Apparently, I'm a time-traveler who makes films and has allies in the afterlife. I don't feel worthy of that, either. But I have to believe that eventually my purpose or destiny will come and snatch me from this infernal stasis. In the meantime, I drink! 
- — Rita Farr src
Rita Farr (born Gertrude Cramp) is the flamboyant and regal leader of the Doom Patrol who used to be a Hollywood actress. After an experiment engineered by Niles Caulder transformed her into a physically unstable and elastic metahuman, Caulder took her in and introduced her to her friends on the team. Originally selfish and standoffish, Rita became more kind, empathetic, and even heroic, searching for a destiny as a hero as she formed close bonds with her teammates, Larry Trainor in particular.
History
Early Life
Gertrude Cramp was born in 1929 to Vance and Addie Cramp. Gertrude was pushed by Addie into becoming an actress like her, and adopted the stage name "Rita Farr". In order to ensure her daughter's success, her mother had sex with producers and directors to ensure Rita's roles instead of just auditioning her. This caused a serious sense of inadequacy to develop in Rita, as well as a need to prove that she could act and didn't need her mother's help. Over the course of the next few decades, she perfected her acting skills and rose to stardom, gaining many prominent roles in big pictures, and was even nominated for a Golden Globe.[3][4]
The end of an actress
Eventually, in the 1950s, Rita struck up a deal with a film producer who gave her roles in his films for her finding him actresses to sexually exploit. Rita justified her actions by reminding herself that the exploited women also went on to become successful, but her actions caught up to her when one of the women became pregnant and was placed in her care in 1955. She rejected the woman, who killed herself, leaving her baby orphaned, and instead of adopting the child, but instead decided to take the leading role in Gene's new picture, "Forbidden Congo". Around this time, Rita was selected as a candidate for experiments in immortality by scientist Niles Caulder. While in Africa to film Forbidden Congo, she was exposed to a a mysterious green substance that made her body highly elastic and molecularly unstable. Unable to control her body from grossly contorting, Rita's film career floundered, and so she accepted the invitation of help from Caulder himself, who she would come to call "the Chief", unaware he had caused her "accident".[5][6][7]
New Life at Doom Manor
Rita moved into Caulder's home, a manor house just outside Cloverton, Ohio, to attempt to control her unstable, gelatinous form, enlisting the help of powerful psychic Steve Dayton, a founding member of Caulder's superhero team, the Doom Patrol. He used his powers to help Rita stabilize herself and maintain her appearance, and the two had a brief romantic fling. However, he broke off their relationship when he read her mind and discovered in horror what she'd done for her role in Forbidden Congo.[4]
Life as a patient
Over the years, other test subjects of the Chief would come to live in his house. Of all of them, she formed the closest friendship with Larry Trainor, a quiet and remorseful Air Force test pilot fused to a radioactive Negative Spirit. These tenants also included Crazy Jane, a woman with sixty-four separate superpowered personalities, the primary of which was an aggressive loner, and Cliff Steele, a loud-mouthed and angry but well-meaning racecar driver whose brain was placed in a powerful but unfeeling robot body. None of the tenants knew of Caulder's involvement in their "accidents".[8][6]
Search for the Chief
A new team
In 2019, soon after the Chief left on one of his regular expeditions, Jane convinced Rita, Larry, and Cliff to go into downtown Cloverton for a day. The trip was a disaster thanks to Rita losing control and turning into a giant blob mass that had to be calmed down by Cliff. The group returned to the manor, but their antics had caught the attention of Mister Nobody, the Chief's nemesis, who had been searching for him for years. When Caulder returned, he bade them leave, but Cliff convinced the others to stay and protect the town. They made their way downtown where they spotted an albino donkey, and watched a giant vortex open up in the ground, devouring the entire town, and sucking in all its residents, including Jane and the Chief.[6]
Returning to the manor, Rita and Larry met Victor Stone, also known as Cyborg, a young hero from Detroit who came to help find Niles. Rita, Larry, and Vic entered the donkey and were sent to White Space, Mister Nobody's lair. Nobody tortured them a bit and finally warned them to stop looking for Caulder if they wanted to live. He then freed them and the village, simply making them more determined than ever to find the Chief. Rita led Vic into the guest room.[9]
A new friend
The mission led them to various clues until they met Willoughby Kipling, a master sorcerer and former friend of Niles, who asked them for help in defeating the Cult of the Unwritten Book. Rita began a friendship with Elliot Patterson and when Elliot died for the Decreator, Rita helped the others to end the cult.[10][11][12]
Solving his problems
Rita, Jane, and Larry visited the Doom Patrol and Rita was reunited with Steve. She and Steve became friends while looking at some trophies from the Doom Patrol victories. Rita was tormented by Steve with traumas from her past until they managed to break free and found out from Joshua Clay, the caretaker of the Doom Patrol, that they were defeated by Mister Nobody, causing Niles to disintegrate the team. Back in the manor, Rita was trying to control her powers and participated in group therapy that went wrong. Rita and Cliff searched for Jane, who became Karen, a romantic personality. She was hypnotized with Karen until Cliff managed to free Rita from the spell.[4][13][14]
While Cliff was on Jane's mind, Rita and Vic were visited by Ernest Franklin, also known as Beard Hunter, a metahuman who can know people's history by eating their facial hair and came looking for Niles. Rita and Vic wanted to use Ernest to find Niles, but he had escaped. Rita managed to put a tracker on the Beard Hunter so they could find him. Later, Rita tried to help Cliff reconcile with his daughter. Rita, Larry, Cliff, Jane, and Silas Stone infiltrated the Bureau of Normalcy to rescue Vic.[15][16][17]
A shocking revelation
Rita learned to overcome her past and went to the manor to finally find Niles and defeat Mister Nobody. The team successfully entered the White Space with the help of Flex Mentallo and managed to rescue Niles. The team discovered that the Vic who went with them was Mister Nobody and the real Vic had shown up. Rita and the team were returned to White Space, where they asked Niles to tell the truth to be free, but were deeply devastated to discover that Niles was responsible for their accidents. Feeling betrayed, hurt, and furious at Caulder, the team went their separate ways as soon as the now-satisfied Mister Nobody transported them out of the White Space, and back to the real world.[5][7][18]
A New Beginning
The team goes to the rescue
Eventually, the team was lured back to Doom Manor by Mister Nobody for a second revenge scheme, having kidnapped Danny and the Chief's daughter, Dorothy Spinner, a naive but powerful girl able to bring her imaginary friends to life, including a dangerous, potentially world-ending one called the Candlemaker. Dorothy had been the reason for Caulder's immortality experiments, wanting to outlive her to protect the world from the Candlemaker. For the sake of the girl, the team went to rescue her and Danny. Rita and the team managed to save Dorothy and Danny from a giant cockroach and a giant rat, but everyone except for Larry was reduced to inches. Rita began training with Vic to become a superhero. Eventually, they were restored the normal size by Willoughby Kipling, in exchange for Caulder's longevity talisman, leading him to finally begin to die.[18][19]
A new role
As Niles began to die, Rita, Cliff, and Jane tried to help him get the Continuinium from Doctor Tyme's hands, but they failed and he got upset with Niles for sending them on a hitman mission. Soon after, Rita and Dorothy became friends and she went with Niles to Red Jack's palace to save Larry. Rita managed to save her friend from Jack's torture and the trio made it out alive. Rita tried to control her powers with the help of Flex, but this caused an orgasm that caught the attention of Shadowy Mister Evans, a sexual ghost capable of destroying the world until Rita was saved by the Sex Men and their friends. To start over, Rita went to Cloverton to get the role in a new play.[3][8][20][1]
The Beekeeper
Rita discovered that the theater play was about the events of what happened when she, Cliff, Larry, and Jane traveled to town including the donkey disaster. Rita had a new rival, Isabel Feathers. Rita's role was that of the "beekeeper." Rita wanted to do something great with that role, so she decided to use the disguise to become a vigilante.[21][22]
A Tragic Loss
Rita and Vic investigated a murder as their first mission, but discovered that Roni Evers, Vic's girlfriend, had been responsible. The team were forced to do battle with the released Candlemaker, and stop it from turning the world into wax. After a long battle, Dorothy finally rested control of the deity, but during their fight, Caulder succumbed to the ailments of his age, and his death was both celebrated and mourned by his test subjects. Rita prepared for her stage play, but revealed herself as the Blob Lady, causing her to be fired and into a depressed stat.[23][24][25]
Crossroads of revenge
Deserved vacation
Rita received a message from Caulder with a key and an alarm saying that something dangerous was coming, but she didn't care. To rest from Niles' death, Rita, Cliff, Jane, and Vic traveled to Codsville, but encountered Garguax, an alien and former enemy of Niles. The group was separated by their differences until they managed to fix their friendship, but they were killed by Samuelson and before dying, Rita met another Rita. In the afterlife, Rita managed to survive and was helped by a mysterious person. The team was brought back to life thanks to Larry and the Dead Boy Detective Agency. The team received a visit from a time traveler who did not remember her name, but Rita seemed very familiar to her. Soon, the team turned into zombies and they helped Kipling stop Darren Jones and they returned to normal.[25][26][27][28]
"Piffle Paffle"
While the team pursued the Sisterhood of Dada, Rita attempted to help Laura regain her memory. Rita stole the time machine to go to 1917 and fulfill her destiny, but she lost her memory. Upon arrival, Rita joined the Bureau of Normalcy, where she met Laura from the past and the Sisterhood of Dada. Rita began an affair with Malcolm DuPont and a friendship with Laura. Years later, Rita and the Sisterhood were betrayed by De Mille, but Rita managed to escape. When Laura joined the Brotherhood of Evil, Rita had a fight with her before she traveled back in time. To take revenge, Rita traveled in time managing to recover her memory and did everything she saw in her future life.[29][2][30][31]
The revenge continues
Upon returning to the Sisterhood, Rita and her new team began the Eternal Flagellation. Rita joined the subconscious of her friends to help her get revenge on Madame Rouge, but they did not want to help. Rita managed to confront Laura to destroy her, but she escaped. Rita returned to the manor to recruit Vic, Cliff, Jane, and Larry to stop the Brotherhood of Evil, but they were all busy. When Cliff was kidnapped, the group agreed to go save him. During the trip, Rita revealed that she only wanted to get revenge on Laura, which made everyone argue about the time travel and because of Jane's sonic scream, the bus was damaged.[30][31][32]
Rita saves the day
After the bus crash, Rita was angry at the team for not advancing to Florida until Shelley Byron showed up to talk to Rita and convince her to give up her revenge on Rouge, but she refused. Rita arrived in Florida, where she found The Brain, whom she murdered. Rita arrived at the manor to finally exact her revenge, but Rouge tried to show that she was reforming. When Cliff lost control of his new body, Rita became a giant to prevent the destruction of the city. The team agreed to become a team of superheroes to decide who they really are, with Rita as the team leader.[33]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Elasticity
- Longevity
- Regeneration: Rita is able to regrow her own limbs.[34]
- Size Alteration
- Superhuman Durability
- Superhuman Strength: Rita can lift 10 tons with one hand.[34]
Abilities
- Acting: Rita was a talented actor before suffering the accident that made her superhuman.
- Cooking [citation needed]
- Medicine [citation needed]
- Pedagogy[18]
Weaknesses
- Power Instability: If Rita loses control of her emotions, she has trouble maintaining her form, resulting in her body parts drooping and, more extremely, turning her into a blob.
Paraphernalia
Transportation
- Doom Bus
- Shipley
- Cliff's Second Body: Rita travels with the Doom Patrol inside of Cliff's gigantic robot body.
Notes
- This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the television series Doom Patrol and is an adaptation of Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr). The original character was created by Arnold Drake, Bob Haney, and Bruno Premiani and first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80.
- Rita Farr is portrayed as an adult by April Bowlby and as a kid by Lana Jean Turner.
- Another version of Rita Farr, also portrayed by April Bowlby, had earlier appeared in the Titans episode "Doom Patrol".
- Though she has never taken the superhero name in the show, promotional marketing officially provided by DC Comics identified Rita as "Elasti-Woman". [35]
Related
- 35 Appearances of Gertrude Cramp (Doom Patrol TV Series)
- 33 Images featuring Gertrude Cramp (Doom Patrol TV Series)
- 3 Quotations by or about Gertrude Cramp (Doom Patrol TV Series)
- Character Gallery: Gertrude Cramp (Doom Patrol TV Series)
External Links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Doom Patrol: "Finger Patrol"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Doom Patrol: "1917 Patrol"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Doom Patrol: "Tyme Patrol"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Doom Patrol: "Doom Patrol Patrol"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Doom Patrol: "Flex Patrol"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Doom Patrol: "Pilot"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Doom Patrol: "Penultimate Patrol"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Doom Patrol: "Pain Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Donkey Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Puppet Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Cult Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Paw Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Therapy Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Danny Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Hair Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Frances Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Cyborg Patrol"
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Doom Patrol: "Ezekiel Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Fun Size Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Sex Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Space Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Dumb Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Dad Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Wax Patrol"
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Doom Patrol: "Possibilities Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Vacay Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Dead Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Undead Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Dada Patrol"
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Doom Patrol: "Bird Patrol"
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 Doom Patrol: "Subconscious Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Evil Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Amends Patrol"
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 DCDoomPatrol Twitter #WeirdIsSuper Fact
- ↑ Doom Patrol | Elasti-Woman | DC Universe | The Ultimate Membership
  Doom Patrol member |
