2012’s Arrow started a flood of superhero shows on network television and streaming alike that brought us hits like Daredevil, long-running stories like The Flash, and ambitious experiments like Crisis on Infinite Earths. One of the weirdest and best shows from that time, though, was DC’s Doom Patrol. With the show having just wrapped its fourth and final season, we now say goodbye to Cliff, Larry, Rita, Jane, and the other weirdos they met along the way.
The premise of Doom Patrol bears a striking resemblance to that of the X-Men at the surface level: A wise old man in a wheelchair lives in a mansion with a bunch of frustrated but superpowered individuals who have to come together as a team–despite their trauma and drama–to rise to the call of heroism in a world that hates them. But the similarities end there. Where X-Men claims to be a story about people living with their differences in the real world, though, it’s ultimately about extremely hot people having interpersonal drama, mostly with sexy powers. Truly different characters like Beast were vastly outnumbered by those like Cyclops, Jean Grey, Gambit, and Rogue.
Doom Patrol didn’t ask its characters to be sexy or even to be heroes, but it still loved them and wanted the best for them. Despite venturing deeper into weirdness than most shows are willing to even tease, Doom Patrol loved its characters first and foremost.