The Chief was originally known as Niles Caulder, a scientist under the employee of the mysterious General Immortus. The General hired Caulder with the goal of helming him to develop an immortality serum. While successfully creating this chemical composition, Niles withheld this from Immortus as he discovered that his wealthy benefactor was an international terrorist. Realizing this, the villain has a miniature bomb implanted into Caulder's chest. This soon led to partial paralysis, with Niles confined to a wheelchair.
Caulder sought to fight evil with a team of freaks. To that end, he recruited former race car driver Cliff "Robotman" Steele, former airplane test pilot Larry "Negative Man" Trainor, former actress Rita "Elasti-Girl" Farr and future child-actor Garfield "Beast Boy" Logan aka Beast Boy. But it ws another size and shape shifter who captured Caulder's heart, and doomed him. French actress Laura DeMille, the woman who would become known as Madame Rouge!
Mister Who of Earth-Two was a crippled scientist who discovered the Z-Solution, a formula developed from the adaptive ability of animals. Having been the object of scorn and derision by others all his life, he turned his animus against his fellow man to become a crime boss. From the solution, he gained the ability to adapt his size to become a giant or a midget, later his shape to become other people or animals, and other attributes when needed.
As a shape-changing supervillain, Mister Who came into conflict time and again with Doctor Fate, trying various schemes to amass vast ill gotten gains and power. Yet each time, Who met defeat despite his tremendous powers and brilliant mind along with several nefarious schemes. However, his infamy came to the attention of the malevolent Mister Mind, arriving on Earth-Two after Who’s third appearance left him imprison. Soon, this bearded bad guy would find himself surrounded by fellow freaks focused on felony.
Other shape changers of the time, the former French Legion Patrol consisting of Fred, Pedro and Slim, used their own shape shifting abilities in Europe during this time. Because of this, they never ran into Who, even when he battled the All-Star Squadron, consisting of virtually every known superhero of the time. Nor would Mister Who meet Caulder's counterpart on his world, the lovely investigator Norah Blane, who aided that Patrol from time to time.
Steele's body was in critical condition, with only his brain preserved alive within the metallic cranium of his new robotic body. Trainor's body was irradiated energy he could project from himself as a negative being. Farr gained size changing powers from inhaling volcanic fumes in Africa. Logan gained shape shifting powers from a lifesaving formula devised by his parents. A formula much like Who’s Z-Solution, and like the process used on DeMille.
Laura DeMille sustained psychological injuries due to a vehicular accident she was involved in. Displaying radical mood shifts and schizophrenic behavior, she agreed to submit to an experimental procedure offered by the mysterious Brain and his super-smart simian servant Monsieur Mallah. This unleashed within her a toxic personality, which the Brain could manipulate as he recruited her as "Madame Rouge" into his Brotherhood of Evil.
Originally using her theatric skills to disguise herself as various women in order to advance the Brotherhood's schemes, eventually Rouge was captured and imprisoned. Once freed from prison by her confederates, the Brain once more experimented on DeMille, giving her elastic and shape shifting powers somewhat similar to Elasti-Girl. Using these abilites, Rouge infilitrated the Doom Patrol, pretending to be each member in order to sow discord in their ranks. Eventually, Rouge assumed the identity of the Chief himself, although she couldn't outwit the team and escaped.
Madame Rouge would remain a member of the Brotherhood of Evil through several more cases, until she turned on them in order to save the world. At this point, Caulder discovered the truth behind Rouge's criminal career, and helped rehabilitate her.
Mister Who joined Mister Mind's Monster Society of Evil, and found that the assembled All-Star Squadron was too powerful for he and his cronies as they were quickly vanquished while the Crisis on Infinite Earths was transpiring.
Who would reappear once more following this tale and again meet defeat versus Fate. While all three of his solo schemes involved petty larceny, the science behind them had untapped potential squandered by the greed and malice of its creator.
After several ray treatments on DeMille helped to reverse the process she went through, he morality was restored, and soon she and Niles fell in love with one another. However, the Brain was determined to reclaim Madame Rouge for his group, and because his radiation treatments and those of the Chief both subjected DeMille to intense feelings she relapsed. Initially creating an evil copy of herself which DeMille defeated, she ultimately turned bad and rebelled against both the Doom Patrol and the Brotherhood of Evil.
No longer a willing subject of the Brain, no longer a romantic love interest of the Chief. And through her animosity, she would team up with General Zahl to enact revenges on both teams. Tragically, this led to the death of the Chief and most of the Doom Patrol, although she would perish not long afterward.
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