If you think the Doom Patrol is weird, you should see their enemies. Robotman, Elasti-Woman, Negative Man and the rest have always been the misfits of the DC Universe, thanks to their strange powers, abstract adventures and eccentric personalities. However, the team seems downright normal when you compare them to their villains. After all, how do you fight someone who is a generalized idea? Or a stinky pair of legs? Let’s take a look at six of the weirdest Doom Patrol villains.
(Oh, a quick note before we begin. Many of you already know about the high-profile weirdos like Mr. Nobody, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man and Candlemaker. Oh, and those Were-Butts from the HBO Max series. Instead of spotlighting villains who are already notable, we’re going to look at some of the more obscure and deranged enemies.)
Codpiece
That’s right, this list is starting with the guy who has a cannon attached to his crotch, so you know it’s only going to get stranger from here. What drives a man to attach a giant weapon to his groin? Before becoming Codpiece, the unnamed criminal was rejected by his high school crush, who called him small. She was referring to his height, but Codpiece thought she meant his other assets and decided to compensate by attaching a cannon to his costume in a way that would do Freud proud. In addition to shooting missiles, the crotch-weapon also has a boxing glove and lock pick, because it’s always good to be prepared, I guess. Codpiece takes on the Doom Patrol in 1993’s Doom Patrol #70 and the team is easily able to defeat him because it turns out it takes more than a giant gun in the stupidest place possible to be an effective villain.
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy has one of the strangest designs ever seen in the DC Universe. His face is a comb with Scrabble tiles, and he’s surrounded by seven floating heads that constantly scream. The heads can smell fear and will attach themselves to their victims. Yankee Doodle Dandy was once a government operative named John Dandy, but he did some experimentation on himself, and as you can see, it had bizarre results. Dandy battles the Doom Patrol in 1991’s Doom Patrol #51-52.
50% Chad
50% Chad is a giant pair of hairy legs in white briefs and smelly socks. There’s nothing above the waist—just an unsettling sight of a giant pair of pantsless legs. Its superpower is its stench, which is so strong it can render his enemies powerless. Where did the legs come from, and is the other 50% running around somewhere? No one knows for sure. 50% Chad has no origin. He is merely 50% Chad. He debuted in Gerard Way and Nick Derrington’s Doom Patrol run and would go on to have an entire episode of Teen Titans Go! devoted to him.
Beard Hunter
Ernest Franklin was born with a hormone issue that prevented him growing a beard, so he decided to devote his life to ridding the world of all facial hair (which is a healthy response). Ernest christened himself as the Beard Hunter, donned a red jumpsuit and began murdering anyone with facial hair. Once his victims were killed, Ernest would shave their beards and place them on his jumpsuit as a trophy. He was killed during a confrontation with Niles Caulder in 1991’s Doom Patrol #45, but even death wouldn’t end his quest. Upon entering the afterlife, Ernest noticed that God had a beard and began plotting ways to kill him.
The Disappointment
The Disappointment is pure peak Doom Patrol nonsense: a cancelled toy-and-comic-book character named Haxxalon the Star Archer who got so thoroughly scrubbed from existence (thanks to some cursed green lightbulbs that gave kids “sublime cosmic visions” and then put them into catatonic states) that he became unstuck from reality itself.
With no legal right to even have a face—he’s usually portrayed as a blank white silhouette with the words “WITHHELD DUE TO COPYRIGHT” stamped somewhere on him—he wandered into the extra-dimensional corporate hellscape of Retconn, murdered the previous God of Superheroes and took the job. From there, he would spend his time trying to delete any universe that bored him (which was all of them), and kidnapping Rita Farr so she could play the role of the bride he never got to marry in the comic that was never finished. He then, in classic fashion, accidentally killed himself at his own wedding.
Number None
Number None might be the most abstract of all the Doom Patrol villains, which is really saying something. Number None isn’t a person—they’re an idea or concept of bad fortune personified. As Mr. Nobody explains in 1991’s Doom Patrol #50, “He’s the most elusive supervillain of all. Everybody and everything, at some time or another, is Number None. That’s why Number None can never be caught.”
Number None joins Mr. Nobody’s group the Brotherhood of Dada, or at least Mr. Nobody claims he did, since we really have no way of backing it up. However, during a battle between the Brotherhood and the Doom Patrol, Crazy Jane slips on a banana peel, which the other Brotherhood members credit to Number None. Maybe someone just forgot to throw their trash away? Then again, this is Grant Morrison era Doom Patrol, so this kind of villain is pretty on brand.
I’ll be honest, I tried to give this list some variety and not lean too heavily on Grant Morrison and Gerard Way’s villains, but those two creators really turned the weirdness level up to one thousand. With Darcy Van Poelgeest and Niko Henrichon as the latest Doom Patrol creative team, there’s no telling what kind of strange villains the team will face. Whatever comes next, one thing’s certain: normal has never been an option for the Doom Patrol.
The Doom Patrol by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Niko Henrichon can read on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE in both traditional and DC GO! formats.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Bluesky at @joshualapinbertone and on X at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC, Warner Bros. or Skydance, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
