This article contains spoilers for Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, consider yourself warned.
Last week was a busy one in the television industry, filled with show renewals, cancellations and new series orders. One of those new series picked up was DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, a spinoff from the wildly successful Arrow and The Flash shows (set in the same universe) which, like its predecessors, will air on The CW Network.
This is great news for those who have enjoyed some of the new characters introduced on The Flash and Arrow this season, as they’ll get expanded roles on this new show. Here’s the official description from the network:
“When heroes alone are not enough…the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?”
The team will consist of the following characters:
From Arrow —
Ray Palmer, aka The Atom (Brandon Routh), has been a great new addition to the show in season three. He’s got a very superpowery reason to be a superhero, as he’s a billionaire who fights crime in memory of his fallen spouse. His powers are a mix of Iron Man and Ant-Man. Palmer has created a Tony Stark-esque suit with Felicity Smoak, which gives him similar powers; he can fly and shoot energy beams.
Arrow hasn’t yet shown any power related to his namesake — shrinking down to the size of an atom — but I expect we’ll see that ability by the end of this season, or very quickly on Legends of Tomorrow. Let’s not forget it was strongly hinted at during the “All-Star Team-Up” crossover episode. His costume is actually pretty cool, and while the flying effects are definitely hard to pull off, what we’ve seen of him in the suit so far has been quite impressive.
The Canary? Considering the Canary, Sara Lance, was killed in season three’s premiere, seeing Caity Lotz’s name on the casting list was pretty bizarre. But this is a superhero show, so theoretically nobody is ever permanently dead. If they do bring Sara back as the Canary, it would be interesting to have two versions of the superhero in both universes, as Laurel is now kicking ass (she’s been so much better in recent weeks) as the Black Canary on Arrow.
Without concrete news of who Lotz is going to play, it really could be anybody. But I expect it to be the same Sara Lance character we all know. It’s likely she’ll abandon the Canary moniker and have a new role and mask.
From The Flash —
Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell) and Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller). I wasn’t a fan of Prison Break when it was on TV, so I was pleasantly surprised with these two during their stints as baddies on The Flash. Both hammed it up in their roles in the best possible way, especially Miller. His scenes with Grant Gustin’s Flash were hilarious.
https://youtu.be/GTK3UEGRpXA
SO GOOD.
These two are both villains I expect to turn good, which was sort of suggested during their final appearance on The Flash. I expect them to be the comic relief of the show, while also providing Suicide Squad-type commitment to the group, meaning they will have trouble turning into good guys and may break that mold to keep things interesting.
Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber). Stein is the man who merged with Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) to form Firestorm, a meta-human who can fly and shoot fire out of his fists. While Amell was initially reported to be a part of the cast, his name has been removed from new reports. I suspect we won’t get much of the superhero version of Firestorm, but more of a troubled, older man dealing with being a meta-human and having the memories of someone else ingrained in him. (If the writers stick with that combination for the character.) It will be interesting to see if Amell appears, and if not, how it affects the character going forward.
Characters we haven’t met yet:
Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) and Jay Jackson (Franz Drameh). While I’m not overly familiar with Rip Hunter, his character description basically describes him as a witty, rogue time traveler. He’s also the Nick Fury of the group, as he reportedly will be the one who brings this group together. Mix in that he’s played by Darvill from Doctor Who and Broadchurch, and that sounds like a pretty juicy role. Time travel has been seen in this TV universe, with the Flash trying to stop a tsunami and sending himself back in time, and the arc of season one’s main villain, the Reverse Flash.
Hawkgirl is a welcome addition to this superhero world. There are many different versions of the character, but it seems this version will be the one who discovers she’s been reincarnated many times throughout history, and when she’s provoked (sort of like the Hulk), she turns into an ancient warrior with wings.
I can’t say I know anything about Jay Jackson, but Drameh was awesome in Attack the Block and Edge of Tomorrow, so that’s a start.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNxRaTSHYuA
The characters from LoT we already know were all side characters on their respective shows, so how well they translate as collective leads remains to be seen. This does have potential to be a lot of fun, but it also could make things very cluttered. And that’s not even mentioning Warner Brothers’ two separate TV and film worlds, where people are already upset about Gustin not playing the Flash. (The character will be portrayed by Ezra Miller on film.)
With Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl (which is going to air on CBS) coming to TV, this creates a pretty expansive universe of extraordinary characters for viewers. Like it or not, this show and the growth of superhero series are happening.
