Full spoilers follow for Doom Patrol.
Robotman is dead. I repeat: Robotman is dead.
Don’t even try telling me you didn’t cry a couple of weeks back when the Brendan Fraser/Riley Shanahan character went to the great racetrack in the sky in the closing minutes of the Doom Patrol season finale.
But wait, what’s that? You say you missed the last episode of Doom Patrol? Wha…? You never even watched Doom Patrol?!
DON’T SAY IT. YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT DOOM PATROL WAS A SHOW?!!
And herein lies the problem with comics-based TV shows these days, and bigger picture, with the streaming landscape in general... and even bigger picture, with the fall of the very monoculture itself. For in the year 2023, not only are there shows (and movies, of course) pretty much everywhere that are based on superheroes and other types of comics, but the places you can watch that programming are so diffuse now that it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything, let alone watch all the titles you’d like to check out as a card-carrying member of the geek-osphere.
In the case of Doom Patrol’s end, and the DC Comics TV environment in general, a contraction is taking place that was inevitable. And it may afford fans the chance to focus on a tighter and more wieldy DC TV slate. But is it too little, too late?
DC Universe: The Streaming Service That Couldn’t
In recent years, that diffusion of properties has been particularly damaging on the DC Universe side of things, and in a certain sense, I mean that literally. Remember the streaming app that was called “DC Universe,” which launched in 2018? It barely registers as a blip now amid the various dramas of the many streamers, just another FilmStruck that coulda been a contender. Though whereas FilmStruck – which folded in 2018 – might’ve actually played the classic Brando film that featured that iconic quote, DC Universe’s mission statement was, of course, to serve the superhero fan set.
Consisting of a library of archival DC movies, TV shows and comics, the app was also designed to be the launching ground for new original programming. That is the well from which sprang the wacky Doom Patrol, as did the grimdark (at first anyway) Titans, the gone-too-soon Swamp Thing, and the “don’t worry, it’s also on The CW” Stargirl series. On the animated front, the beloved Young Justice was revived for DC Universe, and the equally beloved – if for different reasons – Harley Quinn was also launched.
It was a mixed bag of shows, but there was more good than bad, and certainly a variety of demos were being served within the fan sphere. Whereas Titans launched with Dick Grayson infamously announcing “Fuck Batman!”, the show’s true weakness would prove to be not its tendency towards edginess for edginess' sake, but rather that in a world that arrived fully formed – superheroes and villains already existed there, full stop – it never managed to reach its true potential. Swamp Thing was a fun exploration of the more horror-centric side of the DC Universe, but it was, ahem, cut down in its prime after only one season. Young Justice rewarded fans who had campaigned for its return in the years since its own untimely cancellation on Cartoon Network, and Harley Quinn instantly charmed those looking for some adult humor from their superhero fare.
And then there was Doom Patrol, based largely on Grant Morrison's run from the comics and featuring the quirky and lovable group of titular assholes: Cliff Steele/Robotman, a former macho man trapped in, yep, a robot body; April Bowlby’s washed-up and very stretchy Hollywood starlet Rita Farr; Diane Guerrero’s multiple-personality-plagued, multiple-insults-ready Crazy Jane; Matt Bomer/Matthew Zuk’s forlorn and negative-energy-enabled Larry Trainor; and Joivan Wade’s damaged but relatively “normal” Cyborg. You often hear the word “family” tossed around when describing ensembles like this, but in the case of the Doom Patrol, the fact that they seemed to fight with each other and screw up more than they ever really saved anyone or agreed on anything made them more deserving of that moniker than most.
As the last new live-action show to launch on the streamer, Stargirl’s release strategy of also popping up over on The CW alongside the waning Arrowverse was a sign that things were in flux at DC Universe. By 2021, WarnerMedia shut the app down, moving its movie and TV programming over to the new streaming prize of the mega-corporation: HBO Max. Some of the DC Universe original programming would continue on HBO Max, though the future of those shows seemed less bright in that app’s crowded landscape where they suddenly had much fiercer competition to contend with. It turns out Lex Luthor is nothing compared to House of the Dragon.
Crisis on Infinite Arrowverses
Around the time DC Universe was shuttered (it would be relaunched as the comic book-only subscription site DC Universe Infinite in 2021), the Arrowverse over on The CW was also starting to run out of steam.
It all began with 2012’s Arrow, with the Stephen Amell-starring show soon spawning the first cohesive, shared live-action DC universe, several years before the Snyderverse attempted to do the same thing on the big screen. The spin-off The Flash debuted in 2014, starring Grant Gustin, Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl hit in 2015, the ensemble time-travel romp Legends of Tomorrow followed the next year, and Black Lightning, Batwoman, and Superman & Lois would get series runs too. Much-hyped crossovers between the shows also became an annual event.
The Arrowverse was always decidedly low-rent when compared to superhero movies. That almost goes without saying, though one must remember that the programs came from an era and type of TV that is quickly becoming a rarefied species. The CW shows were designed to appeal to a certain demographic and be made for a sustainable price, which is why we got eight seasons of Arrow, nine of The Flash, and seven (!) of Legends of Tomorrow. It’s simply not fair to compare their scope to, say, the Disney+ Marvel shows, which are continuations of the MCU movies not just in story, but also in budget and style.
But the folks behind the Arrowverse understood how to build a shared universe while also leaving plenty of room for each show to be its own thing. Sure, Grant Gustin’s superhero suit may not look as cool as Ezra Miller’s from his Flash solo movie, but which version of the character do you think folks will still be talking about a few years from now? Those shows left a big impact on a generation of fans and helped to point the way forward for shared universe storytelling.
That’s part of what was puzzling about the DC Universe slate, in fact, because those shows didn’t seem to be interconnected in any real way. The Doom Patrol kinda debuted in a Titans episode, but then we found out that it was an alternate universe version of the Doom Patrol, and that the version of them who soon followed on their own show were different iterations of the characters. OK…
It’s not that a comic book show has to be part of a shared universe, of course. But during this period, there seemed to be a lack of cohesive vision at the higher levels of DC leadership – let’s call it the “Where’s Our Feige?” c-suite. So by the time the Arrowverse began to peter out – Arrow ended in 2020, Supergirl in 2021, Legends in 2022, and The Flash earlier this year – nothing viable had been set up to replace them. (While Arrow and Supergirl died of “natural causes,” the other shows’ cancellations appeared to be the result of a decision from on high after the Warner Media/Discovery merger.) The DC Universe shows were simultaneously nearing their ends, with Young Justice fans left with yet another cliffhanger just as they had been when it was cancelled the first time back in 2013.
It all culminated in Doom Patrol’s last episode hitting earlier this month. Indeed, fans had feared that the final run of Doom Patrol episodes might never even see the light of day until James Gunn himself had to step in to allay those worries. (One can picture Gunn having to call someone at Max HQ and remind them that they still had those episodes sitting on a shelf, ready to go.)
As I write this, there is only one remaining DC live-action series on The CW: Superman & Lois, which its producers will tell you isn’t even really part of the Arrowverse. But that show will also be soon heading into its final season. And the sole surviving animated series from the DC Universe streaming service is Harley Quinn, which just got a Season 5 order.
Streaming Powers Activate! To Consolidate or Not Consolidate
Indeed, DC’s animation projects are still spread out among different networks and streamers, even while its live-action output contracts. Aside from Harley Quinn on Max, there’s My Adventures With Superman on Adult Swim (and Max), the J.J. Abrams/Matt Reeves series Batman: Caped Crusader which is in development for Prime Video, a Bat-Family series also planned for Prime Video, and James Gunn’s Max series Creature Commandos, among others.
Netflix is also in on things on the live-action Vertigo front (DC’s storied adult banner) with a second season of The Sandman in the works, a first season for Dead Boy Detectives (who were originally set up for an HBO Max spin-off in Doom Patrol, but have now been recast and will connect to Sandman instead), and a third and final run at the Robert Downey, Jr.-produced Sweet Tooth.
This continued dispersal of platforms for DC titles reminds one of not so long ago when you had a Batman show on Fox (Gotham), a Superman show on Syfy (Krypton), an Alan Moore adaptation on HBO (Watchmen), and a show about Batman’s butler on Epix (Pennyworth) – all at the same time at one point.
Of course, the DC live-action universe is getting a major overhaul from Gunn, with his Superman: Legacy movie reboot heating up for a 2025 release. The Authority (who?), the Bat Family, Supergirl, and our old friend from the DC Universe app, Swamp Thing, are all getting movies too. And on the TV side, Gunn has planned – in addition to the previously obscure freak-fest Creature Commandoes – Green Lantern, Booster Gold, and Themyscira (Wonder Woman's hometown) series, plus an Amanda Waller show and a return for his John Cena-starring series Peacemaker.
Those latter two seem to be among the sole survivors of the Snyderverse, though there are some other stragglers from the pre-Gunn era on the Max front. We've been hearing forever about a spin-off of Matt Reeves' The Batman for Colin Farrell's Penguin, as well as a Gotham PD and/or Arkham series, also based in the world of The Batman.
So on the one hand, the Gunn play appears to be to finally bring most if not all of the DC live-action universe under one roof at Max (who knows how long The Sandman really has left over at Netflix?). And just as the Snyderverse had run its course, perhaps the same was true for the Doom Patrols and Titans of a bygone era – let’s call it the “DC Universe Streaming Age of Heroes… Which Then Became the HBO Max, and then Just the Max Streaming Age of Heroes.”
At the same time, does putting all your shows on the same platform where they’re jockeying for space with NBA games, John Oliver, the latest Warner Bros. movie release, Nathan for You, 90 Day Fiancé, and – fuck it – The Sopranos really offer them the best chance for success? Can’t you just picture it? The Last of Us Season 3 versus Booster Gold – two shows enter, only one leaves.
I guess what it all comes down to is not a new idea: Somewhere along the way, streaming broke things. So maybe all that really matters for us, the people who watch these shows and love these characters, is how well the creatives behind series like Doom Patrol are bringing their stories to life. And if they can make me cry about a dying robot, at least we know something is still working right.
Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!
