There's something inside me. I wouldn't say we're friends, but... there's definitely a connection there. And for years, I didn't know what it was, or what it wanted... but now I think I might. 
The Negative Spirit is an alien energy being that was once fused to Larry Trainor by Niles Caulder. The frightened but understanding being waited patiently inside Larry for years, the two unable to communicate with each other, until they finally learned to coexist. When it finally left Larry's body, it left behind his son Keeg to help him evolve.
History
First Host
The Negative Spirit was an alien energy being that existed in deep space, floating freely around a nebula with others like it. It eventually made its way to the Solar System and floated just outside the atmosphere of the system's third planet, Earth, when it fused with a female Russian cosmonaut. At some point, however, the spirit and the cosmonaut separated, releasing the spirit back into the atmosphere.[2]
Fusing With Larry Trainor
Merged with Larry Trainor
In 1961, the negative spirit was fused with another human when a specially designed space jet made contact with it, fusing with the vehicle's pilot Air Force test pilot Larry Trainor. The spirit remained within his body as the two crashed to the surface, allowing Larry survive what would've otherwise been a fatal crash. Larry would learn though, that the spirit also made his body lethally radioactive. Because of their fusion, the Negative Spirit, within Larry, was taken to the Ant Farm, the secret base of the organization against oddities, Bureau of Normalcy, being tortured by Bureau agents who sought to make Larry serve for the war and forcing them to kill people, experiments that the scientist Charles Forsythe supervised.[3][4][5]
Eventually, the Spirit formed a friendship with another prisoner, Flex Mentallo, with whom he planned to escape, but due to Larry's fear, he was unable to carry out his escape. Later, the scientist Niles Caulder released Larry to hide him in his manor, asking questions mainly of the Spirit, who communicated with Niles, stating that he felt pain inside Larry from his depression and regularly the Spirit left his body without control.[6][7]
Unexpected Meeting
In 1996, the Spirit unexpectedly crossed paths with a future version of Larry, who did not accept the Spirit because they had defused, revealing that the Spirit's son, Keeg, now lived inside him, so in order to communicate, the Spirit possess the body of Larry from the past to speak. The Spirit learned from Keeg about a grim future, where Keeg killed a future Larry, however, after revisiting a vision, the Spirit assured Larry of the future that he would have a new life, stating that he would become a sun, confusing to Larry, before the Spirit withdrew after seeing that the Larry of the future had evolved and asked him to be braver with Keeg.[1]
Bond with Larry Trainor
In 2019, Larry and the other patients at the manor went out to Cloverton in Niles' absence, before Larry's best friend, Rita Farr, a former Hollywood actress who mutated with viscous powers, accidentally attacked the town, forcing Larry to flee, before the Spirit came out, destroying several cables. When Larry attempted to leave Cloverton after the civilians were sucked into a giant hole, the Spirit prevented him, causing Larry to return to Cloverton, joining Rita and the cybernetic vigilante Cyborg, real name Victor Stone, to find Niles inside of a mysterious albino donkey. As the group was tortured with their past by Mister Nobody, the interdimensional supervillain who kidnapped Niles, the Spirit was able to free Larry and the group from the donkey dimension, returning everything to normal.[3][8]
Conflict with Larry
After getting off the donkey, Larry decided to put limits on the Spirit, causing them to conflict over his decisions, causing him to crash the group's bus as they headed to Paraguay to find clues on Niles. In the Fuchtopia laboratory, Larry subjected himself to a machine to get rid of the Spirit, however, the entity confronted Larry for trying to return to normal until the machine was destroyed, freeing Larry. The Spirit attempted to connect with Larry, showing him videos of Niles's interrogations and how it felt inside him, which made Larry empathize with his alien host. Being on good terms with Larry, the Spirit defended him against the Dry Bachelors, members of the Cult of the Unwritten Book, a religious cult that sought to bring the Decreator and bring about the end of the world, which was prevented by the group.[8][9][7]
The Spirit remained in Larry, now that he was beginning to accept the alien, as he dealt with his past traumas, remembering with his partner the torture done by Forsythe, which was manifested by the powers of the telepath, Steven Dayton. The Spirit tried to get Larry to move forward in his life, sending him into a dream with his secret lover, John Bowers, an attempt to help Larry frustrated by remembering his past. To avenge the torture he suffered with the Spirit, Larry defended Danny the Street from maniacal Agent Darren Jones and other Bureau agents.[10][11][4]
A new close bond
Because Jane, a woman with 64 different personalities and Larry's roommate, was seen in an undefended coma, the Spirit helped the burlesque robotman, Cliff Steele, to enter Jane's mind, connecting the two and sending Cliff to The Underground. On the other hand, the Spirit caused Larry to bond with John to try to patch things up after several years, though Larry was reluctant. The Spirit was finally able to make Larry visit old John, allowing him to say goodbye before his death, an act that Larry appreciated, which made them both improve their bond now into a friendlier one, accepting each other. Later, the Spirit joined the group's mission to rescue Vic from the Ant Farm, again facing Forysthe, who separated the Spirit from Larry until they were freed and taking out several innocent metahumans prisoners.[12][13][14]
Training to be more powerful
Back in the manor after the escape, the Spirit tried to connect with Larry again, even though he thought their relationship had ended, but the entity taught him that the prisoner they saved was Flex Mentallo, so they made him memories to finally find to Niles. The Spirit tried to join Larry again to save his life, but Larry asked him to return home now that he was free, however, after thinking about it, the Spirit chose to return inside Larry, since he was willing to help him move on in his life. After discovering the truth about Niles, Larry and Rita moved into a house far away together, where Larry and the Spirit practiced their new bond, now that Larry could be awake with the Spirit out of him, using his new ability to save the team from the Painting That Ate Paris, eliminating the members of the evil Brotherhood of Dangerous Animals. Now that he's back in the manor to help the team, which has become miniature, Larry and the Spirit keep practicing, growing closer.[6][15][16]
Homecoming
The training continued for several weeks until the Spirit returned to help Larry, causing him to have memories of his son, Gary Trainor, who had committed suicide because of his conspiracies believing that Larry was still alive, encouraging his partner to reunite with his family to try to recover their family ties. When Larry's other son, Paul Trainor, revealed to have called the Bureau of Normalcy to take care of him and Rita, the Spirit saved his friends, escaping with them from the Trainor farm, leaving Paul angry for hurting his son, Dex Trainor.[16][17]
Meeting with other Spirit
Shortly after the disaster at the farm, Larry was visited by Niles' former exploration team, the Pioneers of the Uncharted, led by the cosmonaut Moscow, real name Valentina Vostok, who also possessed a spirit within her and recognized the Spirit, since it was with whom he merged previously. As Larry befriended Valentina, he realized that the Spirit was considering taking a trip to the Moon to find his home, a message that Larry understood during his conflict with the Scants, realizing that the Spirit wanted return to his home.[18][19]
Saying goodbye to a great friend
After Niles' death, the Spirit gave Larry signs to agree to accompany him to his home, a request that he denied, stating that he could not leave the manor, showing concern for Rita, but she accepted the Spirit's request, convincing Larry to accompany his companion and together they left in search of his home for several weeks. The pair of partners were finally able to enter the Negative Space, where the Spirit entered, manifesting as Larry in his disfigured form and introducing himself to the real Larry. The Spirit returned to his real appearance, saying goodbye to Larry now that he found his world, thanking him for all his help, ending his bond, and returning him to the manor, placing his biological son named Keeg, which would help his friend move on and resume his paternity.[20][21][1]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Notes
- This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the television series Doom Patrol and is an adaptation of Mercurius. The original character was created by Arnold Drake, Bob Haney, and Grant Morrison and first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80.
Related
- 20 Appearances of Negative Spirit (Doom Patrol TV Series)
- 10 Images featuring Negative Spirit (Doom Patrol TV Series)
- Quotations by or about Negative Spirit (Doom Patrol TV Series)
- Character Gallery: Negative Spirit (Doom Patrol TV Series)
External Links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Doom Patrol: "Portal Patrol"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 DCDoomPatrol on Twitter - #WeirdIsSuper Fact
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Doom Patrol: "Pilot"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Doom Patrol: "Danny Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Youth Patrol"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Doom Patrol: "Flex Patrol"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Doom Patrol: "Cult Patrol"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Doom Patrol: "Donkey Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Puppet Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Doom Patrol Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Therapy Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Jane Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Frances Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Cyborg Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Ezekiel Patrol"
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Doom Patrol: "Fun Size Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Finger Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Space Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Dumb Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Possibilities Patrol"
- ↑ Doom Patrol: "Vacay Patrol"
  Doom Patrol member |