It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that when it comes to television offerings, DC Universe‘s Doom Patrol took weird and bonkers to a whole new level over the course of its first season. While much of that wackiness was firmly centered around the characters and the situations they encountered — carnivorous butts, we’re looking at you — Doom Patrol also had a bit of fun breaking the fourth wall with Alan Tudyk’s Mr. Nobody more than a few times addressing things as if, well, the whole thing were a television series on DC Universe. However, the show’s greatest meta feat may have come in its season finale thanks to a very clever Easter Egg some fans may have missed.
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In the season finale, “Ezekiel Patrol”, after forcing Niles Caulder/The Chief (Timothy Dalton) to reveal the truth about his involvement in how the Doom Patrol got their powers, Mr. Nobody is left alone in the White Space. While he has technically “won”, he’s not exactly relishing his victory. Instead, he is dissatisfied and is seen getting drunk while sitting on the toilet and reading a magazine that is very much a playful jab at Forbes — a magazine that early on didn’t exactly give the series the best review. As he’s reading, viewers get a solid look at the article: Steve Larson’s Rocky Road to Recovery, a piece about Animal Vegetable Mineral Man.
However, if you read the actual text it turns out that article itself is the most meta thing the show has done thus far, with the writers directly addressing viewers and asking fans to renew their DCU membership. You can check out a screenshot of the article below, followed by a transcription of the text just in case it’s a little hard to read.
That’s all Steve Larson remembers about the fateful day he was shot. Better known as Animal Vegetable Mineral Man, Larson was on his way to testify in front of a grand jury when the attempted assassination took place. The assailant was a disciple of the very man Larson was going to give evidence against: Sturmbanhfuhrer Heinrich Von Fuchs.
Born in Sweden, New York, to unexceptional parents, Larson was destined to lead an unexceptional life of is [sic] own. If you have screen-capped this in order to read the text of this article, congratulations! We the writers of Doom Patrol have a super secret message just for you. And that message is this: Please, please, please, please renew your DCU membership. We’d really like to do another season of this foolishness. We get to say ‘fuck’ a lot. Anyway, thanks a bunch for watching. We should probably get back to writing this bogus article.
But Larson wanted more than what lay ahead of him on his path to mediocrity. Barely clinging to a telemarketing job at a temp agency …
It’s a hilarious little Easter Egg of sorts, but certainly not the only meta moment in the series. In addition to some of the references in the narrations, one episode of the series also saw Mr. Nobody decked out in Doom Patrol merch bearing the logo for the DC Universe series. Should Doom Patrol get a second season, though, it will be interesting to see how the show gets meta going forward. At the end of the finale, Mr. Nobody, along with the Beard Hunter, were trapped in the very painting they had trapped Danny the Street in, the villain’s revenge scheme ultimately foiled by the very heroes he belittled all season.
Doom Patrol is now streaming on DC Universe.
