries to trick her sister into a marriage with Glgrdsklechhh, ruler of the planet Drenthax IV. Luckily, Starfire ruins her plan and everyone remains single, or so it seemed. In the short “Blackfire’s Babysitter,” it’s revealed that somehow not only did Blackfire and Glgrdsklechhh get married, but also had a set of very gelatinous kids. Questions of biology aside, Blackfire doesn’t ring as the “mothering” type.

Why Wasn’t She In The Brotherhood Of Evil?

Among the major baddies of the series, the top dog seems to be the Brotherhood of evil. During the epic battle in the fifth season, the Brotherhood sets out to recruit all the major villains for their team. Everyone that is, except Blackfire. One thing fans know for sure is that Blackfire likes power. Why wouldn’t she align herself with some of the most powerful people on Earth, if not the universe? If the Brotherhood of Evil is so evil, why haven’t they enrolled Blackfire yet?

Where Was She During The Final Battle?

Despite being a fan favorite in Teen Titans, Blackfire only appears in two episodes, “Sisters” and “Betrothed.” So while the final showdown features all the evil heavy-hitters, like the Brotherhood of Evil and Madame Rouge, Blackfire barely makes a squeak, in name or in person. Avoiding the final fight doesn’t make sense for Blackfire, narrative-wise or character-wise. In addition to just thriving on chaos, Blackfire just isn’t the type to turn down a fight with her sister.

Who Did She Kiss To Learn English?

In the Teen Titans movie, Trouble in Tokyo, Starfire reveals that the people of her planet can instantaneously learn any language through lip contact, i.e. smooching. As seen in the season 5 origin story episode “Go!” Starfire first learns English through kissing Robin. Which leaves one to wonder, who did Blackfire kiss to speak English? While Blackfire would surely catch many a person’s eyes, one wonders where she even found the time to kiss someone when trying to evade intergalactic police.

Why Didn’t Blackfire Just Rule Tamaran?