Created by George Perez and Marv Wolfman back in the 1980’s, Starfire has quickly captured the imaginations and hearts of comic book readers everywhere with her determination to do what is right as well as her desire to protect her friends. Actually named Koriand’r, (or Kory Anders during her modeling career), Starfire comes from the royal family of the planet Tamaran. The middle child of three, with a sister named Blackfire (Kormand’r) and a brother named Darkfire (Ryand’r), she was raised as the favorite, and the next in line for the throne as Blackfire could not fly due to a childhood disease. After a very long set of events mostly caused by Blackfire’s hatred towards her, she wound up on earth and became a member of the Teen Titans.
She is known for wearing her heart on her sleeve (and not much else) and fighting for what she believes in. Over the years, she has been in countless battles fighting alongside many different friends from the Teen Titans, to the Rebels and even the Justice League. When the Teen Titans changed up their roster, she was right there to mentor the young heroes, especially Robin, who at the time was either Jason Todd or Damian Wayne. We also can’t forget her famous romance with Robin number one, Dick Grayson. But I’m here to tell you today about how there is more to our favorite red-headed alien, most of which doesn’t actually make all that much sense. Despite all of the head scratching though, Starfire will always be loved by fans.
25 Does This Really Count?
The thing about being called the Teen Titans usually denotes that the members are teens. It’s correct for the most part… if you don’t think too hard about Starfire. She may look like someone in her midteens, however, just like Tolkien’s elves, looks and age do not always correlate.
She’s actually a lot older than most think.
In truth, Starfire is actually 156 years old. Knowing that makes Starfire stick out even more than usual. She is quite motherly though, so perhaps that’s mostly just from years of experience.
24 Who Needs Oxygen?
As if we didn’t need another way to compare her to supes, Starfire is an alien who is able to withstand the vacuum of space. She admits that she actually doesn’t need oxygen either, so in theory she could also hang out under the sea with Aqualad. While I can understand being able to breathe in space, keeping warm is another mess entirely (to say nothing of the pressure change of entering and leaving orbit). To save myself from Reddit binges, I’ll justify it using cartoon logic.
23 Where Was Her Season?
With the show being five seasons long, you’d think that each titan would get their own season in the animated series. You’d be mostly right. While everyone else gets a season to develop their character arc, Starfire is surprisingly left out. Granted, she’s in 63 of the 66 episodes, but screen time is not equal to development. It’s a little odd as she carries the Titan team in many issues of the comics, and has her own titans in some versions. Still, it was nice that the last season helped wrap up (some) loose ends.
22 How Could She Join Up With Them?
When the Tamaranians were driven from their home (three times, mind you), everyone’s favorite protectors of the DC universe were nowhere to be seen. For that reason, Starfire has since bourn a grudge against the lantern corps, who are the other guardians of the galaxy.
She joined a group she resented to do the right thing.
We know that Starfire has a pretty good sense of justice, and has been known to jump to different teams that need her abilities. It’s puzzling though, that she’d be able to join the very group who let her people down, albeit temporarily.
21 Who Needs An Origin Story?
It seems that the Justice League is not DC’s first hurriedly put together team. Once upon a time, the Teen Titans were a team that would be debuting, but there were not enough heroes to fill the roster. In an attempt to create the team over the years a few of the heroes had to be created. Interestingly enough, besides Starfire, Cyborg was created, giving him two occasions to be in a hastily put together team. Starfire was a new property and given her own series later on.
20 Aren’t They Young?
It is a known fact that Tamaranians are people who are ruled by their emotions and feel very deeply about many things. Thus being said, it came as no surprise when she got into her famous relationship with Dick Grayson (Robin/Nightwing) and one panel in specific heavily implied how far their relationship had gone. While not an overtly bad thing considering the ages of both involved, the fact that the comic was called the Teen titans was a huge controversy. They were being read by younger audiences, and such relations were quite inappropriate. Yikes.
19 Why Is She Defined By Her Man?
One of the unfortunate aspects of being a leading lady in media today means that you will fall in love with the leading man and most of your scenes will be in connection to him. While not the worst thing to happen, it does affect Starfire as a character, particularly in the animated series.
Being too close really chases away personal development.
Because most of her character is so based on his, it’s hard to get much development as a standalone character. While we like the pairing, part of being in a relationship is growing in your own way.
18 How Did She Date Two Robins?
Starfire seems to have a type: dark haired, athletic, and has a connection to our favorite bat. After she and Dick Grayson decide to call off their wedding and ultimately their romantic relationship, she ends up in a relationship with Jason Todd, Dick’s replacement as Robin. The ironic thing is that she doesn’t realize at first that not only do the two know each other, but they have a pretty close personal history. Being Robin is a huge part of your backstory. How it took Starfire so long to figure out is a mystery.
17 How Did Her Parents Perish?
Chances are, if you are a story character, you have lost either your mother or both of your parents. How it happens is usually very vague and often forgotten as the character grows and learns to get over the sorrow. It is acceptable if the narrative chooses a side and sticks with it. In Starfire’s case though, it’s a bit more complicated. Either way her parents would be ended, but it seems that the canon can’t decide whether it was from the war Tamaran was going through or if it was out of a broken heart.
16 Why Is She Part Cat?
Finding out where you come from has been very popular recently with the mail order DNA tests available for purchase. While most people have a good mixture of different countries running through their veins, Starfire’s DNA has something a little different in mind. That’s right, the Tamaranian people were descended from none other than cats. Honestly, it explains the little in-jokes from Teen Titans Go! as well as the animated series. It’s pretty cool to think about, but don’t think too deeply… after all, it is just a cartoon.
15 Wait… She Can Do What?
If there’s anyone you wouldn’t want to have come to your buffet restaurant, it’s Starfire. She’s known for having quite the appetite, and there’s a good reason for it. As a race, Tamaranians canonically have nine stomachs. As you can imagine, this anatomy is not only confusing but absolutely ridiculous. It did come in handy when Mother Mae Eye tried to hypnotize Starfire with her pie, effectively saving the day. Even so, we wouldn’t mind seeing an x-ray.
14 When An Entire Species Has An Allergy
Unsurprisingly, Starfire in the comics differed a bit from her animated series counterpart. Aside from the more modest clothing, younger body shape and much more innocent demeanor, there is another big difference. Starfire in the animated series has an allergy to metallic chromium which is really only played on for one episode as a plot device. While it may not be crazy she has the allergy, the fact that her entire planet is bugged by the same thing is a bit far-fetched. Especially considering the Tamaranians are warriors and likely face weapons with some chromium in them.
13 How Is This Possible For Her Hair To Do?
Different iterations of Starfire have varying degrees of changes. From her fairly risqué original outfit to her animated version to the very adult version, Starfire has her own sense of style.
One huge part of her look is her hair.
Bright red and varying in lengths, it is one of the hallmarks of Starfire when she was first designed. Occasionally though, she will be designed with fire on the tips of her hair. We get it, she’s alien. While a cool design idea and perfect for her character, it makes no sense.
12 Why Does She Grow Up Like This?
The teenage years are hard to get through. You get on an emotional roller coaster; try to figure out who you are and how you fit into society. The show Teen Titans portrayed this in a very compelling way, which I think is one of the reasons it had such a good run. No matter how crazy your coming of age was, Starfire’s will always beat yours. Her coming of age mutation, while admittedly quite a bit shorter, was certainly alien. It feels like they used a monster generator to come up with things to do to poor Star.
11 Why Can’t They Decide On One Story?
This one is mostly a continuity error between the animated series and the serialization of Starfire’s comics. As stated in the last entry, Starfire had a crazy coming of age experience, which resulted in her being able to shoot beams out of her eyes. But in the other serialization, her powers came as a result of some unwanted scientific experiments. You could argue about how they’re two different universes, but it was probably a bit of a shock when comic fans saw the animated series for the first time and saw those starbolts.
10 Why Is There Another Character With The Same Name?
DC has had its fair share of universe reboots to attract readers. That’s the problem (or maybe genius) of starting over from scratch. Any character who had previously failed could be tried out in a different light.
It might come as a surprise, but there was a Starfire before the titans.
She was a post-apocalyptic beauty who could easily hold her own. Different characters, but they have quite a bit in common. You’d think that they’d check for name availability before creating a new character, though.
9 Why Is She So Strong?
Even without her starbolts, you don’t want to get on Starfire’s bad side. She is incredibly strong, even beating out Wonder Woman’s apprentice and Titan alum, Donna Troy. But this wasn’t the original plan. I guess DC didn’t want to show up their cash cow Superman with a similar character, because Starfire was only supposed to only be as strong as eight men. My guess is that when feminism had a rise in society, the artists weren’t afraid of writing more strong women characters. An odd but welcome retcon.
8 Why Does She Wear Gloves?
We know that if you’re a woman in comics, you’re going to be objectified. You’re going to wear tight and revealing clothes. At least this time we can chalk it up to Starfire’s alien heritage to explain the lack of clothes. She takes in radiation to use her powers (not unlike another famous DC hero), and so she needs to expose as much skin as possible. Her people were also free of inhibitions. It never explains why she sometimes gets gloves, material that could just as easily cover other areas and leave the same amount exposed.
7 How Does This Science Make Sense?
After being subjected to six years in captivity, Starfire finds herself in more trouble as she and her sister are taken by the Psions, a bunch of unethical scientists who decide to test how much radiation the sisters can handle by exposing them to as much as possible. It’s cool that they make it out of there, but even cooler that they get the power of starbolts because of it. They are the only two Tamaranians to be able to use the energy they gain from the sun to attack. But how it actually happened scientifically is beyond me.
6 Why Do These Colors Change?
Now this one could very easily be chalked up to the printing process or it could be because of color schemes chosen by artists. Either way, it makes no sense lore-wise. Over the course of Starfire’s appearances, her starbolts have ranged from green to purple to red.
No matter what color the starbolts are, they’re dangerous.
While there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the coloring, there’s no disputing how powerful they are. Still, it would be nice to get some answers about some of her more vague abilities.
