The following contains spoilers for Doom Patrol Season 4, Episode 3, "Nostalgia Patrol," now streaming on HBO Max.

Doom Patrol just upgraded a minor DC Comics supervillain into a major threat in Season 4's latest episode, "Nostalgia Patrol."

The episode pits the Doom Patrol against Doctor Janus (Timeca Seretti), a gender-swapped take on a character who only ever appeared in one comic, 1963's My Greatest Adventure #81. This version of Doctor Janus shares the same hallucination-casting powers as her comic book counterpart, although she's markedly more formidable. Aided by Mr. 104 (Sendhil Ramamurthy), Doctor Janus manages to trap Rita (April Bowlby), Cliff (Brendan Fraser), Jane (Diane Guerrero) and Larry (Matt Bomer) inside Rita's old movies to provoke an emotional response from Rita. These emotions are then absorbed by a necklace Rita is wearing, which Doctor Janus proclaims will ultimately bring about the rise of Immortus.

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Doom Patrol showrunner Jeremy Carver discussed how Rita will cope with the various enemies arrayed against the team (including Immortus) in a recent interview. According to Carver, the former Hollywood actor's arc in Season 4 will reflect her ongoing uncertainty regarding her sense of identity and purpose. "[Rita] has always struggled with this question of what it means to be a true leader," he said. "That is an easy way of saying what kind of person does she want to be? Selfless or not? Vain or not vain? She is constantly struggling with that."

Doom Patrol's Boss On Cliff Steele's Journey

Rita isn't the only character working through their emotional baggage in Doom Patrol Season 4, either. Cliff is also dealing with some issues after regaining sensation in one of his hands, an upgrade to his cyborg body Carver noted is steeped in symbolism. "Cliff getting a sense of... I mean you've said as much, but getting his sense of touch is very, very special to him," Carver said. "He immediately decided that the first thing he wants to feel is his grandson, Rory. And that sort of stands in for what has been a very long arc for Cliff, which is family comes first... which Cliff hasn't always done,"

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Despite Carver's obvious affection for Rita, Cliff and the rest of the Doom Patrol's core roster, the showrunner recently confirmed he's open to the idea of bringing in some new faces, too. I don't want to comment too much on that, but there is the Doom Patrol, and there's the Doom Patrol family," he said. "If you're asking me personally, can I see different iterations of both? Of course, I can -- in the future, yeah!"

Doom Patrol Season 4 will run for 12 episodes total, with new installments dropping Thursdays.

Source: HBO Max