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| Negative Man | |
| Aliases: | Lawrence Trainor Neg-Man Rebis |
| Continuity: | DC Universe |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Type: | Superhero |
| Occupation: | Pilot |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Altered human |
| Location: | Midway City, Michigan |
| Associations: | Doom Patrol United States Air Force |
| Status: | Formerly deceased |
| First: | My Greatest Adventure #80 |
| Actor: | Matt Bomer |
Lawrence "Larry" Trainor is a fictional military pilot turned reluctant super-hero featured in comic books published by DC Comics. He was introduced in My Greatest Adventure #80 as one of the founding members of the Doom Patrol. After issue #85, the series title was changed to Doom Patrol and Larry appeared in each issue of the series, culminating with the apparent death of the character in Doom Patrol #121 in October, 1968. The character was revived twenty years later in the second issue of Doom Patrol, Volume 2 where he evolved into the mysterious being known as Rebus.
Biography[]
Larry Trainor, alias Negative Man, was a test pilot for the United States Air Force who flew a wide variety of jets, and was a friend and colleague of Hal Jordan.
When Larry had to fly the experimental X-19, a suborbital jet aircraft, Larry put the plane through its paces and successfully broke Earth's atmosphere. However, Niles Caulder, in his plan to create a team of super powered misfits, caused the jet's guidance systems to break down, sending Larry into a field of deadly radiation. Falling unconscious, Larry drifted through the stratospheric wave belts for several hours. Earth's gravity eventually pulled the X-19 back into the atmosphere, where it began spiraling back down to Earth. Larry awakened in time to prevent the X-19 from crashing into the ground.
Upon landing the jet, Trainor noticed a nearby search plane coming into view. It attempted to land near the X-19, but suffered from a malfunctioning landing strut. An intense desire to aid the beleaguered craft passed through Larry's mind when suddenly, a bizarre radioactive energy being flew outward from his body with his mind and consciousness residing in the being while his body left behind was a husk. As the energy, he guided the search plane to safety.
Shortly after the strange incident, Larry checked into a hospital. The exposure to the deadly radiation left him hideously deformed, with glowing, translucent skin. Physicians placed him into quarantine inside of a lead-lined contamination cell. Niles Caulder finally approached Larry (in the guise of helpful stranger) and provided him special radiation-proof plastic bandages. In order to leave the quarantine and operate in human society again – Larry had to wear the bandages from head to toe at all times.
Trainor became bitter and despondent at the thought of living the remainder of his life as some grotesque mummy. Shunned by society, he kept to himself and took to living inside of a meager rooming house. During this time, he learned more about the strange energy powers – he referred to his astral self as the Negative Man.
Before long, a physician known only as Doctor Drew offered Larry a job as his assistant. Inwardly, Larry referred to Doctor Drew as "Doctor Death". Trainor learned about Doctor Drew's true identity and his covert attempt to take control of the world. He rebelled against the maniacal genius and briefly thwarted his plans for global domination. Death escaped and swore revenge against the Negative Man.
Some time later, Larry accepted a commission to fly a plane towards a dangerous, volcanic island. Doctor Death learned of the charter and arranged to sabotage Trainor's plane, stranding him on the island. He manipulated Larry to use his powers in an effort to destabilize the American government by driving several political figureheads irrevocably insane. Negative Man fought against Doctor Death's efforts, but Death captured him and secured Trainor inside of a lead-lined cell. Meanwhile, Niles Caulder, now calling himself the Chief (wanting to collect Trainor to finish his plan of a small collection of misfit heroes) discovered Larry's predicament and helped to rescue him from Doctor Death's clutches. With Caulder's aid, the Negative Man once again foiled Doctor Death's efforts to create widespread anarchy.
Caulder now assembled his misfits calling them the Doom Patrol starting with Larry, a former Hollywood actress and an former race car driver all of them unbeknownst that “The Chief” arranged their accidents. In the Patrol Larry became best friends with Robotman and fell in love with Elasti-Girl but she eventually lost her heart to a self-aggrandizing billionaire named Steve Dayton who went so far as to adopt the super-hero identity Mento in order to impress her. After their marriage Mento joined the team. Steve and Rita also adopted orphan Gar Logan who was Beast Boy on the patrol who Larry was an uncle figure to. With the Doom Patrol Negative Man saved the world numerous times, fighting the strange and unusual like the Brotherhood of Evil.
The team supposedly perished in an explosion in Codsville, Larry survived it but the fate of the other members of the Doom Patrol remained unknown to him. Larry's original body was destroyed in the explosion and the “Negative” which consisted of Trainor's mind, soul and consciousness, found itself without a physical body, so it took residence in a Russian cosmonaut, Colonel Valentina Vostok, who became Negative Woman until The Chief cloned Larry a new body. He left Vostok and became his own man again.
Larry and the others finally recuperated and reconciled, even forgiving the Chief and the original Doom Patrol was back together. During the Infinite Crisis event the Doom Patrol joined other heroes in fighting Superboy-Prime. It was revealed that when one of Larry's host bodies expired, Larry took residence in a different genetically altered brain-dead donor body. Through the transaction Larry obtained the memories and experiences of every host body he had ever been in.
Year after the Infinite Crisis event, the team was stationed in Prague in Dayton Manor with The Chief appearing to be manipulating the team members once again, claiming to wish to return them to normal, so "maybe one day they won't be freaks anymore". Ultimately, the group stood up to the Chief and forced him to step down as the Doom Patrol's leader.
Negative Man became a member of the Doom Patrol again, based on Oolong Island. He had since learned to partially unleash the Negative Entity, granting him its powers without the time limit. During the Blackest Night, he found himself up against the Black Lantern Corps version Valentina Vostok. When their Negative entities met, it temporarily created an new entity, which destroyed the Black Lantern ring. Larry maintained an antagonistic friendship with Robotman, a close friendship with Rita, and a bizarre belief that pelicans were stalking him.
Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Radiation emission: Negative Man has the ability to generate a black, electrical energy being composed of an as of yet unidentifiable radioactive substance from within his own body. Larry's mind and consciousness resides in the being while his body is left behind as a husk. Originally, he could only leave his body for a total of sixty seconds. By now he has trained himself to last much longer before turning to his body at will.
Skills[]
- Aviation: Larry Trainor is a professionally trained pilot who has worked in the service of the United States military.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): As a member of the United State Air Force, Larry would have been trained in basic hand-to-hand combat.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Larry Trainor was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani.
- Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985-86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
- Negative Man should not be confused with Nega-Man, aka Richard Janus - a Marvel Comics super-villain.
- The name Negative Man could refer to either Larry Trainor himself, or the radioactive energy being he produces.
- Following Trainor's apparent death in Doom Patrol #121, the N-Man entity transferred from his body to that of Valentina Vostok, who became a member of the second Doom Patrol.
- Visually, Larry Trainor bears some similarity to another DC Comics character, the Unknown Soldier. Both wear bandages that completely cover their head.
Appearances[]
Comics[]
- Beast Boy 1 (In flashback only)
- Doom Patrol 86
- Doom Patrol 87
- Doom Patrol 88
- Doom Patrol 99
- Doom Patrol Vol 2 19
- Doom Patrol Vol 2 20
- Doom Patrol Vol 4 1
- My Greatest Adventure 80 (1st appearance)
- New Teen Titans 14 (In flashback only)
- Teen Titans 6