Larry Trainor

**Larry Trainor** (born 1927/1928) is a former Air Force pilot who crashed his plane after being exposed to a mysterious Negative Spirit. He was saved by Dr. Niles Caulder, who took Larry into his home alongside others Caulder had saved.

## Biography

Larry was a pilot in the Air Force. In 1961, he was short listed for the Mercury Space Program, by test piloting the X-15, an experimental rocket plane. However, once he reached the mesosphere, he was exposed to a wave of negative energy from the Negative Spirit. While given days to live by regular doctors, Dr. Niles Caulder took Larry in, helping him live, albeit wearing full-body bandages. By 2018, he lived in Caulder's house with a number of others Caulder had saved.

One day in 2018, while Larry was cooking dinner for the house, he was interrupted by Rachel Roth, who the group decided to let stay. However, their dinner was interrupted by the Chief, who they assisted in saving a new patient of his, Shyleen Lao. They returned upstairs for some tea, during which Caulder told Rachel of how he'd saved all of them. That night, Dick Grayson and Kory Anders entered the mansion, causing Larry, Cliff, and Rita to attempt to threaten them off. However, after Dick helped to calm down an enraged Rachel, they let them leave of their own accord, sending off Gar as well, so that he could live a normal life.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Metahuman physiology**: Larry Trainor was 'accidentally' sent into a field of cosmic radiation while testing an experimental jet in the stratosphere. When he crash landed back on earth his physiology had changed permanently and requires the Chief's bandages to protect those around him from his radiation.
	+ **Radiation production**: Larry has the ability to release the Negative Spirit, a being composed of an as of yet unidentifiable form of radioactive energy. The being has it's own free will, and can come out at any time it pleases, though this is evidently easier when Larry is under stress. While the being is out, Larry goes unconscious, his mind inhabiting a dream world created by the Negative Spirit.
	+ **Flight**: The Negative Spirit can fly at a unknown speed.
	+ **Dimensional warping**: The Negative Spirit inside Larry was able to destroy the alternate dimension created by Mr. Nobody. The Doom Patrol and the town of Cloverton were all returned to the normal world.
	+ **Delayed aging:** Larry's powers seem to have granted him some degree of slowed aging as he possesses the same body fifty years later as he did when the accident occured with no sign of change.
	+ **Possession:** The Negative Spirit can take possession of both people and objects. Obviously, it took possession of Larry Trainor but, it was also able to possess a device built by Niles Caulder. This device was designed to allow the entity to communicate with humans but, the machine was overloaded by its power and the spirit was enjected back into Larry.
		- **Mind melding:** The Spirit was able to connect Cliff Steele and Kay Challis’s minds together. This allowed Cliff to enter her mind, to interact with her various personalities and help her, after she had fallen into a deep coma.
	+ **Phasing:** The Negative Spirit can phase through solid matter such as walls and people.
	+ **Temperature immunity:** Larry is shown to be able to withstand extreme temperatures, ranging from -100 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit.

### Abilities

* **Cooking:** Larry has been shown to be a great cook, cooking for all of the residents of the Caulder house.
* **Expert pilot:** Larry was once one of the top pilots in the U.S. Air Force. He was chosen to fly the most advanced and most experimental jets and planes.

## Weaknesses

* **Power instability:** Larry is not able to control when the Negative Spirit comes out, and when it does, it leaves his body unconscious, while his mind is forced into a vision created by the spirit. While this vision is typically torturous, it doesn't have to be, as the Negative Spirit does sometimes try to make it pleasant for Larry.

## Appearances

### *Doom Patrol*

Season 1
* "Pilot"
* "Donkey Patrol"
* "Puppet Patrol"
* "Cult Patrol"
* "Paw Patrol"
* "Doom Patrol Patrol"
* "Therapy Patrol"
* "Danny Patrol"
* "Jane Patrol"
* "Hair Patrol"
* "Frances Patrol"
* "Cyborg Patrol"
* "Flex Patrol"
* "Penultimate Patrol"
* "Ezekiel Patrol"

## Trivia

* Larry is 91 or 92 years old, as it is mentioned in a video recording in "Cult Patrol" that Larry graduated from high school in 1946, and since graduation age is 17 or 18 in America, meaning that Larry was born in 1927 or 1928.
* Larry grew up in North Dakota.

## Behind the scenes

* In the DC Comics, Larry Trainor is a former test pilot for the Air Force, and a member of the Doom Patrol known as "Negative Man".

## References

2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Johns, Geoff (writer) & Fawcett, John (director) (November 2, 2018). "Doom Patrol". *Titans*. Season 1. Episode 4. DC Universe.
3. ↑ Pilot
4. ↑ Pilot
5. ↑ Donkey Patrol

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