First off, a disclaimer: I'm going to spoil the heck out of the premiere episode of Legends of Tomorrow, so if you haven't seen it yet, BE WARNED. With that said, let's talk television.
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The latest in DC's ever-expanding television universe, Legends of Tomorrow is the story of Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), a rogue time traveler on a mission to stop the immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) from shaping world events so that he ends up ruling the world sometime in the 22nd century. To this end, he assembles a team of heroes and villains from our relative present to back him up.
Joining him on this mission is The Atom (Brandon Routh), who is tech billionaire and genius inventor Ray Palmer by day and a size-changing crimefighter by night. Dr. Palmer, as well as the rest of the cast, comes to us courtesy of DC's other two CW shows, Arrow and The Flash. previously on Arrow, Palmer had been thought dead after being kidnapped by baddie Damian Darhk. Ray rejoined the world of the living after being rescued by Team Arrow, but he is still haunted by the notion that his "death" seemed to have little impact on the world. Whether it's his ego, or a genuine desire to do good in the world, Ray sees Rip Hunter's offer as an opporitunity to create a legacy.
I should mention here that Rip Hunter cons the heroes into joining him by promising they are considered "legends" in the future. In fact, Rip plucks these particular characters out of the time stream because they actually have NO impact on the timeline and are therefore disposable. This twist comes later in the show, and Dr. Palmer is hit the hardest by it.
Filling the role of obligitory badass hand-to-hand fighter is Sarah Lance, the White Canary, (Caity Lotz) who joins up for no other reason than she's become redundant in the world of Arrow. Okay, maybe that's a tad cruel. What I mean to say is, she's a warrior without an opponent, a soldier without a mission, and a pop tart without a toaster. I'm sure there will be more to say about her as the series continues, but for now all we need to know is that she likes to dance uninterrupted and fancies the ladies. I'm probably not doing this character justice. Let's move on.
Also along for the ride are Hawkman and Hawkgirl, played by Falk Hentschel and Ciara Renee. We learned the story of their reincarnation cycle and eternal struggle with Vandal Savage in the last Flash/Arrow crossover. They have a bone to pick with Savage, since he keeps killing them over and over throughout the ages. 207 times or so, actually. When the heroes travel back in time to 1975, they seek out a college professor who is the only living (at that time) authority on Vandal Savage. The professor turns out to be the son of a past version of Hawkgirl. Little twists like this with these two reincarnated characters make this show very exciting for me. The idea of past lives has always attracted me to the Hawk characters and I'm glad the writers are embracing it.
That's one thing I noticed about this show: everything tumbles into place exceptionally well. None of the characters seem out of place and what I once feared was going to be a poor man's Justice League has the potential to be something more interesting than the League ever was. At the root of this show is a very promising storytelling engine. But let's get back to the team . . .
One of the more interesting characters in DC's stable of heroes is without a doubt, Firestorm, the Nuclear Man. Firestorm is a hero that results from the merging of two separate beings: Aging Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and the youthful Jefferson "Jax" Jackson (Franz Drameh). Professor Stein is genuinely excited by Rip's offer, as a chance to experience actual time travel is the wet dream of any physicist, I'd imagine. Jefferson doesn't want any part of it, but is roofied by Stein and shanghai'd along. To which I wonder--why does Professor Stein have roofies on-hand in his office? #problematic
Just kidding. That part was funny. If you don't think about it too hard.
Rounding out Rip Hunter's task force are the criminal duo of Captain Cold and Heatwave, regulars from The Flash. Their code names are self-explanatory. Prison Break stars Wentworth Miller and Domic Purcell reunite and, in my opinion, steal the show. Being the "bad boys" of the team, they bring much-needed levity to what could easily devolve into a tropey melodrama. They join up bedazzled by the possibility of stealing priceless artifacts from history. How long the more heroic members of the team will tolerate them remains to be seen. The inclusion of these two characters had me cocking my head to the side when the show was first announced, but now I understand what they bring to the table. Captain Cold is going to be everyone's favorite character soon, mark my words.
But let's jump back to Rip Hunter for a sec. Aside from the reveal of why he chose the heroes and villains he did, there is a second reveal that really drives the series and presents a slew of possible antagonists other than Vandal Savage for the team to deal with. At the beginning of the episode, we see Rip pleading with the other Time Lords . . . I mean Time Masters, to give him a Waverider (Time Machine) and let him deal with Savage once and for all. The episode continues with the audience assuming Rip was granted the ship by the Time Masters only to discover later that he was denied and stole the ship. We learn that Rip has a personal vendetta against Savage. Savage murdered his wife and child.
Nothing says "superheroes" like dead family members, at least if my memory of twenty-plus years of reading comic books serves.
The one weak area in the show that I can see is the villain. Vandal Savage is pretty arch, giving a weaksauce Christoph Waltz-like performance as the big bad. It's not too offensive, and Savage does some across as a genuine threat, but I worry that he won't be able to carry an entire series. It reminds me of the Purple Man in Jessica Jones. He starts out as a terrifying baddie, but as the episodes wear on he runs out of steam and the show suffers for it. Hopefully, the crew at DCTV have more surprise villains to drop on us.
Lastly, there's one critical element to this show that immediately made it a "must watch" for me--My wife liked it. She hasn't responded to Arrow or The Flash in a positive way, but this show had the right mix of humor, romance, and sci-fi to hold her attention. When you can enjoy this stuff with the people you love, I can forget about a corny villain or a predictable plot.
Good on ya, TV people. I'll be back every Thursday. And will probably write about it too! As always, thanks for reading and you can direct your slings and arrows of outrageous folly to @ChrisBComics on Twitter.
Image Credit: Jordon Nuttall/TheCW
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