The Candlemaker's Powers In Doom Patrol Explained
At the time of this writing, media based on DC Comics is quite a hot topic in the entertainment sphere. Zack Snyder's Justice League finally made it into the hands of fans, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Black Adam movie found its Doctor Fate, director James Gunn unveiled the first trailer for The Suicide Squad, and The Batman, as well as a host of other projects, are on the way. As we wait patiently for these productions to premiere, there's plenty of existing DC material to hold us over, such as the highly acclaimed off-kilter drama, Doom Patrol.
From the moment its first season kicked off, Doom Patrol asserted itself as one of the most unique takes on the superhero genre in some time. The wacky misadventures of Niles Caulder's (Timothy Dalton) failed science experiments packed plenty of comedy, action, and even heartbreak into its first batch of episodes. Naturally, fans fell in love with the titular team of misfits, ramping up the excitement for season 2. It arrived in June of 2020 and supplied viewers with everything they'd come to expect from the series, and then some.
Doom Patrol's second season brought with it some fresh faces to the program, most notably the imaginative Dorothy Spinner (Abigail Shapiro). Naturally, her introduction included that of the villainous Candlemaker (Lex Lang), who spawned from her creature-manifesting mind. He possesses a wide array of abilities that made it nigh impossible for the Doom Patrol members to stop him. Here's what they are, where they come from, and how this Candlemaker stacks up with his comic book counterpart.
A being of fear
Throughout his fearsome tenure on Doom Patrol, the Candlemaker is depicted as a formidable foe no matter who he was up against. His most obvious skill was that of granting wishes, which he used during his introduction to the series in "Fun Size Patrol" — murdering a room of people intending to harm Dorothy. He later displays some measure of telepathy, as evidenced by his uninvited entry into Crazy Jane's (Diane Guerrero) mind, where he then demonstrated his enhanced durability, strength, and even telekinesis. There is also his terrifying ability to exploit the insecurities of his enemies, warping their fragile minds and turning their bodies into wax.
Of course, he'd be virtually powerless without the help of one key ingredient: fear.
On the program, the Candlemaker is born out of Dorothy's worry about her and her father, Niles, being attacked by evil forces. In this way, he began as her protector, even if his methods were quite gruesome for a small child. However, in the comics, Candlemaker's origins and the powers that come with it are a bit more convoluted to sort out. As explained by Screen Rant, he was originally a non-physical entity known as an egregore, manifesting as a result of collective fear among a populace. Instead of living life as something akin to an Eldritch horror, it chose to prey on Dorothy and use the existing, kind Candlemaker as a vessel to take physical form.
No matter which incarnation you're breaking down, the Candlemaker is consistently one of DC's most unsettling villains. If his spindly appearance and strange origins don't do it, then his gallery of mind-melting powers will surely send a shiver down your spine.