DC Universe is poised to become the place to be for streaming superhero shows, but its newest superhero series is not populated by conventional superheroes. The leads of Doom Patrol are only very reluctantly fighting the good fight so far, and Robotman isn't exactly Superman. Given that the Doom Patrol at this point seems kind of... well, doomed, Silas Stone isn't too keen on his son signing up. In fact, he wants Vic to join the Justice League as Cyborg.
Phil Morris, who plays Silas on Doom Patrol, weighed in on how the Doom Patrol is different from the Justice League for his character in the Doom Patrol universe, saying this:
[Silas] sees the Justice League as good science as opposed to bad science. He sees Niles Caulder as kind of a bit of a rogue operative. We've known each other very well through the years, we were compatriots on a certain level at a certain time. They took divergent paths. I think that Silas took the shiny bright path and Niles took the darker, more controversial path. And Silas has an opinion about that. Silas doesn't want his son connected to the darker morality of a Niles Caulder. He wants him connected to the shinier, brighter morality of the Justice League. With Superman and Batman, Green Lantern and Flash and Wonder Woman, as opposed to Robotman and Negative Man and Elastigirl and Crazy Jane. If you were an objective parent, it's a no brainer. And Silas sees himself as an objective parent, but he doesn't really know the Doom Patrol the way that we're going to know them in the show... Meeting Negative Man is just a little different than Green Lantern.
The Justice League has a reputation for being comprised of the best and the brightest superheroes in the Doom Patrol universe, although Dick Grayson over on Titans might disagree about Batman deserving a spot alongside heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman. In his first appearances on Doom Patrol, Silas has shown that he has ambitions for Vic to join the Justice League, and Vic seemed on board with his dad's plans... to a certain degree.
Silas doesn't just blindly support the Justice League over the Doom Patrol because the Justice League is shinier and brighter. As Phil Morris said, Silas has a past with Niles Caulder, a.k.a. The Chief. Doom Patrol hasn't yet revealed the extent of their past together, but their interactions made it clear that there had at least once been a close relationship between them, even if Silas was stiff with Niles when he showed up to deliver the replacement eye for Vic.
Vic was clearly comfortable with Niles in the flashbacks, so it makes sense that Vic would be drawn to the warmer, more welcoming scientist over his father, who always pushed him to be better. Phil Morris explained to CinemaBlend why Silas comes across as kind of a bad guy in how he expresses his deep love for his son.
Vic doesn't feel that he can trust his father, so he may not be able to feel that Silas does what he does out of love. Is Vic wrong to not trust his father? That remains to be seen. The objectively smarter path might be for him to stick with his dad and earn a spot in the Justice League; Vic simply isn't as objective as his father, and his dad's objectivity might come back to bite him. After all, he doesn't have all the facts about the members of the Doom Patrol.
Let it not be said that superhero shows have to lack for human drama! When asked if viewers can expect more of Silas Stone and Niles Caulder in Doom Patrol, Phil Morris said this:
I think so. Now, I don't know this, so I'm not giving anything away, but I don't think they would set that up if we're not going to try and explore what their history is together and where they went right and where they went left, and I'm thrilled to follow that thread, to take that journey.
There definitely seems to be a rich past between Silas Stone and Niles Caulder. Considering the hints from the donkey dimension that Silas may have tampered with Vic's memories to change his perception of what happened the night his mother died, where Silas and Niles diverged could definitely be worth delving into.
If Nobody wasn't lying and Vic finds out that his dad really did tamper with his memories -- with the best intentions or not -- then that could push Vic even further into Niles' Doom Patrol. Of course, Niles is currently missing and nobody knows what Nobody is up to with him, so any interactions between Niles and Silas may need to be via flashback for the foreseeable future.
Getting to understand how they became the men that they are could certainly help explain why Niles began taking in misfits and why Silas went in a very different direction. More of Phil Morris and Timothy Dalton sharing the screen as Silas and Niles can only be a good thing, right?
Phil Morris went on to explain what he and Timothy Dalton bring to Silas and Niles' dynamic:
I love Timothy. This was the first time I met him, and I'd always been told that he was a good man and he's a gentleman of the first order. Just lovely to work with, a lovely soul, and that's what he's bringing to Niles Caulder. It's a great kind of contrast to what I'm bringing as Silas, which is a much more cold and calculated character.
The two characters seem so different from each other in what viewers have seen of them together so far, so seeing more of them as friends and foils could certainly be entertaining. Even though Silas didn't appear to approve of Niles' somewhat casual attitude toward science (and punctuality), there was a sense that he respected Niles as a scientist.
Does Silas want Vic following in Niles' tracks with the Doom Patrol rather than the Justice League? Certainly not. It's a conflict that likely isn't ending any time too soon. Hopefully Doom Patrol will continue to be just as entertaining (and more than a little crazy) moving forward as in the early episodes. New episodes of the series premiere on DC Universe on Fridays.
If you're in the mood for more superhero action after you run out of Doom Patrol episodes, you can find the full first season of Titans streaming on DC Universe, as well as the first half of the long-awaited third season of Young Justice. For some superhero-free viewing options, check out our midseason TV premiere schedule.
