Looney Tunes: Back in Action and George of the Jungle star Brendan Fraser will provide the voice of Robotman in DC Universe’s Doom Patrol, Deadline reports.
Fraser will take over the role from Jake Michaels, who will play the character on Titans, which feeds into Doom Patrol. Michaels is not the first character to be recast between Titans and Doom Patrol; Kelsey Grammer is reportedly in talks to play Dr. Niles Caulder.
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A former race car driver, Cliff Steele was in a horrific accident that left his body uninhabitable. Cliff’s brain was saved by the mysterious Dr. Caulder and he lives on in a powerful robotic body.
Per the Deadline report, “Fraser will provide the voiceover for Robotman and will appear in flashback scenes as Cliff Steele. Riley Shanahan has also been cast in the role of Robotman. He will provide the physical performance of the character on stage in full body costume.”
The original Doom Patrol was created by Arnold Drake and Bob Haney in 1963. “The World’s Strangest Heroes” originally consisted of The Chief, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, and Negative Man. Given their lack of cultural acceptance within the DC Universe, the strange-looking characters, and a mentor in a wheelchair, the team has often been compared to Marvel’s more successful X-Men franchise.
Beast Boy, a member of the Titans, has a long history with the Doom Patrol.
Doom Patrol has had its biggest commercial success in the comics when it was being treated as a strange, experimental playground for visionary creators. Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol was so crazy, trippy, and bold that reprints eventually moved from DC proper to the company’s Vertigo imprint. That run remains beloved decades later, with a recent run of reprints.
The title was recently relaunched as the flagship for DC’s Young Animal imprint; written by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, the title has received critical acclaim and enough commercial success to justify a major crossover with Justice League of America — “Milk Wars,” currently ongoing by Way and Justice League of America writer Steve Orlando alongside a murderer’s row of top art talent.
Doom Patrol is a reimagining of one of DC’s strangest group of outcasts: Robotman (Fraser), Negative Man, Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby) and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero). Led by the mysterious Caulder, they’re called into action by the ultimate hero for the digital age, Cyborg (Joivan Wade). Banding together, these rejects find themselves on a mission that will take them to the weirdest and most unexpected corners of the DC universe.
Titans will launch on the DC streaming service this fall. Next year will see Young Justice: Outsiders, Swamp Thing, the animated Harley Quinn series, and Doom Patrol.
