As part of their Rainbow Crew interview series, Matt spoke with Digital Spy to discuss his heroic role in Doom Patrol. The first three episodes of the new season are available to stream now on HBO Max!
Matt Bomer wasn’t planning to star in a superhero show. He had just finished up Boys in the Band on Broadway when DC approached him for the role of Larry Trainor. As Bomer puts it, “Doom Patrol came out of left field,” and that’s rather fitting given how wild this show actually is.
Based on comics first written in 1963, the “World’s Strangest Heroes” are misfits in every sense of the word. Not only do their bizarre powers alienate them from the world at large, but the Doom Patrol franchise has always been an outlier too, often sidelined in favour of more ‘appealing’ outsiders like the X-Men.
That’s starting to change now though thanks to the Doom Patrol TV show. Inspired by Grant Morrison’s relentlessly weird run from the late eighties, this new adaptation subverts superhero tropes by incorporating Dadaist elements of abstract surrealism… and that’s exactly what appealed to Bomer in the first place.
“I think we’re living in an era of episodics where, you know, the more unique, the better! There’s so much content out there. So, I hope the show continues to get weirder and weirder.”
Given what we’ve seen of season two so far, it’s safe to say that Bomer’s got his wish. Following on from all those carnivorous butts and the cockroach kisses of season one, new episodes include a super-powered ape-faced girl and Doctor Tyme, a disco-loving time traveller who wears a clock for a head.
That’s a lot to absorb for even diehard comic-book fans, but as Bomer points out, these “bizarre, offbeat” stories are actually grounded in something far more universal:
“As much as it’s a fun superhero show, Doom Patrol is really about the human condition, and the capacity for even the most marginalised amongst us to find our inner hero.”
Watching Robotman contend with his shitty past or Rita struggle with her self-worth, it’s clear that each member of the team is deeply flawed in some way, much like we all are, and it’s this trauma which grounds Doom Patrol, transforming it into something truly special.
You can read the full interview at Digital Spy!