Caution: Spoilers ahead for Titans season 3, episode 3
As opening gambits go, Titans season 3 killing off Alan Ritchson's Hank Hall, otherwise known as Hawk, is both incredibly bold, and incredibly effective. Hank has been a member of the main Titans cast since the show began in 2018, cruising through each season with his trademark blend of toxic masculinity and emotional insecurity. During that time, Hank has wrestled with the physical weariness that accompanies being a professional superhero, and struggled to balance crime-fighting with his romantic attachment to fellow vigilante, Dawn Granger. As compelling as Ritchson's Titans tenure has been, however, season 3 permanently grounds the Hawk.
When Titans season 3 begins, Hawk is working as a bike-riding cop in Washington DC, keeping a close eye on (now ex-girlfriend) Dawn, who also moved to the city after season 2. Dawn still operates as Dove, and is called to Gotham City to help Dick Grayson's Titans investigate the Red Hood, but Hank, once again, decides to follow her, refusing to give up on the Hawk-Dove connection. Red Hood manages to capture Hank and installs an cutting-edge Wayne Tech explosive in his chest as part of a grand plan to destroy the Titans.
All through Titans season 3's "Hank & Dove" episode, viewers are encouraged to believe that Grayson's heroes will pull off a miraculous last-minute save, but Jason Todd remains one step ahead, and Hank explodes in a hail of feathers and regret. Shocking and brutal it might've been, but Hank Hall was exactly the right character to kill, and now was exactly the right time to do it.
Red Hood Targeting Hank Makes Perfect Sense
In both narrative and behind-the-scenes terms, Hank was the logical victim for Red Hood. From an audience perspective, the Hawk/Dove back-and-forth was becoming tiresome after 2 seasons. The characters found themselves trapped in an endless cycle of dysfunction-fight-separation-inevitable reunion, and there's only so many times a TV couple can break up and get back together again until viewers simply don't care either way. Hawk and Dove are so narratively dependent on each other, killing one off was the only way Titans could break their cycle. Arguments could be made for dropping either character, but as the team's pacifist, Dawn being the lone survivor offers more storytelling opportunities (as opposed to Hank, whose reaction to losing Dawn is all too predictable).
Targeting Hank also fits perfectly with Jason Todd's strategic outlook as Red Hood. Before storming out of Titans Tower in season 2, Hank was the figure Jason annoyed most intensely. Every other member of the team shared at least some common ground with the tempestuous Robin, but Hank and Jason were just two hot-headed tough guys constantly butting heads. Red Hood surely takes a personal satisfaction in humiliating and killing the Titan who liked him least.
Jason is also smart enough to realize that the never-ending tension between Hank and Dawn is the Titans' biggest weakness. Possessing the same bullish nature, Red Hood also knows exactly how to push Hawk's buttons, which is precisely why Jason singles him out. Nightwing is too smart, antagonizing a flame-throwing alien or hybrid Kryptonian is obviously a very bad idea, and Gar is just too damn nice, leaving Hank as the ideal bomb-carrier. Had Red Hood simply killed Hank using traditional methods, he would've risked invigorating the Titans rather than destroying them, but by tricking Dawn into pulling the trigger, Jason has turned the group's Dove (who so often acts as their moral compass) into a seething ball of blonde rage. Unable to outsmart Dick Grayson, Red Hood did the next best thing - identifying Hank as the domino that'll make the Titans fall.
Titans Just Made Red Hood The Show's Biggest Villain
Some might argue that Titans season 3 didn't need to kill a main character in its opening 3 episodes at all, but there's no denying how formidable and dangerous Red Hood now feels as a direct consequence of Hank's death. Past Titans villains have desperately lacked weight, never feeling as threatening as they should. Season 1's Trigon could've been a far bigger deal, but has mostly been forgotten in Titans' present day, and despite vastly improving upon what came before, Slade Wilson proved more Hurtstroke than Deathstroke. With Jason Todd completing his long-awaited transition into Red Hood, Titans season 3 needed to make a statement killing, ensuring Gotham's new big bad felt appropriately menacing right from the start.
Hank's explosive demise achieves that, and then some. Comic book fans are conditioned to believe that whenever a bomb's timer starts ticking, the hero will save the day with one second to spare, so it's always shocking when a device like Hank's does actually detonate. Titans traditionally has low stakes too, so putting money on Hank surviving to episode 4 seemed a safe enough bet. A main Titans character departing in such violent fashion gives Red Hood an edge that none of the show's past antagonists have had, and it's something Jason Todd can never come back from. The chunks of Hank currently lodged in Wayne Manor's wood paneling made sure of that. All bets are off, the stakes are high, and the Titans' safety is far from guaranteed.
Hank's Death Redeems Donna's Rubbish Season 2 Exit
Hank isn't the first Titans hero to die, but given how the previous examples were handled, he might as well be. Titans season 2 killed off two characters, but both lacked the impact of season 3's Hank-plosion. Aqualad was shot by Deathstroke, but only in a flashback episode, exiting in the very same week he debuted. Hank, by contrast, has been a Titans mainstay since the very beginning. Season 2's other notable death was Donna, who sacrificed herself to stop a falling electrical pylon in a scene fans widely mocked.
Wonder Girl's death in the Titans season 2 finale was underwhelming for several reasons. Firstly, absolutely zero effort was made to hide the character's return. Donna's body was barely packed onto Themyscira Airways before Dick and Rachel started discussing a potential way to resurrect her, clearly signposting that Wonder Girl's death was temporary. This might've been less problematic had her final scene been better executed, but Donna's last moments did little for her superhero reputation. Not only could Donna probably have saved Dawn without giving up her own life, but there are serious questions over whether Wonder Girl, with her Amazonian powers, would be fatally injured by electricity unless it's coming from the fingertips of Zeus himself.
Everything Donna's death did wrong, Hank's does right. Where Donna was killed abruptly, "Hank & Dove" gives Alan Ritchson's character a fitting farewell, reaffirming his motivation for being a superhero and showing a gradual acceptance of his doom through emotive conversations with each Titan. Even better, Hank's death suits the character. Lightning was always a weird way for Donna Troy to bow out, but the cause of Hank's death is his own long-held habit of charging into situations headfirst, while Dawn's blind love caused her to make a fatal error. Red Hood exploited Hank and Dawn's weaknesses perfectly. Finally, Hank's parting scene leaves absolutely no doubt over his fate. Whereas Titans started teasing Donna's revival much too early, all the divine power in Themyscira couldn't reassemble Hawk.
Titans Sets Up Superboy's Season 3 Arc
Not only does Hank Hall's Titans death make Red Hood look dangerous, send Dove in a fresh direction, and provide an emotional resolution to Hawk's own journey, it also creates a new arc for Superboy in season 3. Conner Kent is little more than window dressing in the opening 2 episodes of Titans' new season, enjoying some fun banter with Beast Boy, but essentially acting as a plot device in a tightly-fitted t-shirt, available whenever Dick Grayson needs something done very, very quickly. Indeed, it's Superboy Dick tasks with creating a device to remove Hank's chest explosive, but when Conner rushes into Hank's room only to meet flying chunks of testosterone-infused flesh, he looks utterly despondent at his failure. This is, of course, completely unfair. Dick and the Titans overly relied on Conner as their only means of saving Hank, and set him up to fail. Now Conner must face the guilt of letting Hank die, reigniting insecurity over how much of his persona is Lex Luthor and how much is Superman. That's an intriguing direction for the Kryptonian clone to take in Titans season 3, and it's only possible because Hank walked headfirst into Red Hood's devilish trap.