World’s premier Tara Markov academic

Hey there, thank you for the ask! 💖

Oh boy, no 🥲

This (Batman and the Outsiders #1, August 1983) is literally the first—and, as far as I can remember, only—time Gregor ever mentions Tara. In a single sentence, he manages to: 1) Call her a freak; 2) Refuse to acknowledge her as his sister. Not exactly "World's Best Brother" material.

My personal theory as to why (besides Tara being the living proof that his father cheated on his mother) is this: Tara used to bury Gregor in the sand at the beach. (...in a landlocked country)

Don't believe me? Here's proof:

Now, we do need to make a distinction here, because DC continuity is held together with duct tape, prayer, and editorial optimism. The Mainstream Universes that we've had are: - Earth-One (Pre-Crisis, 1945–1985) - New Earth (Post-Crisis, 1985–2011) - Prime Earth (Post-Flashpoint, 2011–present) What I'm talking about applies to Earth-One and New Earth, where the Markovs are basically the same (unlike Jason Todd's backstory which is completely different pre and post Crisis).

In Prime Earth, Gregor appears to have been promoted to "collective hallucination". He's never mentioned, never shown, and may or may not exist. This is also more or less what happens in the Teen Titans 2003 cartoon continuity, where Brion technically exists in the tie-in comics, but Gregor? Gregor who?

But that's not all that we have!

There's also Young Justice (Earth-16, if I'm remembering correctly), where Gregor finally appears in mainstream media. In that continuity, Tara is a legitimate Markov rather than the king's illegitimate daughter, and the sibling dynamic is much warmer. We even get a hug between all three siblings and this miracle of modern television:

Yes. Gregor and Tara being nice to each other. I was shocked too, this really is a miracle.

And by the end of season 3, Tara goes through trial and is released into Gregor's custody, while Brion declares himself King of Markovia after killing Baron Bedlam in what's probably the most brutal on-screen death ever shown in a cartoon directed at teenagers.