A little while back, CBM member JaredWebb12 recruited myself and a few others to contribute ideas for movies and TV shows for his idea of a reboot of the DC Extended Universe. Lucky me, I wound up taking a couple of DC properties that each have massive fan/cult followings, and both that have seen their fair share of reboots, shuffled teams, and defining comic book runs. One was Legion of Super-Heroes, and the other is the subject of today's fancast:
The Doom Patrol is a DC superteam with a very rich and colorful history going all the way back to their debut in June 1963's My Greatest Adventure #80 (which turned into the team's solo title with issue #86), as creations of writer Arnold Drake, artist Bruno Premiani, and editor Murray Boltinoff.
Existing more on the fringe of the DC universe, the team tends to fight the more weirder menaces that other heroes don't know too much about. Often compared to Marvel's X-Men (who also debuted in 1963 and at one point had Arnold Drake as their writer), the team consists of super-powered misfits whose 'gifts' made them feel alienated and traumatized. Gathered together by wheelchair-bound scientist Niles Caulder, they would seek out to do good in the world and perhaps make the people see them in a different light.
Over the course of 50-odd years, five Doom Patrol titles have been launched and ended, with the main constant being Robotman. Currently, a sixth iteration of the title is being published under DC's Young Animal imprint, and is already proving to be a sales and critical hit.
When JaredWebb12 asked me to tackle this team, boy was I ever in for a challenge. Yet here I am, giving my two cents on how a Doom Patrol animated series could work as an extension of his take on DC multimedia. With a little help from fellow CBM user ILoveStargirl, I managed to come up with something that hopefully captures the spirit of weirdness inherent in the concept, but makes it not too weird to turn off the casual TV viewer. So without further ado, here's my concept for a Doom Patrol cartoon series:
1. While airing on Cartoon Network, the show would also be streamed on the upcoming DC streaming service.
2. In terms of art and character designs, I would leave those duties to the great Jay Stephens, creator of the beloved cult-favorite Cartoon Network series The Secret Saturdays.
His unique style, which was perfect for a show that regularly dealt with strange and weird-looking creatures, is just as perfect for a show based on 'the World's Strangest Heroes'.
3. Here is how each season is divided up:
A) Season one sees the introduction of both our audience surrogate Casey Brinke (more on that later) and the original team, made up of the Chief, Robotman, Elasti-Woman, and Negative Man, as they go up against both strange supervillains and even weirder monsters and aliens.
The team, over the course of the season, gains two new members in Mento and Beast Boy. At a few points, the team joins forces with other DC characters such as the Challengers of the Unknown and the Flash. It all culminates in the seeming heroic deaths of the original quartet, as they sacrifice themselves to save a small fishing village; this is based on 1968's issue #121, which was also the last issue of the first volume of the series.
B) Season two takes place a couple of years later, where Casey's life has more or less returned to normal. Mento has been in a state of depression ever since Rita's death; Beast Boy, now going by Changeling, has become a member of the Teen Titans and making a name for himself as an actor (based on his exploits during the New Teen Titans years). Things change when Casey, on a whim, pays a visit to the team's old HQ, only to bump into a familiar face in a new chassis--Robotman, having gotten a new body from Will Magnus, creator of the Metal Men. Venturing further into the old place, the two of them confront a trio of metahumans who claim to be the new Doom Patrol: Tempest, Negative Woman, and Celsius, who reveals herself to be the Chief's wife.
The underlying arc of the season focuses on the team's efforts to prevent an immortality serum developed by the Chief years ago--currently running through Celsius herself--from falling into the hands of DP archnemesis General Immortus. They even team up with Superman and Supergirl at different points; Changeling returns to the team briefly, as does a slightly-erratic Mento. It culminates in a final battle with General Immortus, in which the team learns that the fallen founding members are actually still alive somewhere--setting up the arc for the third season.
C) The third season sees the team searching for the missing founders, while dealing with a number of crises along the way:
-Mento, at one point, finally snaps and goes full-on villain as the Crimelord, and forms his own attempt at a Doom Patrol called the Hybrid.
-Mr. Morden, an old foe of the team, reemerges as the superpowered, insane Dadaist Mr. Nobody, backed by his Brotherhood of Dada.
-Celsius's father comes back into her life as the sinister Kalki, who is revealed to have abducted the missing DP founders and has been using them as living batteries to keep the dimensional gateway that is himself under control.
Throughout all three seasons, the team would meet metahumans who've just emerged with their powers, and try to steer them on the path to using their abilities for good, to show the world they're not freaks or monsters. This approach is meant to be a riff on Marvel's X-Men and how they deal with newly-awakened mutants.
Overall, I would keep the tone and focus of the series based upon the original and Paul Kupperberg-helmed incarnations of the Doom Patrol, since I feel the Grant Morrison take would be WAY too out there for casual audiences. BUT there would be a few bones thrown to fans of that run. (More on that later.)
And now, our voice cast for this production:
+Mae Whitman as the voice of Casey Brinke
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Mae-Whitman/
That's right--our audience surrogate for this show comes from the current Gerard Way/Nick Derington run on Doom Patrol for Young Animal. Unlike that comic's version of her (which for those who have been reading it know what I mean), my take on Casey is a bit more grounded. Here, Casey is both a regular human, and a paramedic who tried to save race car driver Cliff Steele's life after his infamous accident on the speedway. Her guilt over her failure had hung over her, until one day where she finds herself caught in a fight between the Doom Patrol and the armored mercenary called the Living Arsenal. She heroically slams her ambulance into him, knocking him out long enough for him to be apprehended while the team whisks her away back to their HQ to help her recover from a concussion she endured. Casey becomes the team's confidante afterwards, and proves vital to the team as a medic. In a nod to DP comic history, her supervisor at the hospital she works at is Eleanor Poole, who in the Grant Morrison run was accidentally merged with Negative Man to become Rebis.
Whitman's been playing a similar role with her take on April O'Neil in the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, which made picking her for Casey an easy task.
+The Doom Patrol
1. Original Team
A) David Hyde Pierce as the voice of the Chief/Dr. Niles Caulder
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001383/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Dr. Niles Caulder is a paraplegic gifted with a genius-level intellect. Caulder uses his scientific knowledge to develop numerous inventions and innovations that have made him wealthy. Caulder founded and organized the team called Doom Patrol to protect the innocent and fight crime, and to teach humanity to accept others who live as ostracized "freaks," who have been radically transformed from terrible accidents. It is Caulder's genius that allowed the team members to survive (e.g., designing Robotman's body, devising Negative Man's medicated bandages), and helped grant their freakishness and amazing abilities. Caulder developed an interest in creating better life at a young age. Proving to be both a brilliant inventor and engineer, Caulder received funding from a mysterious benefactor. Thanks to the funding, Caulder succeeded in creating a chemical capable of prolonging life. Ultimately, it was revealed that the benefactor was a man called General Immortus, who hired Caulder to create a chemical to replace the one that had been prolonging his life for centuries but was now failing. When the young scientist discovered the truth about his employer, he refused to continue the work. Immortus responded by implanting an explosive device in Caulder's upper torso, which he could set off remotely, and any attempt to remove it while Niles lived would also detonate it. Caulder eventually devised a plan to get the bomb out, but it cost him his ability to walk. The incident inspired and reminded Caulder that a better life may come from surviving a tragic event, such as his own. Another general and another explosive device seemingly obliterated the Doom Patrol team but Niles and most of the others came back from that as well."
Unlike the comics, I'm not planning on Dr. Caulder being a grade-A D-Bag that caused the accidents that gave the Doom Patrol their powers. (No disrespect to Grant Morrison.) It's an unfortunate thing that's been done to most characters in recent years (including fellow paraplegic genius Charles Xavier), as the world of superheroes could really use more good-natured scientific-types--can't have Reed Richards bearing that burden alone now, can't we? As for his voice actor, Pierce has the right qualifications for your basic intellectual, and we can't have his former Fraiser co-star Kelsey Grammer have all the fun.
Alternate choice: Tom Kane
B) Henry Simmons as the voice of Robotman/Cliff Steele
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005431/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Robotman is unique in that he is the only character to appear in every version of the Doom Patrol. Cliff Steele became Robotman after a race car accident destroyed his body; Casey, on the scene at the time, tried desperately to save him, to no avail. Niles Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body. After the operation, Cliff suffered from frequent depression because he viewed himself as less than human. Caulder at first made a mistake in the operation that caused Steele to go on a rampage, which was corrected when he was recruited for the Patrol. Casey helps Cliff get over his depression over the course of the series. When Robotman returns in season two, it is revealed that the casing containing his brain was recovered by Will Magnus, the creator of the Metal Men, who builds a new body for Cliff. Eventually, a body based on his old design is provided."
I love it when actors play both sides of the Big Two's fence, don't you? I thought Simmons would be a good fit for the character after seeing his arc in Agents of SHIELD's fourth season, and that he'd have fun with the one character I believe to be DC's answer to Marvel's Thing.
C) Paget Brewster as the voice of Elasti-Woman/Rita Farr
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0108295/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Rita Farr is an Olympic swimming gold medalist turned Hollywood actress who is exposed to unusual volcanic gases while shooting a film in Africa. When Farr recovers, she discovers that she can expand or shrink her body at will—from hundreds of feet tall to mere inches in height. When she gains greater control of her powers, she discovers that she can enlarge one limb at a time. Although not physically disfigured, Rita initially has no control over her size changes, is considered a freak and a menace, and becomes a recluse, leaving her Hollywood career in ruins. However, Rita is approached by Dr. Niles Caulder (also known as The Chief) who offers her a place among fellow "freaks" attempting to use their powers for good. As Elasti-Woman, she joins Caulder's team, the Doom Patrol. Rita falls in love with, and marries, Steve Dayton, the hero Mento. Later on, the couple adopts young Gar Logan, who would become Beast Boy. Casey mentions being a fan of some of Rita's movies, especially the chiller pictures she starred in when she was starting out."
The one change I'd make to her costume is changing the skirt to a pair of track shorts. In casting Brewster, she's become more of a presence in DC projects lately, having voiced a pundit Lana Lang in the two-part adaptation of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns; a Rachel Maddow-inspired Lois Lane in Justice League: Gods and Monsters; and just this year Poison Ivy (filling in for Diane Pershing) in the DCAU-set Batman and Harley Quinn. Why not add one more to her filmography?
D) Taliesin Jaffe as the voice of Negative Man/Larry Trainor
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Taliesin-Jaffe/
"Like the rest of the Doom Patrol, Trainor sees himself as a victim as much as a hero, and his superpower as an infection rather than a blessing. Trainor's career as a superhero begins when he is accidentally exposed to a radioactive field in the atmosphere while piloting a test plane. This experience leaves him radioactive himself, but also gives him a strange superpower: the ability to release a negatively charged energy being from his body; the being, also referred to as Negative Man, or, later, as the Negative Spirit, can fly at high speed, cause solid objects to explode, and pass through solid materials. It resembles a shadowy silhouette of a human being, surrounded by a bright glow. The being is under Trainor's control and appears at first to have no mind of its own. Unfortunately, Trainor is weak and defenseless while the being is separated from his body; he can only risk sending it forth for 60 seconds at a time without risking death. After his accident, Trainor resembles the Invisible Man; he is forced to wear specially treated bandages over his entire body to protect bystanders from his radioactivity."
Jaffe, a veteran of many anime dubs and video games, is no stranger to the DC universe, having voiced the Flash/Barry Allen in both Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and Injustice 2.
E) Ian Ziering as the voice of Mento/Steve Dayton
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005575/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Steve Dayton, one of the world's richest men, builds a helmet to enhance his mental abilities and calls himself Mento. This is an attempt on Dayton's part to impress Elasti-Woman (a.k.a. Rita Farr) of the Doom Patrol. Although his arrogant manner annoys the male field members of the team, he is successful, and they're later married. They soon adopt Beast Boy (a.k.a. Garfield Logan). After Elasti-Woman's seeming death, Mento becomes involved in the hunt for her killers, General Zahl and Madame Rouge. The hunt for them consumes him, driving a wedge between himself and Garfield. Combined with unforseen side effects from use of the Mento helmet, Steve at one point finally snaps and assumes the guise of the Crimelord, and takes his rage and madness out on the new Doom Patrol with the help of a team he puts together called the Hybrid, a sort-of anti-Doom Patrol. Eventually, the Doom Patrol and unexpectedly the Hybrid join forces to stop him and cure him. He then decides to retire from the costumed life for a bit, but not before he manages to correct the flaw in the Mento helmet."
This casting idea came from input from ILoveStargirl, who cited Ziering having previously voiced the already rich and mentally unstable Harry Osborn on Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. For this show, I'd want to characterize Mento as being a riff on the (stereo-)typical Sillicon Valley tech mogul.
F) Max Burkholder as the voice of Beast Boy/Changeling/Garfield Logan
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1370269/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"As a young child, Garfield Logan lived with his scientist parents in Africa, who were developing "reverse evolution" to bring back extinct creatures. He received a certain amount of abuse from these parents, consequently becoming increasingly reclusive. Garfield contracted a rare illness called Sakutia, which is lethal to every species except the West African green monkey. To save his life, his father used an untested serum to change him into a West African green monkey for 24 hours, so that the virus could die out. The serum had the unintended effect of turning his skin, eyes, and hair green, and granting him the ability to metamorph into any animal of his choice. His parents later died in a boating accident; to this day, Garfield believes he could have prevented their deaths. After he is rescued from two kidnappers who forced him to use his powers to help them in their crimes, Garfield is left under the care of a court-appointed guardian, the despicable Nicholas Galtry, who renames him "Craig". Galtry realizes that his embezzlement from the Garfield estate will be exposed when Garfield reaches maturity and receives his inheritance, and plots to kill Garfield. The villains he hires to kill Garfield are stopped by the Doom Patrol; Elasti-Girl and her husband, Steve Dayton, expose Galtry's embezzlement and adopt Garfield. Garfield later joins the superhero team; his uniform includes a full-head purple mask with a black or yellow band across the middle of the face, and he takes the code name Beast Boy. During his membership with the Doom Patrol, Garfield has a romantic relationship with a girl from his high school named Jillian Jackson. After he saves her from Galtry (then using the alias "Arsenal"), the relationship dissolves. Beast Boy is deeply affected by the deaths of the Doom Patrol."
Burkholder's had a decent foothold in voiceover for a number of years now, and given his prior experience voicing Billy Connors in The Spectacular Spider-Man, I figured a DC-based show would be a good way to balance the DC/Marvel scales in his filmography.
2. Second Team
A) Parminder Nagra as the voice of Celsius/Arani Desai-Caulder
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619406/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Arani Desai was born in India into a life of wealth and privilege, though it was marred by her mother dying while giving birth to her. She possessed an excellent intellect and athleticism. Arani ran away from home after her father went insane. Life on the streets in Calcutta made her deathly ill, until she was rescued by young American Dr. Niles Caulder. He gave her immortality on their wedding and left her in the Himalayas while he tried to evade General Immortus, who desired the immortality formula Caulder concocted. Arani waited for Niles to return, and realized that the serum augmented her powerfully, so that she could control her core temperature and project quantities of heat and cold. This ability coupled with the mysticism and monastery training made her a formidable martial artist. Eventually she left the monastary to pursue, and acquire, a doctorate of her own. Discovering the supposed death of the Doom Patrol, she creates her own team initially to search for her husband, whom she refuses to believe perished with the rest of the original team."
Nagra's dipped her feet into genre television as of late, and like a number of actors, has played on both sides of the Marvel/DC fence, having lent her voice to one of the segments of 2009's Batman: Gotham Knight and was recurring nemesis Senator Ellen Nadeer on the fourth season of Agents of SHIELD. I felt she'd be perfect as the new leader of the Doom Patrol.
B) Cedric Yarbrough as the voice of Tempest/Joshua Clay
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0946382/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Joshua Clay was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children; his parents struggled to keep their family together in the middle of what was at that time one of the worst slums in the country. At sixteen, Joshua joined a street gang called the Stompers, and eventually, as a result, wound up being given a choice between prison and service in the United States military. Joshua chose the army and was trained as a combat medic and shipped off to the Middle East. Less than a month before the end of his tour, Joshua witnessed the attempted massacre of an entire village of non-combatants by his sergeant. Horrified, Joshua unconsciously triggered his powers, blasting the noncom, apparently killing the man. The stress of this discovery led Clay to go AWOL and flee the country, eventually returning to the U.S. Clay spent the next ten years living as a fugitive. The sergeant eventually becomes Reactron, a repeated foe of the Doom Patrol. Clay uses his underworld connections to secure a new identity for himself as Jonathan Carmichael, M.D. Due to years of private study and his previous military training, he easily passes his New York medical board examination. Ironically enough, Casey recognizes him as one of the doctors working at the same hospital as herself."
Yarbrough's forays into comics-based multimedia have mostly been bit parts, which include Black Lightning and Firestorm in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths; Firepower in Iron Man 2: The Video Game; a submarine technician in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis; and Silas Stone in Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem. Yarbrough deserves the shot to play a full role in a comic-based anything, and Tempest seems like a great fit for him.
C) Tricia Helfer as the voice of Negative Woman/Valentina Vostok
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1065454/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Lt. Colonel Valentina Vostok, a former member of the Russian Air Force who joined the U.N. Peacekeeping forces, steals an experimental fighter plane in order to provide air support for her unit in a critical mission. The plane malfunctioned en route and she crash-landed at the spot where the original Doom Patrol had apparently perished and was fused with the negative energy being which formerly inhabited the body of the Patrol's Negative Man. However, instead of being able to send it out from her body under her control, Vostok gained the ability to transform herself into such a being. Assuming the name Negative Woman, Valentina defected to the United States and became a member of the second incarnation of Doom Patrol. Valentina became romantically involved with teammate Joshua Clay, aka Tempest, but broke off the relationship due to the nature of her powers changing to match that of her predecessor: her body became permanently radioactive, requiring her to constantly wear radiation-blocking bandages over all of her body, and the radio-energy being would emerge from her under her mental command. Ultimately, when Negative Man was found alive and rescued by the new Doom Patrol, the negative energy split into two halves, and one was returned to Larry."
Helfer's been a great presence in a lot of recent comic-based multimedia, and would be a great addition to this cast. (Plus, I'm a bit curious over how she'd sound with a Russian accent.)
3. Guest characters/Future teammates
As mentioned before, in a riff on the usual MO of the X-Men, the Doom Patrol would encounter new metahumans and try to help them get their powers under control, and hopefully steer them in the right direction. These new metas would be characters that have joined the team in multiple incarnations, and include:
A) Karma/Wayne Hawking (voiced by Taran Noah Smith http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810101/?ref_=nv_sr_1), Lodestone/Rhea Jones (voiced by Danica McKellar http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005211/?ref_=nv_sr_1) and Burnout/Scott Fischer (voiced by Hunter Parrish http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1446060/?ref_=nv_sr_2), the three young recruits from Paul Kupperberg's second shot at Doom Patrol in 1987.
*Ironically, I cast Parrish as another Burnout (Gen13's) way back in one of my earlier fancasts.*
B) Dorothy Spinner (voiced by Sara Canning http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3048050/?ref_=nv_sr_1), Coagula/Kate Godwin (voiced by Nicole Sullivan http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005474/?ref_=nv_sr_1), and Danny the Street (who doesn't speak, except...Well, in literal sign language), three major characters from Grant Morrison and Rachel Pollack's runs from the 1990's. (Crazy Jane would be the subject of a one-off episode.)
C) Fever/Shyleen Lao (voiced by Kelsey Chow http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2080328/?ref_=nv_sr_1), Fast-Forward/Ted Bruder (voiced by Vincent Martella http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1605108/?ref_=nv_sr_1), Kid Slick/Vic Darge (voiced by Alexander Polinsky http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Alexander-Polinsky/), and Freak/Ava Rosada (voiced by Krizia Bajos http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1987941/?ref_=nv_sr_1), the new recruits from John Arcudi's 2002-03 run.
D) Nudge/Mi-Sun Kwon (voiced by Patricia Ja Lee http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412911/?ref_=nv_sr_1), Vortex (voiced by Zeno Robinson http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2993170/?ref_=nv_sr_1) and Grunt/Henry Bucher (voiced by Fred Tatasciore http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Fred-Tatasciore/), John Byrne's creations from his 2004 run.
E) Gemini/Marie De Mille (voiced by Catherine Taber http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Catherine-Taber/), daughter of team adversary Madame Rouge, in a riff on the X-Men's Rogue/Mystique relationship. (Unlike the comics, where Gemini definitely takes after her mom in the evil department.)
+Villains
*Note--I'm changing the majority of the French villains on the team (save for Madame Rouge) to Belgian, considering our current relations with France right now. Also, while there's no doubt that several of these villains go on to form the Brotherhood of Evil, ILoveStargirl came up with a change that I'm implementing for my narrative's purposes. Instead of the Brotherhood of Evil, the villains form the Fraternity of Evil (or F.O.E.), which sounds a bit more threatening and ominous, especially in acronym form (unless the Fraternal Order of Eagles sues us).
-Keith Szarabajka (imitating Jean Reno) as the voice of the Brain
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Keith-Szarabajka/
"As a scientist, the Brain performs experiments on animals to raise their intelligence. One of these is on a gorilla, who he names Monsieur Mallah and educates for almost a decade before making him his personal assistant. An accident destroys the Brain's original body, leaving only his brain, which Mallah rescues and puts into a mechanical unit that controls a computer network. The Brain and Mallah form the Brotherhood of Evil in hopes of conquering the world and getting revenge on his former colleague Caulder, who he blames for the accident--one that Caulder had warned would happen because of some faulty equipment the Brain had been using."
Szarabajka's great impression of Jean Reno (as seen in Godzilla: The Series) is what made me think of him as a great choice for one of the Doom Patrol's most famous foes.
-Frank Welker as the voice of Monsieur Mallah
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Frank-Welker/
"As a scientist, the man who would one day become known as the Brain performed experiments on animals to raise their intelligence. One of these was on a captured gorilla, raising its I.Q. to the genius-level of 178. He named the gorilla Monsieur Mallah and educated him for almost a decade before making him his personal assistant."
There's nobody better than Frank Welker as a voice actor, the man's career is legendary. I've no doubt he'd make Mallah memorable in a Doom Patrol cartoon.
-Jennifer Hale as the voice of Madame Rouge/Laura De Mille
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Jennifer-Hale/
"Laura De Mille was originally a French stage actress who was linked romantically to Niles Caulder before he met Arani Desai. After an automobile accident, she developed a dual good/evil split personality. At this point, she attracted the notice of The Brain and his associate Monsieur Mallah. With Mallah's help, the Brain performed surgery on De Mille that was, from his perspective, successful, sublimating her good personality and allowing her evil personality to remain dominant. As Madame Rouge, De Mille became the only female member of the Brotherhood of Evil, and assisted the Brotherhood in its continuing conflicts against the Doom Patrol. At first, Madame Rouge was simply a master of disguise; subsequent surgery by the Brain eventually gave her the ability to alter her appearance and stretch her limbs. Elasti-Woman at one point mentions that she was a great admirer of De Mille's acting ability, having studied a number of her performances during her days in Hollywood."
Hale is also a VA with just as remarkable a career, who really nails most accents, especially the French kind, making the idea of her as this devious beauty tres magnifique.
-Larry Cedar as the voice of Eric Morden/Mr. Nobody
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Larry-Cedar/
"Very little is known about Eric Morden's early life. He stole a giant robot and so impressed the Brotherhood of Evil with his crime wave that they invited him to join. His first mission with the Brotherhood failed, and he was soon after thrown off the team and warned that he would be killed if he ever met a Brotherhood member again. He fled to Paraguay, where he was housed by a mad scientist for several years. Dissatisfied with his life, he agreed to take part in one of the scientist's experiment. He was immobilized and left in a completely white room for three days, which drove him irrevocably mad, and in a final moment, utterly transformed his body into a strange half-present abstraction. Killing his tormentors, he travelled the world seeking the odd and the outcasts, bringing them together to form the Brotherhood of Dada."
Cedar's is a name you've probably seen in the credits for many a Warner Brothers cartoon series since the 90's, though it was his performance as Loki in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance that inspired his particular casting.
-Hector Elizondo as the voice of General Immortus
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001185/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"General Immortus is perhaps centuries old, and his origins are shrouded in mystery; at some points it has even been implied that Immortus' origins lie in ancient history. He once owned a diamond mine, the source of much of his current-day wealth, and he killed many of the slave workers to keep the location a secret. To this day the location has remained a secret. However, little beyond this information has ever been revealed about Immortus' past. His real name has never been revealed, nor his country of origin, although it is implied to be somewhere in Europe. Until coming into contact with the Doom Patrol, Immortus had sustained his unnatural long life indefinitely with a highly secretive and life-extending alchemical potion. However, Immortus eventually lost the precious formula and was unable to reproduce it, and as his previous stocks began to run out he began to once again age, this time rapidly. Immortus hired young scientist Niles Caulder to recreate the potion. When Caulder discovered Immortus's identity and plan, he sabotaged the "life extending ray" that he had been developing. Caulder, as "The Chief" later formed the Doom Patrol specifically to combat one of Immortus' later schemes. Thereafter, most of General Immortus' schemes were to sustain his longevity by finding a substitute for the elixir of life he had lost. Thus, he funded and became the leader of a highly secretive criminal syndicate to steal ancient tomes and mystical artifacts for the purpose of sustaining Immortus' unnatural long life. This syndicate is militaristic, hence Immortus' title of "general", and not unlike the Thule Society in its philosophy and dabbling in the occult. From time to time thereafter, Immortus sparred with the Doom Patrol, usually in an effort to obtain the results of the Chief's life-extension research, or the Doom Patrol intercepted Immortus as he attempted to steal ancient mystical artifacts."
Elizondo's popped up in a number of DC-based or Warner Brothers-produced cartoons over the years, so what's one more for the veteran actor?
-Jim Cummings (imitating Sidney Greenstreet) as the voice of Garguax
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Jim-Cummings/
"Garguax is the exiled leader of an unnamed alien planet. Arriving on Earth, he attempts to conquer the planet with his advanced technology. The Doom Patrol defeats him by blowing up his spaceship. Garguax returns where he allies himself with the Brotherhood of Evil.[2] He functions as a member of the group on several occasions, but Garguax turns on them when Zarox-13 (his superior from his home planet) arrives to carry out his invasion plans. An uneasy truce between the Patrol and the Brotherhood leads to the extraterrestrials' defeat."
Cummings does a really good Sidney Greenstreet (as does Frank Welker), which makes him a great choice for an alien tyrant that sort of resembles the classic actor.
-Daran Norris as the voice of Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man/Sven Larsen
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Daran-Norris/
"Dr. Sven Larsen is a Swedish scientist and a former student of Dr. Niles Caulder, but they had a falling out after Larsen accused Caulder of stealing his idea for the anti-decay ray. Larsen gains his superpowers after falling into a vat of amino acids. He uses his powers to get revenge on Caulder and his Doom Patrol. The Doom Patrol defeat Larsen and are able to remove his powers. He later regains them and fights the Doom Patrol again. Larsen returns to face the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol in partnership with General Immortus. He is defeated after Celsius encases him in ice."
Norris has a great repretoire of voices, and drawing upon almost any one of them would work out in making A-V-M-Man seem like a nutty and unpredictable opponent.
-C. Thomas Howell as the voice of Mr. 104/Jonathan Dubrovny
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001367/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"John Dubrovny was an average man, who was an average achiever throughout his life. He settled down with his wife and went about his daily routine of working as a molecular engineer. However, John wasn't happy with his average life, or his colleagues' perceptions of him. When all his colleagues had left for the night, John continued to work on his own side project, resurrecting the long thought dead science of Alchemy. The device he created, however, worked in a different way to his expectations. When he was caught in the devices ray, he was transformed into an amalgamation of all the elements he wanted to manipulate. Dubrovny then found he could become one or any combination of the elements found in the periodic table. Adopting the number of known elements as his name, Mr 104, his activities brought him to the attention of the Doom Patrol. Dubrovny gave the Doom Patrol a difficult fight until the Chief managed to find a way to neutralize his power and capture him."
Howell had a couple of good performances as the Reverse-Flash in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and as an alternate Will Magnus in Justice League: Gods and Monsters, so it seems like he's got a decent handle on the mad scientist archetype, which would work out in Mr. 104's favor.
-Michael Wincott as the voice of Captain Zahl
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000699/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Captain Zahl is a former German U-boat captain who was ruthless and effective, and achieved the highest kill rate of any other commander in the German fleet. After the Nazis were defeated by the allies in WWII, Captain Zahl worked fled the manhunts that ensued until he directed his U-boat into the Bermuda Triangle, which warped him into the present. He at first set out in a campaign of world conquest, until a run in with the Doom Patrol forced him into early retirement. Later, Zahl (now calling himself "General Zahl") assisted Madame Rouge in apparently killing the Doom Patrol in an gigantic explosion. Later it would be known that Robotman survived that explosion, although he was severely damaged."
A pretty good suggestion by ILoveStargirl, since General Zahl is the most monstrous Doom Patrol villain according to TVTropes--therefore, he should be voiced by the man behind Top Dollar, the most monstrous crimelord of Detroit in 1994's The Crow.
-Olivia D'Abo as the voice of Phobia/Angela Hawkins III
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001882/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Born a member of the British aristocracy with the power to make people experience their worst fears, Angela Hawkins III was a "bad seed" who rejected any help from her family. When the Brain came to London to recruit her for the reformation of the Fraternity of Evil, Angela readily agreed. She joined the New Brotherhood of Evil in the hopes of conquering her own fears by unleashing those of others. Sometimes, man-hating tendencies rise up in her, and she suffers from a fear of being alone."
D'Abo's a very decent character actress whose voice you've heard in a lot of animated shows and films over the years, including most notably Batman Beyond (as Melanie "Ten" Walker of the Royal Flush Gang), Justice League/Unlimited (as Star Sapphire), the Ultimate Avengers movies (as the Black Widow), and fittingly enough Batman: The Brave and the Bold--where she voiced Elasti-Girl in the episode centering on the Doom Patrol.
-Kevin Michael Richardson as the voice of Houngan/Jean Louis Droo
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Kevin-Michael-Richardson/
"Jean Louis Droo, Haitian born but schooled in America, worked as a computer scientist for a large Silicon Valley computer company, until the news of his father's impending death brought the young scientist back to the land of his birth. Once home, Droo found modern medicine was unable to aid his father and that the only hope was a local "houngan"--a voodoo master. Droo watched in fascination as the houngan completely cured his father's illness. Soon Droo became a virtual voodoo fanatic, devoting every waking hour to learning all there was to know about this most ancient of mystic arts. Within two years, Droo became a voodoo master, but unlike his teachers, Droo merged the ancient rituals of voodoo with modern computer science. Droo--now calling himself Houngan--uses an electro needle stylus and a computerized voodoo doll to create terrors the old voodoo houngans could never have imagined."
Like Norris, Richardson has a great repertoire of voices that could be put to good use as this literal techno-wizard.
-Udo Kier as the voice of Plasmus/Otto Von Furth
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001424/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Otto Von Furth was a mine worker in Berlin, Germany until an unexpected cave-in trapped him and four fellow miners for seven days. During those days, Otto's co-workers died, leaving him as the only survivor. He and his fellow miners had been mining for radioactive radium and ended up exposed to it and when rescued, he was rushed to the hospital. Otto is later kidnapped by General Zahl who mutates him into a blob-like state, which changes into an unstable protoplasm. He is brought into the Fraternity of Evil where he took the name Plasmus."
Kier has also been a semi-recurring name in most DC-based animation, so what's another DC villain added to his filmography? I mean hey, you could call Mister Toad (in Beware the Batman) handsome compared to ol' Otto.
-Diedrich Bader as the voice of Warp/Emil LaSalle
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0046033/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"The origin of Emil LaSalle is unknown. This French supervillain had previously fought Phantasmo and Fleur-de-Lis, prior to being approached by the Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Houngan, Plasmus and Phobia to become part of their new Fraternity of Evil. At first, Warp refused but, after being attacked by Captain Toulon and trapped on the "Earth-11" alternate Earth, Warp changed his mind and joined the group."
Bader's always been a fun addition to most cartoons, especially the DC kind, so Warp would be another fun character on his filmography.
-Robert Patrick as the voice of Reactron/Ben Krullen
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001598/?ref_=nv_sr_2
"Ben Krullen was a senior platoon officer serving in the US Army in the Middle East, alongside Joshua Clay, the future Doom Patrol member who would be known as Tempest. When Krullen was about to massacre the inhabitants of a small village, the shock of what he was about to do triggered the activation of Clay's mutant powers. Clay seemingly destroyed Krullen with his energy blasts, then went AWOL. Krullen, instead of being killed, is transformed into a being capable of generating radioactive energy and concussive blasts. Calling himself Reactron, the Living Reactor, he surfaces years later and attacks the Doom Patrol, then later fights Supergirl."
Patrick is one of those good character actors with great voices for military-types, so Reactron's background works nicely in his favor for this casting.
-Iqbal Theba as the voice of Kalki/Asok Desai
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0857290/?ref_=nv_sr_2
"Though born in poverty in Calcutta, India, Ashok Desai gained a science degree at Oxford University. He returned to India, determined to cure his country's social ills. Desai's wife died giving birth to their daughter Arani, who would grow up to become Celsius of the Doom Patrol. Ironically, Desai's association with the Patrol's founder and leader Niles Caulder (years before the group's founding) involved experiments that horribly mutated Desai's body, making him a living dimensional gateway. Believing himself to be the living incarnation of the Hindu god Kalki, deity of destruction, Desai amassed wealth and power before targeting the Doom Patrol and his own daughter Arani for revenge."
While I'm not as familiar with Theba's filmography, I thought Kalki would be a good character for him as the total opposite of one character of his I AM familiar with--the scatterbrained, OCD-esque alien scientist Slav in Voltron: Legendary Defender.
-James Woods as the voice of Red Jack
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000249/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Red Jack has gone by many names: Spring-Heeled Jack, Jack the Ripper, Saucy Jack, etc. Jack believes that he is a god, and thinks that he created the universe. From what he says, he was imprisoned in his house for creating something literally out of nothing. When asked who imprisoned him, he said he did. The Doom Patrol met Jack when he kidnapped Lodestone to be his bride. They confronted him in his house, which was full of bizarre and gruesome appliances. Casey was particularly stricken by Jack's enormous butterfly collection, all of which were alive and suffering. When the Doom Patrol encountered Jack, he explained how his house would intersect with their world from time to time, and that was when he would wreak havoc. He told how his power was fueled by suffering, which is why he had so many butterflies."
Woods may have found himself mired in minor controversey right now, but I still think he'd be perfect for this sadist with a god complex. Almost made me think of a more....'Cheerful' version of his Owlman from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
-John DiMaggio as the voice of Elephant Man
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/John-DiMaggio/
"Very little is known about Elephant Man. It appears that he is simply a large humanoid elephant. Elephant Man joined the Fraternity of Evil alongside Goldilocks, and proved to be a great new addition to the Fraternity, with his incredibly thick hide that is impervious to most damage he can absorb lots of punishment from those who oppose him."
DiMaggio would perfectly nail this bruiser, no sweat.
-Tara Strong as the voice of Goldilocks
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Tara-Strong/
"When The Brain and Monsieur Mallah gathered together a new version of the Fraternity of Evil, Goldilocks is one of its newer members. Goldilocks is a bad seed with a twisted idea of what constitutes a "Happy Ending." Her main power lies in her prehensile hair, which is revealed to be power also possessed by her older sister: Godiva of the U.N.-sponsored superhero team the Global Guardians."
When it comes to voices for bratty girls with a mile-wide mean streak, there's no one better than Strong.
@JaredWebb12, hope this proves to be a good entry in your DCEU reboot and lives up to your standards. Special thanks to ILoveStargirl for input on the voice cast as well.
And now, ladies and gents, give it up for Jeff Lynne and ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA: