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    Doom Patrol

    Team » Doom Patrol appears in 549 issues.

    The World's Strangest Heroes. A team of outcasts, with some of the most bizarre powers, and abilities gathered together by Niles Caulder (The Chief) to battle evil.

    Short summary describing this team.

    Doom Patrol last edited by SlamAdams on 10/24/23 10:05AM View full history

    Current Roster

    • Robotman
    • Elasti-Girl
    • Negative Man
    • Crazy Jane (as The Chief)
    • Beast Girl
    • Degenerate

    Origin

    An incredibly brilliant but unorthodox young scientific researcher, Niles Caulder accepted the aid of a mystery benefactor in financing his biological experiments. His curiosity led him to investigate this unknown philanthropist, only to discover himself to be a pawn of General Immortus, a criminal mastermind striving to recreate an immortality elixir that had kept him alive for centuries. To guarantee Caulder's loyalty, Immortus had a bomb inserted in the scientist's chest which only Immortus could safely remove while Caulder lived. Caulder, however, tricked the General into shooting him, then, having reprogrammed his robot assistant, he had the mechanical surgeon operate to remove the bomb after he was clinically "dead." The operation was only a partial success. Niles Caulder lived, but lost the use of his legs, becoming confined to a wheelchair. Destroying his lab and all his notes to prevent Immortus from discovering the secret he sought, Caulder seemingly vanished, and even the ancient overlord of crime could not find him.

    Only after Niles Caulder's death would Immortus learn that, during his researches, the scientist had served as a Red Cross volunteer in India, where he met and later married a young woman named Arani, who became the first and only beneficiary of the Immortality serum. After going into hiding to escape Immortus, Caulder never returned to his new bride, fearing reprisals from his enemy. He surfaced only twice more before settling permanently in the brownstone combination laboratory/living quarters in Midway City that was to become the headquarters of the Doom Patrol.

    First, he created a special radiation-proof fabric which was used to allow Larry Trainor, Negative Man, to walk the streets after he became permanently radioactive. Then, he became the first surgeon to transplant a human brain into a mechanical body when he saved Cliff Steele's life by transforming him into Robotman. Finally, using the codename "The Chief" to protect his real identity, he brought together Rita Farr, Larry Trainor, and Cliff Steele, and formed the team of adventurers whom the media dubbed "Doom Patrol."

    Creation

    The first appearance of the team was in My Greatest Adventure #80 when the adventure anthology series was being converted to a superhero series. The team was created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani.

    Team Evolution

    No Caption Provided

    The team consisted originally of the team's leader, The Chief, who created the team in attempt to encourage superpowered beings regarded as freaks to do good with their powers. The original team consisted of actress turned height-changer, Elasti-Girl, pilot inhabited by a negative spirit, Negative Man, and race car driver whose body was so destroyed after an accident leaving a robot body his only hope for surviving, Robotman.

    After 5 issues My Greatest Adventure was rebranded as the Doom Patrol. The book went on to add more members such as millionaire turned hero, Mento, who was constantly trying to catch the attention of Elasti-Girl, and the young and green shape changer, Beast Boy, who would later go onto to receive more popularity with the Teen Titans.

    The book could have inspired Stan Lee with the creation of the X-Men who appeared three months later as both books featured outcast superheroes lead by their wheelchair-bound genius leader while the Doom Patrol itself may have drawn inspiration from Marvel's popular superhero team, Fantastic Four.

    After declining sales the team's writer, Arnold Drake, decided to end the team's adventures with the killing of all the original members. The only members to survive were Mento and Beast Boy. Beast Boy went on to be featured the Teen Titans book eventually becoming one of their most popular and mainstay members. Mento went on to be chosen by John Constantine to be one of the many to help fight back a battle happening in hell. The demonic forces left Mento insane and lashing out to his step son, Beast Boy. Mento became a foe of the Titans until Raven cured him of his insanity.

    Since the demise of the original Doom Patrol there have been many revivals the Doom Patrol and eventually all the original members came back from the dead. Robotman is the one constant in every Doom Patrol team.

    Throughout the publication history of the team, they have attempted to maintain the same edginess as the original team. This has meant that the membership of the team often reflects what is considered edgy in contemporary culture.

    Major Story Arcs

    Early Adventures

    Early Roster
    Early Roster

    General Immortus quickly deduced the Chief's true identity and became one of the Doom Patrol's most persistent foes, but the general public remained unaware of the background of the red-bearded genius in the wheelchair until much later in the team's career.

    Although Rita Farr was initially attracted to fellow teammate Negative Man, she eventually lost her heart to a self-aggrandizing billionaire named Steve Dayton who went so far as to adopt the super-hero identity Mento in order to impress her. After their marriage, Rita continued her association with the Doom Patrol despite Dayton's open antagonism towards them. Together, Steve and Rita adopted orphan Garfield Logan, the teen-age hero called Beast Boy (who would eventually become the New Titan known as Changeling).

    After a series of adventures, the four original members were trapped on their island base by Madame Rouge and her ally, Captain Zahl, and given an ultimatum: either they would allow ZahI to blow up the island and destroy them, or he would detonate another bomb which would wipe out a fishing village of fourteen inhabitants. Heroes to the end, the Doom Patrol voted to sacrifice themselves, and Zahl triggered his explosive, seemingly killing the entire quartet.

    Two other regular characters in Doom Patrol, one who became a part-time member of the team and the other a non-member ally, lived on after the destruction of the original group. Beast Boy, later known as the Changeling, became a member of both Titans West and the New Teen Titans. Meanwhile, Steve Dayton continued to perfect his Mento helmet; Dayton vowed vengeance and spent much time and money in search of his wife's killers only to be captured by them. Several months after Dayton's disappearance, Gar Logan, now Changeling, asked Robotman to help him find Mento. The two old friends, plus Gar's new friends, the Teen Titans, rescued Mento from General Zahl and Madame Rouge; both villains died in the ensuing battle.

    Robotman decided to forgo super-heroics and to mourn his friends, but was brought out of retirement by a new Doom Patrol organized by a woman claiming to be Caulder's widow. Steele joined their short-lived team until it disbanded, then went into service a third time when evidence was unearthed that led to the discovery of the still-living Negative Man. Eventually, they found Niles Caulder, who rejoined the team, however, when The Dominators dropped the Gene Bomb, it caused most of the powers of Doom Patrol to become unstable, causing the team to nearly disband.

    Devil Nezha

    After their run in with Zahl but before their official disbandment, Doom Patrol ended up crossing paths with Superman. Superman had been injected with Red Kryptonite fragments by Metallo, he started having violent and painful mutations. Chief sent the Doom Patrol in to help Batman and Robin protect the civilians and get Superman back to his lab so he could cure him. Batman and Chief coached Negative Man in emitting red sun radiation so that Superman’s powers would be sapped and to nullify the radiation of the red kryptonite that had turned toxic in Superman’s bloodstream.

    The Doom Patrol also recognized the symbol on the syringe. It was the symbol of the Devil Nezha, an immortal warrior and demonic magic user from Chinese folklore, who was imprisoned by a team of sorcerers. While the heroes went off to deal with other supervillains in Nezha’s employ, Chief and his Doom Patrol continued researching where Nezha’s resting place may be. It eventually led them to the island that would eventually be known as Lazarus Island. They reported back the location of the tomb, just as Supergirl learned how to imprison Nehza. By combining their powers, The Doom Patrol and World’s Finest were able to lock him up once again.

    Reformation

    The Painting that Ate Paris
    The Painting that Ate Paris

    With many of the team sick or dead after the Gene Bomb, The Chief did his best to keep the team together. The only healthy member of the team, Joshua Clay, retired completely from superheroics, but he agreed to stick around as team physician and be part of the “outer team” with Dorothy Spinner. Meanwhile, Chief was able to convince Robotman and Negative Man (who had transformed into Rebis) to exit their hospitalizations and rejoin the team. Robotman brings with him a new friend from the hospital, Crazy Jane, a patient with dissociative identity disorder, whose 64 personalities each received a different superpower thanks to the Gene Bomb.

    This new version of the Doom Patrol found their first big threat when a man named Mr. Nobody recruited a new Brotherhood of Evil, but considering evil (and good) to be outdated concepts, he renamed them the Brotherhood of Dada. They got the Doom Patrol’s attention after using the mise en abyme Painting that Ate Paris. The team followed them into the painting but lost to the Brotherhood. It wasn’t until the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Extinction, materialized that the Brotherhood let the Doom Patrol go so they could help. With Jane’s help, the dadaists were able to strip the Horseman of its meaning and reduce it to absurdity.

    While the Brotherhood decided to stay behind in the painting, the Doom Patrol opted to escape, however, Jane was hurt. Rebis was able to place Robotman’s psyche into Jane’s where he rode the train in the Underground and was confronted by many of her personalities. When he finally found Jane’s, he helped her deal with the memory of her abusive father so she could return to the primary.

    Pentagon Horror

    The Doom Patrol invade the Pentagon
    The Doom Patrol invade the Pentagon

    The Doom Patrol are called away to a disturbance on Danny the Street, a street that exists on no map. That’s because the street is a genderqueer sentient street that teleports around the world attracting outsiders that need a home. For this, they have become a target for Mr. Jones and his Men from NOWHERE, a clandestine group whose goal it is to live in a quirk-free world. Although Jones was excited at first for the Doom Patrol to show up as they were the next on his list, the team actually made quick work of his men. However, these were not the real Men from NOWHERE according to Danny resident, Flex Mentallo, an amnesiac superhero who just got his memories back.

    Flex told them as much as he could remember: that a journalist came to him for superhero help because he found something at the center of the Pentagon. Flex knew it was the real Men from NOWHERE, but he couldn’t remember the details. He couldn’t even remember how he escaped, just that in his confusion, he found himself on Danny the Street. Mr. Jones was just a rogue agent, but his failure turned the real Men from NOWHERE’s attention to Danny, kidnapping Flex and Dorothy.

    With Danny’s teleportation, the Doom Patrol was able to break into the Pentagon, which was actually a pentagram, created to hold in dead spirits for a being known as the Telephone Avatar to feed on. While the Doom Patrol fought off operatives, Flex Mentallo was able to tap into his powers and briefly reshape the Pentagon as a circle, weakening the Avatar. This allows Dorothy’s worst imaginary friend, The Candlemaker, to take him out.

    The Doom Patrol then moved their operations to Danny the Street.

    Return of the Brotherhood of Dada

    No Caption Provided

    Unbeknownst to the Patrol, a man by the name of Doctor Silence had procured the Painting that Ate Paris and the Brotherhood therein. Nobody had reached out through dreams to bring together a new Brotherhood of Dada to come rescue him. Using Albert Hoffman’s bicycle, they began warping reality in Venice. Josh started tracking dadaist phenomena that pointed to their return, and the Doom Patrol went to investigate. They were no match for the Brotherhood, who escaped on their psychedelic school bus.

    They go around America campaigning “Nobody for President,” sharing their outlandish views but not breaking any specific laws. This complicates both the team’s and the Pentagon’s response. While the Pentagon is confident in activating operative and master of disguise John Dandy, the only members of the Doom Patrol willing to stand against Nobody are Cliff and Josh, with Rebis specifically deciding to leave the team.

    Cliff and Josh attended one of Nobody’s campaign rallies, where he revealed the Painting That Ate Paris and wanted to lead the crowd in reciting the poem that causes the painting to eat you. This was cue for John Dandy to attack and cause chaos so that government stormtroopers could make a move. Most of the Brotherhood were taken out by them except Nobody. He was killed by Dandy, who used one of his masks to make Nobody human long enough to be stabbed. Cliff tried to save Nobody but ultimately failed.

    The Candlemaker

    No Caption Provided

    With both Rebis and Jane departing the team, Cliff allowed himself to get distracted trying to keep the team together and failed to hear out Josh, Dorothy, and Danny when they referenced the threat of Candlemaker. When Cliff finally got his act together, he found Josh dead by Chief’s hands, who no longer needed his wheelchair and hadn’t for some time. Sadly, Cliff couldn’t do anything about it due to a failsafe Chief built into his robot body. With a captive audience, Chief admitted to being the mastermind behind Cliff and his original teammates' accidents. Panicked, Dorothy makes a deal with Candlemaker, who takes over Chief’s nanomachine robot, kills Chief, and pulls Cliff’s brain from his robot body.

    Cliff is saved by Willoughby Kipling, a Knights Templar ally of the team. He showed up because the Templar believed the Candlemaker would cause the apocalypse, and he wanted the Doom Patrol’s help stopping it. Danny drops them off at Manhattan where the Candlemaker was psychically destroying it. Cliff is outmatched so he retreats and asks Danny to bring him to Will Magnus, who he then brings to Chief's lab. Cliff hopes Magnus will be able to take control of Chief’s nanomachines.

    Magnus instead finds out that it is the nanomachines, not Candlemaker, who are trying to destroy the world on Chief’s orders. The combined powers of Rebis and Dorothy are able to wipe out the Candlemaker, but they must still contend with The Chief’s disaster level event. So, Cliff volunteered to be uploaded into the nanomachines to convince it to stop.

    Cliff returns to Danny the Street to a hero’s welcome and witnesses Danny change form into Danny the World, where he and Rebis are invited to stay.

    Rainbow Estates

    No Caption Provided

    After their run-in with The Candlemaker, Cliff, Dorothy, and The Chief (inexplicably surviving as just a head) tried to go their separate ways, but they just couldn’t make it work. Realizing they were better together, they reunited and got themselves a new home, the only house on an abandoned development called Rainbow Estates in Violet Valley. Chief described the house as a tesseract and that they’d be able to teleport from the den. It was also haunted with SRS, the spirits of auto-erotic fatalities, including The Bandage People, who agreed to join the team. They were also eventually joined by a new member, Coagula, a transgender sex worker who developed powers after having sex with Rebis years prior.

    Under their noses, two ancient spirits manipulated the people of Violet Valley into a generation war. Foxfur had assembled his Old Foxes, a group of elderly grumps, to fight back against Crowdark and her Wild Girls, a band of feral children wreaking havoc. Both spirits took an interest in members of the Doom Patrol. Crowdark saw Dorothy as her chosen champion, while Foxfur saw Cliff as his. When Dorothy and Cliff refused to fight each other, Foxfur and Crowdark bury the hatchet and end their war.

    Later, the Pentagon came calling yet again, this time for The Bandage People. They had previously been members of The Builders, spirits who were building a modern Tower of Babel for the Pentagon. They had a rigid expectation for gender and decorum, and as such, the rest of the team failed to meet those expectations and became targets.

    Thayer Jost’s Doom Patrols

    Robotman annoyed by new team
    Robotman annoyed by new team

    The Doom Patrol had long been presumed dead when Robotman caught the eye of wealthy business tycoon, Thayer Jost. Jost wanted Cliff to lead a new superteam he put together:

    • Fever, who could increase the heat of objects
    • Freak, who had prehensile hair
    • Kid Slick, who had a frictionless aura.
    • And Fast Forward, who was prescient up to 60 seconds into the future

    Unfortunately, they were heroes for hire, which came with too much baggage. During a rescue of American embassy staff from a hurricane, the Doom Patrol had to leave behind locals also in need of rescuing. For this, the team quit Jost and went freelance

    Jost wasted no time replacing them on his payroll, especially since he owns the trademark on the team name. He brought together Metamorpho, Elongated Man, Dr. Light, and former Robotman teammate, Beast Boy. They broke the news that Robotman and all but one of the last Doom Patrol roster were dead. Upon hearing that, Robotman disappeared before their eyes.

    The team hired an engineer named Zviad to rebuild the scrapped Robotman body they had. Once he was back, he started remembering what happened. He and Coagula were going to introduce Dorothy to her real mom. Thinking they were ditching her, Dorothy imagined an explosion, killing Coagula, destroying Cliff, and putting herself into a coma. The real Robotman decides to stick with the team, as does Beast Boy from Jost’s other team.

    After the death of their resident engineer, Zviad, Robotman walked away from the team, allowing Jost to force the rest of the team to disband. He would return to Dorothy’s bedside and allow them to take her off life support now that she is brain dead.

    Infinite Crisis and One Year Later

    Doom Patrol meets the Teen Titans, one year after Infinite Crisis
    Doom Patrol meets the Teen Titans, one year after Infinite Crisis

    When Superboy-Prime pounded on the vibrational barrier that once separated the multiverse, reality fractured and splintered. From its wake, a new Doom Patrol emerged in present day, seemingly wiping out the history of the first team. In this new reality, the wheelchair-bound Chief gathered Elasti-Girl, Robotman and Negative Man - who were soon joined by new members Grunt, Nudge and Vortex.

    When the Infinite Crisis struck, the members of the Doom Patrol - as well as Beast Boy - began to remember their original histories. When Beast Boy reunited with his foster mother, Rita Farr, time began to realign itself. The myriad histories of the Doom Patrol began to merge into a whole, combined history. As a result, The Doom Patrol's history was restored.

    Former Titans Bumblebee and Herald joined the newest version of the Doom Patrol during the lost year after Infinite Crisis.

    Steve Dayton is again using the Mento helmet and he is mentally unstable; however, he remembers his time as the Crimelord. The Chief appears to be manipulating the Doom Patrol members once again; he claims to wish to return them to normal, so "maybe one day they won't be freaks anymore." After the Doom Patrol encounters the Titans, the Chief tells them that Kid Devil should be a member of the Doom Patrol instead of the Titans, since his unique appearance and nature will always separate him from others. However, Beast Boy, Elasti-Girl and Mento all stood up to the Chief and forced him to step down as the Doom Patrol's leader.

    Another twist is that while fighting the Titans and the Doom Patrol, the Brain claimed that he had been the Chief's lab assistant, his body destroyed in an explosion Caulder caused and that he was to be Robotman.

    Oolong Island Task Force

    Oolong Task Force
    Oolong Task Force

    Oolong Island was a sovereign island nation in the Yellow Sea and home to The Science Squad. The Chief moved the Doom Patrol to the island to work as a task force from and for the island, making sure no science experiments ran amok. Part of their tenure there involves regular counseling meetings with Rocky Davis, which they all despised.

    The team underwent a few member changes. Vox had left the team before the book started, while Nudge was killed on a mission. A distressed Grunt disappeared with Nudge’s body and hadn’t been seen since. They also got a new pilot named Dusty and eventually reunited with Crazy Jane and Danny the Street (whom is now a Bungalow). Mento also made a home on the island, but he wasn't welcomed back to the team.

    Among the threats they faced were a sentient Black Hole, Thayer Jost’s new attempt at a superhero group, The Front Men, and Mr. Nobody, now calling himself Mr. Somebody. However, their greatest threat would be their ever-selfish mentor, The Chief, who went mad with power after granting himself Kryptonian powers.

    Brick By Brick

    The Doom Patrol fights The Vectra
    The Doom Patrol fights The Vectra

    Danny the Street, now an ambulance, secretly works with Casey Brinke, an EMT and general weirdo. Danny sends Casey on various calls to collect the members of the Doom Patrol. Upon investigating Danny closer, Casey finds herself transported to Dannyland, a theme park in a pocket universe which Danny also is. There, Casey learns that Danny evolved the ability to create residents instead of just attracting those needing a home. She also learns that she was the first one created, and Danny needs her help to bring the Doom Patrol back together to protect them from The Vectra. They were forcing Danny to create people to be turned into hamburger meat for a cosmic fast food chain.

    Once together, the team narrowly escapes a confrontation with the Vectra when Danny transports them to New Mexico where Crazy Jane’s new identity, Dr. Harrison, was running a cult. Luckily, Jane and the other personalities already had a plan to remove Harrison with a fake Gene Bomb. With Harrison gone, the Doom Patrol was reassembled, and the cult members were taken home by Danny. Among those cult members was Valerie Reynolds, wife of Sam Reynolds, Casey’s EMT partner.

    Nada

    The Doom Patrol crash land at Retconn
    The Doom Patrol crash land at Retconn

    The Doom Patrol was safe, but there was still aftermath to their reunion and brief spat with Vectra. Danny was broken, unable to teleport or communicate. Keeg, the Negative Spirit, determined Casey needed to move to Dannyland, which she reluctantly agreed to, in order for Danny to heal. Meanwhile, the Reynolds were still experiencing friction thanks to Val’s time in the Jane cult, which was adversely affecting their son, Lucius. It made him susceptible to manipulation by Mr. Nobody, who recruited him for his new group, The Brotherhood of Nada.

    Mr. Nobody was also working with his daughter, Terry None, who happened to be Casey’s new roommate. She sold a new delicious, healthy food additive called S#!T, that also warps reality. With mass reality bending happening, The Doom Patrol confront Nobody, but their fight with the Brotherhood of Nada eventually turned into a race to the hospital when Terry suddenly became pregnant with Casey’s child. The birth caused everyone to be teleported to Retconn, a reality warping corporation that was tracking the Doom Patrol. They took Casey's child, placing him in a rocket, and sending him into a hyper-reality, a universe they were actively re-designing.

    Retconn reveals some harsh truths to the team. Guided by fan fiction, they had pulled the Doom Patrol from their home reality and mashed them together with other alternate versions of themselves to make the current mix-n-match lost version they are today. The workers of Retconn were getting sick of their current leader, The Disappointment, who is so tired and bored with the current universes that he wants to erase them. The workers wanted to replace him with a more visionary leader, Mr. Nobody.

    The Disappointment also had Rita Farr captive and was forcing her to be his bride. When the Disappointment accidentally killed himself during his own wedding, Retconn workers grabbed Rita Farr and escaped into the same hyper-reality they sent the child, leaving their corporation in the hands of Nobody. The Doom Patrol retreated to Dannyland, where they chased Retconn into their work so they could rescue both Rita and Casey’s child.

    Milk Wars

    The Doom Patrol find themselves in Happy Harbor, where Retconned deposited Rita and the baby. They find a nightmarish sitcom world protected by the Community League of Rhode Island, a warped Justice League. The town was being manipulated by Retconn to turn it into the perfect home for their client, Lord Manga, mostly through their milk deliveries, thanks to Milkman Man, the Retconn branded superhero that Casey’s child grew up to be. They also have manipulative soap operas starring a tortured Rita Farr

    The Doom Patrol, among others, comes to Cave Carson's rescue
    The Doom Patrol, among others, comes to Cave Carson's rescue

    Using her Hangman’s Daughter personality, Jane is able to wake the Justice League from their fictionalized existence. Because Milkman Man knows no other life, he was confused and embarrassed by the Justice League’s revelation and ran away. After comparing notes, the two teams are approached by the cybernetic eye of Cave Carson, who requests the help of superheroes against Retconn.

    Doom Patrol, among other heroes, are teleported to Carson’s location, where he is being tortured at Retconn by Milkman Man. It was a challenge to convince Milkman Man to stand down, having been so indoctrinated by Retconn, but Casey was able to get through to him as his biological parent. As the Doom Patrol and others make their way through Retconn, the people in charge see no other option but to burn it all down.

    Batman was able to direct Flex to use his hidden power, the Inflation Intensity, to save all of their lives and return them to Prime Earth, including Rita Farr. In the aftermath, Milkman Man disappeared from both reality and their collective memories, and Robotman was returned to Earth as a human.

    Weight of the World

    Planet Cliff looms over the team
    Planet Cliff looms over the team

    Crazy Jane had taken over as leader of the Doom Patrol, working out of Dannyland to investigate the weirdest of the weird. Their members continued to evolve like Larry Trainer, who absorbed enough positive energy to become The Positive Man, and Cliff being stuck back in an upgraded robot body after a fatal car accident. They would also be rejoined by an amnesiac Mento, who materialized in Dannyland.

    While continuing their work as the Doom Patrol, Cliff stayed back in Dannyland testing out his new body, created by Keeg. Keeg built the system to magically upgrade as reward for every act of kindness. Cliff would go around Dannyland fixing everything that needed fixing from golf carts to internal organs. Cliff would become obsessed with upgrading until he had upgraded step by step into a planet.

    As Planet Cliff, Cliff started absorbing other planets, requiring the Doom Patrol to step in and defeat him. Mento used his helmet to locate Cliff’s mind at the core of the planet and planned to absorb it. A version of Casey from the future travelling on Jane’s Underground subway warned Jane that this would backfire, creating the film-noir inspired Goliath City inside Mento’s mind, where they will all be trapped.

    Instead, Jane convinces Cliff to give up his attempt to fix internalized pain through upgrades, accepting one final upgrade into a baby robot body in order to have a clean slate. Crisis averted.

    Metahuman Rescue Operation

    Doom Patrol defend Simon Choe
    Doom Patrol defend Simon Choe

    Under leadership of a new Chief, who is a new personality of Crazy Jane, the Doom Patrol rebranded themselves as a metahuman rescue operation. They specialized in getting ahead of military and law enforcement that sought to kill and capture metahumans who were overwhelmed by their new abilities but didn't actually mean any harm. They moved to their new headquarters, The Shelter, an underground bunker in Kansas. The field team consists of Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, and new members, Beast Girl and Degenerate. They also have a support staff including:

    • physical trainer, Flex Mentallo
    • team psychologist, Dr. Syncho
    • resident psychic, Mento
    • the original Chief as a reluctant consultant
    • and a mystic division called The Grave Minders, run by Willoughby Kipling.

    This new operation got exceedingly more complicated after the lazarus rainstorm caused metahuman mutations around the world. During one mission saving a mutated soldier named Simon Choe, they crossed paths with one of Negative Man's old military commanders, General Blanche. Blanche was ultimately disappointed when the Doom Patrol was able to talk Simon through his new abilities and recruited them to their training program. He didn't trust many of the new metahumans and started keeping a very close eye on the Doom Patrol.

    The Return of the Candlemaker

    No Caption Provided

    Eventually, the Doom Patrol had recruited enough new metahumans to create a new team called the Flex Force. To demonstrate their progress, their coach, Flex Mentallo, put together a friendly game of capture the flag. Unfortunately, this game was interrupted by a new Brotherhood of Evil. While the two teams join forces to defeat the Brotherhood, Kipling gives Robotman an important message. The Brotherhood was a distraction so that General Immortus could dig up Dorothy Spinner's grave and use her power to channel The Candlemaker.

    Kipling tried to ward Robotman against Immortus' new magic, but Robotman was in desperate need of backup. Jane was unwilling to leave The Shelter and the untested metahumans vulnerable to the Brotherhood. Jane was forced to pull out two aces in the hole. The team allowed Mento to use his full dangerous potential, and Jane convinced The Quiz, who Immortus had rescued and enslaved from the Painting That Ate Paris, to switch sides. Combining their powers allowed them to defeat this new Candlemaker, who Quiz than threw into The Bleed.

    Alternate Versions

    Tangent Comics

    The Tangent Comics version of the Doom Patrol was a group of time-travelers, who came to the present to prevent the incident that caused their post-apocalyptic future.

    The New 52

    New 52 Team
    New 52 Team

    A short lived incarnation of the Doom Patrol appeared during Forever Evil. Containing characters from Paul Kupperberg's brief run on the series; Karma, Scorch, and Negative Woman are shown and Tempest and Celsius are mentioned as members. Again, similar to the end of Kupperberg's run, these characters are all killed off (this time by Johnny Quick and Atomica of the Crime Syndicate) and, much like the opening of Grant Morrison's subsequent run, the Chief is faced with having to rebuild his team following their deaths. This happens concurrently with the reintroduction of the Metal Men and their creator Will Magnus, who built founding member Robotman's second synthetic body.

    Niles eventually reassembles a new team consisting of Negative Man, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, as well Element Woman (whom the Chief convinced to leave the Justice League and join their team instead). They attempt to go after the new Power Ring, who has taken control of a woman named Jessica Cruz.

    The Gloom Patrol

    The Gloom Patrol is a version of the Doom Patrol from "Earth-Emo," who Back Canary mentions she bumped into during the events of "Dark Nights: Metal." She referred to them as "completely insufferable."

    Other Media

    Teen Titans

    Doom Patrol in Teen Titans
    Doom Patrol in Teen Titans

    The Doom Patrol made an appearance on the Teen Titans animated series' two-part episode "Homecoming".

    The members that appeared were Negative Man, Robotman, Mento, and Elasti-Girl, this Doom Patrol was captured by the Brotherhood of Evil, with only Robotman free to save his comrades. After Robotman successfully sought out former Doom Patroller Beast Boy, he and the Teen Titans teamed up to rescue the Doom Patrol. In flashbacks to Beast Boy's Doom Patrol days, it is clear that Mento and Elasti-Girl play parental roles toward the young masked hero. When Beast Boy has to make the choice to defeat the Brotherhood of Evil or save his friends in both teams, he elects to save his friends, a decision denounced by Mento and lauded by the Titans. Mento acts in the series as the team leader, as their is no Chief on the team.

    Batman: The Brave and the Bold

    No Caption Provided

    The Doom Patrol team up with Batman in the episode "The Last Patrol". In this series, the team is made up of Niles Caulder, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, and Robotman.

    A clip at the beginning of the show explains the history of the group and their popularity with teens. After an incident with Captain Zahl at Paris, they end up breaking up. When the episode begins, the team has broken up and it's members are trying to live normal lives. Through out the episode, Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Animal-Mineral-Vegetable Man, Mutant Master and Arsenal, attack members the Doom Patrol. Niles Caulder was first. Afterward, he and Batman teamed up to reunite the Doom Patrol.

    However, it was all a ploy by Captain Zahl to get the team back together. He forces Niles Caulder to tell the world that he allowed a woman to be shot when he defeated Zahl at Paris. The Doom Patrol was then placed on an island rigged with explosives and given the choice to save their selves or an fourteen innocents on a similar island. They chose to sacrifice themselves. Batman tried to stop Zahl from activating the explosives, but was too late. After the Doom Patrol died the teenagers of the world began proclaiming "We're All the Doom Patrol" signifying that the Doom Patrol will live forever in the hearts of the people they inspired.

    Justice League: The New Frontier

    The Doom Patrol makes a cameo appearance in Justice League: The New Frontier.

    DC Nation Shorts

    No Caption Provided

    Doom Patrol appears in 3 of the DC Nation Shorts that were aired on Saturday mornings on Cartoon Network between other DC Comics series.

    The team consisted of just Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, and The Chief

    Titans

    The Doom Patrol make their first live-action appearance in the DC Universe/HBO Max original series Titans. In it Rachel is invited to live with them but chooses not to after Niles gets injured by her powers.

    Doom Patrol

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    The Doom Patrol got a spinoff from their appearance in the Titans, however, the continuity from Titans appears to be ignored. The first season debuted on the DC Universe streaming service, before transferring to HBO Max, as would most of the other DC Universe original series.

    The core of the team consists of favorite members: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, and Crazy Jane, plus Cyborg, who was not ever a member in the comics. His father, Silas Stone, takes the place of Will Magnus as Chief's go-to robotics consultant.

    In Season 1, Mr. Nobody, a reality warping superhuman, introduces the members of the Doom Patrol, before he kidnaps Niles Caulder. The team begrudgingly go on a big search for Niles, while taking on bizarre villains, meeting new friends, and discovering secrets.

    In Season 2, the team continues to take on strange threats and learn more about their abilities, while also bonding with old friends, family members, and Niles' daughter, Dorothy Spinner, who has the ability to bring imaginary characters to life. However, as Dorothy grows up, one of her imaginary friends, The Candlemaker, begins to evolve, and becomes a new enemy of the Doom Patrol. The story of Season 2 concludes in season 3 premiere thanks to a COVID-19 related work stoppage.

    In Season 3, after the death of Niles Caulder and Dorothy's departure, the group are now as solid as they have ever been as a team but are struggling individually. It is at this time that they are encountered by an amnesiac who later learns that her name is Laura de Mille, who is targeted by the Sisterhood of Dada, former operatives of the Bureau of Normalcy.

    In Season 4, the Doom Patrol have committed to being superheroes, tracking and confronting superhuman threats. However, after a trip to an apocalyptic future overrun with zombie butts, the team returns to the present to stop that future from ever happening.

    In January 2023, during the season 4 midseason hiatus, it was revealed that it would be Doom Patrol's last season.

    Cast:

    • Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steel/Robotman (voice)
    • Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder/Chief
    • Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor/Negative Man (voice)
    • April Bowlby as Rita Farr/Elasti-Girl
    • Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane
    • Jovian Wade as Victor Stone/Cyborg
    • Abi Monterey as Dorothy Spinner
    • Alan Tudyk as Eric Morden/Mr. Nobody
    • Michelle Gomez as Laura De Mille/Madame Rouge
    • Riley Shanahan as The Brain (voice)
    • Jonathan Lipow as Monsieur Mallah (voice)

    Young Justice: Outsiders

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    The Doom Patrol appear in a dream sequence of Beast Boy's in the third season of Young Justice on the DC Universe streaming service. As the voice of Beast Boy on Young Justice was changed to Greg Cipes, who also voiced Beast Boy on Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, the Doom Patrol were animated in a similar style to that show and were voiced by Cipes' Teen Titans castmates.

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