'Titans' season 2 casts 'Scrubs' actor Michael Mosley as Doctor Light, a second-rate villain with a horrifying past
‘Titans’ already has quite a few great villains on their cast list including the demon Trigon (Seamus Dever), Deathstroke the Terminator (Esai Morales) and Mercy Graves (Natalie Gumede). Now the DC Universe show is bringing on Michael Mosley ('Ozark') to play another villainous character with a comic book history that's got plenty of weirdness, terrible attempts at evil and a horrifying secret.
Mosley will be playing Dr. Arthur Light, according to a report by Deadline. In the comics, Light has the ability to control… well, light. He uses those powers to try to take on the Justice League and the Teen Titans on multiple occasions.
Despite his lofty ambitions though, Doctor Light has never been much of a heavyweight. In fact, he is often confused with another, more heroic Doctor Light who is a woman named Kimiyo Hoshi with very similar powers. A different female Dr. Light appeared on ‘The Flash’ as the Earth-2 version of Linda Park (played by Malese Jow).
Light’s plans have repeatedly been foiled, often with comical consequences that have made him one of the most humiliated villains in DC’s repertoire. At one point, he was actually beaten by a band of non-superpowered children.
Possibly because of how badly being a villain was turning out, Light eventually joined the Suicide Squad. While it seemed like he may have finally taken a heroic turn, Light soon relapsed into villainy.
Up to this point, Light was little more than a joke. But all that would change after 2004’s ‘Identity Crisis’ storyline when his true dark side was brought into the light. ‘Identity Crisis’ revealed Light was once a serial rapist who had brutally assaulted Sue Dibny, the wife of Ralph Dibny/the Elongated Man (who is played by Hartley Sawyer on ‘The Flash’).
When the Justice League captured him, they convinced their resident sorceress Zatanna to use her powers and mind-wipe Light, effectively lobotomizing him and turning him into the laughing stock that fans were familiar with in the past.
Light’s memories and prodigious intellect soon returned and he became a much more effective villain. He almost managed to kill the Teen Titans and only the full force of every Titans member past and present could eventually contain him.
No longer the clown he once was, Light continued to kill and rape his way across the Earth for many years until one day, karma finally came for him. The Spectre, a mysterious entity who personifies God’s wrath, dragged Light away from a demented orgy he was taking part in and executed him.
In an ironic twist, the Spectre killed Light by transforming him into a candle and setting him on fire, with his head as the wick. The punishment was specifically chosen because of the villain’s abuse of his light manipulation powers.
We don’t know what sort of a character he’s going to be when Light makes his debut in ‘Titans‘ Season 2. There’s a good chance he may actually be introduced first as a researcher at Cadmus, the organization that created Superboy (Joshua Orpin).
Considering how Deathstroke has been teased to be the main villain for the season, it’s possible we won’t be seeing the full force of Light’s evil any time soon. But whether he is going to be the ridiculous fool of his early years or the monstrous criminal of more recent times, Doctor Light is definitely a villain to watch out for.
‘Titans’ season 2 will air Fridays exclusively on DC Universe, starting September 6.
