- "All these little accident seem random, but maybe I had to become a race car driver, swerve, see my wife cheating with Bump, get in a wreck caused by a mad scientist, be reduced to a brain in a tin can and a come live in this dump with my wacky roommates, you know? Maybe it's some grand scheme designed by the cosmos that brought me to Salty Bumps to fight an alligator so I could with Clara and meet my amazing grandson Rory. Dont' you see? I had to die, go to the afterlife, see my asshole dad, become a zombie, only to realize I wanted to be a better person. Not for me, but for Clara and Rory."
- —Cliff Steele[src]
Clifford "Cliff" Steele (May 23, 1956[2] - 2022) was a former race car driver who got into a car accident engineered by Dr. Niles Caulder, the late father of Clara Steele, the husband of the late Kate Steele and the late grandfather of Rory. While Cliff's body was decimated beyond repair, Caulder was able to salvage his brain and placed it into a robotic body, forming a father-daughter bond with her roommate, Jane. When the Chief was kidnapped by Mr. Nobody, Cliff and his friends, Jane, Rita Farr, Larry Trainor, and Vic Stone, started searching for him.
Cliff visited Florida to reunite with his daughter, Clara, but Cliff was unable to reveal the truth to Clara because he was nervous. When they confronted Nobody, Cliff and the team found out that Niles was responsible for their accidents, causing him and the others to get upset with Niles and split up. But once again the team came together to save Dorothy Spinner, but by saving her they became diminutive in size.
Returning to his normal size, Cliff tried to work things out with Clara to no avail and Cliff worked alongside Chief to try to feel again. Upon learning that Clara discovered the truth, Cliff and Clara reconciled. Cliff and the team went to a fair to help Niles and Dorothy, but were defeated by Candlemaker. After returning to normal, Cliff was present for the birth of Clara's son, Rory.
When he began to suffer from Parkinson's, Cliff began using pills to heal himself while helping the team and Laura De Mille stop the Sisterhood of Dada. Cliff tried to be a good grandfather. After the Eternal Flagellation ended, Cliff promised his daughter to give up the pills, but he was kidnapped by the Brotherhood of Evil, who took his robot body from him. Upon obtaining a giant body, Cliff and the team decided to become superheroes, the Doom Patrol, taking the alter-ego Robotman.
After receiving a feeling finger, Cliff thought about meeting Rory for the first time, but upon seeing that his future self was killed by zombies Butts, Cliff and the team sought to reverse the grim future. Cliff did his best to return to his grandson, reaching the point of giving his longevity to the deity Immortus, making the team angry with him, but he was able to redeem himself after allowing himself to be helped by the others and fought alongside them against Immortus and the Butts. Following Rita's death and the breakup of the Doom Patrol, Cliff returned to Florida to visit his family and spend time with Rory before passing away peacefully from Parkinson's.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Cliff Steele was born in May 23, 1956 to R.J. Steele and a unnamed woman.
When Cliff was 6 years old, he went to Catholic school forced by his father and did not have any friends so he made an imaginary friend, Jesus Christ but their friendship would not last long since his father had taken him out of school and his father promised to take him out because he was going back to his mother (which was a lie) which made Cliff forget about his friend imaginary.[3]
In sixth grade, Cliff believed that time travel was real, but seeing that it wasn't real, Jimmy Decker pulled Cliff down his pants and started calling him a small penis.
Cliff’s pregnant girlfriend, Kate, makes Cliff disinvite his own father to their wedding. It doesn't go well and it's apparent that he didn't have a great relationship with his father.[4]
Years later, Cliff was married to Kate, with whom he had a daughter named Clara. Every day, Cliff left Clara in his car while he drank and slept with girls. Returning to the car every day, Cliff felt nothing when he saw his daughter.
Losing his body[]
The Car Accident[]
Pre-acident.
At one point, Cliff was a famous race car driver. Once a loving father and husband, his fame and success went to his head and he began to neglect his family and involved himself in multiple affairs, including one with his daughter’s nanny, Giselle. During one of these races in 1988, he found out his wife Kate was having an affair with his best friend Bump as a form of revenge for Cliff's infidelity. Distracted by this revelation, he nearly crashed into another car, sent out of control by the Chief to mutilate Cliff and make him immortal, but managed to dodge it at the last minute, thus gaining the lead and winning the race.[1]
Cliff after assaulting Bump.
After the race was over, Cliff assaulted Bump with his trophy and once again had sex with Giselle. However, Cliff felt guilty for his treatment of his family and wanted to reconnect with them. He called Kate, leaving a voicemail in which he promised to be better for them, which spurred Kate to answer his call. Kate decided to give him another chance and allowed Cliff to pick up both her and her daughter that same night. While driving, Cliff was distracted by his family and not focused on driving. He heard his wife scream his name right before he noticed a semi truck that had jack knifed in the road. Once again, the accident was purposely caused by Caulder in a second, note successful, attempt at destroying Cliff's human body. The car plowed under the truck's trailer, decapitating Kate and destroying Cliff's entire body, save for his brain, which was recovered by Dr. Niles Caulder.[1]
Revived by Dr. Caulder[]
In 1995, Cliff's body was completed and he was awakened by Niles in his home. He met Rita Farr and Larry Trainor, who tried to help him adjust to his new body and home. Cliff believed the accident that destroyed his body was the car landing on him in his final race. After Larry helped him walk, however, listening to a recording of his voice reawakened the repressed memories of what really happened. This realization drove him into hiding in his room for years. Larry brought him a set of remote control cars to play with, which he at first ignored, but by 2019, he'd assembled them and possibly implemented some additions of his own.[1]
Living at Doom Manor[]
Cliff meet Jane.
On one occasion, Cliff was interrupted by Crazy Jane's return to Doom Manor, who, while Hammerhead was surfaced, obnoxiously made a scene, threatening to come into Cliff's room and break his cars. Later, Jane was personally introduced to Cliff while painting outside. Jane mentioned that Hammerhead had told her about her altercation with Cliff. Cliff, however, apologized to Jane, explaining that he had been a "little on edge" with the approach of his deceased daughter's nearing birthday. Jane spent the rest day painting until the Hangman's Daughter took over and conversed with Cliff in the rain. Soon after, Dr. Caulder went on a trip, leading Jane to convince the group to head into town in Larry's bus. While in town, Jane took Cliff to a toy shop, so that he could find a gift for his daughter. Shortly after, they took a seat on a bench, and Cliff admired Jane's smoking, wishing he could have one himself. Hammerhead soon surfaced after Cliff moped about his daughter, claiming that she was still alive, prompting some police officers to approach. She began to get aggressive, but they were interrupted by Rita, who had become a blob that was moving across town. Cliff hurried over, pulling up a piece of road, and stopping her in her tracks. Once the Chief returned, seeing the damage, he scolded the group.
"Oh, fuck me."
In rebuttal, Cliff expressed his anger that he'd been lied to about his daughter. The Chief explained that they had brought enemies to the town, and so they made plans to leave. However, Cliff refused, and made his way into town on foot, while the rest took the bus away. They changed their minds, though, and joined Cliff. Arriving in the middle of town, Dr. Caulder stayed on the bus, while the rest joined Cliff in observing an unusual albino donkey. The donkey suddenly farted a large amount of gas, which spelled out "The Mind Is The Limit" in the sky, before a portal opened up in the ground, compliments of Mr. Nobody.[1]
Search for the Chief[]
Meeting Cyborg[]
Cliff, Jane, Rita and Larry see the vortex.
After seeing how Mr. Nobody's portal devoured all of Cloverton and Jane Cliff is surprised and Larry and Rita return to the Doom Manor to leave. Cliff chases the albino donkey to find out what happened and meets Victor Stone and argues with him and see how the donkey vomits jane.
Cliff argues with Vic.
He arrives with Vic carrying Jane and Cliff and Vic see how Jane changes her personality and from her experience that she saw in Mr. Nobody's albino donkey and Vic talks to Jane in Baby Doll and Cliff investigates Niles's room and sees everything about him subway and see the videos seeing that Jane does not like to be interrogated and goes up the elevator to save vic and fight against jane and talk to her who knows everything about the subway and Vic arrives and saves Cliff.
While Rita, Larry and Vic went to the stomach of the donkey she was taking care of jane trying to talk to her giving her some sandwiches as she gave them to Clara when she was a human.Then when the negative spirit frees everyone from the donkey and returns cloverton to normal He asks them if they know anything about Niles and Vic answers that they only know that he is alive and Cliff thinks about calling Clara.
Trip to Paraguay[]
Cliff sees the descendants of Von Fuchs.
He and Vic managed to find a clue of where Niles could be and is present when Vic talks about Eric Morden and the Brotherhood of Evil and they decide to travel to Paraguay to discover Morden's truth and travel on the bus arguing and because of the negative spirit they collide with a pole and they sleep in a motel and Cliff thinks about calling his Daughter. Then when they are ready he says that they do not force people to do things they do not want and Flit teleports Cliff and Larry to Paraguay and they meet Steve Larson and they go together to Fuchtopia and they see how Niles stole Morden's charm of logenvity that he had given Von Fuchs and Cliff talks to a Fuchtopia administrator and he doesn't even know what it is and he just wants to feel things again, then he meets the von Fuchs descendants and fights them and kills them all and then he, Jane and Larry go back to the motel saying they didn't achieve anything and got on Vic's jet and went back to the manor and Cliff decided not to call Clara.[2]
The Decreator[]
After the team discussed where to look for Niles, a stranger arrives at the mansion looking for Niles to warn him about the Cult of the Unwritten Book. In Niles' office, the stranger introduces himself to everyone as Willoughby Kipling and explains that the cult wants to destroy the world by reading a book to invoke the Eye, the Decreator. Almost everyone decides to help him and Kipling opens a portal for them to take the book, turning out to be a boy. When they manage to rescue him from his mother and bring him to the mansion, Kipling tells them that he must burn his body to prevent them from reading it, since closing the doors of Nurnheim would be more difficult. They all decide to save the boy and Kipling explains that then they would have to go to Spain where the person with the stigma is and sew up the wounds that lead to Nurnheim. Cliff decides to go with Hammerhead while the others protect the boy.
In Babia, Hammerhead tells Cliff that she is upset with him because she saw the carnage he did in Paraguay. In the Church of Babia, Cliff and Hammerhead find the priest with the stigma, but end up being teleported to Nurnheim because she lost her temper remembering her trauma. Once there, they are both captured by the Hoodmen.
Cliff meets the Archons.
Cliff and Jane are brought before the High Priestess of Nurnheim, the Archon Mother, who turns out to be the boy's mother. The archon boasts that they will soon have the boy and that they can see everything, no matter the enchantments. When Cliff criticizes her for being a bad mother, the Archon Mother explains that everything is perception. First, he teaches them that Cliff sees himself as human and Jane as broken glass. Then, he shows them how they see the other, Cliff being a bloody robot and Jane his daughter Clara. Finally, he shows them what they really are, Cliff being a brain and Jane a scared girl.
The Archon lets go of Kay and Cliff, when they leave the cathedral they recover their original forms, in addition to discovering that they are in a snowball. In Snowball, Cliff is too upset about the situation and takes it out on Penny Farthing's personality. Later, Cliff regrets it and wants to thank Kay's personality, but she's gone. While walking through Nurnheim, Jane listens to music and a lady introduces herself as Marilyn and claims to know Jane. Cliff does not understand what is happening until Marilyn tells them to ring the bell causing the personality of Dr. Harrison to appear. At that moment the Archon arrives with the Hoodmen, but Marilyn distracts them by sacrificing herself while Harrison and Cliff escape and manage to ring the church bell.
After this, the snowball explodes and Jane and Cliff are freed, while the Recreator appears in the sky, reversing everything the Decreator did. When everything was settled, Niles, who had been freed by Mr. Nobody to help get rid of the cult, tried to say goodbye to the team before returning to Mr. Nobody. They all refused to let me go back to him, but suddenly the villain appeared, slowing down time and taking Niles away without anyone being able to do anything. When time returns to normal, Vic's arm becomes overloaded and explodes from having previously activated it. Worried, Cliff presses the emergency button on Vic's neck to be able to help him despite his refusal to do so. Cliff finds his daughter's profile on a social network, but will only be able to see it if he becomes her friend. Later, he brings Jane some sandwiches and asks for her help with the social network, but she despises the gesture. Cliff asks Vic for help to see his daughter's profile, but he refuses to hack it and is upset with him for putting it in "safe mode".[5]
Helping Victor[]
Cliff, Jane, and Vic investigate the Doom Patrol.
Cliff finds his daughter's profile on a social network, but will only be able to see it if he becomes her friend. Later, he brings Jane some sandwiches and asks for her help with the social network, but she despises the gesture. Cliff asks Vic for help to see his daughter's profile, but he refuses to hack it and is upset with him for putting it in "safe mode". Shortly after, Jane goes with them and asks Vic what the Doom Patrol is, since Mr. Nobody asked him to look for them, but he does not know it. However, the three begin to investigate and discover that it is a group of superheroes active since the 50s, but that they ended up disappearing.
Shortly after Rita and Larry appear and she claims to know them. Determined to follow this lead, Flit teleports with Rita and Larry to meet the Doom Patrol, leaving Cliff and Vic alone at the manor. At the manor, Cliff watches a failed robbery attempt by the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man on television as Vic and his father, Silas Stone appear to him, who offers to repair him by making Cliff see that one of Vic's fingers they embedded themselves in his arm. After Silas retires to find his tools, Vic asks Cliff to watch over his father while he reboots him, and he accepts only if he helps him see his daughter's profile. As Silas removes Vic's finger, Cliff asks why he disdains Niles but he doesn't tell him much. When Silas asks for details of what happened, Cliff explains how Vic's arm exploded worrying Silas. Cliff tries to defend Vic's actions and the two begin to argue, but when Silas tells Cliff that he doesn't know what it's like to lose a son, Cliff contradicts him and calls him an arrogant moron.
As he leaves annoyed, Cliff tells Silas that he is the one who does not know what it is to lose a son. After everyone returns and Silas has finished repairing Vic, he appears to Cliff to return the favor by creating a fake account. Cliff thanks him and enters his daughter's account, puzzled to see a gallery of photos with the title "Daddy and me." Cliff is enraged when he realizes that the person who adopted his daughter was nothing more and nothing less than his ex-friend Bump. After flipping through photo after photo of his happy daughter with Bump, Cliff smashes the laptop furiously.[6]
Losing control[]
Cliff kept seeing on the laptop the photos of Bump with Clara and inadvertently Admiral Whiskers seeking revenge on Cliff entered inside him and Cliff walked throughout the Manor thinking and decided to go to the bus to retrieve Clara and kill Bump. Cliff tried to eat potatoes but remembered that he could not eat and was angry at Bump's house and attacked him angrily destroying all the trophies and Bump attacked Cliff by shooting him and Cliff shot the photos that Bump had with Clara and Cliff saw Clara and was shot down by "Bump" and Cliff saw that he was hallucinating and was actually fighting with Vic and when he saw "Clara" it was actually Jane and he also saw the Negative Spirit and Cliff saw everything he did and fell to the ground trying to cry for that he just wanted to see Clara and Cliff convinced everyone to do group therapy to solve their problems.
Cliff and the team in group therapy.
Once everyone gathered, Cliff told everyone that if they want to find Niles and be a team they will have to talk about their problems. Cliff was present at every confession of Rita, Larry and Vic and they saw the painting that Jane made of what Mr. Nobody showed him inside the Donkey and they were disturbed to see everyone dead in Vic's arms including Silas and Niles and Jane did not want to do more therapy and Cliff got upset and argued with her telling her that he is the only one who supports her in the Manor and that only one of his personalities falls on him which made Jane angry and Cliff saw Jane again as if she were Clara and Jane left the Manor and Cliff started to go crazy and saw Rita, Larry and Vic as Bump and Cliff attacked them and was shot down by Vic and Cliff turned off and the others watched as the Admiral came out of Cliff's mouth. Whiskers escaping and leaving the Manor and they realized that the rat was damaging Cliff's brain causing him to hallucinate and driving him crazy.[7]
Trip to the Underground[]
Returned to the Doom Manor, Cliff was with the others feeling guilty that Jane was trapped in his mind and Cliff said that he was going to save her somehow and the Negative Spirit left Larry and he used his powers to send Cliff inside the mind. from Jane. Already inside Jane's mind, Cliff was excited because he recovered his human body and very happy he went in search of Jane and found Driver 8 believing that she was Jane, waiting for help Cliff met with Hammerhead and Cliff was glad to see her and was attacked by her angry that Cliff should not be in the Underground and Cliff told him that he came to save her and was hit by Driller Bill and they both took him away to put Cliff in a cell.
Cliff was locked in a cell angry and was reunited with Karen and Karen believed that Cliff came to reconcile with Jane and Cliff told him that he came to save her and saw how Karen was released angry and Cliff hit the wall and saw that the wall could be destroyed and Cliff started hitting the wall to free himself and was helped by Jack Straw. Cliff managed to break the wall and spoke with "Jane" apologizing and was surprised by Penny Farthing and Penny revealed to Cliff that this is not Jane, it is just a memory and Cliff recognized Penny and Cliff and Penny teamed up to rescue Jane and prevent it from being thrown into the well.
Cliff is guided by Black Annis.
Cliff and Penny saw the memory of the time Jane and Cliff met for the first time and Penny told Cliff that since the day they both met it was the worst day in the Underground and Jane did not need any help, then they went to another I remember when Miranda (was the old principal) when he was in school and Cliff was terrified to see the other memories and they met Jane and Jane was upset because Cliff is on his mind and Cliff told Jane that he needed her help and Jane asked Cliff if he really is her friend to go away and Cliff and Penny decided to follow her and Cliff wanted to go to the well but Penny couldn't and Cliff was the only one and he met Black Annis and Black Annis told Cliff that men do not pass and Cliff was scratched on his face and saw his reflection as a robot and Cliff left his humanity behind and returned to his robot form and Black Annis let him pass. Cliff prevented Jane from jumping into the well and they both watched as Daddy came out of the well and Jane was scared and Cliff motivated Jane to face her father and stop being scared before him and Cliff was cut in half by Daddy and Cliff asked him Jane to run and Jane defended her friend by defeating Daddy and Cliff returned to normal and Cliff and Jane left the Underground and woke up at the same time that Larry and Cliff saw that everything was in chaos to which Vic and Rita replied that It is a long story and they asked Cliff what had happened and Cliff said that what he saw should not be told but the only thing to know is that Jane is fine.
Reunion with Clara[]
Cliff saw the news where they said that Bump was killed by the alligator known as Frances and that he would have a funeral in Florida and Cliff thought about going to support Clara and confess the truth. Jane called everyone for a meeting to search for the Chief and Cliff and Rita were the only ones to go and Jane said that they could never find Chief and that the message is sent by the damn and inutel Doom Patrol and Cliff said they are not the Doom Patrol and Jane said that if they could be if they work as a team and Cliff mentioned that he just wanted to go see Clara and Cliff asked Flit to take him to Florida and Flit teleported Cliff and Rita to Florida for Cliff to meet his daughter and Cliff and Rita went into the restaurant.
While Rita was living with the people, Cliff was looking for Clara and saw Clara who was now an adult and Cliff helped her to get up on the balcony to make her memorial for Bump and everyone heard Clara's words and Clara would have wanted to have the watch Bump's gold to treasure a part of his adoptive father and Cliff realized that the watch he won in a race was owned by Bump and it is inside Frances and Cliff decided to go and retrieve the watch and give it back to Clara and be a good dad.
Cliff is attacked by Frances.
Rita rowed the boat to help Cliff and Cliff walked through the swamp frustrated that Frances didn't show up and Rita asked Cliff to leave and Cliff didn't want to because it was the only way for Clara to accept him as a father and Cliff stood watching thinking if it was a good idea and Rita thought that Cliff had turned off and Cliff said that they should go now and Rita got excited and left the lake and Cliff stretched to go and saw something in the swamp and it was Frances and Frances He jumped to eat Cliff and Cliff took cover to restrain him and a furious Cliff tore Frances in two avenging Bump and retrieved the watch. Cliff came back to the restaurant bleeding after fighting with Frances and Clara saw that Cliff came back and told him to wait a minute to serve him and Cliff couldn't tell Clara the truth so Cliff just put the clock down and left and Clara came back and saw that Cliff wasn't there but at his table he found Bump's watch which made Clara cry.
Separation from the team[]
After the Chief's reveal, Cliff and the team went their separate ways. Cliff secretly brought Jane food on the bus every day.[8]
Saving Dorothy and Danny[]
Cliff and the team look at the painting.
That same night, Cliff was surprised by Jane giving him food, and she thanked him for the gesture, before agreeing to go with her to find the source of the strange music they have been hearing since morning. The duo rejoined the rest of the team at the manor, confronting Niles for calling them, discovering that Nobody locked Danny in a painting, refusing to help. Cliff and the team found out that Niles had a daughter, whom he hid in Danny because of the risk of the world being destroyed, and the team accepted only because of the daughter, except for Cliff, who ended up accepted because his friends would go, watching the painting face to face, managing to enter inside.
Inside, the team learned that Flex had helped the Dannyzens escape to safety, and were shocked to see a cockroach, Ezekiel, transformed into a giant. Cliff and the team confronted Nobody about what happened and then made a plan lead by Vic. Cliff, Niles, Vic and Jane went looking for the daughter at the Doll Hospital, but Cliff unexpectedly ran into Admiral Whiskers, and was eaten for him. Inside Whiskers, Cliff talked to him about accidentally killing Whiskers' mother and how he deserved a second chance with Clara, so he began to climb Whiskers's gorge, crossing between Ezekiel's French kiss and Whiskers, managing to enter inside the cockroach as part of the plan to escape. After Larry's radioactive explosion, Cliff and the team got out of Ezekiel and helped Jane up. The team met Niles' daughter, Dorothy Spinner, and then realized that they were in miniature size upon seeing Larry, and Cliff expressed his anger at being in miniature.[8]
The New Normal[]
Back to Normal[]
Cliff and the team in miniature size.
After months of being tiny, Cliff and the others had to get used to their new life as Niles and Larry searched for ways to make them grow again. Cliff spent his time using chunks of cheese to lure a rat that lived in the mansion,a rat he then proceeded to hit as soon as it got close to the cheese. While working on his toy car, Dorothy approached him and expressed her desire to drive with Cliff, who reluctantly accepted, during the ride
A small Cliff keeping track of his score with the rat.
Cliff began to have memories of his accident which worried Dorothy while releasing one of her Imaginary friends, which frightened Cliff and made him hurt her feelings in front of Niles, who implored him to take his anger out on him and not his daughter, but Cliff had no remorse now that he knew that The Chief was responsible for his accident.
Finding Dr. Tyme[]
Niles explains to Cliff, Jane and Rita that Dr. Tyme is encapsulated in a temporal sphere and that when they are in the capsule they must be alert. By using the Continuinium, Niles creates a wormhole through which they can go and return to Dr. Tyme's capsule. To get in, the three of them have to remember backwards as they did on August 8, 1980, Cliff lies saying that he had qualified for the Tampa Bay race while sleeping in his trailer. When the portal does not open, Cliff confesses that he was in a restaurant with his face on the breasts of a waitress, getting everyone to enter the capsule.
Cliff, Jane, and Rita enter Dr. Tyme's dimension.
Once inside, the three of them notice that Dr. Tyme's time capsule is a record from the 80s where "Bad Girls" always plays. Dr. Tyme invites Rita to dance while leaving Cliff and Jane free. At Dr. Tyme's party, Cliff gets fed up with "Bad Girls" and smashes the music to get Dr. Tyme's attention. Dr. Tyme becomes enraged and stops Cliff while Rita uses her powers to remove his helmet. However, Dr. Tyme falls to the ground and his helmet breaks, leaving his brain with the Continuinium inside.
Unwelcome Reunion[]
Cliff and Jane grab it, but are frozen reliving their past traumas over and over again. Rita moves Dr. Tyme's hands back and undoes what happened. With everything restored, Dr. Tyme expels them. Back at the manor, Jane blames Niles for the new trauma they have, Rita for turning them into a weapon that they are unable to finish the job and Cliff just watching silently and then retreating.
Cliff argues with the police.
At one point while Niles eats a breakfast that Dorothy made, Cliff purposely interrupts it as he still very angry with Niles. Niles, for his part chooses to tell him that he needs to work on himself. Thus, he and Jane decide to leave and head on a road trip to Florida to see Cliff's daughter, Clara. In Florida, Cliff goes to his daughter's home and tells her who he is and also discovers that she's pregnant. But this doesn't go particularly well, with Cliff overwhelming Clara. She closes the door on him, but he refuses to leave, resulting in the police coming after she called them.
Thus, Cliff realizes he's been selfish and eventually, he and Jane leave. Eventually, Niles after failing to repair Danny and begins working on a Robotman 2.0 for Cliff. Trying to feel more human, Cliff settles into a night of altered consciousness thanks to the Niles-supplied ecstasy flowing through the liquid where his human brain’s suspended. Some time passes and Cliff discovers Chief's plans for Robotman 2.0 which Chief explains would include a sense of touch, but they will take time to work out. Cliff eventually tells Vic about the Chief's plans to give him a sense of touch and they go to Detroit to talk to Vic's dad. While hanging out with Vic, Cliff imagines himself and Vic working as superhero duo and stopping crime. Eventually, he snaps out of it, when he witnesses an actual crime in progress, but his arm freezes as he tries to stop it and he accidentally severs the bad guy's finger which Cliff then keeps.[9]
Family bond[]
When Dorothy goes off to space, Cliff and the Chief use a spaceship to find her. The two of them then arrive at where Dorothy is currently located, the Chief tasks Cliff with getting Dorothy back. Cliff finds Dorothy making a grave and he sits with her. Dorothy reveals that she's making a grave for Manny, as he was the last thing she had left of her mother. Cliff then tells her about his daughter and says that she's not alone in her pain. They bond and head back to the spaceship together.
Dorothy and Cliff bond on the Moon.
After rescuing Dorothy and while they're still in space, Cliff tells Chief that he's down to be there for Dorothy as family and that they're ready to go home, but Chief says that they aren't going home and jettisons Cliff back to earth.[10] Cliff then returns to Earth, crashes through a billboard and decides to walk to Doom Manor.[11]
Cliff makes it home and finds Clara there waiting for him and mentions that she got Niles' confession tape in the mail, the two of them bond, Cliff realizing that Clara is marrying a woman. Seeing his daughter struggling with the fear of failing at marriage given his own bad record with them, Cliff reassures her with an awkward but ultimately well-meaning advice and before she leaves, Clara invites Cliff to her wedding.[12]
Against the Candlemaker[]
Cliff and the team arrive at the fair.
Just as Cliff was trying to figure out what to wear to his daughter's wedding along with Larry and Miranda, Herschel shows up in front of the team and tells them that they need to help Dorothy hold back the Candlemaker or humanity would go up on wax. While Cliff is reluctant about going to the mission at first the team convinces him, though he leaves a phone message to his Clara before going. The team goes to the fair and met up with Kipling who explains that Candlemaker has summoned all of their imaginary friends in order to stop them, they then decide to split up to find Niles and Dorothy.
Cliff's head gets waxed.
Cliff encounters his imaginary friend modeled Jesus, who attacks him despite Cliff hoping to talk things out, the two start a fight where Cliff loses an eye and one of his arms. Cliff and Jesus eventually patched things out after talking about how he forgot about him because his father had taken him out of school and promised he was going to change. Unfortunately, this was still the Candlemaker's doing and Cliff was busted apart by him before getting waxed.[3] Shortly after Dorothy controlled Candlemaker, Cliff and the others ceased to be wax, but Cliff's body was still destroyed and he was glad to learn that Niles died.
Brain problems[]
Becoming a grandfather[]
A week later, Cliff, thanks to Vic, returned to his body, but had complications moving his joints and realized that the problem is not the body, but his brain. Cliff was trying to investigate his brain problem until he was surprised by a Niles turned ghost, who asked Cliff to burn his body alive so that his spirit could continue on its way, but Cliff rejected the offer as he still hated him. Cliff argued with Niles about everything he did to her, but upon discovering that Niles was the one who sent the tape to Clara to make father and daughter reconcile, Cliff thanked Niles, but that didn't change things.
Cliff called Clara to apologize, but hearing moans, Cliff believed that she was busy, but was happy to discover that Clara is giving birth to her baby leaving Cliff shocked. Cliff was happy and wanted to announce to Jane that he would be a grandfather, but he was attacked by Daddy and Cliff and the others followed her to prevent her from committing suicide. When Jane was back to normal, Cliff and Jane shared a hug and the others joined in the hug with joy that Jane returned. Soon after, Cliff went to the hospital where he was reunited with his daughter and Cliff hugged his grandson, Rory, happily and his hand moved by itself which made Rory sleep and Cliff and Clara were happy.
Cliff is paralyzed at Clara's house.
Cliff started living with Clara and his wife, Melissa, to take care of Rory, but Cliff still had his paralysis problems, but he didn't care. Being paralyzed on the grass next to Rory, Cliff spoke to Melissa saying that he was fine and Clara and Melissa took Rory to the house to put him to sleep. Some time later, Cliff was still paralyzed and talked to Clara, who believed that he could have Parkinson's, but Cliff believed he was sure because he was a robot except that robots with brains could have Parkinson's and Cliff promised Clara that he would be cured and said goodbye to her so that Clara will take care of Rory.
Disastrous vacation[]
Cliff and Garguax talk about Niles.
Cliff was woken up by Vic and Jane, who came to ask him to come on vacation with them and Cliff agreed and was kicked by Hammerhead to move. The team arrived in Codsville and Cliff explained the resort activities.. Cliff thought about climbing the backbone, which was a way to find out who he really was and forget his fears. Cliff talked to Vic about his problems without technology, but Cliff advised him on being better off without technology. Cliff went to a sauna to rest and came across an alien named Garguax. He and Garguax talked about the weather and began to become friends. Cliff and Garguax expressed their mutual hatred towards Caulder.
Cliff met up with the others, and they met Garguax and his assistant, Samuelson. Cliff defended Garguax as Vic learned that the alien was a villain and former enemy of Niles. The team had an argument about whether they should face the villain. Cliff decided to reveal his brain problem and admitted that he was dying. After an argument, the team broke up. Cliff decided to go up the backbone, but accidentally, Cliff fell next to the backbone. The group met in the big bang room and Cliff joined the others to dance Forever Young, and they managed to become friends again. The dance was interrupted by Samuelson, who had a deadly ray to kill them and Cliff was unable to do anything, causing him, Vic, Rita, and Jane to be killed.
Reunion with his father[]
Cliff, Jane, Rita, and Vic made it to the hereafter, but they still couldn't believe they died. In his purgatory, Cliff met his father and told him that he was now a hero and was killed by an alien. Cliff watched the unicorns flying happily until their father killed them to hunt. Cliff argued with his father angrily and tried to show that he would be a better grandfather to Rory.
Overcoming his anger, Cliff said goodbye to his father and managed to wake up along with Jane and Vic. The trio reunited with Rita, Larry, and the Dead Boy Detectives after murdering several Watchers. The team was confronted by Night Nurse, but they were helped by a stranger who knew Rita. This gave the team time to escape and the team managed to come back to life.
The Arrival of Laura De Mille and Zombies[]
The group said goodbye to Dorothy after she left with the Dead Boy Detectives. As soon as Dorothy left, the team was visited by a time traveler who did not know who she was. Cliff and the team still couldn't believe time travel exists until they saw the stranger's time machine. Cliff was still thinking of seeing a doctor, but he didn't pay attention. While Vic was fixing the time machine, Cliff spoke to Jane to encourage her to try talking to Niles as he had once spoken to him when Caulder was a ghost.
Zombies for a day.
Cliff and Jane went to the manor while scratching and had true color, but they couldn't do anything as they turned into zombies along with Vic, Larry, and Rita. The team watched as Kipling and the time traveler, whom they nicknamed Shannon, tried to help them heal. Cliff didn't want to rescue Niles' head from Darren Jones until Kipling and Shannon convinced everyone. The team traveled to Darren's lair and saw that Shannon had the power to turn into a chair. When Darren became a Were-Butt and brought in an army of Were-Butts, the team, Kipling, and Shannon fought aggressively until all the creatures were killed, and they got the head of Niles. Returning to the manor, Cliff and the team ate Niles and managed to get back to normal. The team promised never to talk about what happened. Cliff decided to buy Parkinson's pills.
Side effects[]
Upon receiving the pills, Cliff asked Vic for his help putting them into his brain. Cliff sent a message to Clara to let her know that she would be cured soon. Cliff was scolded by Vic for not entering forbidden pages. Cliff started taking the pills, but when Vic left to recover his technology, Cliff took a lot of pills, but this would lead to various side effects such as being high. The team held a meeting hosted by Shannon, who discovered that her real name was Laura De Mille. The team learned about the Sisterhood of Dada, who had been freed during the escape from the Ant Farm and were a group of dangerous metahumans terrorists.
Cliff meets Sachiko.
Since Laura would leave if the team stopped the Eternal Flagellation of the Sisterhood, Cliff, Larry, Jane, and Vic accepted the mission. During the trip, Cliff became drugged and accidentally caused the bus to crash. The group split up to take ground. Cliff saw several strange things and found an ice cream truck with a sleeping girl. Cliff walked through a portal, where he met Sachiko. Cliff became friends with Sachiko and talked about her future death from her illness. Cliff expressed a lot of how he felt and was fed up with the mission, but when he mentioned Laura, the Sisterhood defeated the team and put them out of Shelley Byron 's mind. Cliff helped Larry take Paul Trainor to the manor and told Rita that they failed. Soon after, Cliff hit the internet for fun while taking more pills.
Cliff spent his time playing online and talking to a hot girl named Ginger. Cliff spoke to Vic, who asked him for advice on who he really was, but Cliff didn't care about Vic's problem. Cliff was interrupted by Laura, who demanded to know what happened to the Sisterhood and Cliff tried to explain everything to him. she left. Cliff realized that he needed money and decided to sell his friends' things on Ebay. Cliff expressed his love for his family to Ginger and began trying to be a good grandfather. Cliff saw that someone would give him a lot of money for the blueprints of his robotic body, so he decided to sell them.
Cliff lost his card game and revealed to Jane that he sold his music records. Cliff and Jane saw that Laura tipped them off about the Sisterhood, who were starting their plan, but Cliff and Jane didn't mind helping. Cliff was sent by Flit to Clara's house and had to lie to his family by saying that he was already cured. For Clara and Mel to go out on a date, Cliff stayed behind to take care of Rory, but everything went wrong until Clara and Mel arrived. Cliff managed to win the trust of his daughter-in-law and was happy that Clara was proud, but Cliff took her credit card to speak with Ginger.
The Eternal Flagellation[]
Cliff and the team are shocked to see the Eternal Flagellation.
During his chat with Ginger, Cliff along with Vic, Larry, Laura, and Jane were sent to the old Sisterhood base. The group began to dance until Laura began to remember her past and began to say that the team was a weapon. The group confronted the Sisterhood, but they watched as a bird with a face emerged from a giant egg and discovered that Rita worked with the Sisterhood. When Rita released the bird, Laura ran away and the Eternal Flagellation began. The team tried to stop her, but they were absorbed by birds that had their faces.
Cliff was sent to an old memory when he had a body and encountered his subconscious self. Cliff saw his subconscious being carried away by a Dada bird and decided to join the party with Bump. During the party, Cliff still hated Bump for sleeping with Kate and still couldn't believe what the Sisterhood did, but seeing a stripper come out as a gift, Cliff put everything aside to go with her.
Cliff, Jane, Larry, and Vic travel in a colorful tunnel.
Cliff remembered that he had left Clara in the car, so he went through a portal to search for Larry, Vic, and Jane to get out of his subconscious. After crossing a very groovy colored tunnel, the team found their subconscious. Cliff began to feel his shame for everything he did in his past and for what he's been doing with the damn pills. After arguing with his subconscious self, Cliff's subconscious was sent back to his memory by the Dada bird. Overcoming their embarrassments, the team managed to end the flogging and they were returned to where they were before. Cliff was surprised by Clara while talking to Ginger, and he was saddened to see that she failed again with her family.
Losing his body[]
Upon returning home, Cliff saw that Vic was different, but believed that it was a subconscious, but Vic confessed that he had surgery to appear human, something that annoyed Cliff, as General Tony would be disappointed. Upon returning home, Cliff saw that Vic was different, but believed that it was a subconscious, but Vic confessed that he had surgery to appear human, something that annoyed Cliff, as General Tony would be disappointed. The team learned about how the Brotherhood of Evil planned to kill them along with Laura, aka Madame Rouge, but since they all no longer had their abilities, Cliff admitted that he was ready for action and agreed to face the villains, but upon hearing that Clara came, he withdrew to see your daughter.
Cliff talked to Clara about her pills, which were not certified by a doctor, so Cliff promised Clara that he would go to a real doctor to get rid of his Parkinson's before Rita interrupted him. Cliff argued with Rita about how she believed Laura disguised herself as Clara, but he knew that his daughter was not her. To be sure, Cliff looked for Clara, but saw Rory, who was at the table. Cliff and Clara saw two Rorys, but the Rory that Cliff had turned out to be Laura.
Cliff argues with Ultimax.
The team fought Laura, but Cliff was knocked out by Rouge and kidnapped by her. After waking up, Cliff saw that he was back in Florida, but was surprised by Ultimax, the leader of the brotherhood, and Cliff made fun of Ultimax. Cliff found out that Ultimax wanted his body so that together with Laura they would infiltrate the manor to kill everyone, something that surprised Cliff, but he saw Ultimax and Monsieur Mallah betray Laura and Mallah ripped out Cliff's brain. and then put it in a jar.
Cliff and Laura chase after Ultimax in the giant robot.
Inside Ultimax's old robotic body, Cliff was placed by Laura in Rog, a giant robot thrown by the Brotherhood of Evil, missing Cliff because of the new appearance, being controlled by Laura to travel to the golf course, crushing Ultimax, and after Laura's revenge, Cliff was forced to take her to the Doom Manor, since she wanted to kill Rita, however, Cliff was able to control his new body, trying to make Laura make amends, just like him, which she reject.
The New Doom Patrol[]
A New Body[]
Traveling to Florida, Cliff met up with Clara and Melissa who were carrying Rory, apologizing for everything she had done by taking the pills, and Clara gladly accepted them, mentioning that she just wanted her father to be okay, something Cliff did. he thanked, reconciling with his family and then recovering the team's things. At night, Cliff met up with Vic, Jane, and Laura, throwing everything he sold, before losing control of his body due to Parkinson's, and trying to be stopped by Jane, who accidentally activated the self-destruct button. Before exploding on a baseball field, Cliff spoke one last time with his friend until Rita got bigger, stopping Cliff.
Cliff and the new Doom Patrol prepare for their first mission.
Back at the manor, Cliff, Rita, Larry, Vic, Laura, and Jane agreed to become true superheroes, and Cliff suggested the name "Doom Force". Seeing on the news about a testicular monster attacking the Suez Canal, the new Doom Patrol decided to travel there through the time machine, so the entire team traveled to stop the monster, and Cliff kept shouting the name Doom Force, angering Vic, Laura and Larry. In the next few months, Cliff returned to his old body thanks to Vic and Silas, although he was only missing his right arm, remaining awaiting his pieces, which were delayed by the testicle monster.
Battle against Codpiece[]
One day, Cliff and the Doom Patrol overheard Rita's plan to stop the criminal Codpiece, a plan that Cliff denied because he did not want to fight Codpiece, complaining about the code names and Rita convinced him to accept his nickname: Robotman, to although Cliff wanted to be called Clifasaurous. Using jellyfish to prevent time travel from making them forget, Cliff and the Doom Patrol made their way to the Cloverton Credit Union, where they confronted Codpiece, receiving a beam from his technological penis.
Cliff and the Doom Patrol fights against Codpiece.
The Doom Patrol was disgusted by Codpiece's sexual joke about his weapon and Cliff received the order to distract the criminal on the left flank, denying Rita that he would do it by calling him Robotman, so Rita called him Clifasaurous, and Cliff accepted her plan, distracting Codpiece, hiding behind a truck with Laura to avoid lightning. When it was time to attack, Cliff was stopped by Parkinson's, surprised to see Laura humiliating Codpiece. After Doctor Harrison convinced Codpiece to surrender, Cliff and the team set out for the machine, but Cliff was frozen until Rita kicked him out of the ice, which Cliff was grateful for.
Personality[]
Cliff in Doom Manor.
Cliff was an complex person, just like the rest of his "family", although he is kind, loyal, open minded, accepting and has a strong paternal nature to not only is own daughter but to Jane, Cyborg and later Dorothy. Despite his good personality traits he is what is described as an adrenaline junkie, originally aspiring to the thrill seeking career of a race car driver, but his fast rise to success went to his head and his compulsion evolved into sex, alcohol and drugs destroying his once happy marriage. Even as a robot, when he was fighting Von Fuchs he lost control of himself and slaughtered dozens and instantly regret it afterwards.
After his "accident" and death of his wife, Cliff experienced severe survivor's guilt that subsequently heightened his underlying anger issues, which leaves him fragile, prone to bursts of rage and to speak almost in constant profanity.
Cliff is though very self aware to his faults and even though no matter how miserable he is in his robotic body, he see it makes him a better person, even refusing Mr Nobody's offer to change his history and regain his humanity.
Powers and abilities[]
Powers[]
- Cybernetic enhancements: After his accident, Cliff was left with only his brain functioning, prompting Niles Caulder to build him a brand new body,[1] the outer shell formed by multiple layers of special flexible ceramic metal.
- Enhanced strength: Due to his robotic physiology, Cliff is capable of lifting much more than an average human, which was demonstrated when he lifted up a piece of street in order to create a barrier against Rita Farr.[1] He was able to overpower and tackle Cyborg through a solid wood wall. He has also shown to be able to throw and tear apart human bodies with ease and send a far larger animal than himself flying across the air, such as the rats when he was shrunk.
- Enhanced durability: Cliff’s robot body is highly durable, described by the chief as an "Indestructible Man" and does indeed seem to be resistant if not impervious to concussive force, so much so that he fell to earth from space and the only injury he received was his legs temporary malfunctioning hours later (and it's likely that this was actually his case of Parkinsons disease and completely unrelated to his long fall). Cliff's vulnerability is limited though to edged superior metals e.g. Cyborgs robotic finger projected by an explosion and Silver Tongue's words.
- Superhuman stamina: Due to his robot body, Cliff has no need for food or sleep and he does not tire.
- Psychic immunity: Cliff's robot body gives him at least some degree of immunity to mind control as he was able to resist Karen's ability to make others feel affection for her. He was also immune to Flex Mentallo's ability to make the rest of the team orgasm.
- Disease Immunity: Cliff's robot body makes him immune to all diseases and toxins.
- Oxygen independence: Cliff’s Robot body has no need to breathe, and can easily endure the vaccuum of space.
- Immortality: Cliff's robot body does not age for obvious reasons, and he will live indefinitely as a result. However, Cliff's longevity was sapped by the Agents of Immortus, however, he briefly regained her when Isabel Feathers gave him one of her toenails.
Abilities[]
- Driving: Being a former race car driver, Cliff possesses finely honed driving capabilities.[1]
- Dancing: Prior to his accident, Cliff watched the movie Flashdance a total of 87 times, and as a result is familiar with a variety of dances.[13]
- Hand-to-hand Combat: Cliff has shown to possess moderate fighting skills, using his enhanced strength and highly durable robot body to his advantage. He was able to easily overpower Heinrich Von Fuchs' clones and tear them apart.
- Multilinguism: Ater briefly being a zombie, Cliff can understand the zombie language perfectly, translating the words of Darren Jones to Laura De Mille.
Weaknesses[]
- Loss of senses: Without an organic body, Cliff lost three of the human body's five senses: taste, smell, and touch.[1] However, thanks to the new arm created by Silas and Vic, Cliff regained his sense of touch in one finger.
- Reduced speed: Cliff is slower than an average human since his metal body weighs a substantial amount.[1]
- Trauma: Cliff's experiences have left him very emotionally fragile and he still struggles greatly with the emotional toll of his accident, as well as losing his body and being unable to experience most of the typical human senses.[1]
- Malnutrition: While being only a brain in a robot body makes Cliff effectively immortal, his brain still requires nutrition to stay alive. His body is fitted with a nutrient tank to keep him alive. Any disruption of that tank can cause him to go hallucinate, or worse, like having a stroke.
- Parkinson's Disease: At the cost of his brain damage, Cliff began to suffer from Parkinson's, causing his body to stop numerous times such as when he fought the Imaginary Jesus Christ and remained immobile in front of Samuelson. On top of that, the disease causes Cliff's hand to start moving rapidly. Despite everything, Cliff continued to have the disease, which he finally accepted and died.
- Schizophrenia: Due to his mental problems, Cliff suffers from Schizophrenia, shown when he speaks with his own glove which is his voice of reason and with his Robotman form.
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
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Season 3[]
Season 4[]
Gallery[]
Concept art[]
Promotional images[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
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Season 3[]
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Season 4[]
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Behind the scenes[]
- In the DC comics, Cliff Steele is a member of the Doom Patrol known as "Robotman".
- In each episode of Doom Patrol, Cliff says: “What the Fuck?” as he is often confused and surprised by the strange situations the Doom Patrol find themselves in.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Carver, Jeremy (writer) & Winter, Glen (director) (February 15, 2019). "Pilot". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 1. DC Universe.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Becher-Wilkinson, Tamara, Farrell, Tom (writers) & Talalay, Rachel (director) (March 1, 2019). "Puppet Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 3. DC Universe.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dingess, Chris, Steele, Tanya (writers) & TBA (director) (August 6, 2020). "Wax Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 2. Episode 9. DC Universe & HBO Max.
- ↑ Carver, Jeremy, Sachi, Shoshana (writers) & Manley, Christopher (director) (June 25, 2020). "Fun Size Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 2. Episode 1. DC Universe & HBO Max.
- ↑ Sachi, Shoshana (writer) & Teng, Larry (director) (March 15, 2019). "Paw Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 5. DC Universe.
- ↑ Becher-Wilkinson, Tamara (writer) & Manley, Christopher (director) (March 22, 2019). "Doom Patrol Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 6. DC Universe.
- ↑ Reynolds, Neil (writer) & Hardy, Rob (director) (March 29, 2019). "Therapy Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 7. DC Universe.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Becher-Wilkinson, Tamara, Carver, Jeremy, Sachi, Shoshana (writers) & Downs, Dermott (director) (May 24, 2019). "Ezekeiel Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 15. DC Universe.
- ↑ Dingess, Chris, Sachi, Shoshana (writers) & Winter, Glen (director) (July 9, 2020). "Finger Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 2. Episode 5. DC Universe & HBO Max.
- ↑ Reynolds, Neil (writer) & Windell, Kristin (director) (July 16, 2020). "Space Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 2. Episode 6. DC Universe & HBO Max.
- ↑ Becher-Wilkinson, Tamara, Dietel, Eric (writers) & Lowrey, Jessica (director) (July 23, 2020). "Dumb Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 2. Episode 7. DC Universe & HBO Max.
- ↑ Farrell, Tom, Fitzsimmons, April (writers) & Row, Amanda (director) (July 30, 2020). "Dad Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 2. Episode 8. DC Universe & HBO Max.
- ↑ Farrell, Tom (writer) & Downs, Dermott (director) (April 5, 2019). "Danny Patrol". Doom Patrol. Season 1. Episode 8. DC Universe.