‘Doom Patrol’ Meets the First Doom Patrol in New Promo

With the apocalypse stopped courtesy of the Recreator, he world as we know it is no longer ending on Doom Patrol, but that doesn’t mean it’s not about to be rocked for the heroes of the DC Universe series. The streaming service has released a new promo for next week’s upcoming sixth episode, “Doom Patrol Patrol”, and in it our ragtag band of would-be heroes is set to meet their most interesting characters yet — the very first Doom Patrol team that the heroes may or may not be aware even exists.

According to the episode’s synopsis, Jane, Larry, and Rita visit a school where the original Doom Patrol has retired. Meanwhile, Cliff and Vic bond over their mutual father issues and the preview — which you can check out in the video above — we get a glimpse of that original Doom Patrol as well as a tease of a character that may have some significant ties to Rita (April Bowlby) — Mento.

In the preview, Rita is seen saying the name “Mento” not once but twice. For fans of the Doom Patrol comics, this is an exciting tease. In comics and first appearing in Doom Patrol #91 in 1964, Mento is Steve Dayton, one of the world’s richest men who builds a helmet to enhance his mental abilities — hence the name Mento. He does this to impress Rita/Elasti-Girl, and though he’s kind of an arrogant and annoying guy, it works. The pair marry in comics, though it’s not clear what kind of relationship the pair have.

Considering that Rita has been on something of a transformative heroic journey in the most recent two episodes of Doom Patrol, “Doom Patrol Patrol” could well be set to reveal more about who Rita is deep inside. For the most part, Rita is presented as a very self-centered and vain character, but at her core there is more depth and emotion. It’s something that Bowlby told Collider last month is the character’s biggest strength.

“If you were able to get inside of Rita and actually penetrate her vain-ness, I think that she will fight for you, like nobody’s business,” Bowlby said. “She’ll kill for you, but people just haven’t been able to get in. If you can get in, then she’ll kill other people for you. Once you break that center, she’s gonna be your biggest ally.”

The episode will also further explore Cliff/Robotman’s past, this time by way of bonding with Vic over father issues. According to Brendan Fraser who gives Robotman his voice, that’s all part of that character’s journey as well.

“It’s not a new conceit,” Fraser previously explained. “Cliff will learn to become a better human as a robot that he was as a human encased in a robotic environment, a car, an engine. That’s the journey he’s gotta take, so that was enough of a hook for me.”

Doom Patrol is now streaming on DC Universe. The show’s sixth episode, “Doom Patrol Patrol” debuts March 22.

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