Más y Menos
Encyclopedia
Más y Menos are fictional superhero
characters, around the age of 12, from the Teen Titans
animated television series, affiliated with the Titans East
team. They are among the few heroes on the series not to have originated in the comic book
. Taken out of context, their names translate to "More" and "Less," but in their particular context (i.e. the symbols on their chests and their rallying cry), their names mean "Plus and Minus," as both "más" and "menos" can be used as mathematics terms. Más y Menos are both voiced by Freddy Rodriguez
.
-speaking twins from Guatemala
who can move at super speed, but only when they are in contact with each other. In Titans East Part 1, Aqualad states that their other power is to talk only in Spainish. Their battle cry is "¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!" which means, "Plus and Minus, yes we can!" in English. It seems that they are partially based on the Maya Hero Twins
Hunahpu and Xbalanque depicted in the Popol Vuh
chronicles; however since their incorporation into the mainstream DC Universe has not dealt with their origins or history.
The speedy kids make their first appearance in "Titans East Part 1" as Titans East members, a Teen Titans team set up in Steel City for the purpose of hunting down Brother Blood
. Cyborg
arrives to help the team build their tower, but Brother Blood attacks with his Cyborg-drones and defeats the Titans. Unknowingly to Cyborg, Blood places all the members of the Titans East team under mind control
and later forces them to attack Cyborg. The original Titans arrive following Cyborg's S.O.S.
, and Cyborg battles Blood while Titans West battles Titans East. With Brother Blood's defeat, Titans East is freed. Más y Menos also develop a crush on Starfire
when they meet her, and both twins fight for her affection (the only time where they do not cooperate).
In the episode "For Real", Control Freak uses the "Spanish to English" option on his remote control (he does not speak or understand Spanish) to make Más and Menos "talk in English" (for the very first time), which they do throughout the episode. In the Chinese version, however, since they only speak Mandarin, Control Freak stated that they scared themselves during the translation scene. This effect is not permanent, as they speak Spanish when they reappear in "Calling All Titans" in which they battle Johnny Rancid and Cinderblock and are separated when Menos is captured but Más escapes. He seeks Beast Boy
for help and demonstrates he can sense where Menos is located and can realize Menos is in pain. However, when Menos is frozen, Más can no longer sense his brother. In the fight in the Brotherhood of Evil
's lair during the episode "Titans Together", Más unfreezes Menos and they thaw the remaining captured Titans and freeze the villains.
In Teen Titans Go! - a comic book based on the animated series - the twins raced Kid Flash
, a young superhero also gifted with super speed. The race became a re-enactment of the fable of The Tortoise and the Hare
. Kid Flash was probably faster, but he wasted time out of over-confidence.
announced that Más y Menos are to appear in the mainstream DC Comics. This is the first time a character from the Teen Titans show will make the transfer to comics.
In Teen Titans #38, Más y Menos joined - and left - the Teen Titans during the missing year
after the Infinite Crisis
. They are also portrayed as being older than their animated counterparts.
In Final Crisis
#1, they team up with Sparx
and Empress
to battle the Mirror Master
and Doctor Light
. After a short battle in which the villains win, the two are laid out, impaled with shards of glass. The Director's Cut states that they survived, albeit in bad condition; they can be seen limping in the foreground to the Hall of Justice
in a later panel.
The pair also appears in issue #16 of the Tiny Titans
comic book during a race around the world by the main cast.
Más y Menos appear in a pin-up drawn by Brett Booth
in Teen Titans #100, the final issue of the series. They are shown in a high speed water balloon fight with Kid Flash
.
powers that allow them to move at superspeed whenever they are touching each other. A comment by Kid Flash
in Teen Titans Go! #34, however, indicates that their powers are based in the Speed Force
in this continuity. They can also "cheat" the requirement that they must be touching if they both hold a good conductor (such as holding a row of clothespins). In "Titans East: Part 1," some of their powers are described. Their maximum velocity is stated to be seven times the speed of sound.
Más has shown the ability to sense where his brother is when he is conscious (stated by Más to be a "magnetic connection"). He is also able to vibrate Menos at an extreme rate to cause heat. It is assumed that they both share these powers.
The twins also seem to understand English, even though they do not speak it. This is shown when in the TV series Control Freak asks them how they can travel so fast, and they answer the question in Spanish.
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
characters, around the age of 12, from the Teen Titans
Teen Titans (TV series)
Teen Titans is an American animated television series based on the DC Comics characters of the same name. The show was created by Glen Murakami, developed by David Slack, and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003, and the final episode "Things Change"...
animated television series, affiliated with the Titans East
Teen Titans (TV series)
Teen Titans is an American animated television series based on the DC Comics characters of the same name. The show was created by Glen Murakami, developed by David Slack, and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003, and the final episode "Things Change"...
team. They are among the few heroes on the series not to have originated in the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
. Taken out of context, their names translate to "More" and "Less," but in their particular context (i.e. the symbols on their chests and their rallying cry), their names mean "Plus and Minus," as both "más" and "menos" can be used as mathematics terms. Más y Menos are both voiced by Freddy Rodriguez
Freddy Rodriguez
Freddy Rodriguez is an American actor known for playing the characters Hector Federico "Rico" Diaz on HBO's Six Feet Under and El Wray in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror...
.
Fictional character biography
They are a pair of SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-speaking twins from Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
who can move at super speed, but only when they are in contact with each other. In Titans East Part 1, Aqualad states that their other power is to talk only in Spainish. Their battle cry is "¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!" which means, "Plus and Minus, yes we can!" in English. It seems that they are partially based on the Maya Hero Twins
Maya Hero Twins
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Quiché document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in Quiché, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the...
Hunahpu and Xbalanque depicted in the Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."...
chronicles; however since their incorporation into the mainstream DC Universe has not dealt with their origins or history.
The speedy kids make their first appearance in "Titans East Part 1" as Titans East members, a Teen Titans team set up in Steel City for the purpose of hunting down Brother Blood
Brother Blood
Brother Blood is the name of two fictional comic book characters in the DC Universe. The first Brother Blood debuted in New Teen Titans vol. 1 #21 , and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.-First Blood:...
. Cyborg
Cyborg (comics)
Cyborg is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, and first appears in a special insert in DC Comics Presents #26...
arrives to help the team build their tower, but Brother Blood attacks with his Cyborg-drones and defeats the Titans. Unknowingly to Cyborg, Blood places all the members of the Titans East team under mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
and later forces them to attack Cyborg. The original Titans arrive following Cyborg's S.O.S.
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...
, and Cyborg battles Blood while Titans West battles Titans East. With Brother Blood's defeat, Titans East is freed. Más y Menos also develop a crush on Starfire
Starfire (comics)
Starfire is the name of several fictional comic book characters published by DC Comics. The most prominent Starfire is Koriand'r, the fourth character to use that name...
when they meet her, and both twins fight for her affection (the only time where they do not cooperate).
In the episode "For Real", Control Freak uses the "Spanish to English" option on his remote control (he does not speak or understand Spanish) to make Más and Menos "talk in English" (for the very first time), which they do throughout the episode. In the Chinese version, however, since they only speak Mandarin, Control Freak stated that they scared themselves during the translation scene. This effect is not permanent, as they speak Spanish when they reappear in "Calling All Titans" in which they battle Johnny Rancid and Cinderblock and are separated when Menos is captured but Más escapes. He seeks Beast Boy
Beast Boy
Garfield Mark "Gar" Logan, known as Beast Boy or Changeling, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics...
for help and demonstrates he can sense where Menos is located and can realize Menos is in pain. However, when Menos is frozen, Más can no longer sense his brother. In the fight in the Brotherhood of Evil
Brotherhood of Evil
The Brotherhood of Evil is a group of DC Comics supervillains, archenemies of the original Doom Patrol and the Teen Titans.-Origins:The Brotherhood of Evil was founded by the engimatic villain the Brain. In the beginning, the group's motivation was world domination...
's lair during the episode "Titans Together", Más unfreezes Menos and they thaw the remaining captured Titans and freeze the villains.
In Teen Titans Go! - a comic book based on the animated series - the twins raced Kid Flash
Wally West
The Flash is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash....
, a young superhero also gifted with super speed. The race became a re-enactment of the fable of The Tortoise and the Hare
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop and is number 226 in the Perry Index. The story concerns a hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise and is challenged by him to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, decides to take a nap midway through...
. Kid Flash was probably faster, but he wasted time out of over-confidence.
Mainstream DC comics
At the DC Nation panel, current Teen Titans writer Geoff JohnsGeoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...
announced that Más y Menos are to appear in the mainstream DC Comics. This is the first time a character from the Teen Titans show will make the transfer to comics.
In Teen Titans #38, Más y Menos joined - and left - the Teen Titans during the missing year
One Year Later
"One Year Later" was a 2006 storyline event running through the DC Universe. As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Comics Universe following the events of the Infinite Crisis event, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many...
after the Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
. They are also portrayed as being older than their animated counterparts.
In Final Crisis
Final Crisis
Final Crisis is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely by J. G. Jones; artists Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy and...
#1, they team up with Sparx
Sparx (comics)
Sparx, is a fictional superheroine published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Adventures of Superman Annual #5, , and was created by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Ed Hannigan.-Fictional character biography:...
and Empress
Empress (comics)
Empress is a fictional character, a superheroine in the DC Comics universe. She first appeared in Young Justice #16 .-Fictional character biography:...
to battle the Mirror Master
Mirror Master
Mirror Master is a fictional character and a supervillain in the DC Universe. He is a recurring foe of the Flash with considerable technical expertise and skills involving the use of mirrors. Four individuals have donned the guise of Mirror Master...
and Doctor Light
Doctor Light (Arthur Light)
Doctor Arthur Light is a fictional supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the third individual to have adopted the persona of Doctor Light, after a Golden Age foe of Doctor Mid-Nite and Arthur's associate Jacob Finlay...
. After a short battle in which the villains win, the two are laid out, impaled with shards of glass. The Director's Cut states that they survived, albeit in bad condition; they can be seen limping in the foreground to the Hall of Justice
Hall of Justice (comics)
The Hall of Justice is the fictional headquarters of the Super Friends, in the eponymous animated series. It has subsequently been incorporated into the DC Comics main shared universe, the DC Universe as the new headquarters of the Justice League....
in a later panel.
The pair also appears in issue #16 of the Tiny Titans
Tiny Titans
Tiny Titans is an Eisner Award-winning comic book series by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani. It is published by DC Comics, beginning publication in February 2008. The first issue was also released as part of the annual Free Comic Book Day promotion in May 2008.Tiny Titans stars alternate versions...
comic book during a race around the world by the main cast.
Más y Menos appear in a pin-up drawn by Brett Booth
Brett Booth
Brett Booth is an American comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Backlash, a character he co-created with Jim Lee at the Wildstorm Studios.-Biography:...
in Teen Titans #100, the final issue of the series. They are shown in a high speed water balloon fight with Kid Flash
Bart Allen
Bartholomew "Bart" Allen is a superhero in the . Allen first appeared as the superhero Impulse. He would later go on to become the second Kid Flash and the fourth Flash. Allen's first cameo appearance was in The Flash #91, while his first full appearance was in issue #92...
.
Powers and abilities
Más y Menos appear to have metahumanMetahuman
Metahuman is a term to describe superhumans in DC Comics' shared universe, the DC Universe. It is roughly synonymous with both mutant and mutate and posthuman in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. Use of the term in reference to superheroes was coined in 1986 by author George R. R...
powers that allow them to move at superspeed whenever they are touching each other. A comment by Kid Flash
Kid Flash
Kid Flash is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero The Flash. The first incarnation of the character, Wally West, debuted in The Flash #110...
in Teen Titans Go! #34, however, indicates that their powers are based in the Speed Force
Speed Force
The Speed Force is a concept presented in various comic books published by DC Comics, primarily in relation to the various speedsters in the DC Universe.-Empowered:...
in this continuity. They can also "cheat" the requirement that they must be touching if they both hold a good conductor (such as holding a row of clothespins). In "Titans East: Part 1," some of their powers are described. Their maximum velocity is stated to be seven times the speed of sound.
Más has shown the ability to sense where his brother is when he is conscious (stated by Más to be a "magnetic connection"). He is also able to vibrate Menos at an extreme rate to cause heat. It is assumed that they both share these powers.
The twins also seem to understand English, even though they do not speak it. This is shown when in the TV series Control Freak asks them how they can travel so fast, and they answer the question in Spanish.
External links
- Official website of Teen Titans animated series at Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
- Profile at TitansTower.com
- Profile at ToonZone.net