Diane Guerrero’s beauty is more than enough to make me tune into anything, but the teaser trailer for DC Universe’s Doom Patrol does seem really charming and is a nice change of pace for the DC Universe.
After the messiness that was the Titans marketing, which I still feel was intentional to create drama between critics and audiences, it’s good to see that Doom Patrol will get to be cute and charming rather than have a lot of unnecessary bloodshed followed by “Fuck Beastboy.” For those who have watched Titans, we got an early introduction to the Doom Patrol in episode four, where Beast Boy introduced Raven to the team of misfits who have come together due to their powers making it impossible for them to live in the outside world.
For those who aren’t familiar with this incarnation of the Doom Patrol, here’s the breakdown:
Victor Stone is Cyborg (Joivan Wade). We know him as having been a Teen Titan in the comics, from our childhood, and in recent comics, a member of the Justice League. Stone was an athlete who was given high-tech robotic prosthetics after a serious injury. According to the information we have, he’s the one who calls the Doom Patrol into action and brings them out into the world.
Rita Farr is Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby ), a former actress who developed the power to have her cells shrink and grow. However, her body is unstable because of it, and it causes her to sometimes “melt” and become a mass of flesh. It also requires her to have a seriously high food intake.
Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero) has 64 distinct personalities, each displaying a different superpower, much like Kevin Wendell Crumb/The Horde in that M. Night Shyamalan movie Split. Yeah, I love Diane Guerrero, but this character is going to be messy. Whenever mental illness comes into play like this, it’s a serious problem. We’ll see if there is any chance that it’ll be done tactfully. Guerrero wasn’t in the original episode, so it’ll be fun to see what happens with the character and how they interact with the team.
Larry Trainor is Negative Man (Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk), who crashed into negative energy and is now wrapped in bandages from head to toe because physical touch can generate minor explosions upon contact with positive energy. Like with Robotman, Bomer voices the character and appears in flashbacks, while Zuk physically portrays the character.
Cliff Steele is Robotman (Brendan Fraser and Riley Shanahan), a former car racer who got into an accident. His body was destroyed, but his brain was transplanted into a robotic body. Fraser voices the character and is the character in flashbacks, but Shanahan physically portrays Robotman.
Niles Caulder is The Chief and leader of the Doom Patrol, who helped save each of the members when they were considered in need and beyond help. He’s also kind of shady in a Professor X-kinda way. Originally in Titans, the character was played by Bruno Bichir, but has been recast with Timothy Dalton.
The casting is also really good! Brendan Fraser, one of the most charming leading men in action, Matt Bomer, who would be playing Superman if the world were kind, Joivan Wade, who I enjoyed in Doctor Who, and Timothy Dalton, most recently seen on Penny Dreadful and a pretty damn good James Bond, is a great add-on as well. It’s a really solid team up, and I think having a story around a ragtag group of misfits that aren’t the Titans would allow for a nice contrast, especially if it keeps the familial humor with a touch of darkness that made the backdoor pilot episode work so well.
Doom Patrol premieres February 15, 2019.
(image: Screengrab)
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Published: Dec 22, 2018 02:00 pm