Creation

The Recombatants first appearance was in DC Comics the Tales of the Teen Titans Vol 1 #48 November, 1984, written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Steve Rude and George Perez. Theyre last appearance was in Tales of the Teen Titans #49. The Recombatants are based on Eclipse Comics' DNAgents. The DNAgents had faced a Titans-expy called Project Youngblood in #14 of their own series. Both teams sacrifice themselves at the end of the story. The team was likely created to cover several the bases of superpowers, one strong invulnerable member, one energy blaster, one illusion controller and one shapechanger.

History: DC Comics

The Recombatants are a team of scientifically created artificial intelligent life in the form of four super-powered humanoids created by Dayton Labs. This group of four genetically engineered artificial teenagers were given the team codename the Recombatants its members being Aurora, who can create realistic illusions; Dreadnaught, who possesses super-strength; Topaz, who controls magnetism; and Pseudos, who is a shape-changer.

Aurora learns using her mental abilities that they are to be destroyed by their creators, since they were considered to be failures, as the scientists had found a way to improve upon their design. However the four young artificial beings escape into the streets of Las Vegas. Not having any prior experience in the "outside world" they quickly end up in danger with a street pimp on the Las Vegas strip.

Soon the Titans are requested to assist in retrieving the experiments, however this leaves the Titans in a moral dilemma. Not seeing the Recombatants as property of Dayton Labs but as living creatures with the right to a life of freedom to battle them. After confronting them an inconclusive skirmish, the two teams agree to return to the Dayton Labs together. Revealing that Aurora accidentally caused two men to suffer fatal heart attacks during the Recombatants' escape, the scientists declare that the four artificial beings must be destroyed, but the Titans defy them.

Once back at Dayton Labs Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, and Jericho round the Recombatants back to the lab, where the scientists who created them explain their intention to destroy these "prototypes", with the excuse being that they were 'murderous experiments gone wrong', but the Titans find out the truth and befriend the Recombatants and try to defend them.

After finding out more of them were going to be made, they decided to destroy the lab and the research, taking themselves out in the process to ensure that no more like them would be made by such evil people. but the teenagers choose to take their own lives, destroying the power core that would have allowed the Dayton scientists to create more Recombatants, in the process.

Unofficial Crossover

The Recombatants story was done as an "unofficial crossover" with Eclipse's DNAgents, in a similar manner to the Invaders / Freedom Fighters crossover of the 1970s, where both wartime teams had in the same month in their respective comics encountered a group called the Crusaders (Marvel's / DC's) whose members were thinly veiled analogues of the other company's team.

In this instance, the Recombatants matched to the DNAgents, both in name and appearance: Dreadnaught was Tank, Pseudos was Sham, Topaz was Amber and Aurora was Rainbow. Meanwhile, the same month, the DNAgents encountered Project: Youngblood, whose members were Roboto (Cyborg), Black Owl (Nightwing), Celestia (Starfire), Amazing Girl (Wonder Girl) and Heartstring (Jericho).

In both comics the plots mirrored one another: the Teen Titans / Project Youngblood were asked by Dayton Labs / Matrix Incorporated to recapture the Recombatants / DNAgents, the teams fought but then the Titans / Youngblood realized they'd been duped and their targets were not the villains they'd been painted as, and the teams combined forces to stop a nuclear meltdown, with one team (Youngblood in DNAgents / Recombatants in Teen Titans) sacrificing their life to prevent disaster.