The following contains spoilers for Unstoppable Doom Patrol #2, on sale from DC Comics.
In Unstoppable Doom Patrol #2 (by Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham, Brian Reber, and Pat Brosseau), the team is back with a new proactive mission statement. In direct response to places like Arkham Asylum and the life paths they send meta-humans on, the Doom Patrol is here to pick up where the system has failed. Many key members have stayed on such as Robotman, Elasti-Woman, Negative Man, Crazy Jane, and Dr. Niles Caulder. But a new direction for the team also means a new leade in Crazy Jane’s newest identity, the Chief.
Now that Dr. Caulder is no longer in charge, the Chief brings their own firm structure to the operation. Unfortunately, this also comes at the callous expense of Jane. With the Chief monopolizing surface time, Jane has been unable to see anyone outside of her head. This includes Robotman, the person she is closest to, who was brushed off when he asked if Jane could accompany him to a friend’s grave. The Chief’s behavior could end up a danger to not just the mission, but to Jane’s life, as is evident by the other times she has lost control.
The New Chief Could be a Real Problem
While the multiple identities at play generally place Jane as the primary, situations occasionally necessitate another stepping up to bat. Each identity has its own power(s) so the ability to pull from a choice of several dozen depending on the job is invaluable. However, each also has its own personality and lived experience, so a certain level of humane mutual respect is required. The Chief’s decision not to care for the needs of Jane in particular then directly challenges that process.
For the moment though, the rest seem fine with the Chief’s placement as they appear to have been created specifically to fill in where Niles Caulder failed. The most dangerous aspect of the Chief now is that they’ve clearly also gained the respect of the team. When it comes to bringing Jane back, most of the Doom Patrol might not actually want to lose their new asset. This could be all Chief needs to set into motion a darker plan as other personalities of Jane have done in the past.
Crazy Jane Has Had to Fight for Her Own Body Before
Most recently in Gerard Way’s Doom Patrol #6 (by Gerard Way, Nick Derington, Tom Fowler, and Tamra Bonvillain), Jane briefly lost her body to the alternative identity of a woman named Dr. Harrison. She used her abilities of mind control and powerful suggestion, the malicious alter formed a suicide cult. Dr. Harrison’s plan was to “cure” Jane by using a “gene bomb,” transfer all the other identities into the cult members, and then kill the members themselves.
In the HBO's Doom Patrol, Jane and the other identities almost lose their collective lives to yet another personality. This one is named “Daddy” and is an internal manifestation of the abusive father responsible for her many dissociative identities to begin with. Instead of mind control though, “Daddy” pretends to be another identity entirely, named Miranda. This deception works so well that “Daddy” soon becomes the primary identity. From there, he begins systematically killing off the identities within. This is further proof that any personality taking over for Jane could be disastrous and only time will tell if The Chief is truly benevolent.