Robotman (Cliff Steele)

Robotman
Portion of the cover of Secret Origins Annual #1 (1987). Art by John Byrne.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	My Greatest Adventure #80 (June, 1963)
Created by	Arnold Drake Bob Haney Bruno Premiani
In-story information
Alter ego	Clifford "Cliff" Steele
Team affiliations	Doom Patrol
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, and endurance Superior sight, and hearing Modified robot body grants: Shapeshifting Self-repair capabilities Flight Underwater travel Wide array of sensors Greatly enhanced senses Ability to recharge itself via consumption of organic material

Robotman (Clifford "Cliff" Steele) is a fictional character, a cyborg superhero in the DC Comics Universe. He is best known as a member of the Doom Patrol, being the only character to appear in every version of the team from the early 1960s to 2010s.

Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) and was created by Arnold Drake, Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani.

Robotman is one of the founding members of the Doom Patrol along with Negative Man and Elasti-Girl. He is unique in that he is the only character to appear in every version of the Doom Patrol.

Cliff Steele became Robotman, initially dubbed Automaton, after a race car accident destroyed his body (a retcon had the accident intentionally caused by Niles Caulder). Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body. After the operation, Cliff suffered from frequent depression because he viewed himself as less than human. A background serial in Doom Patrol #s 100, 101, 103 & 105 (December 1965 – August 1966) indicated that Caulder made a mistake in the operation that caused Steele to go on a rampage, which was corrected when he was recruited for the Patrol. (These are incompatible with Cliff's flashback in My Greatest Adventure #80)

Although initially believed to have been killed by Madame Rouge, Cliff's brain had survived. Will Magnus, the robotics expert who created the Metal Men, recovered Cliff's brain and built him a new body. Cliff then joined a new Doom Patrol headed by a woman claiming to be Caulder's wife, Arani. Refusing to believe that Niles was dead, she formed this new team to search for him and took his place as leader, calling herself Celsius, due to her heat-and-cold-based powers. This new Doom Patrol was eventually almost all killed in action with the exceptions of Cliff, Tempest, Negative Woman, and Rhea Jones (who remained comatose). Caulder had turned up alive by this time, and denied having been married to Arani, although he admitted having known her.