Chief (comics)
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The Chief (Dr. Niles Caulder) is a fictional character from DC Comics and starred in the Doom Patrol comic.
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[edit] Fictional character history
[edit] Origins
Dr. Niles Caulder is a paraplegic gifted with a genius-level intellect. Caulder uses his scientific knowledge to develop numerous inventions and innovations that has made him wealthy. It was Caulder who organized the Doom Patrol to protect the innocent and fight crime, and try to teach humanity to accept others who live as ostracised "freaks," who have been radically transformed from terrible accidents. It was Caulder's genius that allowed the team members to survive (e.g., building Robotman's body, obtaining Negative Man's medicated bandages), and helped grant their freakishness and amazing abilities.
[edit] The manipulator
It was later revealed that since childhood, Caulder's interest in science came out of a need to create a better life came from stories he related to like "Frankenstein" and a children's book called "The Singing Ringing Tree". Both stories told of people who came from wealth and power. "Tree" is about a noble and a princess transformed into beasts from their life of privilege, and thus learn that truly important qualities come from within, and thus become more human and humane to society. "Frankenstein," because like the mad scientist, Caulder wanted to create better people than the imperfect world has given us. Proving at a young age to be both a brilliant inventor and engineer, Caulder began receiving funding from a mysterious benefactor who also wanted to see Caulder's goal be achieved, thus allowing Caulder to experiment with lesser forms of life. Much to his benefactor's relief, Caulder had succeeded in prolonging life, and eventually created a chemical that could achieve this. Ultimately it was revealed that the benefactor was a man called General Immortus, and had hired Caulder to create a chemical that would replace the one he was starting to run out of that had been prolonging his life for centuries. Caulder refused to continue the work for this villain which led to an encounter between the two men in which Caulder faked his death in their battle and destroyed an explosive device Immortus tried to attach to his spine (to force Caulder to continue his project) at the cost of his ability to walk. Ultimately, Caulder realised from his accident of his grander scheme and realised how he changed and could do the same to humanity by experimenting on human life, which is why he engineered the accidents that caused the original Doom Patrol members to gain their powers, since his personal philosophy was that true greatness such as he had read about could only come through tragic events. Towards the end of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, he was discovered to be working on a nanotechnology bomb that would destroy half the world and replace it with humans who would have been transformed into freaks of nature — his theory being that from the destruction would rise a better human race. He murdered the original Tempest, Joshua Clay, to protect his secret but the Doom Patrol succeeded in stopping his plans.
During these events, he was decapitated by a creation of Dorothy Spinner's known as The Candlemaker. Doctor Will Magnus of the Metal Men built a new body for the Chief, telling him that he should try helping the Patrol to make up for what he did. Becoming suicidal with guilt, the Chief stated that he could never do enough to make up for his actions, and used his new body to rip off his head. Magnus was able to save the Chief by getting the head to a cryogenic chamber, but after this the Chief existed solely as a severed head in a bucket of ice, feeding on milkshakes. He expressed remorse at his actions and rebuilt the Doom Patrol to continue their efforts in the war against weird crime.
[edit] A new start
After Superboy-Prime's pounding on the barriers to reality, certain events were rewritten, and Niles currently has his body back and still acts as the team leader. It has been revealed that he apparently still is responsible for the creation of the original members of the Patrol, though they claim to have forgiven him.
Caulder now seems to be intent on expanding the Doom Patrol's ranks; he has already convinced Beast Boy to return to the team, and Bumblebee and Vox to join. However, Robin doubts the Chief's motives, and after seeing him appear to manipulate Elasti-Girl, Robin accuses him of brainwashing the Doom Patrol by keeping them dependent on him. For his part, Caulder maintains that by joining the Doom Patrol, team members "won't have to be freaks anymore." However, later on when Caulder is overheard telling Kid Devil that his teammates don't like him and he should join the DP, the others finally see that he is controlling them with fear and self-loathing. While Caulder tells them that they need him, Mento finally takes off his helmet, allowing him to think clearly. Mento then informs the Chief that he is no longer their leader and if he ever speaks to Elasti-Girl or Beast Boy like that ever again, he would destroy the man's brilliant intellect. Shocked by this, the Chief rushed off to his lab.
In the following above Teen Titans story, it was also revealed that Niles brutally murdered the scientist who would become "The Brain" in order to force him to become Robotman. Brain also revealed that he and the Doom Patrol were not the only innocent humans whose bodies were mutilated against their will by Niles to create his own personal super-hero team. Three never before mentioned characters (Electric Blu, the Human Cannon, and Negative Girl) were said to be out there somewhere, having rejected Caulder for the damage he inflicted upon them.
