Teen Titans Wiki
Register
Advertisement

"Forces of Nature" is the fourth episode of season one and the overall fourth episode of the Teen Titans series.

Synopsis[]

Two elemental teenagers called Thunder and Lightning wreak havoc among Jump City and Beast Boy questions their wrong behavior.

Plot[]

In the dead of night in Jump City, an intense thunderstorm is erupting and among the clouds are two teenage sorcerers who seem to be stoking the flames of the storm. Meanwhile, at Titans Tower, Beast Boy is rigging the contraption for a prank and explains to Raven that it's payback on Cyborg for another prank he pulled on him a while back where he turned Beast Boy brown for two days by infusing red dye with his shampoo. In this case, it's a booby trap that when Cyborg trips will send a water balloon filled with motor oil flying right at him. When Beast Boy believes he hears Cyborg coming, he grabs Raven and they hide behind the corner of the hallway. Raven tries to warn Beast Boy that it may not be Cyborg, but he just dismisses her by shushing her so she doesn't give him away. However, Cyborg appears behind them following their lead, as if he might have known it the whole time, much to Beast Boy's shock and finally realizes his mistake and when Starfire trips the trap and he is unable to abort the trap in time to prevent her from getting a face full of motor oil. The others rush over to make sure she's okay and she asks if this is retribution for doing something wrong. Raven tells her that Beast Boy is the one to blame here, not her, and Beast Boy is at a total loss of words when he is surrounded by angry glares. When he tries to nervously lighten the mood with a wisecrack, Starfire only gets furious and tells him that there's a name on her planet for those who do such terrible things, christening him as a "Clorbag Varblernelk". Nobody is willing to condone such a stupid stunt and Beast Boy is made public enemy #1 among his friends when a huge lightning strike breaks the tension, as well as Robin reporting trouble.

Raven blames on Beast Boy

Raven tells Starfire that it was actually Beast Boy who did it.

Thunder and Lightning, two teenage brothers capable of magically controlling the elemental forces of a thunderstorm (like what they have raging above the city right now) appear in a literal flash of lightning on the bay bridge, looking for fun. However, their idea of enjoyment recklessly using their powers for vandalism mass destruction, unwittingly endangering everyone and everything around them. The Titans arrive on the scene and Robin demands them to cease their irresponsible behavior at once and an epic brawl ensues. For two irresponsible vandals, Thunder and Lightning prove themselves formidable opponents against the Titans. Beast Boy is overwhelmed by Lightning, but thanks to Thunder's sporting nature to refrain from attacking an unready opponent, he manages to score a brief moment of peace with Thunder to ask him the purpose of all this destruction. Thunder claims that it is their idea of amusement, but his expression shows his uncertainty after Beast Boy tells him that others around him think otherwise, only for him to take a direct flashboom from Lightning. The brothers retreat after they are nearly overwhelmed by the Titans and they set out in search of more "fun". Beast Boy is unscathed but is still royally in the doghouse with Starfire. The Titans regroup and Robin declares that they need to split up to find the two brothers before they do any more damage. Robin assigns Cyborg to search the west side and Raven the East while he searches downtown and pairs up Beast Boy with Starfire to search from the air. Beast Boy inquires why he cannot go with Cyborg instead, to which Robin reminds him of Cyborg's inability to fly, and Beast Boy can do nothing except dread their long mission.

The brothers arrive at the park and Lightning creatively wrecks a modern art piece. However, he notices something troubling his brother and Thunder exchanges Beast Boy's words with him, saying that their fun is wrong. However, Lightning laughs off his concern, failing to see how their amusement is wrong. Starfire and Beast Boy arrive on the scene where they just were and Beast Boy's attempts to make up with Starfire only embarrass himself further. When the brothers intercept them, another intense fight against them ensues. This time when Beast Boy has Thunder at his mercy instead of the other way around like before, he tries to reason with him, claiming that he doesn't want to hurt him any more than Thunder doesn't want to hurt him. Thunder simply tells him that while destruction amuses them, pain does not. That's when Beast Boy is able to warn him that if he and his brother keeps up his mean streak, innocent people will be hurt. Just then, a mysterious one-eyed stranger in a red cloak arrives on the scene in a literal puff of smoke with a small wooden laser cannon disguised as a music box. He uses it to cabob a row of nearby statues with its cataclysmic beam and send rubble raining down on the surrounding area and Beast Boy watches in horror as Starfire is caught in the debris field.

Forces of Nature (159)

Starfire forgives Beast Boy for pranking her.

With the battle over, the brothers are left standing in confusion as to what could've just happened. That's when they hear a voice telling them that they're gifts are their own and nobody should tell them otherwise. On Lightning's command, the voice reveals himself to be the mysterious stranger, who introduces himself as a humble old man with power drawn from nature like the two of them. He invites them to follow him to a place where they can show as much destruction as they wish. When Thunder expresses concern over any civilians being harmed just like Beast Boy warned him about, much to Lightning's irritation, the stranger simply shrugs off his concern, claiming that having such tremendous power makes them better than everybody else and thereby nothing should interfere with their enjoyment. With that, he takes off and allows the brothers to join him.

Beast Boy crawls out of the debris as a spider and desperately tries to dig through it to find Starfire. As he searches, he is finally overcome with the kind of guilt he needed for the heartfelt apology he was missing all along. As he collapses in despair for not just the thought of her hurt, but also allowing her to fall victim to his ridiculous and harmful prank, Starfire walks up from behind, standing before him unharmed and delighting to see him unharmed as well. At that moment, Beast Boy gets down on his knees and begs Starfire for forgiveness, to which she tells him he already has. The two teammates then reconcile and become friends again. With that settled, Starfire then tells him that it's time for the brothers to be made to apologize for their evil antics. However, Beast Boy takes issue with Starfire's use of the word "evil", believing that they are actually just like him.

082

Slade summons up the fire monster.

Meanwhile, on a hilltop overlooking Jump City, the stranger tells Thunder and Lightning to use their powers on a field of kanji markers made of sticks and leaves. Lightning says there is no fun in blasting frail targets, but the stranger tells them to give it a try anyway and they are indeed overjoyed by the dancing lights and wonderous noise brought about by the fires they set the targets to. They use their respective powers to ignite all the targets and ask for more when they run out. The stranger simply tells them that they have already done an excellent job and throws a disk into the sky. The power of the disk awakens and the burning targets have their fires joined together in the form of a beam the creates a connect-the-dots image. From the image created by the magic and the flaming targets, a gigantic living fire monster emerges. When the monster rises, Titans arrive on the scene to intercept it, but are immediately brushed aside by one fire blast. With them out of the way, the monster marches down the mountain and the stranger is pleased to see his master plan coming to fruition, revealing that manipulating the powers of Thunder and Lightning to create this monster was his master plan all along. Thunder and Lightning immediately realize exactly what they've done as the monster makes its way towards the city.

With the mountain forest burning in its wake and spreading by the minute, the Titans have to destroy the fire monster before it reaches the city. They desperately race after it in its wake and Raven starts by using her telekinesis to clear a path for the monster so there'd be nothing left for the fire to spread any further. They attack it with every fire extinguisher method they can think of. However, the situation appears hopeless as the fire just keeps regenerating. Meanwhile, when Robin sees the stranger at the top of the hill, the old one orders Lightning and Thunder to defend the fire monster, claiming it's their creation that nobody has any right to destroy. Lightning is enthusiastic and shrugs off Thunder's immediate concern, ordering Thunder to join him. Meanwhile, Robin has slipped away and reached the top of the hill where the stranger is smiling down at the scene and a duel ensues. While at best, all the Titans' efforts to destroy the fire monster do nothing but slow it down, their efforts are even more hampered by the arrival of Thunder and Lightning. Thunder and Lightning once again engage with the Titans, with Thunder having another confrontation with Beast Boy. Thunder tells Beast Boy to stand aside, but they instead charge at each other. However, instead of fighting, they meet in the middle on what appears to be the astral plain. Thunder tells Beast Boy that he never wanted to hurt him or anybody else and Beast Boy asks what he's fighting for. That's when Thunder explains that the stranger told him and Lightning they're gifts make them better. Beast Boy is then able to reason with him and tells him the stranger was wrong in that having powers made someone special, just different. What makes someone special is what they use their gifts for. This finally makes Thunder see the error of his ways and he intervenes with Lightning when he's about to attack Starfire. Lightning is angered by Thunder's betrayal and the two brothers get into a fight.

Sladeoldman

Slade's mask crumbles, revealing his face.

Robin continues fighting the stranger, but he proves himself a surprisingly formidable opponent. Meanwhile, the monster comes dangerously close to a neighborhood at the bottom of the hill and Cyborg tells everyone that if those houses are set aflame, the whole city could go up in flames and they have one last chance to stop the monster before it's too late. Back up the hill, Lightning then manages to knock Thunder to the ground, and is about to finish him off. However, Thunder asks Lightning whether he is still having fun. Lightning replies that he isn't, and Thunder tells him to observe the Titans who use their gifts to help others. Finally giving in, Lightning agrees that if they are so special, they should act special. But how to do it because they're gifts can only destroy. Thunder agrees, but reminds him that together, they have another gift that should suffice. With the monster just inches away from torching an entire neighborhood, they rocket to the stratosphere and once again use their meteorological sorcery to create a wide-dispersed downpour strong enough to drench the fire monster, extinguishing its flames and finally sending it back from whence it came just in time.

On the mountain, Robin gets pinned against a tree by the stranger and just when it appears as though he is about to strike a kill blow, a lightning strike hits the stranger's staff, shocking him and releasing Robin at the same time. The stranger's "face" also crumbles away and he vanishes in another puff of smoke, leaving the magic medallion at Robin's feet. When he picks it up, he realizes the stranger was Slade in disguise all along.

With the day saved once again, Thunder and Lightning join the Titans at the bottom of the hill, making amends for their havoc and thanking Beast Boy and Starfire for helping them change for the better. After the rain has stopped, a rainbow appears. Overlooking the city from the hill, Cyborg says they now know Slade's ultimate goal is to destroy Jump City. Robin replies that while he doesn't know why, but he's going to find out and won't let him get away with it. Meanwhile Beast Boy asks Starfire if he is forgiven. She says he is now a "milnip wooserlop", to which Beast Boy celebrates, before asking her if that is a good thing. Starfire only laughs as she flies away, leaving Beast Boy confused as he runs after her with the rest of the Titans.

Characters[]

Main characters[]

Supporting characters[]

Villains[]

Credits[]

Trivia[]

  • It is possible that Thunder and Lightning earned their communicators before they made their next appearance in "Calling All Titans!".
  • This is the first time Beast Boy steps outside his usual silly nature and displays true heroism and logic to see the truth about Thunder and Lightning rather than just trying to beat them with raw force as the other Titans do.
  • Throughout the opening scene, Starfire's eyes start to glow.
  • This is the only time that Slade disguises himself. His disguise in this episode bears a strong resemblance to his actual face in the comics.
  • This is the first time Robin fights Slade.

Title[]

  • The title refers to Thunder and Lightning's powers, which are nature bound.

Continuity[]

  • This episode marks the first appearance of Thunder and Lightning.

Cultural references[]

  • When Thunder apparently beats a drum to summon thunder, it is a reference to the Chinese God of Thunder, Lei Gong.
  • The fire monster which Slade summons is reminiscent of the DCAU version of Brimstone.
  • The scene where Beast Boy dodges Lightning's electric bolts in the form of a mouse is possibly a reference to scenes from Pokémon anime with Pikachu doing a similar move.

Goofs[]

  • The image of Beast Boy tinted brown is seen without his protruding tooth.
  • At the end of the episode, when talking to Beast Boy, Starfire is briefly shown to have two mouths.
  • When Beast Boy has Thunder by the shirt, the shirt switches between blue and black between shots.
  • The pupils of Lightning's eyes frequently change color between yellow and black. This can be attributed to his powers at a stretch, but is most likely an error.

Gallery[]

Titans GO
Click here to view the gallery.

Transcript[]

ForReal37
Click here to view the episode transcript.

Advertisement