The Spirit of Charles Rowland - Doom Patrol: Season Three

The victim of severe bullying from fellow school pupils, Charles Rowland died from hypothermia after he was assaulted in a freezing cold lake. 

While his spirit left his body upon his death, making the acquaintance of the embodiment of mortality herself, he did not officially crossover to the Afterlife. This resulted in him remaining on Earth for the next several decades. During this time Charles befriended Edwin Payne, the ghost of a murdered teenager freshly escaped from Hell. 

Bonding over their love of detective fiction, the pair formed The Dead Boy Detective Agency, a specialist organisation dedicated to solving any and all supernatural cases presented to them, so long as they did not involve entering Death's domain. This was due to Payne and Rowland's continued attempt to avoid Death and her loyalists for as long as they could, not wishing to be separated and or/sent to Hell. While he found her to be pleasant, caring, and sexually attractive - going so far as to call her "super fit" - he understood and sympathised with Edwin's fears, having heard about the years of psychological and emotional abuse he had been subjected to at the hands of her trusted enforcer, The Night Nurse.

Specialising in the occult, Charles collected various mystical weapons, costumes, and artefacts, which he carried in his rucksack in case of emergencies. Among these were a spade and a baseball bat, employing them for self-defence against any demons or paranormal creatures they came across. 

Meeting the medium Crystal Palace while on a case, they helped the young psychic exercise the demon, David, from her body. With no memories of her family and nowhere else to go, he welcomed her into the agency as the living face of the company. The three became best friends, acting more like a dysfunctional family than colleagues. Charles was very overprotective of both Edwin and Crystal. This manifested itself in lots of different ways, such as preferring the latter to remain outside whenever a crime scene was considered too dangerous for someone alive. However this annoyed Palace as she found it to be unnecessary and patronising. He would also look out for her when Payne would often - yet unintentionally - make rude, insensitive, and dismissive comments about her past traumas with David. 

In 2021, while working on a case in London, he is delighted by the sudden arrival of his old friend Danny, now in the form of an ambulance. Excited to see them again after so long and intrigued by their proposal, he persuaded the group to go with Danny to Covington, Ohio. 

Despite a catastrophic introduction to Negative Man (Larry Trainer) and Dorothy Spinner, who had overheard both him and Edwin - not used to being seen or heard by mortals - making judgmental comments about them, the two agreed to hire the agency to help find and resurrect their fallen family. 

Concluding that Farr, Steele, Challis, and Stone had not yet passed over to the Afterlife and were in fact still being processed in The Tunnel of Souls, Rowland agreed with Payne that they should leave the manor. However, after some protests from Palace, he finally relented, deciding to aid them in their rescue mission. 

Accompanied by an astral projecting Larry, Rowland, Trainer, and Payne travelled the long journey to the Afterlife. Despite his opposition, he was forced to watch in distress as his friend opened the portal to the land of the dead, using his own pain and suffering as payment. 

Coming across the River Styx, Charles was horrified by the lake, reminiscing back to the day of his death. While this was going on, he was oblivious to a conversation that Trainer and Payne were having with one another about the latter's repressed romantic feelings for his "mate" and partner. Building the confidence necessary for the voyage, they proceeded to board Charon's Ferry and crossover to their destination. 

Inspired by his surroundings of an American Afterlife, he decided to use the baseball bat during his confrontation with The Night Nurse, vowing that he would not let the demonic matron touch or harm Edwin again. Striking her with the weapon, all he managed to do was force her to reveal her true form, causing the enforcer to laugh mockingly at his efforts. Thrown backwards by her telekinetic powers, he yelled at the others to make their way towards the exit. However, before she can hurt him further, they are saved by the arrival of the spirit of Malcolm DuPont, who willingly gave up his life to ensure that his future - past in his case - friend and lover "Bendy" (Rita) could escape. 

In a last-ditch effort to stop her progress, Charles covered their flight with a smoke bomb, allowing them to get to the safety of Charon's Ferry. 

Returning to the mortal plane, he is happily reunited with Crystal. Agreeing to let Dorothy join the team, after seeing how well Spinner and Palace got on, the quartet said their farewells to Larry, Vic, Rita, Jane, and Cliff. As they left the mansion, he joked about Larry and Edwin's similarities, remarking that he could understand why they had become friends, sharing numerous personality traits: severe, moody, and pessimistic. 

The next day, while Rita, Cliff, Larry, Jane, and Vic were transformed into zombies, infected by a virus in the Night Nurse's vomit they were doused in during their escape, Charles and Edwin remained unaffected. With no organic body to convert, they were safe from the devastating effects that befell their less fortunate companions.