Robotman (Cliff Steele)

Robotman (Clifford "Cliff" Steele, called Automaton in first two appearances) is a fictional character, a cyborg superhero in the DC Comics Universe. He is best known as a member of the Doom Patrol, being the only character to appear in every version of the team since he, and the team, were introduced together in June 1963.

For the Golden Age version, see Robotman (Robert Crane).
Robotman
Portion of the cover of Secret Origins Annual #1 (1987). Art by John Byrne.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceMy Greatest Adventure #80 (June, 1963)
Created byArnold Drake
Bruno Premiani
In-story information
Alter egoClifford "Cliff" Steele
Team affiliationsDoom Patrol
Justice League United
Notable aliasesAutomaton
Abilities
  • Superhuman strength, speed, and endurance
  • Superior sight, and hearing
  • Modified robot body grants:
    • Shapeshifting
    • Self-repair capabilities
    • Flight
    • Underwater travel
    • Wide array of sensors
    • Greatly enhanced senses
    • Ability to recharge itself via consumption of organic material

Robotman has appeared in numerous cartoon television shows and films. Robotman made his first live adaptation as a guest star on the Titans television series for DC Universe played by Jake Michaels. Riley Shanahan took over from Michaels in the role. He is part of the main cast of its spinoff Doom Patrol which is also on HBO Max. Brendan Fraser provides the voice of Robotman and portrays Cliff Steele in flashbacks in the series.

Publication history

Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.[1] According to Drake, the issue's co-writer Bob Haney was not brought on to the project until after Robotman was created.[2] He commented on the character's original name, Automaton:

That name was pretty stupid. I've been responsible for a lot of stupid things, but that was one of the stupidest, so, within two issues, I figured that out and changed his name to Robotman.[2]

At the time, Drake didn't realize that there had been a previous character named Robotman, published in 1942-1953 during the Golden Age of Comic Books. DC's previous Robotman also had a human brain.[3]

Robotman was the only original member of the Doom Patrol to appear with the team's second incarnation, which debuted in Showcase #94-96 (Aug. 1977 - Jan. 1978). The reboot was accompanied by Robotman getting a new body, which was designed by artist Joe Staton at writer Paul Kupperberg's request. Kupperberg explained

I was looking to update the strip, I suppose, [and] wanted to put my mark on it. There was nothing wrong with the original body designed by Bruno Premiani. In fact, ain't no one come up with a better design. Like the team's roster, I should have left that alone, too.[4]

Staton said he patterned Robotman's new body after a young John Byrne's fanzine contribution (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) of the robot character Rog-2000 "as a joke".[5]

Fictional character biography

Robotman is one of the founding members of the Doom Patrol, along with Negative Man and Elasti-Girl. He is unique for being the only character to appear in every version of the Doom Patrol.[6]

Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths

Cliff Steele became Robotman, initially dubbed Automaton,[7] after the daredevil and race car driver was in an accident during the Indianapolis 500, destroying his body. Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body.[8] After the operation, Cliff suffered from frequent depression because he viewed himself as less than human. A background serial in Doom Patrol #s 100, 101, 103 & 105 (December 1965 – August 1966, within 30 months of his introduction) retconned that Caulder made a mistake in the operation, causing Steele to go on a rampage, which Caulder corrected when he recruited Steele for the Patrol.

Sales of Doom Patrol had waned, and the creative team chose to kill off the entire team, including Robotman, in the final issue, Doom Patrol #121 (September–October 1968). The Doom Patrol sacrificed their lives to Madame Rouge and General Zahl (who pushed the actual kill button) to save the small fishing village of Codsville, Maine.

In Showcase #94 (Sept. 1977), it was revealed that Cliff's brain had survived and that Will Magnus, the robotics expert who created the Metal Men, had recovered Cliff's brain and built him a new body. Cliff then joined a new Doom Patrol headed by a woman claiming to be Niles Caulder's wife Arani. Refusing to believe that Niles was dead, she formed this new team to search for him and took his place as leader, calling herself Celsius due to her heat-and-cold-based powers.

Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths

Robotman's origin remained largely the same as his pre-Crisis origin save for the fact that it was revealed that Niles Caulder had caused the accident that destroyed Cliff Steele's body. Cliff Steele was born in Brooklyn.[9]

This team was eventually almost all killed in action, with Cliff voluntarily committing himself to an asylum in Doom Patrol (Vol. 2) #19 (Feb. 1989), having fallen into a state of depression due to his condition and the loss of his teammates. In particular, he was angry about being in a metal body and unable to enjoy the feeling and senses that humans take for granted. Caulder sent Magnus round to try to help Cliff. Magnus introduced him to a person with "worse problems than [his]": a woman called Crazy Jane. Cliff became Jane’s guardian, eventually falling in love with her. Near the end of Grant Morrison's creative run on the title, Robotman’s human brain was revealed to have been replaced with a CPU, making him a robot in reality.

In Rachel Pollack's creative run, Cliff's artificial brain began to malfunction so Dorothy Spinner's Imaginary Friends "rebuilt" Cliff's old brain.[10]

Cliff later met and began a relationship with a bisexual, transgender woman named Kate Godwin. At one point, Kate and Cliff merged and shared his memories.

Blackest Night

In the Doom Patrol's Blackest Night tie-in storyline, Robotman and Negative Man are attacked by Negative Woman, who has been revived as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. While they try to fight off their former comrade, Cliff is approached by his own brainless corpse, which has also been revived as a Black Lantern.[11] Cliff correctly surmises that the ring powers his corpse, but finds removing it only causes a new body to regenerate instead. He and Negative Man trick the Black Lanterns into entering a warp gate to a JLA checkpoint then try to put the incident behind them.

The New 52

In The New 52 reboot, a different version of the character debuted in the My Greatest Adventure miniseries in October 2011, written by Matt Kindt. This version of Cliff Steele is an adventurer and daredevil who agrees to be injected with experimental nanomachines designed to improve and repair his body. When he is involved in a fatal car crash during a high-speed race, the nanomachines respond by creating a robotic body in order to encase and protect his still living brain. Though he is initially distraught over his condition, the nanomachines prevent him from being able to kill himself. After coming to terms with his new body, he becomes a freelance hero, assisted by a woman named Maddy, who was involved in the nanomachine project and blames herself for Cliff's condition.

Cliff has since re-appeared as a supporting character in the Metal Men comic featured in the Legends of Tomorrow anthology.

DC Rebirth

In the "DC Rebirth" reboot, Cliff has reappeared as a member of the latest incarnation of the Doom Patrol, in the iteration both his origin and romance with Crazy Jane return. When the universe was reset after the events of Milk Wars, Cliff regained his human body.

Powers and abilities

Cliff's original mechanical body possessed superhuman strength, speed, and endurance. It was also equipped with electromagnetic feet that enabled him to scale metal walls, heating coils in his hands that enabled him to melt metals, an oxygen tank that could sustain his brain in an emergency, and a video communicator strapped to his chest that allowed Caulder to maintain contact with the team in the field, complete with visual information. Later bodies have featured various other functions, such as tools and weapons systems.

In the early comics, Cliff boasted of superior sight and hearing, though at the start of Grant Morrison's run, he complained of the crudity of mechanical senses as compared to human ones.

The post-Flashpoint version of Cliff's robotic body is nanomachine based, allowing him to change its shape and abilities when needed. In addition, the nanomachines allow his body to repair itself from even the most severe damage. He is capable of flight, as well as underwater travel. His body boasts a wide array of sensors as well as greatly enhanced senses, and is able to recharge itself by consuming and processing organic material.

In other media

Animation
Robotman as depicted on Teen Titans.
  • Robotman has appeared in the two-part Teen Titans episode "Homecoming", voiced by Peter Onorati. He is shown as a member of the Doom Patrol along with overseer Mento, Elasti-Girl and Negative Man. It was revealed that he was the second Robotman in "Homecoming: Part 1", when Beast Boy called him "Cliff", referencing his real name. In the TT origins episode "Go" Beast Boy referred to Cyborg as "Robotman 2.0".
  • Robotman (alongside Doom Patrol members Chief, Negative Man, and Elasti-Girl), made an appearance in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "The Last Patrol!", voiced by Henry Rollins.[12] In this version, he has become very downcast about the fact that he is almost indestructible and is constantly trying to commit suicide. Following the Doom Patrol's break-up, he ended up being a crash dummy for a car company. While walking out by the docks, he has a run-in with Arsenal and dares Arsenal to finish him off. Just then, Batman and the Doom Patrol arrive and help fend off Arsenal before being hit with knock-out gas by General Zahl. He and the other Doom Patrol members sacrifice their lives to stop the bomb at Codsville.
  • Robotman appears in the "Doom Patrol" segments of DC Nation Shorts, voiced by David Kaye.
  • Robotman appears in the third season of Young Justice, voiced by Khary Payton, the voice of Cyborg in the Teen Titans series.
  • Robotman appears in Teen Titans Go!, voiced by Flula Borg.

Live-action
  • Robotman appears in the series Titans, performed by Jake Michaels and voiced by Brendan Fraser.[13]
  • Robotman appears in the spin-off series Doom Patrol, performed by Riley Shanahan and voiced again by Brendan Fraser who also portrays Cliff in flashbacks.[14]

See also

References
  1. Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  2. Browning, Michael (July 2013). "The Doom Patrol Interviews: Arnold Drake". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (65): 38–41.
  3. Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  4. Browning, Michael (July 2013). "The Doom Patrol Interviews: Paul Kupperberg". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (65): 43.
  5. Johnson, Dan (April 2014). "Showcase Presents... Again". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (71): 51.
  6. Beatty, Scott (2008), "Doom Patrol", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 109, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
  7. Robotman (1963) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015.
  8. Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 129. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  9. Secret Origins Annual vol 2 #1 (1987)
  10. Irvine, Alex (2008), "Doom Patrol", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 61–63, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015
  11. Doom Patrol (Vol. 5) #4
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-05-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. Burlingame, Russ (February 22, 2018). "'Titans' Casts the Doom Patrol's Robotman (Exclusive)". Comicbook.com. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  14. Shaw-Williams, Hannah (August 21, 2018). "DC Universe's Doom Patrol TV Show Casts Brendan Fraser as Robotman". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  15. Martin, Michileen (January 15, 2020). "Every Crisis on Infinite Earths cameo ranked". Looper. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
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