Matt Bomer Calls Doom Patrol's Negative Man Better Than Superman

CBR

Matt Bomer: Doom Patrol's Negative Man Is A Better Character Than Superman

By Brandon Zachary

Published Mar 4, 2019

Matt Bomer opened up about taking on a role in Doom Patrol, and how he almost prefers Negative Man to Superman.

Doom Patrol isn't the first time Matt Bomer has been attached to the DC Universe. The actor previously played Superman in the animated film Superman: Unbound, but he actually almost tackled the character for a live-action film: before Henry Cavil was cast in Man of Steel, Bomer actually screen-tested for the role, and actually almost landed the part.

While Bomer was ultimately passed over for the role, he has finally taken on a DC hero in Larry Trainor, aka Doom Patrol's Negative Man. CBR recently attended a Q&A with the actor in Los Angeles about the role, where Bomer answered questions about what it's like to finally become part of the DC Universe.

"I grew up with the pretty standard comic book fare as a kid," Bomer said of his personal comic book fandom. "I was definitely more of a DC kid, but I did not know about Grant Morrison's comics or even the [Doom Patrol comics] that predated that."

But even though he didn't love the quirky DC team growing up, he's pretty pleased with his current gig bringing one of them to life. "I have to say, I'm so happy this is where it all landed," the actor said. "I love Larry, I love who he is, I love who he's going to become and is in the process of becoming. And I think in so many ways, people would always say 'oh, what about Superman?' They bring it up constantly to me, still. And I think this character, to me, is just as if not more interesting than Kal-El."

"I'm constantly surprised both by the writers on this project, but also by the scope of their ambition and the fact that these production designers and special effects teams are able to make this happen, week to week. This is such a huge operation, I had no idea when I signed on just how vast it is... I'm so happy to be in the DC Universe."

Asked about the openly bizarreness of the series, Bomer said that's what appeals to him the most about the series. "That's why I loved it, actually. I've certainly read my share of comic book scripts over the years, and I think if this had just been another formulaic, down-the-middle, especially noirish, dark, all straight-faced traditional Gotham-y type of series... call [Doom Patrol] whatever you want, but it's absolutely distinctive, unabashedly so... I think that absurdist tone is what I love about the piece."

Streaming now on DC Universe, Doom Patrol stars Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele, Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor, Diana Guerrero as Crazy Jane, Alan Tudyk as Mr. Nobody, April Bowlby as Rita Farr, Joivan Wade as Vic Stone and Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder.