With all the weird and wacky events going on in the world of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol, Joivan Wade is taking it all in and enjoying every moment of it.
The 28-year-old British actor portrays the iconic superhero Cyborg aka Victor “Vic” Stone, who we see give up his technological powers for a chance at a normal life by the end of the season. Wade is excited to explore this new side of Victor sans his Cyborg powers.
“So, who is Victor Stone without Cyborg?” Wade said during an interview with The Nerds of Color. “Victor Stone is Victor Stone. I think the real question is ‘who is Cyborg without Victor Stone?’ I think that Victor is at the forefront of Cyborg and even how he wants to be viewed in terms of him wanting to be Vic and regarded as Vic.”
Wade believes now that Victor is in his own skin, this will give him the opportunity to explore his life before Cyborg and having that choice to be himself. Victor is still a superhero, even without the powers, because he has the heart and mindset of a hero.
The season finale ended with Victor remaining on the team, even though his fellow Doom Patrol questioned what he could offer in terms of defense. But, still, Victor was determined to continue his superhero journey, instead of enjoying life as a young adult. Wade explains it’s because that is all Victor knows.
During the season, we caught a glimpse of Victor’s youth and learned he quickly had to grow up with a soldier’s mentality as a Black kid in Detroit. His father Silas (Phil Morris) instilled this discipline into his son because of the racism and prejudice in the world. It is because of this that Silas created Cyborg to give Victor a fighting chance and become feared of instead of always fearing for his life.
Although Victor understood Silas’ reasoning behind, he couldn’t accept it because he was never given the choice.
“That’s the real struggle [and] the real fight that he has,” Wade revealed. “That he hasn’t had the choice. And, all he wanted was to have a choice and maybe would have decided, ‘yeah, I want to be a superhero. I want to take this on and take on that responsibility because I know what I want to do at heart and [this is] who I am, but I didn’t even get the choice to do that.’
Now without the tech on Victor, Wade said that he hopes to explore how Victor would do in the dating world and experience the things he couldn’t because he was very recognizable.
“We’re gonna explore that we’re gonna see what it feels like to be me and for me do all the things I didn’t get to do, didn’t get to be, and get to experience or find difficulty experiencing,” said Wade. “Like, for example, the dating app, going on cas[ual] and not being able to go on a simple date. I want to experience these things. So I think that now we’re in that in that zone where we’re going to explore and he wants to feel what it feels like to be Vic.”
Although many are happy for the character to have the choice to his face before the accident, not many of those with prosthetics in real life get to have that opportunity. Cyborg was always the poster child for cybernetics and prosthetics, but with the removal of that from Cyborg, it feels a bit ablest.
Wade understands the concern. “I think that is [a] testament to seeing who Vic was with his cybernetics and the power in which he gained. For Vic, it wasn’t about the the cybernetics and being a cyborg. It was more so about having choice and not being presented with the choice and knowing that there was a choice. That’s what’s most important — knowing that I had a choice here and I didn’t get to explore that choice. I know who I am and who I am [is] not defined by my prosthetics. I’m not defined by my cybernetics, but I am defined by who I am and the heart in which I have.”
With a series like Doom Patrol, the chances of Victor getting his tech back seems very likely. Either way, Wade is looking forward to the journey that Victor will be going on. He is also really excited for more of the weirdness of the series to unfold.
“So, at this point, I’ve just learned to trust that process,” said Wade. “I know that [the writers] will deliver on level bringing this show even bigger and better for Season 4 as we have done every season. And, I can’t wait to see what that looks like and how how that goes and things I want to see is — I want to see more of that world. I’m interested to see where this journey goes.”
For the full interview, check it out below:
