I know why you put on this mask all those years ago. Red X stood for something then. And he stands for the same thing today. 
- — Red X
Future State: Teen Titans #1 is an issue of the series Future State: Teen Titans (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2021. It was published on January 12, 2021.
Synopsis for "Ruins"
Titans Island. New York, New York, USA
Emiko and Dick stand in the ruins of Titans Island, and Nightwing tells Arrow she can stay and pay homage to the dead two minutes, and not more. Meanwhile, he is searching for something in the rubble when he finds a Red X mask: this brings to him some memories, about his comrades enjoying a party for Dick's birthday, and him talking about Red X with Starfire. But those are memories, and they are not there to remember: they are there to find an H-Dial, which they did, and find out if it still works. But then someone tells them there was a change of plans, as they came back...
Titans Safe House. Somewhere under Queens
Starfire is asking to Jakeem how Cyborg and Beast Boy are doing: they merged into the Cybeast, and are trying to understand how to make things work, but it seems there are some side-effects they cannot completely understand. As she thinks about those two, Starfire recalls an happy memory about Cyborg and Beast Boy holding a lesson for a new generation of Titans about teamwork. It also seems that Cyborg and Beast Boy where the people who "came back" in the previous communication to Nightwing: it seems they were on a mission to recover very important information, and Dick wants Kori to force them to wake up with an adrenaline injection.
It seems that Kori and Dick are not on the same side this time, as they start arguing: Starfire thinks it won't be safe to force them like that, and hangs up on Nightwing. So, Emiko and Dick come back, and Nightwing leaves the decisions to Kori, not presenting himself to the meeting. Kori decides to send a team to search for Shazam's squad, which is from where Cybeast came from. Chupacabra will stand guard inside the safe house, also to keep an eye on their recovering teammates. As the new guys leave, Dick comes out of the shadows and asks Kori why he did not tell them about the H-Dial and the plan. And also why she keeps calling him Nightwing. But Kori dismisses him, telling him he's not answering to Nightwing.
Meanwhile, in the sub-basement Raven is simulating a battle, inside the mind of a mysterious man, caged. It seems their action together, in the past, caused something terrible. Raven is trying to better herself so that the next time, she may succeed, but she keeps on failing. The man thinks he should be allowed to retry together with her, but she refuses. Then, Cybeast awakes, and she leaves. The merged Titan, the sum of Cyborg and Beast Boy, communicates to them that they were able to find the Spear of Destiny, key to a plan aimed at defeating the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. With it, they will try to stop these life-consuming creatures, while saving their friends, even if Barry Allen's notes about them might suggest there's nothing to do for the one already lost.
But Emiko tells everyone that the Spear cannot destroy them, they are too strong. And that's when Raven intervenes: the Spear is not a weapon to hit them with, but a mean to gather them all in the same place, where the Titans will make their last stand. Right now, the Riders are going to gather where Shazam's team is, in Detroit, where they are about to collapse, even with Crush, Bunker and Shazam's combined powers all acting together. Dick meanwhile remembers when they faced the new Red X, someone who took his mask because of what the mask meant to Dick when he decided to change his identity. He tried to stop them from unleashing the riders, but he made a mistake...
That man is caged in their sub-basement now, but Dick wants to offer him a second chance at doing things right. Because after all, it would mean giving a second chance to himself, as he feels he wronged him. The man tells him everything that happened was his fault, and his alone, but Dick answers him he must do this, for Raven as much as himself.
Red X was born to say that the Titans were dead, and that each and every time they tried to bring them back, they made a mess worse than the one before. Starfire is about to do the same. But after donning the Deathstroke mask, Dick and Red X step out, ready to do what must be done...
Appearing in "Ruins"
Featured Characters:
- Teen Titans (Flashback and main story)
- Bratgirl (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Bunker (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Chupacabra (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Crush (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Cybeast (First appearance)
- Beast Boy (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Cyborg (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Gorilla Gregg (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Jakeem Thunder (First appearance)
- Johnny Thunderbolt (First appearance)
- Nightwing (Flashback and main story)
- Raven (Also in a vision) (First appearance)
- Red Arrow (Emiko Queen) (Flashback and main story)
- Shazam (Flashback and main story) (First full appearance)
- Starfire (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
- Totally Tubular (Tooby) (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Red X (Flashback and main story) (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Mentioned only)
Other Characters:
- Alinta (Flashback only) (First appearance; unnamed)
- Brick Pettirosso (Flashback only) (First appearance; unnamed) (Cameo)
- Cinderblock (Statue only)
- Dane (Flashback only) (First appearance; unnamed) (Cameo)
- Donna Troy (Dies in flashback) (First appearance)
- Kid Flash (Flashback only)
- Matt Price (Flashback only) (Deceased) (First appearance)
- Megabat (Flashback only) (First appearance; unnamed)
- Miguel Montez (Dies in flashback) (First appearance)
- Red Arrow (Roy Harper) (Statue only)
- Roundhouse (Billy Wu) (Flashback only) (First appearance)
- Stitch (Flashback only) (First appearance; unnamed) (Cameo)
- Barry Allen (Mentioned only)
- Batman (Mentioned only)
- Justice League (Mentioned only)
- Summer Zahid (Mentioned only) (Deceased)
- Wally West (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Detroit
- New York City (Flashback and main story)
- Queens
- Titans Academy (Flashback only) (First appearance)
- Titans Island (Flashback and main story) (Ruins)
- Titans Tower (Flashback and main story) (Ruins)
- Bludhaven (Mentioned only)
- Gotham City (Mentioned only)
Items:
- H-Dial (Flashback and main story)
- Spear of Destiny (Destroyed)
Trivia
- Among the rubble of Titans Island, a copy of New Teen Titans #1 can be seen.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Future State: Teen Titans series
- Images from Future State: Teen Titans Vol 1 1
