DOOM PATROL Casts Joivan Wade as Cyborg

Booyah!  We have a new Cyborg!

Deadline has word that the upcoming DC Universe series Doom Patrol has cast Joivan Wade as Victor Stone, better known to DC Comics fans as the superhero Cyborg.  

According to the article, Vic is described as "the charming and sarcastic half-human, half-machine superhero known as Cyborg.  Vic may be connected to every computer on the world, but he struggles to maintain the connections that make him human.  Desperate to gain acceptance from the outside world, Vic harnesses the curse of his cybernetic body and uses his powers as the ultimate hero for the digital age."

Doom Patrol is a spinoff from the DC Universe series Titans and is a reimagining of one of DC’s strangest group of outcasts: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby) and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero).  Led by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder, they’re called into action by the ultimate hero for the digital age, Cyborg.  Banding together, these rejects find themselves on a mission that will take them to the weirdest and most unexpected corners of the DC universe.

Wade is an English actor best known as Rigsy in the Doctor Who episodes "Flatline" and "Face the Raven."  He's recently appeared in the films The First Purge and The Weekend, and has appeared in episodes of EastEnders, Youngers, and Casualty.

Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez in 1980's DC Comics Presents #26, Cyborg is Victor Stone, the son of Silas Stone and Elinore Stone, scientists who used him as a test subject for various intelligence enhancement projects.  While these treatments are ultimately successful and Victor's IQ subsequently grows to genius levels, he grew to resent his treatment.  He formed a friendship with Ron Evers, a young miscreant who led him into trouble with the law.  This was the beginning of a struggle in which Victor strove for independence, engaging in pursuits of which his parents disapproved, such as athletics and abandoning his studies.  

One day, Victor was gravely injured during an accident at S.T.A.R. Labs, where Silas worked, that also claimed the life of Elinore.  Silas did everything he could to save Victor's life by grafting robotic prosthetics to replace his missing body parts, turning him into a cybernetic organism.  He soon became as a member of the superhero group known as The New Teen Titans. 

In 2011, DC Comics rebooted its fictional universe with the relaunch known as "The New 52" and Justice League writer Geoff Johns gave Cyborg a new origin.  In this version, Victor Stone was a high school football star who was heavily sought after by a number of college scouts, but apparently had a distant relationship with his father, Silas.  After winning a big game, Victor was shown calling his father and angrily telling him that he broke his promise and missed yet another one of his son's games.  Later, Victor appeared at S.T.A.R. Labs where his father works.  The scientists appeared to be working on a Mother Box that Superman came in contact with from a Parademon.  

Victor engaged in another argument with his father and told him that the scouts were there to give him full scholarships to college.  The Mother Box suddenly exploded, killing the other scientists and destroying most of Victor's body while Victor's father looked on in horror.  Silas did everything he could for Victor's survival.  Along with Sarah Charles and T. O. Morrow, he went into "The Red Room" in S.T.A.R. Labs, which contains every piece of technology from around the world.  Silas attempted to treat Victor with something that had never been attempted before and was seen injecting Victor with some type of nanites.  Dr. Morrow placed the robotic pieces on Victor (including such devices as a Promethean skin graft, Doctor William Magnus' responsometer, Anthony Ivo's A-maze operating system, the classified and prototypical B-maze operating system, and Ryan Choi's White Dwarf Stabilizer).  Victor's life was saved and the energies from the Mother Box were incorporated into his new form as Cyborg.  This allowed Victor to access the vast New Gods data library and discover Darkseid's invasion plans.  Using this information, Cyborg soon became a member of the Justice League and assisted them with defeating Darkseid.

Wade will be the third actor to portray the character in live-action, after Ray Fisher in the movie Justice League and Lee Thompson Young appeared in several episodes of the CW television series Smallville.  Other actors, including Ernie Hudson, Khary Payton, Bumper Robinson, Michael B. Jordan and Shemar Moore, have voiced the character for various DC Universe animated projects.

Doom Patrol is expected to debut on DC Universe sometime in 2019.