TITANS Casts Michael Mosley as Doctor Light

Are the Fearsome Five coming to Titans?

According to ComicBook.com, the DC Universe series Titans has cast actor Michael Mosley as Dr. Arthur Light, better known to DC Comics fans as the supervillain Doctor Light.

Mosley joins new Season 2 additions Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne, Esai Morales as Deathstroke, Joshua Orpin as Superboy, Drew Van Acker as Aqualad, Chelsea T. Zhang as Ravager, Chella Man as Jericho, and Genevieve Angelson as Eve Watson.

Mosley, 40, is probably best known as Pastor Mason Young on the Netflix series Ozark and as Drew Suffin on the NBC sitcom Scrubs.  His other television appearances include episodes of Fear the Walking Dead: Passage, Elementary, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Criminal Minds, Seven Seconds, Longmire, 30 Rock, Pan Am, The Wire, Justified, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Castle, The Mentalist, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.  His films include Peppermint, Hot Pursuit, The Proposal, 27 Dresses, and The Accidental Husband.

Created in 1962 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, Doctor Light first appeared in Justice League of America (vol.1) #12 as Dr. Arthur Light, a criminal physicist who captured the Justice League with light rays after first drawing them in by capturing Aquaman, then sending the League to different planets based on their weaknesses.  Not realizing that Superman and Batman impersonated each other, Superman escaped the world he was sent to and rescued the other members.  Dr. Light fooled the League with three duplicates of himself that were apparently committing robberies of light-associated objects, though they were actually placing devices around the world.  Green Lantern realized this trick and faked his death to track Doctor Light, finally stopping him before he pulled a lever that would have set off light impulses that would allow him to take over the world.

Doctor Light later founded the Fearsome Five, a team of supervillains, through an ad he placed in the Underworld Star, a criminal underground newsletter.  Light formed the group to attack the Teen Titans, but Psimon (who was under the influence of Trigon, the demon from whom he had received his superhuman abilities) usurped Light’s role as leader, and the two would continue to struggle for leadership for some time.  A short time later, the Five turned on Dr. Light, expelling him from the group and trying to kill him, but Light escaped.  Psimon again became leader, though the Five were again defeated, this time by the Titans, Batman, and the Outsiders.  Dr. Light continued as supervillain, only to find himself defeated over and over in various embarrassing encounters.

Driven by self-doubt and guilt, thanks in part to the ghostly presence of Jacob Finlay, his former partner at S.T.A.R Labs, Dr. Light volunteered for the Suicide Squad, a group of incarcerated supervillains who perform dangerous missions for the US government in exchange for clemency.  On a mission against the patriotism-themed super-team The Force of July, he encountered Sparkler, the Force's youngest member.  The presence of a superpowered child reminded him of past defeats and he lashed out, killing Sparkler with a blast through the chest.

Finlay's ghost eventually convinced Dr. Light to attempt a heroic turn during a mission where multiple members of the team, some unwillingly, traveled to Apokolips.  Light was swiftly shot dead by Parademons and sent to Hell, where he was reunited with Finlay.  Under the watch of a lesser demon and its annoying assistant, both men were released from Hell in turns and returned to life, only soon to die again over and over several times.  Possessing the body of the second Doctor Light, Kimiyo Hoshi, Dr. Light's presence was rejected by Hoshi, freeing him of his ex-partner's hauntings.  Dr. Light attempted to rejoin the Suicide Squad, but his appeal was rejected by Amanda Waller.

In the event known as Identity Crisis, it was revealed that Doctor Light had raped Sue Dibny, the wife of the superhero Elongated Man, on the JLA Satellite.  The Justice League resolved to alter his mind with Zatanna's magic so that Dr. Light would no longer pose a threat to their loved ones.  In the process, they accidentally gave him a partial lobotomy, explaining how he fell from a plausible foe of the Justice League to a punching bag for the Teen Titans or Little Boy Blue.  He later recovered his memories and intellect when witnessing a fight between the League members responsible for his mind-wipe and Deathstroke, and vowed revenge against the Justice League.

In Final Crisis: Revelations #1, the Spectre delivered final judgment on Doctor Light, who was discovered in the middle of a mock superhero rape orgy with various women dressed as Teen Titans.  The Spectre burned him to death by turning him into a candle, using his head as the wick.

Mosley will be the second actor to portray Doctor Light in live-action, after David Bowe in an episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  The character has also appeared in the animated series Teen Titans (voiced by Rodger Bumpass) and Teen Titans Go! (voiced by Scott Menville and Rodger Bumpass).

Titans returns to DC Universe for Season 2 on September 6, 2019.