Doom Patrol follows the unlikely heroes of the eponymous team who all received their powers through tragic circumstances and are generally shunned by society. Most members of the team were treated by the Niles Caulder / Chief, a medical doctor who gave them residence in his mansion to help protect them from the outside world. Their name derives from an earlier Doom Patrol team that was formed by the Chief.

The first members of the Doom Patrol to be introduced in the series are Kay Challis / Crazy Jane, the dominant identity of a traumatized woman with dissociative identity disorder; Rita Farr / Elasti-Woman, who struggles to prevent her body from turning to a gelatinous state; Larry Trainor / Negative Man, who has an entity of negative energy living inside of him; and Cliff Steele / Robotman, whose brain was placed in a robot body following a car crash. The team is later joined by cybernetically enhanced superhero Victor Stone / Cyborg.

In the first season, the Chief is captured by the malevolent Eric Morden / Mr. Nobody, sending the Doom Patrol on a journey to rescue him. Along the way, they discover secrets about themselves and the Chief, who they eventually learn is responsible for the tragic events that gave them their powers.

The second season sees the Doom Patrol joined by Dorothy Spinner, the Chief’s daughter who possesses the ability to bring her imaginary friends to life. While the members of the Doom Patrol face their own personal dilemmas and contend with the truth about the Chief, Dorothy inadvertently endangers the world when her powers threaten to unleash an ancient entity known as the Candlemaker.

In the third season, Dorothy’s battle with the Candlemaker reaches its climax and the Doom Patrol suffers a tragic loss when the Chief finally dies of old age. However, the Doom Patrol’s ally Willoughby Kipling salvages Chief’s head, stating that his time isn’t over yet. In the aftermath, the team go their separate ways as they struggle with their identities when the arrival of Laura De Mille / Madame Rouge in a time machine sets them on a new path.

In the fourth and final season, the Doom Patrol begin doing more heroic activities while dealing with the coming of Immortus and the imminent Buttpocalypse.