Young Justice: Outsiders: Tara Markov could introduce The Judas Contract
How the Young Justice’s version of Tara could change
Young Justice has already altered Tara’s origin story a bit. Unlike her original comic incarnation, who was exiled from Markovia because her dad didn’t want the public to know he had an affair (and Tara was that product of that affair), Tara Markov is a welcomed member of the Markovian royal family. Though, we should probably specify that she was welcomed in the Markov royal family, seeing as Markovia still has a ban on meta-humans.
Based on the animated versions of the Outsiders team members, the series has clearly changed some aspects certain characters’ origin stories, especially with the Markov family. Even in her short time on Young Justice, we already know that Tara Markov wasn’t ostracized and orphaned by her parents because of her powers.
The Young Justice: Outsiders changes to Tara’s character offer a supplementary backstory to the original Tara Markov’s meta-human origin story. While her related comics explain that the Markovs are a family of meta-human, she wasn’t able to activate her meta-human gene until Dr. Jace helped her. However, the comics were a bit vague on how Dr. Jace activated her gene, so season 3 helps clarify any gaps in how she got her geokinesis abilities. It’s an extension of her story. Though the series changed a bit of her comic book transition to villainy, Tara isn’t unlike her comic book counterpart.
Tara hasn’t tested her Terraific moniker yet, but the midseason finale foreshadows her canonical betrayal of another heroic team. See, Terra has a history of working with Deathstroke the Terminator in an attempt to kill the Teen Titans. Despite her pseudo-death-defying mythos centered around the contract and Titans-riddled mythos, the series could use Terra’s undercover deception to slowly build up the Teen Titans. This could set up another season based around the Titans entirely.
Conversely, the series could just swap the Teen Titans with the Outsiders. That might seem like an obvious creative decision, seeing as this season is about the Outsiders team. However, this season could use Tara’s association with The Judas Contract as a subplot to officially bringing in the Teen Titans team in an impending season.
Whether or not the series could use this as a way to change aspects of Tara’s lore, she is still collaborating with Deathstroke with something. While the series could change her motive to infiltrate the Outsiders entirely, it seems like her antagonistic subplot points to The Judas Contract.
The infamous contract
To summarize, The Judas Contract started when Deathstroke agreed to take on his son’s unfinished contract to kill the Teen Titans. Slade Wilson recruited Tara Markov, codename Terra, to pose as a good guy to join the Titans and gather intel and ultimately lure them to their deaths. However, it just ended with Terra dying, and inherent trust issues for the Titans.
Although Young Justice could suddenly choose to debut The Judas Contract without Tara or vice versa, both the contract and Terra are interdependent of each other. Beyond relying on one another, The Judas Contract also creates necessary character development and overall changes for the Teen Titans. While the Young Justice series doesn’t focus on the Titans, it could use the contract (and obviously Tara) as a way to announce that the Outsiders are officially a team.
In the comic iteration, the contract helped convince the Teen Titans to become a permanent team. Since the Outsiders haven’t explicitly formed any plans to stay a team, Terra and the contract could convince the pack of stray to officially become and stay a team.