With Beep the Meep set to appear in Doctor Who in 2023, the possibility for more classic comic strip characters to feature in the new RTD era seems more likely. The 60th anniversary special will see David Tennant and Catherine Tate reunited as the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble in an adventure that features classic comic villain Beep the Meep, who debuted in "Doctor Who and the Star Beast" in 1979. Beep is a cute and fluffy white creature that is actually a terrifying war criminal who is on the run from the Wrarth Warriors, who are also due to feature in at least one of the three 60th anniversary specials.
The returning classic Doctor Who comic's villain was first featured in Doctor Who Weekly, published by Marvel Comics in the UK, which later became Doctor Who Magazine (DWM). The 14th Doctor's first full adventure is currently taking place within the pages of DWM, implying a stronger connection between the comic strips and the TV show going forward. With Doctor Who due to sit alongside the MCU on Disney+ in 2023, it makes sense for RTD's new era to pull from the pages of over four decades of Doctor Who comics. With so many iconic Doctor Who creations to choose from, here's every character that could appear on TV.
Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer
Aside from the Doctor, Abslom Daak is Doctor Who's Daleks' greatest enemy. Daak debuted in a Doctor Who Weekly backup comic strip story in 1980, which ran between issues 17 and 20. Written by Steve Moore with art by Preacher's Steve Dillon, "Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer" told the story of a hardened criminal who accepted the role of Dalek killer to avoid execution for his crimes. Armed with his trusty chainsword, Daak has featured in multiple Doctor Who comic stories over the years, appearing alongside both the Seventh and Eleventh Doctors.
Daak has made one brief appearance in televised Doctor Who so far, when his mugshot briefly appeared during Doctor Who season 8, episode 5, "Time Heist." However, in the wake of Doctor Who's Disney deal, an anti-Dalek spin on DC's Suicide Squad could be a potential spinoff series. Abslom Daak would be the natural lead for such a show, and he could be introduced alongside Ncuti Gatwa in Doctor Who season 14 to set up a new Dalek killer show.
Frobisher
Frobisher is Doctor Who's wildest companion character - a shape-shifting private detective, who eventually settled on the form of a penguin. The character was introduced in Doctor Who Magazine #88 in a story entitled "The Shape Shifter", where he attempted to capture the Sixth Doctor at the behest of intergalactic crime lord Josiah Dogbolter. Originally called Avan Tarklu, he settled on the name Frobisher, because he thought it sounded British.
Doctor Who is now a co-production with Bad Wolf, who are behind His Dark Materials, known for its beautifully rendered CGI animals. Doctor Who's bigger budget, combined with the expertise at Bad Wolf, could conceivably realize the show's first fully CGI companion. Given how well Beep the Meep is rendered in the upcoming 60th-anniversary special, a shape-shifting penguin detective should be a piece of cake for the team.
Josiah W. Dogbolter
Josiah W. Dogbolter is another Doctor Who villain who, like Beep the Meep, is primed for a TV appearance. A villainous intergalactic capitalist, who looks like a frog smoking a cigar, Dogbolter has faced off against multiple Doctors in comic strips and audio adventures since his first appearance in DWM #84's comic strip "The Moderator". Dogbolter also has a daughter, Berakka, who recently plotted against the Thirteenth Doctor in the DWM comic strip "Mistress of Chaos".
Most interestingly, Dogbolter once employed the services of Death's Head, a Marvel comics character who, through his involvement with the Time Variance Authority, directly links Doctor Who and the MCU's Loki. The possibilities introduced by bringing Dogbolter into TV Doctor Who are very intriguing in the wake of the Disney distribution deal. Once again, the technological advancements and increased budgets of Doctor Who in 2023 could realize the dastardly reptile gangster to great effect.
Shayde
It remains to be seen what RTD does with the mythology of the Time Lords in post-Chibnall era Doctor Who. However, one intriguing facet of the ancient civilization that has only been touched upon is its more covert operations. Shayde was constructed by the consciousness of dead Time Lords, stored in the Matrix so that they could intervene in situations in the wider universe. Not unlike Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor in the Chibnall era, Shayde was tasked with secret missions for the Time Lords.
This was how they met the Fifth Doctor in "The Tides of Time", building a friendship that would extend across multiple incarnations and comic strips. The most notable of Shayde's adventures was when they masqueraded as a version of the Doctor (in the form of Dalek voice actor Nicholas Briggs), while the real Eighth Doctor was investigating a nefarious alien organization known as the Threshold. After properly introducing the Division in Doctor Who: Flux, the stage could well be set for a spinoff show led by the mysterious Shayde.
Kroton The Cyberman
Although Bill (Pearl Mackie) became another victim of a worrying Capaldi era Doctor Who trend by being turned into a Cyberman, she wasn't the first Cyber-companion. During the 1990s, the Eighth Doctor and his companion Izzy were joined on their DWM comic strip adventures by Kroton, a very unique Cyberman. First introduced in the very early days of Doctor Who Weekly, Kroton appeared in a backup strip that ran from November 8th to the 22nd, 1979. The strip, entitled "Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman" depicted the story of a Cyberman who retained their emotions and freed a group of rebels from possible Cyber-conversion.
20 years later, Kroton joined the Doctor and Izzy in the TARDIS in 1999, and eventually helped the Doctor defeat the Master's plan to control the Omniverse. Doctor Who has regularly explored the idea of a Cyberman in touch with their emotions or their individuality, so Kroton probably isn't the unique prospect that he once was. However, as the original emotional Cyber, and as a loyal former companion of the Eighth Doctor, it feels right that he should join the likes of Beep and the Wrarth Warriors in the new comics-inspired era of the show.
Maxwell Edison
Maxwell Edison is a UFO enthusiast and the head of the Stockbridge Division of the Bureau for Interplanetary Liaison. Following the recent podcast series Doctor Who: Redacted, there's certainly room for a character like Max in RTD's new era of Doctor Who. The Bureau for Interplanetary Liaison was essentially a fore-runner of LINDA, seen in Doctor Who season 2, episode 10, "Love and Monsters". Introducing Max into the show could fix RTD's mistake, by providing a more nuanced take on the sci-fi obsessive.
Firstly, the Doctor really likes Max, so much so that they return to visit him in Stockbridge multiple times. As the past few years in the real world have shown, conspiracy theories have only become more prevalent and increasingly fascinating. Presenting a sympathetic character like UFO chaser Max would be the ideal way to explore why people are taken in by conspiracy theories and hoaxes, in an attempt to humanize them, rather than make them villains or figures of mockery.
The Spider Dalek Variants
In the DWM comic strip "Fire and Brimstone", which ran for five parts between April and July 1997, a terrifying new version of Dalek was introduced. Late in the story, it was revealed that the Daleks were engaged in a civil war with an alternate version of themselves from a parallel dimension. The Daleks were horrified by this variant version of themselves and decided to destroy the universe from which it originated. As Dalek stories in modern Doctor Who have become stale, a war between Dalek variants could be just the thing to revitalize them and make them truly terrifying once more.
The Threshold
The Threshold was an intergalactic group of troubleshooters, who offered their services to the highest bidder. When the Daleks attempted to invade the multiverse and destroy their spider variants, the Time Lords requested the services of the Threshold to destroy them once and for all. This outraged the Eighth Doctor, especially as a previous intervention by the Threshold had resulted in the death of the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace.
The concept of a profiteering agency offering their services to the highest bidder does open up some interesting story potential for the future of Doctor Who. If the Time Lords and Division are truly gone, then there may be a power vacuum left to exploit by an agency with the dimensional capabilities of Threshold. Their transition from the comics to the TV show could fundamentally change the Doctor Who universe, introducing a new big bad to rival the manipulations of even the Master.