Admittedly, I’ve never seen reason to subscribe to any sort of streaming service, but the upcoming DC Universe initiative may change that. Boasting animated series such as Young Justice: Outsiders and Harley Quinn, while not ignoring the live action side of things by bringing Titans and Swamp Thing along for the ride, Doom Patrol can now count itself among the latter art form. Needless to say, that’s a whole lot of incentive to sign up.
Funny enough, even though the band of misfits making up the Doom Patrol predate Marvel’s X-Men in the comic book realm, it was those merry mutants who ultimately went on to find more mainstream success. That said, if you dig what’s been going on over at the House of Ideas, this may be something you’ll want to give a try.
What’s also noteworthy is that DC Universe is showing The CW they aren’t the only ones capable of pulling off a shared continuity, with the following synopsis confirming that Doom Patrol will spinoff from the aforementioned Titans series where they’ll first appear:
DOOM PATROL is a re-imagining of one of DC’s most beloved group of outcast Super Heroes: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl and Crazy Jane, led by modern-day mad scientist Dr. Niles Caulder (The Chief). The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find.
Part support group, part Super Hero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of super-powered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them. Picking up after the events of TITANS, DOOM PATROL will find these reluctant heroes in a place they never expected to be, called to action by none other than Cyborg, who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse, but with a warning that is hard to ignore: their lives will never, ever be the same.
Now, what’s especially interesting is that Cyborg will feature heavily on this show. Normally, we associate him with the Teen Titans or Justice League, so perhaps WB wanted a more established hero to help with building bridges to potential viewers. One thing, however, seems to be for certain, and that’s that Ray Fisher is not pulling double duty, as he’ll likely stay on the silver screen.
That being said, here’s what we know so far about this iteration of Victor Stone:
Male, mid-20s, African-American. Charming, sarcastic, a bit brash, Cyborg is half-human, half-machine — the ultimate Super Hero for the digital age. At least, that’s how it appears. Vic Stone lost his mother at a young age, lost his promising future to a horrific accident and was put back together as a man-machine hybrid by a brilliant and aloof father who sees him as little more than a lab rat. While Vic may be connected to every computer on earth, he struggles to maintain the connections that make us human. Desperate to gain acceptance from the outside world and his father, Vic uses his powers to try and harness the curse of his cybernetic body for good.
ASP SERIES REGULAR. May segue into Series regular on TITANS in subsequent seasons.
To continue drawing X-Men parallels, here’s the description for Niles Caulder AKA Chief, whom you could say is the closest thing we’ll have to Charles Xavier:
Male, 40s-50s, Open Ethnicity. Eccentric, brilliant, paternal, and mysterious. The Chief is a noted scientist, wealthy investor and, of course, leader of The Doom Patrol. The Chief rescued each member of his team from horrific accidents, nurtured them to health, resuscitated their self-esteem and sent them into the world to defend a populace that sees them as little more than freaks. His disarming manner does little to conceal a steely determination and unwavering devotion to defending Earth from Evil’s oddest entities.
Be sure to stay tuned for more information on Doom Patrol as it continues to break, and in the meantime, you can bone up on the other DC shows that’ll accompany it by checking out our guide.