Firefly's Alan Tudyk Is Joining Doom Patrol To Play A Comic Book Villain
5 minutes ago
DC Comics' upcoming streaming service is stacking the superhero decks for its original series, including Doom Patrol. Unlike Titans, Doom Patrol has not yet received a premiere date, but there are still plenty of reasons to get excited. In case you need one more, then you should be happy to learn that Alan Tudyk of Firefly and Rogue One fame has signed on to play the series villain, Mr. Nobody.
In case you're not familiar with Mr. Nobody, don't worry. He's not exactly Lex Luthor or The Joker or one of DC Comics' other most impactful bad guys. That said, he could be the ideal villain to motivate any reluctant heroes in Doom Patrol to fight the good fight. In Doom Patrol, Mr. Nobody was originally known as a man named Eric Morden, but he lost the man he was before after experimentation by ex-Nazis in Paraguay after a war. The experiments are unknown, so it would make sense if nobody was able to find a cure to restore him to his previous state.
Eric Morden becomes Mr. Nobody, who Deadline describes as "a living shadow" capable of draining the sanity of the people around him. Given that he's totally insane himself, Mr. Nobody could be a very formidable foe. If the good guys can't get too close without risking their own sanity and they're dealing with a madman, they may not be able to predict what he plans to do. Given that Doom Patrol will be one of DC Universe's live-action shows rather than animated like Young Justice: Outsiders, we can probably expect Alan Tudyk won't particularly resemble the comic version of Mr. Nobody unless significant special effects are in play. Take a look at the Mr. Nobody of DC Comics:
If Doom Patrol does choose to present Alan Tudyk's Mr. Nobody as physically similar to the comics version, he may find himself back in a specially-designed suit, much as he was for his role in Rogue One. If that's the case, we can only hope that he doesn't suffer any burns like he did on the set of the first Star Wars anthology movie!
Interestingly, Doom Patrol is the second DC Comics-based series Alan Tudyk joined in the last couple of years. He had a major role in the enjoyable but short-lived NBC comedy Powerless. Perhaps Doom Patrol will be more of a hit with viewers. Ratings likely won't matter on DC Universe the same way they did on NBC, and Doom Patrol will have ties to at least Titans. Given that Titans is being presented as DC Universe's flagship original series, any connections to that project will undoubtedly be helpful.
Alan Tudyk joins a Doom Patrol cast comprised of Brendan Fraser as Robotman, Joivan Wade as Cyborg, April Bowlby as Elasti-Woman, and Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane. The heroes are called into action by Cyborg, who is a new kind of hero suited for the new digital age. Rejected by society due to their powers, they'll band together to venture into some of the most bizarre aspects of the DC world and clearly battle some oddball bad guys.
DC Universe will launch way sooner than we expected, although no date for a Doom Patrol premiere has been revealed at this point. For some superhero viewing options in the not-too-distant future, check out our fall TV guide.
