Doom Patrol Launched At Hollywood

By Josh Tyler: 2006-07-20 00:00:00

The modest box office takes of Superman Returns and Batman Begins haven’t been enough to slow down DC’s latest foray into the superhero movie business. They’re adding on another film franchise by bringing their superhero team Doom Patrol to theaters, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Originally created in 1963, the Doom Patrol was a group of super powered misfits brought together by a guy in a wheel chair. You might think DC was trying to rip off Marvel’s “Uncanny X-Men”, but the two comics debuted the same year. Doom Patrol team members include a paraplegic genius named the Chief; a stretchy woman named Elasti-girl; a bandaged guy with the power to release a silhouette of himself (lame power alert) named Negative Man; and Robotman, whose name is fairly self-explanatory.

Their villains weren’t much more creative. They fought an intelligent gorilla and a shape shifter named Madame Rouge. Really brilliant stuff.

DC describes the comic as being on the “edgier fringe” of its titles, which probably means they don’t sell many copies. The series has however had devoted fan support, managing to endure despite only niche popularity.

DC has partnered up with Warner Bros. again to produce the Doom Patrol movie, and they’ve hired Adam Turner to adapt a script. For DP fans the good news is that Turner is an experienced screenwriter. The bad news is that he’s experienced writing bad Stallone movies and unwatched Sci-Fi channel movies. He’s credited with the script for Drive and the made for television movie Area 52. It’s kind of like Area 51 only it’s the next warehouse over. Sort of like an alien hunting version of Life of Brian.

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Redundo Says:
July 20th, 2006 at 14:59
Too many superhero movies already!

Noriko Says:
July 20th, 2006 at 23:32
Jebus but this sounds awful. And it *does* sound like a lame X-men ripoff, no matter that the comics both debuted the same year!

Matt Says:
July 22nd, 2006 at 23:06
Alot of the various runs on Doom Patrol are terrible, but the Grant Morrison run from the early 90's is definently one of the best superhero stories ever.

Craig Says:
September 4th, 2006 at 15:44
I hope the screenwriters/ producers/ directors/ art department go back to the original 1960's material. There was NO other comic that captured my imagination like this book did! I LOVE the original Doom Patrol and want to see thier story told right.

I sincerely offer my help to the powers that be.

I've had some filmmaking success on a very small scale and always hoped to make the Doom Patrol movie if my name ever got big enough!

Mark Says:
January 6th, 2007 at 20:35
Just my two cents.... I think it can be a fabulous movie and a real money maker, as it definatly can have mass fan appeal. Negative Man and Robot Man can be rendered superbly with the new technologies avaiable but what is critical is the story. The story must reach outside the comic market and have the stuff that captivates and holds our attention. Marvel did this in a huge way with Spider-Man but completely missed it with the Hulk.
You cannot replace a good story and character development with special effects, no matter how good they seem. Story and character development are the life bloood of any movie.
As for the thought that the Doom Patrol copies the X-Men, that is a reverse truth. If you check your history you will find that DC published the Doom Patrol in My Greatest Adventure #80 with a June 1963 disribution date. Marvel copied the formula, made some changes and came out with the X-Men 3 months later. SO while X-Men was the first to the screen (and far more popular) the Doom Patrol were created first.

Matt Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 00:21
"Noriko Says:

July 20th, 2006 at 23:32
Jebus but this sounds awful. And it *does* sound like a lame X-men ripoff, no matter that the comics both debuted the same year!"

sorry but it is the other way around. doom patrol came out a few months before x-men. one of the writers of doom patrol (DC) soon after moved to marvel and created x-men (marvel)

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Doom Patrol Launched At Hollywood

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