Brendan Fraser, best known for his work as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy franchise, will be starring in DC’s new show Doom Patrol. The show, like Titans, will be on DC’s new streaming service.
“A former race car driver, Cliff Steele was in a horrific accident that left his body uninhabitable,” Deadline reported. “Cliff’s brain was saved by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder and he lives on in a powerful robotic body.”
Brendan Fraser will be sharing the role with Riley Shanahan. Fraser, who starred in Dudley Do-Right and George of the Jungle in addition to The Mummy trilogy, will provide the voice of Robotman and play the human Cliff Steele in flashbacks. Shanahan, who was Dex Gamble in the fantasy comedy Second Nature, will perform as Robotman’s body, just as James Earl Jones and David Prowse shared the role of Darth Vader.
The Doom Patrol is one of DC’s oddest teams, a motley crew of misfits. It has changed members so many times in the course of reboots, retcons, and resurrections, that if two Doom Patrol fans get together, the odds are good they may be talking about two completely different groups. They began with Professor Niles Caulder, their mysterious and manipulative Chief, and Cliff Steele, who became Robotman. The other original members were Olympic swimming champion turned actress Rita Farr, codenamed Elasti-Girl, who accidentally gained the power to grow, shrink, and stretch and test pilot Larry Trainor who became the Negative Man.
Over the years, team members have included Celsius, Negative Woman, Tempest, Mento, Lodestone, Karma, Crazy Jane, Danny the Street, Dorothy Spinner, Coagula, Fast Forward, Kid Slick, Fever, Freak, Elongated Man, Metamorpho, Doctor Light, Beast Boy, Nudge, Grunt, and Vortex. For the TV adaptation, the members of the team will be the Chief, Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, and Crazy Jane. Crazy Jane has multiple personalities, each with a different superpower.
The Doom Patrol has an excellent crew. Jeremy Carver will be writing the pilot, as well as being one of the show’s committee of executive producers. Other executive producers include Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, and Sarah Schechter. Berlanti Productions is producing Doom Patrol in association with Warner Bros. Television. Carver is well known to Supernatural and Being Human fans as both a writer and a producer. Berlanti, producer of all the Arrowverse shows, as well as Black Lightning, needs no introduction. Schechter has worked as a producer on the Arrowverse shows and Riverdale.
Other performers in the show include April Bowlby, Diane Guerrero, and Joivan Wade. Bowlby, who was Stacy Barrett on Drop Dead Diva, will play Rita Farr/Elasti-Girl in Doom Patrol and Titans. Guerrero, Sofia in Superior Donuts and Lina in Jane the Virgin, will be Crazy Jane. Wade, Doctor Who‘s Ripsy, will play Victor Stone/Cyborg. Ray Fisher played Cyborg in Justice League.
What will the new Doom Patrol show be like with four members from the original 1963 comic book and one from 1989? Whom will they cast as the Chief and Negative Man? Will any other members of the Doom Patrol join the show? Will you pay for DC’s streaming service to watch it and Titans, or will you wait until it comes out on DVD? What do you think of Doom Patrol, DC’s heroic outcasts, coming to television?
-30-
Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
