DC's Legends of Tomorrow: What to Expect From the New CW Superhero TV Series

Calling the first look at DC's Legends of Tomorrow a "trailer" is a little generous. It's more of a teaser. Considering that the superhero series hasn't even begun filming yet, every bit of footage we see in there is either cobbled together from other appearances by these characters or specially shot just for that brief introduction. I'll be shocked if much (or any) actually makes it into the show.

Watch it here if you haven't already: 

That doesn't mean there isn't a lot to unpack, though. The Legends of Tomorrow TV series deals with a whole stack of lesser-known pieces of DC Comics mythology. That's what makes it look like so much fun.

Let's get to work...

Here's (most of) the Legends team. From left to right that's Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein (and half of Firestorm), Ciara Renee as Kendra "Hawkgirl" Saunders, Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold, Brandon Routh as the Atom, and Caity Lotz as White Canary. Not pictured (probably because he wasn't available to shoot this in time) is Dominic Purcell as Heat Wave or Franz Drameh in a "mystery hero" role. We'll get to Rip Hunter in a minute, too.

But first...

Sara Lance has taken on the mantle of the White Canary. As far as the audience for Legends of Tomorrow needs to be concerned, this character is a bit of a blank slate. The comic book version of White Canary has only made a handful of appearances (primarily in Gail Simone's excellent Birds of Prey comics, which have provided plenty of inspiration to the Arrow-verse), and there's really nothing to do with Sara Lance there.

All you need to know is that she's back, and will continue the thorough ass-kickings we grew accustomed to during Arrowseason two.

Wait a minute...isn't Sara Lance supposed to be dead? What the heck?

oh! Of course. That's a Lazarus Pit, the source of Ra's al Ghul's immortality both in the comics and on Arrow. Since Sara Lance was a card-carrying member of the League of Assassins, and since her lover, Nyssa al Ghul, is still hanging around Nanda Parbat ("Land of the Lovely Lazarus Pits" say the tourist brochures), this was inevitable.

Also, take a minute to appreciate the shoulders on Caity Lotz. I'm off to the gym right after I finish writing this.

Now, as for newer members of the team...

Meet Hawkgirl. Well, Kendra Saunders.

If you want to meet a rather questionable CGI version of Hawkgirl, here you go:

They'll have sorted that out by the time the show airs. Don't worry about that. If you squint a little, though, it does look like Hawkgirl will wear a costume similar to the version she wore during Geoff Johns' tenure as writer of the JSAcomic. At least that's what the color scheme reminds me of. 

See for yourself:

The "past lives complex" that Professor Stein refers to is pretty significant, too. Characters with the "hawk" prefix in the DC Universe tend to be reincarnated for centuries at a time. If we're meeting Hawkgirl, perhaps we'll get Carter Hall/Hawkman at some point, too. But probably not in season one.

It's fun that they stuck Kendra on top of the Washington Monument when he mentions "past lives." The Washington Monument is an obelisk, or as the Ancient Egyptians called them (they were fond of those structures) "tekhenu." 

But while we're talking about Professor Martin Stein, and since he's the one doing all the talking...

If you've been keeping up with The Flash, you've already met Firestorm. What's still not clear about Legends of Tomorrowis who the other half of Firestorm is going to be. Robbie Amell apparently won't be back as Ronnie Raymond, and we haven't heard anything about Luc Roderique showing up as Jason Rusch (another character who has shared the Firestorm matrix with Stein).

There's no sign of the recently cast Franz Drameh in his "mystery hero" role. That character is described as "a regular, street smart guy who unexpectedly gains powers, and then, as part of the team, regularly quips about the insanity of the situations." It seems like the kind of guy who could find himself at odds with the more stodgy personality of Professor Stein, and that's where much of the fun of Firestorm comes from.

I suspect this will be resolved and revealed one way or another soon enough. 

Both Captain Cold and Heat Wave are on this team, which should make for an interesting mix of personalities...not to mention goals. Recently in the pages of the Geoff Johns written Justice Leaguecomic, Len Snart has begun the journey towards being a full-blown superhero. Considering that Geoff Johns is an executive producer on the CW's DC superhero shows, that was no coincidence.

Heat Wave is a bit more of a wild card, both in terms of his personality as we've seen him portrayed by Dominic Purcell and because there's no source material precedent for him to become a hero. It doesn't help that he's nowhere to be found in this trailer.

We'll see how that works out for everyone.

The Atom will finally shrink on Legends of Tomorrow! It seems they're going to split the difference between the powerhouse in a suit of armor thing and the stuff that actually, y'know, made the Atom famous in the first place. It may not seem like much of a big deal to you, but trust me, it is.

There's a conversation that takes place with Ray Palmer and his teammates that implies he had been gone for some time. There was a bit of an accident at the end of the Arrowseason three finale that apparently took Ray off the playing field for a bit. The comic book Atom has a knack for getting lost in strange subatomic worlds, often with their own civilizations contained in them. 

I really, really hope we get to see something like that happen on this show.

But now we have to address the reason this team comes together in the first place, especially since he is potentially the glue that holds together all the other cool things that we might see down the line.

Take a moment to appreciate that we're getting to see Rip Hunter on TV, and that they've found a Doctor Who supporting player in Arthur Darville to do the job. There's a distinct timey-wimey Doctor Who flavor to much of the proceedings here (we'll get to that in a minute, too).

Rip Hunter has existed on the margins of the DC Universe since 1959. Rip has been associated with sci-fi teams like the Challengers of the Unknown and the Forgotten Heroes. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear those names mentioned in connection with Legends of Tomorrow at some point, even if the teams themselves are never actually called that. 

I'd also like to think that this next shot comes from a monitor in Rip's homebase of "Vanishing Point" (it's not just an awesome movie and Primal Scream album, y'know), which is where the Linear Men operate out of. Who are the Linear Men? Ummmm...think of them kind of like Time Lords except not really. They're more like "continuity cops" in that they travel through time resolving Time Paradoxes. Maybe we'll also meet the '90s-tastic Waverider on this show, too, then!

But while Rip Hunter may not be the sexiest name in DC Comics history, his presence opens up a world of intriguing possibilities for stories and guest appearances down the line. Now, Legends of Tomorrow is set for a thirteen (not twenty-three) episode run, which means it's likely going to be a little more focused than more traditional network superhero shows. But the fact that this is a time-travel show means there will be lots of side trips and opportunities to bring in some crazy guest stars.

For example...

It appears that the Time Sphere stuff we're seeing in this trailer is possibly from The Flash season finale, probably from a flashback (flash-forward?) explaining how Eobard Thawne got to the past. Y'see, characters are constantly getting their hands on Time Spheres, even/especially ones who shouldn't.

Wait...what the hell is a time sphere? Sorry, talking about time travel always creates paradoxes, even in Den of Geekarticles.

Anyway...

This is a "time sphere." Think of it kind of like a TARDIS, I guess, but it's not bigger on the inside and its primary function is time, not space, travel. Hence the name.

So, remember how I said that characters who probably shouldn't are often messing around with Time Spheres? Well, it's not just Eobard Thawne. It's never made quite clear what part of "the future" Rip Hunter is from, but let's just assume it's even further off than the 25th Century of Thawne and friends.

Anyway, we now know that Thawne somehow gets his hands on a Time Sphere. But there's another famous resident of the 25th Century who uses one for his own, albeit more heroic, purposes. 

And this is where you have to stick with me as I get into rampant speculation about who might show up on Legends of Tomorrow...

This is Booster Gold, a guy you might know from a guest appearance on Smallville, but who has spent considerable time as a member of the Justice League. Basically, Booster Gold uses future technology to become a superhero in the present day. And also to make a profit. He also happens to be an ancestor of Rip Hunter, but that's an explanation for another time, and one that will totally give you a headache.

Here's the thing about Booster Gold: I am all but certain he's going to show up on Legends of Tomorrowat some point during its thirteen episode run. There's little doubt in my mind that Warner Bros. Pictures Television will be looking to find a way to seed another potential superhero spinoff, and Booster is the obvious choice for this.

Why?

Because the simplest possible explanation (slacker from the future uses future tech to fight crime today and becomes a celebrity!) already reads like a TV pitch. While Booster may act like a self-centered jerk with at least one eye on a camera at all times, that's a cover story, too. That doesn't mean he wasn't a jerk at one point, but once he meets Rip Hunter, he realizes that the world can never learn just how much of a hero he really is.

(phew) Time travel, amiright?

You notice that ring on his finger?

That's a Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring. Think of the Legion as the Justice League of the 31st century. Except cooler. Like Booster, they made an appearance on one of the better episodes of Smallville. But what's the Legends of Tomorrowconnection?

Well, for one thing, they often use Rip Hunter approved Time Spheres to get around. That little device is probably going to be the unifying theory of the DC Television Universe.

With "all of time" being threatened by Vandal Savage, I don't see any reason why a trip to the 31st Century should be off the menu. Hell, maybe that's where this giant robot foot is from?

Anyway, I'd better get back on track.

While the folks in charge of the DC TV Universe and the budding DC Cinematic Universe have made it abundantly clear that these things won't cross over, executive producer Geoff Johns has used the magic word of "the Multiverse" when describding their multimedia approach. In the comics, when Crisis on Infinite Earths collapsed the DC Multiverse, only Rip Hunter, because he was kind of existing outside the timestream when it happened, remembered how things used to be before reality/continuity merged and altered.

What I'm trying to say here, is that the Rip Hunter of Legends of Tomorrow might have "knowledge" of realities and alternate timelines that won't be familiar to our heroes, but would certainly be familiar to audiences.

Holy moley, I got a headache just typing that.

I don't expect that to get too much play, to be honest, but if they're looking to throw fans a bone, that's how it could be done. I wrote much more about how Crisis on Infinite Earths relates to DC's TV and movie universes right here.

Alright, let's talk about the bad guy...

Meet Vandal Savage. Actually, no...

See? He looks like a perfectly reasonable guy, and not at all like an evil, immortal caveman who wants to destroy all of time, right? I mean, he certainly has no resemblance to this dude...

Oh, wait. Ummmm....yes. We might be in trouble.

Here's the thing about Vandal Savage. He's immortal. Calling him a caveman is kinda reductive because he no longer lives in a cave. The radiation of a weird meteorite made him immortal, and he's spent millennia accruing tactical knowledge, fighting skill, and resources. How else could he "command the greatest army history has ever seen" without it?

Don't you just love these guys? They look like the guards in the Mike Hodges Flash Gordon movie. They also totally look like they could be soldier villains/cannon fodder on Doctor Who.

Anyway, Savage is a pretty great villain who has been haunting the DC Universe since the '40s, and was even set to be the bad guy of at least one unproduced Flash movie. He's an immensely physically powerful and charismatic presence, and casting the right guy for this is absolutely crucial. Oh, and he also has a daughter with the unfortunate name of Scandal Savage who was a member of the Secret Six. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Scandal shows up on this show as a potential love interest for the newly resurrected Sara Lance.

In the comics, Savage had an opposite number known as the Immortal Man, another caveman caught in the radiation of the same meteorite. Unlike Vandal Savage, however, the Immortal Man actually can die...he just gets reincarnated every time, and he keeps coming back to pester Vandal Savage into not taking over the world.

The thing is, the Immortal Man concept sounds kinda nebulous for an already crowded TV series, doesn't it? Well, remember what they said earlier in the trailer about Hawkgirl having a "past lives complex?" Maybe elements of the Immortal Man make it into Hawkgirl's origin, and it's revealed that she's the one who has been annoying Vandal Savage for centuries in some form or another.

Don't worry, purists, Hawkgirl's actual origins are far more convoluted than that, so they'd actually be doing her, and everyone else involved, a huge favor.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow will premiere on the CW in 2016. We'll get you more details as we hear them.