Robotman (Cliff Steele)

Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. According to Drake, the issue's co-writer Bob Haney was not brought on to the project until after Robotman was created. He commented on the character's original name, Automaton: That name was pretty stupid. I've been responsible for a lot of stupid things, but that was one of the stupidest, so, within two issues, I figured that out and changed his name to Robotman. Robotman was the only original member of the Doom Patrol to appear with the team's second incarnation, which debuted in Showcase #94-96 (August 1977-January 1978). The reboot was accompanied by Robotman getting a new body, which was designed by artist Joe Staton at writer Paul Kupperberg's request. Kupperberg explained: I was looking to update the strip, I suppose, [and] wanted to put my mark on it. There was nothing wrong with the original body designed by Bruno Premiani. In fact, ain't no one come up with a better design. Like the team's roster, I should have left that alone, too. Staton said he patterned Robotman's new body after a young John Byrne's fanzine contribution (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) of the robot character Rog-2000 "as a joke". ==Fictional character biography==

Robotman is one of the founding members of the Doom Patrol, along with Negative Man and Elasti-Girl. He is the only character to appear in every version of the Doom Patrol. Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Cliff Steele became Robotman, initially dubbed Automaton, after the daredevil and race car driver was in an accident during the Indianapolis 500, destroying his body. Niles Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body. This team was eventually almost all killed in action, with Cliff voluntarily committing himself to an asylum in Doom Patrol (vol. 2) #19 (February 1989), having fallen into a state of depression due to his condition and the loss of his teammates. In particular, he was angry about being in a metal body and unable to enjoy the feeling and senses that humans take for granted. Caulder sent Magnus round to try to help Cliff. Magnus introduced him to a person with "worse problems than [his]": a woman called Crazy Jane. Cliff became Jane's guardian, eventually falling in love with her. Near the end of Grant Morrison's creative run on the title, Robotman’s human brain was revealed to have been replaced with a CPU, making him a robot in reality. In Rachel Pollack's creative run, Cliff's artificial brain began to malfunction so Dorothy Spinner's Imaginary Friends "rebuilt" Cliff's old brain. Cliff later met and began a relationship with a bisexual, transgender woman named Kate Godwin. At one point, Kate and Cliff merged and shared his memories. Blackest Night In the Doom Patrol's Blackest Night tie-in storyline, Robotman and Negative Man are attacked by Negative Woman, who has been revived as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. While they try to fight off their former comrade, Cliff is approached by his own brainless corpse, which has also been revived as a Black Lantern. Cliff correctly surmises that the ring powers his corpse, but finds removing it only causes a new body to regenerate instead. He and Negative Man trick the Black Lanterns into entering a warp gate to a JLA checkpoint then try to put the incident behind them. The New 52 In The New 52 reboot, a different version of the character debuted in the My Greatest Adventure miniseries in October 2011, written by Matt Kindt. This version of Cliff Steele is an adventurer and daredevil who agrees to be injected with experimental nanomachines designed to improve and repair his body. When he is involved in a fatal car crash during a high-speed race, the nanomachines respond by creating a robotic body to encase and protect his still living brain. Though he is initially distraught over his condition, the nanomachines prevent him from killing himself. After coming to terms with his new body, he becomes a freelance hero, assisted by a woman named Maddy, who was involved in the nanomachine project and blames herself for Cliff's condition. Cliff has since re-appeared as a supporting character in the Metal Men comic featured in the anthology series Legends of Tomorrow. Young Animal In the "Young Animal" reboot, Cliff reappeared as a member of the latest incarnation of the Doom Patrol. In the iteration both his origin and romance with Crazy Jane return and saw Cliff and the new Doom Patrol protect Danny, a sentient 'world' within an ambulance, and the many citizens within Danny. When the universe is reset in Milk Wars, Cliff briefly regains his human body. Unable to re-adapt to his old life, Cliff drives himself off a cliff, destroying his biological body and returning to a robot one. During the Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds story arc Cliff constantly upgraded his new robot body so that he could better protect others, stemming from his insecurities about failing to protect others and being unable to live a 'normal' life. Cliff's upgrades escalated until he became an entire planet that threatened to integrate entire worlds within him so that they would be 'safe from hurt'. Cliff was eventually persuaded to stop by Jane, who helped to deconstruct him into a childlike robot body so that she could better emotionally heal him. ===Dawn of DC=== In the Knight Terrors event, Insomnia traps several members of Justice League Dark in his Knightmare Realm. Remaining awake through the chaos, Zatanna magically summons Robotman and defends Wonder Woman and Detective Chimp from Insomnia's Sleepless Knights and Sleeping Queen. ==Powers and abilities==

Cliff's original robotic body possesses immense strength, stamina, durability, and speed. It was equipped with electromagnetic feet that enables him to scale upon metal walls, heat coils in the palms capable of melting dense materials, and an oxygen tank for sustaining his brain. Robotman once utilized a mobile video transceiver strapped on his chest plate to keep in constant communication with the team. Later bodies have featured other various functions, such as tool and weapon systems. Before the operation, he had excellent racing skills. The New 52 version of Cliff's original robotic body is nanomachine-based, allowing him to change its shape when needed or repair itself from even the most severe damage. He is also capable of flight and underwater travel. After becoming human and destroying his body again, his new one was constructed by Keeg Bovo, who programmed it to unlock different upgrades whenever Robotman performs a good deed, such as self-duplication and elemental control. ==In other media==

Television '' • Robotman appears in the Teen Titans episode "Homecoming", voiced by Peter Onorati. • Robotman appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "The Last Patrol!", voiced by Henry Rollins. • Additionally, the Doom Patrol incarnation of Robotman (see below) appears in the episode "Game Over", with Riley Shanahan replacing Michaels. • Robotman appears in Doom Patrol, portrayed by Riley Shanahan and voiced again by Brendan Fraser, who also portrays Robotman in flashbacks. This version lost his body in a car accident and left behind a daughter, Clara, who was adopted by Bump Weathers, a member of his pit crew. • The Doom Patrol incarnation of Robotman also appears in the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths" via archive footage of a deleted scene from the first season. Film Robotman makes a cameo appearance in Justice League: The New Frontier. ==References==