A superhero team published by
DC Comics. The
Doom Patrol first
appeared in
My Greatest Adventures #80.
The Doom Patrol was a group of misfit heroes who have had their powers
thrust upon them by strange circumstances. The members are somewhat
outcasts because of their abilities and have banded together to do
some good with their powers. The team has gone through a number of
incarnations over the years.
The original Doom Patrol was made up of four individuals. The leader
of the group was known as the Chief. The Chief was a wheelchair
bound scientist named Niles Caulder. Caulder had been a brilliant
young scientist who was working on a formula to impart immortality. He
was employed by secret benefactor, whose only requirement was that
the resulting formula be given to him first.
Caulder was making great
progress in his work when he discovered that his employer was
General Immortus, a criminal. Immortus had been alive for nearly 700 years through
the use of a formula that extended his days, but which was nearly gone.
Immortus employed Caulder in hopes of duplicating the formula. When
Caulder refused to continue his work, Immortus had Caulder knocked out
and a bomb attached to his chest. Believing that all men valued
life as much as he, Immortus had the bomb created so that it could not
be removed while Caulder lived, thinking that Caulder would then be
forced to do his will or die.
Caulder was more clever than Immortus believed and set into motion a
plan that would remove him from Immortus's power. Caulder created a
robot with the ability to do complex surgery and then provoked Immortus
into shooting him. Caulder was killed, but his robot took his body and
removed both the bullets and the bomb. The robot then revived Caulder,
but the surgery took longer than Caulder had anticipated. The lack of oxygen
caused nerve damage and Caulder lost the use of his legs. Caulder
used decided to help those whose lives had been touched by tragedy.
Caulder's first subject was Cliff Steele, a former racecar driver whose
body was destroyed during a fiery crash. Caulder intervened and saved
Steele's brain and transplanted into a robot body made of ceramic
metal, a material of his own design. Steele awoke to find himself a
freak and began to rampage, seeking to destroy Caulder, the man he held
responsible. Caulder reasoned with Steele and the two became friends.Steele
adopted the name Robotman as a codename.
Next, Caulder assisted a test pilot named Larry Trainor. While flying
an experimental plane, Trainor came into contact with the Van Allen
Belt, the electomagnetic field that surrounds the Earth and produces
the Northern Lights. Trainor blacked out after being exposed to the
radiation of the Belt and his plane nearly crashed, but Trainor was
able to save the craft. When a rescue plane nearly crashed near him,
Trainor inexplicably released an black energy being who was able to
save the craft. While the energy being was away from Trainor, he fell
unconsious, but it was under his control. The exposure to the Van Allen
Belt also caused Trainor's skin and muscles to become transparent giving
him a skeletal appearance. With the help of Caulder, Trainor was able
to go about in public clothed in special bandages. Calling himself
Negative Man, Trainor became the next member of Caulder's Doom Patrol.
The final member of the original group was an actress named Rita Farr.
While filming on location near some volcanoes, Farr was exposed to and was
overcome by a mysterious gas that erupted out of the ground. When Farr
recovered, she found that she had the ability to control her size,
growing to become a huge giantess or shrinking to become tiny. Her ability
ended her acting career, but she joined Caulder and the others as a member
of the Doom Patrol. Farr adopted the name Elasti-girl.
The original group fought against many menaces that threatened humanity.
They fought against Monsieur Mallah and the Brain and their Brotherhood
of Evil, as well as General Immortus and other threats. The group was
joined for a time by Steve Dayton, a millionaire inventor, who was
wooing Elasti-girl. Dayton invented a helmet which allowed the
wearer to be able to use his mind to read minds or move objects.
Dayton adopted the name Mento and joined in a number of the Doom Patrol's
adventures but was never considered a full member.
Farr and Dayton eventtually married and the two adopted a young orphan
named Garfield Logan. Logan had been exposed to an experimental ray
by his father, to help save him from the bite of a poisonous snake. The
ray had caused Logan's skin to turn green and given him the ability to
turn into any animal. Calling himself Beast Boy, Logan had done some
adventuring and joined in a few of the Doom Patrol's adventures.
The original group finally met their end when two villians, General
Immortus and Madame Rogue, forced the group to choose between themselves
and a small English fishing village. Immortus gave them the choice of
being blown up or allowing the village to be. The four heroes sacrificed
themselves rather than let innocents be hurt and seemingly perished in
the explosion.
Robotman however survived and was found by Dr. Will Magnus, creator
of the Metal Men. Magnus created a new body to house Steele's brain.
Steele then made his way back to Caulder's mansion, which had been the
headquarters of the Doom Patrol. When he arrived, he discovered that
a group of strangers were in the house. The leader of this new group
was an Indian woman who called herself Arani Caulder. She claimed
to be the wife of Niles Caulder, the original leader of the group,
though Caulder had never mentioned having a wife. Arani possessed
the ability to project both intense heat and intense cold from her hands
and used the codename Celsius. She claimed that her powers came
from an experimental version of Caulder's immortality formula.
One of the other strangers Josh Clay, an ex-Army medic, now deserter,
who possessed the ability to project beams of concussive force from his
hands and who went by the name Tempest. Clay was hiding from the law
and had been given safe haven by Arani.
The final stranger was Valentina Vostok, a Russian test pilot, who
was saved from a plane crash by the same energy being that had possessed
Larry Trainor, an original member of the team. Vostok found herself
in the same predicament that Trainor had, so she took help from
Arani and became part of her group. She took the name Negative Woman.
The group was called together to protect Arani from Caulder's former
employer General Immortus, who Arani said was hunting her for the
formula that was in her veins. The group continued to work together,
eventually following Arani as she sought Caulder, who was rumored to
have survived the explosion that was believed to have killed the other
members of the Doom Patrol. This belief was further compounded when
Larry Trainor was found alive, though comatose.
The group expanded when three new members joined this second incarnation
of the Doom Patrol. Rhea Jones, a young woman with powers over
gravity and magnetic forces, joined the group under the codename
Lodestone. A young man named Scott Fisher joined the group as well.
Scott had been exposed to toxic waste and gained the ability to melt
through nearly any substance with his hands, requiring him to wear special
gloves to contain his powers. Finally, a street punk named Wayne,who went
by the codename Karma also joined. Karma possessed the ability to
influence those who would attack him, causing them to miss or have bad luck.
The group again fought many menaces, while searching for the Chief. During
this time, Trainor attempted to steal back the negative being from
Vostok with the help of the villain Reactron. Reactron successfully
captured the negative being and transferred it to Trainor. Realizing
that the negative being would not stay bonded with him, Trainor attempted
suicide by flying a plane into the upper atmosphere and then releasing
the energy being. The being saved Trainor and then returned and rebonded
with Vostok.
Soon afterward, the group discovered that the Chief had survived the explosion that
they believed had killed him. He exchanged himself for the Doom Patrol
when they were captured by his former employer General Immortus. Caulder
denied even knowing Arani. Caulder was eventually reunited with his former
teammates and explanined that he had gone into hiding to avoid Immortus.
The group helped the other heroes of Earth to protect their home from
invading aliens, but sustained heavy losses. Celsius was killed trying
to stop an alien ship from activating its engines. Scott Fisher died
as a result of the gene bomb, which the alien invaders detonated. Rhea
Jones fell into a coma from which she did not awaken for a long time by the gene
bomb as well.
The group battled their long-time foe Garguax and during the battle,
Vostok was struck with a beam that stripped her of the negative being.
During the same battle, Larry Trainor was injured. Garguax was eventually killed
when the Chief was able to destroy his spacecraft.
The group went through a new incarnation next adding three new members.
Larry Trainor and psychiatrist Eleanor Poole were merged by the negative
energy being into an amalgam of both male and female, which called itself
Rebis. A woman suffering multiple personality disorder which each
personality having its own ability also joined the group. Called Crazy
Jane, the woman's actual name was Kay Challis. Finally, an teenage
girl named Dorothy Spinner, who could create beings from her imagination.
This ability was stronger and less in her control when she was having her
period.
The group had continued adventures, though they became more and more odd.
The group battled the Brotherhood of Dada and others. Eventually, the
group discovered that the Chief had orchastrated much of what had
occured to them. He had created the accidents that caused both
Cliff Steele to become Robotman and Larry Trainor to become
Negative Man. He also killed Josh Clay (Tempest). He was eventually
defeated, being decapitated. His mind was saved through he intervention
of Will Magnus and his mind was preserved.
Of late, Cliff Steele has joined with a new group of heroes and the
Doom Patrol lives again.