DC may not be having a lot of luck building their live-action movie universe, but they have been kings of creating animated content for their fans for quite a while. Not the least in their long line of cartoon shows and movies was the Teen Titans series that aired from 2003 to 2006. Man, sometimes I forget the good quality television shows that I had when I was a kid. Now that I really think about it, I was flubbing pampered when it comes to shows. Anyways, Teen Titans was one of those shows that was unforgettably good.

Each of the characters were wonderfully developed, but none of them seemed so powerful as Starfire. Robin was the brains of the group, with such advanced intelligence about take-down techniques that he could bring down the rest of the Titans with little to no trouble. Raven was definitely up there when it comes to being powerful, but she always seemed to restrain herself from going too far. Cyborg was probably the most resourceful, and Beast Boy was, no offense to him, mostly the comedic relief. Out of all of them, Starfire was the one who dealt the most damage to their enemies.

Her might stemmed from the fact that she was from the planet Tamaran. Being an alien, a lot of things about her are outlandish while at the same time incredibly useful. The word "titan" is used today to describe someone who is powerful, influential, or god-like. With that definition in mind, it's impossible to not think of Starfire as being the ultimate Teen Titan.

20 A Lot To Digest

Cartoon girls always seem to have waists the size of thimbles. In fact, it is a hallmark of most Disney princesses to have waists that are no bigger than a pencil point. Starfire does not escape the burden of these unrealistic proportions. But did you know that as a Tamaranean, she has nine stomachs? If that's the case, how does that tiny waist conceal all those stomachs?! Maybe the people of Tamaran have stomachs that are shaped differently from the stomachs of people of earth, but nine is still a large number of organs to have jostling around in there. The amount of stomachs Starfire has probably helps her eat all the food that she crams into her mouth. I can't recall an episode of Teen Titans where she didn't exclaim over Earthly foods and customs.

19 The Signs Of Maturity

When girls from earth mature into adulthood, the cycle they must undergo is not always pleasant. Menarche, while it might provide the ability to become a mother in the future, is a freaking curse of annoyance to those who have to go through it.

Imagine if that's not what you had to go through for the beginning of adulthood.

Imagine if, instead of a visit from your Aunt Flow, you got laser eye-beams. That's what Starfire gets to experience when she transforms into an adult Tamaranean. Of course, she also had to deal with temporary mutations, like a giant lump that sprouted on her forehead. And then a giant chrysalis formed around her, and she had to break free in order to complete her transformation into an adult. On second thought, human menarche does not sound so bad.

18 Feline Ancestry

It's a little known fact that the people on Starfire's home-world of Tamaran were descended from cat-like creatures. It's referenced jokingly in the animated series, but it is actually canon from comic book lore. Just as humans on Earth are descended from ape-like creatures, Tamaraneans are descended from creatures that are strongly related to cats. In one Teen Titans storyline, the Titans are made to revert to their primitive states. All of the Titans from Earth begin to turn into these ape-ish animals except for Starfire. She starts to grow pointy ears and a definite cat muzzle. The story of evolution that Tamaran tells of sounds absolutely fascinating. But alas, the show does not dwell on this. I think they missed out on a wonderful opportunity right there.

17 No Need For SPF

Whenever I go to the beach, I have to layer myself with sunscreen in order to prevent the most horrible of sunburns. Sadly, what always seems to happen is that I miss some part of my body and that particular spot seems to take in all the sunlight like metal to a magnet. The next day, that spot is as bright red as a lobster.

Moments like that make me wish I was a little more like Starfire.

The way her physiology works is that it converts ultraviolet radiation into energy. That's where the power for the blasts that emerge from her eyes and her hands comes from. That seems incredibly useful. What is it with aliens that take their power from the sun? Both Superman and Starfire are able to harness the beautiful and dangerous energy that radiates from the sun. Lucky ducks.

16 A Sister To Love

Siblings make for the most perfect rivals. You have a soft spot in your heart for them born from the nostalgia of growing up together, and yet, they can take advantage of all of your weaknesses because they know all of your weaknesses. Ah, yes, sibling rivalries are ripe material for interesting stories.

Starfire has her own sibling rivalry with her older sister, Blackfire.

Starfire has the kindest soul on the Titans' team, so she keeps forgiving Blackfire for her transgressions against her. When Blackfire came to visit the Teen Titans one time, she gave Starfire the gift of a Centauri moon diamond. Starfire was ecstatic, but as it turns out, the diamond was stolen. The Centauri police had been hot on Blackfire's trail, and by giving Starfire the diamond, she set up her own sister. Or she tried to. Luckily, the Titans were able to help exonerate Starfire.

15 Thick Skinned

I used to wonder why Starfire's costume was so revealing. As a super hero (as we have all seen thanks to the numerous super hero movies and television shows out there), you get into quite a few battles. Why would you risk getting even more bruised and scraped during a fight by wearing an outfit with so much exposed skin?

Starfire doesn't need to worry about this though.

She is partially bulletproof. I say partially because she doesn't have total invulnerability. Superman can have bullets pepper his chest all day and suffer no ill consequences. Starfire can survive the occasional blast, but if she is hammered enough, her invulnerability takes a dip. But this is better than nothing, especially if she insists on wearing one of the most revealing outfits in the history of super heroes.

14 Did You Know "Gullible" Is Not In The Dictionary?

Despite being the powerhouse of the team, Starfire can also be the entire team's greatest weakness. Why? She's the most innocent and naive member of the group. I'm not simply referring to her confusion regarding Earth's idioms. (That's super endearing, and while it may lead to many embarrassing moments, it's not life-threatening.) Starfire's belief in everyone's inherent goodness puts her at risk for being taken advantage of by the Teen Titans' enemies. Beast Boy plays friendly tricks on her all the time, but think of Starfire's own sister. Blackfire takes advantage of Starfire's kindness nearly every time they meet. And when Starfire met the Chrysalis-Eater, she ignorantly trusted him and formed her chrysalis right next to him.

13 Creating Your Own Worst Enemy

There have been many versions of Starfire's origin story. In one of them, she was made a prisoner of a race of aliens called the Psions, and they were known for their cruel experimentations on other beings. As their captive, Starfire was subject to all sorts of horrible experiments.

Most notable among them was the inundation of energy into her body.

As I said before, one of Starfire's abilities as a Tamaranean is the ability to absorb energy from the sun. In this origin story, the Psions wanted to fill her with all that ultraviolet radiation until she couldn't contain it. What happened instead is that they gave Starfire the ability to shoot that energy from her hands. The Psions were the ones who gave her that fearsome ability, and she used it against them in order to free herself.

12 Foreign Language Class

One of Starfire's more peculiar gifts is her ability to learn any language having physical contact with someone who speaks a different language. And not just any kind of physical contact. Starfire has to plant a big old smackeroo on the lips. (This is true in the kids show. In the comics, she just has to make physical contact. Though in the comics, they point out that she actually prefers to lip-lock with people.) That's why when she and Robin first meet, even though they had been fighting moments ago, Starfire gave him one steamy kiss in order to learn his language. Confused (but doubtlessly pleased) Robin did not know what Starfire's intentions were when she did this, so for all he knew, that's how she treated random strangers.

11 I Now Pronounce You...

Another one of Blackfire's plots against Starfire involved getting her married to a giant, green alien with tube-y protuberances all over his body. This marriage, according to Blackfire, was arranged to broker a piece between Tamaran and Drenthax IV. However, it turns out that the whole thing was a ploy between Blackfire and Starfire's betrothed. In exchange for giving him her sister, Blackfire would receive an artifact that would boost her powers. Starfire was going to go through with the marriage despite her love for Robin. It was only until the Titans interrupted the ceremony to reveal the plot to her did Starfire think to call it off. And boy, was she finally mad at her sister. Starfire was able to defeat Blackfire even though she had the artifact in her possession.

10 In Space, No One Can Hear You Breathe

I'm no expert on Tamaranean biology. I know little tidbits about Starfire, such as the fact that she has nine stomachs. But I have no idea how she is able to survive in the vacuum of space. All I know is that she can. Where the other Titans would not fare so well in a space battle, Starfire can do just fine. She propels herself through zero gravity using her blasts, but I seriously have no idea how she manages to breathe. For all I know, she has nine lungs inside her chest that hold reserve amounts of oxygen for her whenever she's in a vacuum. But this attribute of hers is definite proof that she's the powerhouse of the team. If they ever get into a jam in space, she's the only one who can do anything about it.

9 A Closet Poet

An interesting thing to note is Starfire's proclivity to recite poetry. During one of the Teen Titans episodes, Starfire needs rescuing. After she is saved, she expresses a willingness to recite something called the Poem of Gratitude, and then she drops the fact that this poem is 6,000 verses long. When I was in school, I was sometimes called upon to memorize bits from historical speeches or documents. I can tell you, none of those speeches or documents was even close to 6,000 verses long. What this reveals is that either Starfire has read the Poem of Gratitude so many times that she has learned it all by heart, or super memorization skills are another one of her powers.

8 The Loss Of A Child

The reason Blackfire dislikes Starfire so much is that, supposedly, she felt that her parents favored Starfire over her. This explains her behavior, but it does not excuse it. During Starfire's youth, a war was going on between Tamaran and the Gordanians. Blackfire arranged matters so that a peace could be made between the two peoples if Starfire was sent to be a slave to the Gordanians. Afterwards, their parents couldn't live with the grief of Starfire's loss, so they passed away from their sorrow. Tamaraneans feel emotions very deeply; that's where their power stems from. Now, if Starfire needs any more evidence that Blackfire is not a good person, I don't know what to tell her.

7 A Loving Larva

It's not every day that the larval form of a mutant moth would be considered cute, but that didn't stop Beast Boy from adopting one of Killer Moth's mutant larva after the Teen Titans defeated them in battle. Beast Boy knew most of the Titans would not take too kindly to his decision to care for the little larvae, who he named Silkie, so he decided to keep it a secret.

The only other Titan he told was Starfire.

Starfire went above and beyond the call of friendship when it came to caring for Silkie. The two quickly bonded with each other, so much so that when Silkie had to choose between his former master Killer Moth or Starfire, he chose her. Afterwards, he became the official pet of the Teen Titans.

6 Gesundheit

Starfire, like a lot of Tamaraneans, is allergic to metallic chromium. When the Titans are trying to follow Slade, they use her allergy as a kind of tracking device. A weapon that Slade utilizes contains metallic chromium, so the Titans follow Starfire around in order to see if her allergy gets worse the closer they get to him. This tactic works, but unfortunately for Starfire, her symptoms seem none too pleasant. She sneezes constantly, and whenever she sneezes, she releases those laser blasts that she is so well-known for. The big problem with that is that she's blasting things involuntarily. At least she doesn't get an allergic rash. I'd hate to see what an allergic rash would look like on a Tamaranean.

5 All The Robins

We know the person that Starfire cares for the most on the Titans is Robin, but she's not the only Robin she has had a close relationship with. In other versions of her story, she has become close with Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Damian Wayne. In DC's The New 52, Starfire moved on from Dick and became partners with Jason Todd, formerly the second Robin in Batman's long line of Robins. And when Damian Wayne took over the later Teen Titans, while he may not have had a romantic relationship with her, he respected Starfire's abilities as an asset to the team. And I always got the impression that Damian regarded her as a sort of mother figure.

4 Way To Shriek

Starfire is just too adorable sometimes. One of her crowning moments of adorable-ness was when she makes the decision to sing some tradition Tamaranean folk songs. If someone were to tell me they were going to sing some folk songs, because of my past experience with the genre, I would expect some lilting melody accompanied by an acoustic guitar (but that's just me). So when Starfire said she was going to sing some Tamaranean folk songs to Cyborg, that's what I thought I was going to hear. Imagine my surprise when she just started shrieking. I'm not even kidding. It's like she just started screaming. She was cute, but I don't blame Cyborg for yelling at her to be quiet before going back to playing his video game.

3 The Final Straw

Blackfire's constant plotting over Starfire should have come to an end far earlier, but it truly ended when Blackfire crossed a line. Back during Tamaran's war with the Gordanians, Starfire was not the only one of her family to be taken away from her home-world.

Starfire's younger brother, Wildfire, was sent away for his own safety.

At some point though, his location was forgotten or he became lost, and no one on Tamaran knew what became of him. Blackfire created a plot that involved someone impersonating Wildfire. When Starfire found out the whole thing was a ruse, she was infuriated. She was blazing mad. She found Blackfire and told her that she no longer considered her a part of her family.

2 Happy Birthday, Koriand'r!

In Teen Titans, Starfire definitely feels like the child of the group. Her innocent demeanor and irrepressible happiness make her seem very youthful. But she is technically 156 years old in Tamaran years. Yeah, 156. She doesn't look that old, does she? She doesn't act that old either. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire are the Titans who act the most childlike in their behavior, but we know that Cyborg and Beast Boy's excuse is that they are actually teens. Now, I don't exactly know how long a Tamaran year is in comparison to an Earth year, but just the fact that her age is in the triple-digits throws me off. I wonder how Robin feels knowing that she is his senior in Tamaran years.

1 The (Physical) Power Of Emotion

Starfire, like all Tamaraneans, draws her power from her emotions. In terms of physiology, she gets her power from ultraviolet radiation. But she focuses her powers using her emotions. When she is angry or confident, she can shoot great blasts from her hands or her eyes.

When she feels supremely joyful, she is able to take flight.

This has some adverse effects because when she is feeling depressed or confused, her powers are affected as well. When she believed that Robin no longer cared for her, she briefly lost the ability to fly. The connection between her emotions and her powers may be inconvenient at times, but I like to think she's kind of like the Hulk. Imagine if she got super duper angry, and her powers got super duper mighty in response.