doom patrol

Ryan Potter will portray Beast Boy/Gar Logan on the upcoming ‘Titans’ live action series, on Warner Brothers’ new DC Comics-based streaming service.  Thanks to his appearances on ‘Teen Titans’, ‘Teen Titans GO!’ and ‘Young Justice’, fans know Beast Boy as the “class clown” of the team.  This is a characterization that began when he first joined the main group in 1980’s ‘The New Teen Titans’ #1, but over time, readers discovered that his happy-go-lucky nature was a facade to hide the pain he carried inside due to tragedies of his past.

His parents were killed in Africa, but Gar had gained the power to transform into any animal, although his skin and hair turned green.  He was adopted by Rita Farr, the superhero known as Elasti-Girl, a member of the outcast superheroes, the Doom Patrol.  The Doom Patrol became Gar’s new family, but Rita and the other founders were killed in action, sacrificing their lives to save the small fishing village Codsville, Maine.

It appears that the Doom Patrol will have a presence on ‘Titans’ as well.  Potter and ‘Titans’ executive producer Geoff Johns, DC Comics’ chief creative officer, recently traded messages on Twitter that got fans buzzing:

It makes sense that if the show is going to delve into Beast Boy’s history that the Doom Patrol would factor in.  But how closely the series follows the comics remains to be seen.

Johns also mentions “Halo,” which could be a reference to the video game, but there is another possibility– DC has a character named Halo that could pop up on ‘Titans’.

Halo is mainly known as a member of the Outsiders.  Half-human, half-being of light, she can generate fields of energy, each with a different power: red=heat; orange=concussive force; yellow=blinding light; green=stasis; blue=holographic images; indigo=tractor beam; and violet=shares her consciousness with previous identities.  She can also fly and be reincarnated when she dies.

Halo was never a Titan but there are some connections between the Titans and the Outsiders.  Titans member Terra, secretly a mole for Deathstroke, was the half-sister of the Outsider Geo-Force.  Then in 2003, longtime Titans, Nightwing and Arsenal formed a new team called the Outsiders, but that was an entirely new team with no connection to Halo’s other than the inclusion of her teammate Metamorpho.

The Nightwing/Arsenal team also introduced the characters Indigo, Thunder/Anissa Pierce and Grace Choi.  Indigo (played by Laura Vandervoort) appeared as a villain on ‘Supergirl’.  Anissa Pierce and Grace Choi will be part of the cast of ‘Black Lightning’ which debuts on The CW next year.  Nafessa Williams plays Anissa, while Chantal Thuy plays Grace.

So while Halo may not be connected to the Titans in the comics, there’s a possibility she could still factor into the show.  It’s interesting that Johns mentioned Halo in a tweet mainly discussing Beast Boy.  Could Gar be getting a super powered love interest?

Are you excited to see the Doom Patrol or Halo on ‘Titans’?

‘Titans’ will premier on Warner Brothers’ streaming service in 2018.  The series stars Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson, Teagan Croft as Raven, Anna Diop as Starfire, Ryan Potter as Beast Boy and Leslie Gort as Detective Amy Rohrbach.  Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly have been cast as guest stars Hawk & Dove.