Classic DC Comics Villain Makes Deadly Debut on Titans

Titans season 2 continues this week with the episode “Rose,” which introduces the daughter of Deathstroke the Terminator to the live-action DC Universe. However, Rose Wilson wasn’t the only DC Comics character making a debut in Titans this week: a classic DC Comics villain got a horrific introduction to the show, as well.

That villain is none other than Arthur Light, better known by his codename, Doctor Light!

When Doctor Light first appears in the episode, we find the villain (played by Michael Mosley) sitting in his prison cell. However, sounds outside the cell alert Light that someone is staging a bloody jailbreak. Light a predatory animal, Light comes loping out of this jail cell to find a scene of mass carnage in the hallway, as someone has slaughtered the guards. One guard is still alive, but unfortunately he becomes Light’s first victim in a long while, as the villain flash-fries the guard from the inside out, using his light powers. The live-action Doctor Light seems to mix the versions from the comics; in the DC books, Light has been powered by both an external suit and his own internal mastery of his powers. Titans seems to split the difference, with Light seemingly being a human enhanced by mechanical circuitry embedded in his body.

If the prison slaughter introduction wasn’t enough, Doctor Light goes on to make his dark present felt in a much more… explosive ways.

Throughout the rest of Titans season 2 episode 2, Doctor Light strikes back at the members of the old Titans team. First, Hawk and Dove get a near-death surprise when Light takes the young drug accident the heroes are helping to rehab, and fills the boy with enough light to make him into a human bomb. Hawk and Dove narrowly get out of their woodland cabin before the boy explodes.

The next (and final) attack comes near the end of the episode. Dick Grayson is driving with Rose Wilson, trying to convince the girl to make a home with the Titans team. Dick can’t crack Rose’s icy exterior completely, but does so just enough to get the girl to share her name. But as soon as Dick starts to convince Rose that the Titans may be a god thing, he gets ambushed by a nice little light bomb that Doctor Light has left for him!

Additional dialogue from the show reveals that Light was definitely a major foe of the original Titans team, who was put in jail and has been rotting away there for some time. So, it’s understandable that the not-so-good doctor harbors a serious grudge. However, it’s clear Light isn’t working alone; Titans season 2 details have already hinted that he and Deathstroke will be combining forces, while another DC villain featured in the episode (Shimmer’s battle with Donna Troy and Starfire) may hint that an entire coalition of Titan ex-foes may be coming for revenge.

Titans season 2 streams new episodes every Friday, only on DC Universe.