[1] Created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, he made his debut alongside the other original members of the Doom Patrol in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963).

[3] Drake confirmed in an interview that the Chief was inspired by the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, specifically Sherlock Holmes' elder brother, Mycroft.

Caulder founded and organized the team called Doom Patrol to protect the innocent and fight crime, and to teach humanity to accept others who live as ostracized "freaks," who have been radically transformed from terrible accidents.

[1] It is Caulder's genius that allowed the team members to survive (e.g., designing Robotman's body, devising Negative Man's medicated bandages), and helped grant their freakishness and abilities.

Ultimately, it was revealed that the benefactor was General Immortus, who hired Caulder to create a chemical to replace the one that had been prolonging his life for centuries but was now failing.

Immortus responded by implanting an explosive device in Caulder's torso, which he could set off remotely, and any attempt to remove it while Niles lived would also detonate it.

Niles Caulder's back-history seemingly remained intact following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths; however, when writer Grant Morrison took over the Doom Patrol title (starting with vol.

Near the end of their run, Morrison even revealed that Caulder was responsible for the "accidents" that caused the original Doom Patrol members to gain their powers, since his personal philosophy is that true greatness comes through overcoming tragic events.

In keeping with the above retcon that he manipulated the original Doom Patrol's transformations, it has been revealed that Caulder had also experimented on other characters in the world who would both benefit and destroy humanity.

Brain also reveals that he and the Doom Patrol are not the only innocent humans whose bodies are mutilated against their will by Caulder to create his own personal super-hero team.

Two previously unseen characters (Electric Blu and the Human Cannon) and a Negative Girl (possibly a retcon of Valentina Vostok) are said to be out there somewhere, having rejected Caulder for the damage he inflicted upon them.

Unable to defeat the Black Lanterns, Caulder utilized a warp gate to send them all to the Justice League, in hopes that they will be able to deal with the problem.

[10] Caulder later gains the body of a Kryptonian, and successfully duplicates the ability to absorb yellow sun radiation into the cells from it, transforming himself into a "Superman".

Operating a deep underground science & engineering facility located beneath Los Angeles, he provides headquarters and combat training for the team in their campaign against the organization of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

During the events of Forever Evil, it is revealed that Niles Caulder has created a Doom Patrol since his last appearance and seems to be free from Harvest.

This Doom Patrol was killed by Crime Syndicate of America members Johnny Quick and Atomica except for Celsius and Tempest who according to Lex Luthor faked their deaths to escape him, prompting Caulder to make plans to "start over".

[15] Alternate universe variants of the Chief makes minor appearances in the Elseworlds titles JLA: The Nail,[16] Justice,[17] and DC: The New Frontier.