The central “mystery” of Doom Patrol‘s first season is, on the surface, fairly simple: where has Mr. Nobody taken Niles Caulder/The Chief and how can the team get him back? Where things get complicated, though, is that the team doesn’t exactly have the ability to locate or go up against Mr. Nobody. However, while the season is at its midpoint now, Doom Patrol may have just dropped a huge clue as to how the team will ultimately succeed right on Danny Street.
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In the most recent episode of Doom Patrol, “Danny Patrol”, Vic and Larry end up coming to the aid of Danny the Street, a sentient stretch of roadway that is on the run from the Bureau of Normalcy. Danny had reached out to Niles for help by delivering a cake to Doom Manor, but with Niles missing it’s Vic and Larry who respond — largely because they’re hoping to get some answers. While the pair ultimately end up helping to defend Danny from the Bureau, Vic does ask for Danny’s help with the Chief’s predicament. Upon learning that Mr. Nobody is involved, Danny bows out as he has to protect the people living on him, but he doesn’t leave Vic empty-handed. Before sending both Vic and Larry home, Danny gives Vic one solitary clue — a copy of My Greatest Adventure #51.
It turns out that that comic book may just be the key to everything, though not in the way you’d expect. My Greatest Adventure was a DC Comics series that debuted in 1955. A science fiction anthology series, it’s perhaps best known for introducing the Doom Patrol. Issue #51 in particular features a handful of interesting stories, but none of them have anything to do with the Doom Patrol — the team wouldn’t make their appearance until issue #80. Instead, the thing that is most interesting about My Greatest Adventure #51 as it pertains to Niles is an ad that appears in the issue.
In the back few pages of the issue is an ad for bodybuilder Charles Atlas’ workout, complete with Atlas clad in cheetah print shorts. It’s a bit of a deep cut, trivia-wise, but that ad may be serving as a clue that Flex Mentallo is the key to saving Niles. Created by Richard Case and Grant Morrison, Flex Mentallo made his debut in Doom Patrol #35 from 1990 as an unkempt, amnesiac audience member for Danny the Street’s famous Perpetual Cabaret. In the issue, when the Doom Patrol come to Danny’s aid, seeing the team battle gives Flex back his memory. The character is a parody of the bodybuilder Charles Atlas and his “the insult that made a Man out of Mac” advertisements in comics and has the power to manipulate reality itself simply by flexing his muscles.
We already know that Flex is coming to Doom Patrol. Producer Jeremy Carver confirmed that the fan-favorite character will appear in the series, though the details of how and why were not revealed. As Flex has strong ties to Danny in comics, many thought that perhaps the character would make his debut in “Danny Patrol”. While that didn’t end up being the case, there’s still several episodes left for the team to decode the clue in the comic book and discover Flex.
And Flex is a pretty perfect choice to help the team defeat Mr. Nobody. On Doom Patrol, Nobody has the ability to control realty and alter it to suit his needs. With Flex also having reality manipulation abilities by way of flexing his muscles, the hero could give the team just the edge they need to rescue Niles and put a stop to Mr. Nobody, defeating him at long last.
Doom Patrol is now streaming on DC Universe with new episodes arriving each Friday.
