Wonders vs Supes
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Season 1
- Dick angrily throws the R emblem from his suit into a wall, mirroring a Batarang shot in Batman Begins. (He also uses R-shaped shuriken identical to that emblem instead of Batarangs.)
- The religious institution where Raven is staying in her character teaser is a nod to her comic incarnation's religious roots in Azarath, except it's not as benevolent here.
- Starfire being experimented on by a group of scientists references her backstory in the comics, where she got her powers from aliens using her as their test subject.
- In a flashback, Dick has a Batman Begins-esque "I won't kill you but I don't have to save you" moment with his parents' killer. However, unlike the film, he later plainly admits that he killed him.
- Dawn is seen wearing a Superman shirt.
- Hank and Don Hall attended Kesel College. Karl and Barbara Kesel were the authors of the Hawk and Dove book that introduced Dawn Granger following Don's death in the comics.
- The Batmobile shown in Dick's flashbacks closely resembles the one from Batman (1989).
- In the episode 6, Season 1, Jason reveals that he met Batman when trying to boost the Batmobile's hubcaps, which is how they met in the comics.
- Jason mentions that the Maroni family are fond of using hydrofluoric acid, noting it was used in an attack on Harvey Dent and to burn the trapeze ropes that got Dick's parents killed. Both of these are in line with the comics.
- When Dick speaks of Machiavelli, Jason laughs and calls him 'A real savage'. In various DC sources, Immortal Vandal Savage has laid claim to having been Machiavelli.
- Jason mentions that the Maroni family are fond of using hydrofluoric acid, noting it was used in an attack on Harvey Dent and to burn the trapeze ropes that got Dick's parents killed. Both of these are in line with the comics.
- In "Hawk and Dove", the gunrunners are using Ditko Movers as a cover. Steve Ditko is the creator of Hawk and Dove, and the Ted Kord Blue Beetle.
- The episode 01x11, presents a reversal of both The Killing Joke and A Death in the Family as Jason is wheelchair-bound and James Gordon's dead. It also references James Gordon, Barbara Gordon, and Superman, and has a shot of the Batsignal.
- Dick Grayson being a detective. His comic version joined the Bludhaven Police Academy in 1999's Nightwing volume 2 #31. By issue #48, he became a full-time cop, until he was forced to resign in issue #83 by Amy Rohrbach.
- Episode 1x01 features an officer named Jessica Perez. She’s named after George Pérez, longtime Titans artist and the co-creator of Starfire and Raven.
- Calling criminals "scumbags" is Jason's thing in any incarnation he has: animated movie,video games or comics
◊. - Dick is keeping the phone numbers of some of his love interests from comic books: Lori Elton, Bridget Clancy◊, Bonnie Linseed◊.
- Robotman calling Beast boy a 'brat' is actually a nod to his pet name for Beast Boy in the comics, where he'd call the boy 'Beast Brat' from time to time.
- During the elevator scene, Dick suggests to Jason other codenames, one of them being Bluejay. Jason rejects the name just like he does in Batman #368, where the new Robin and Bruce were brainstorming about codenames.
- Bruce's Batsuit in Dick's hallucinations looks like the one from Batman: Arkham Knight.
- Also during Dick's hallucinations, he accesses the Bat Cave from a room in Wayne Manor by playing a sequence on the piano; this is also shown in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises
Season 2
- Donna versus Superboy is very reminiscent of Wonder Woman vs Superman from Justice League.
- Dick fights Deathstroke using electro-shock sticks; in Batman: Arkham City game, Nightwing has a special movie including ESCRIMA to fight off his opponents using two equal length electric sticks.
- The infamous gun used to murder Bruce Wayne's parents makes an appearance in the Titans season 2 premiere. After Jason fought Dick in a hallucination induced by Trigon, Joe Chill's pistol inexplicably shows up on the floor near Jason.
- And speaking of this gun, Jason uses it in order to shoot a hallucination of Dick Grayson in the head; Dick gets shot in the head in his own Rebirth run. He survives, but has amnesia.
- The shot of the possessed Titans, with the dark splotching around their eyes◊ signaling their new loyalties mirrors the cover of a comic◊ that marked one of the most memorable battles between the Titans and Trigon.
- A few from Batman (1966):
- Bruce being blond, as the late Adam West also was one. Word of God is that part of their reason for casting Iain Glen is both he and Brenton Thwaites have passing resemblance to West and Burt Ward, and that they want to invoke the image of the classic dynamic duo but with "grit".
- In Season 2's seventh episode, "Bruce Wayne," Iain Glen's dance — including the memorable visual of running his fingers over and under his eyes◊ — is a call back to Adam West's campy portrayal .
- Jericho has a vision of three men in pig masks in the eighth episode, who are very reminiscent of Professor Pyg.
- Slade's costume bears a lot of resemblance to the one from the Deathstroke Vol. 2 run.
- In the episode 2x02, while they were waiting for Shimmer, Kory tells Donna she was considering to move in Florida, which is a reference to Starfire, her New 52 solo run, where all the action happens, well, in Florida.
- The screen version of Jericho showing off his powers by making a member of the Titans dance against their will was already done in the comics, where the victim was Dick Grayson◊.
- During their search for Dick, Kory and Rachel have a short-lived fight in which Rachel nicknames Kory as "Princess Alien Pink Hair of Planet Tam-O-Whatever". Kory's iteration from Teen Titans Go! has hot pink hair instead of her usually red hair.
- There are some similarities between Season 2 storyline and the The Judas Contract from the comics and the animated series:
- Just like in the comics, is Adeline who tells Dick they have a traitor in the team; he is shocked in both versions.
- Rose’s romance with Jason is a parallel to Terra and Beast Boy romance from the cartoon; Rose is also promised by Slade to learn how to use her powers, is manipulated to spy the Titans for him, then elopes with Jason and develops genuine feelings for him leading to her redemption. And just like Terra, she is the one who puts an end to Deathstroke.
- Dick’s journey to becoming Nightwing happened during The Judas Contract much like it has been in Season 2.
- Not the first time an Atlantean and Amazonian relationship ended badly.
- As in the second issue of the graphic novel Teen Titans: Earth One, set in an Alternate Universe, Slade accidentally hurts Jericho and allows his son to possess his body in order to survive, but their coexistence isn't peaceful as they have different moralities. The difference is that, in the graphic novel, the moralites are reversed, as its versions of Slade and Jericho underwent an Adaptational Heroism and an Adaptational Villainy, respectively.
Season 3
- In the season premier, when Dick sees Bruce's database of potential Robin replacements, Carrie Kelley, Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas and Daxton Chill are all listed.
- The scene in "Red Hood" where the titular villain intimidates an assemblage of Gotham crime bosses by showing them a duffle bag filled with the severed heads of their lieutenants is taken directly from Under the Hood by Judd Winick.
- In the same episode, Starfire refers to Jason's murder as "A Death in the Family."
- Scarecrow refers to Dick as the prodigal son. Given the context of Bruce telling Dick to be a better Batman than he was, this which could be in reference to the Prodigal arc, the first time Dick took over as Batman for an extended period of time.
- During their fight, Jason taunts Dick by saying the city is his now. The conflict between them over Gotham is a callback to Battle For The Cowl.
- In "Lazarus," the items shown in Batman's trophy vault include Two-Face's coin, Catwoman's goggles and whip, Ra's al Ghul's sword and Scarface, the Ventriloquist's dummy.
- In "Home", Tim reveals he was present at Haly's Circus when Dick's parents died and discovered Dick's identity when Robin, then Nightwing, executed a one-handed meathook, a trapeze move that only Dick and his father were known to be able to do. This is taken from "A Lonely Place of Dying" with only minor modifications.
- "Troubled Water" has the Army National Guard called in to close off Gotham City due to an outbreak of contaminated water by the Scarecrow is based on "Batman: No Man's Land" and "Batman: The Cult".
- In "The Call Is Coming from Inside the House" Dick sneaks into Wayne Enterprises and takes Kryptonite from a vault, likely alluding to the "Tower of Babel" storyline.
Meta
- The shows' "Titans" logo is taken from "The New Teen Titans" comic books that originated with Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's comics.
- While the Titans tower is shaped like a normal skyscraper, it has metal accents around it that shapes the letter T to invoke the image from the comics.
