The first episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on the CW was action packed, but not full of too many surprises. Caution, there are spoilers ahead. Here’s what you missed:
The show starts off in London, 150 years in the future. Vandal Savage slaughters an entire village of innocent people, including the family of Time Master Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who). Rip Hunter pleads to his time-traveling colleagues to go back and kill Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) once and for all, but the Time Masters Council denies his request. The council insists their job is to “protect the timeline, not humanity.” Out for revenge, and to save the world, Rip Hunter travels back to 2016 to recruit (actually, kidnap) a team of 8 superheroes to help travel through time to find Vandal Savage.
Rip Hunter first tracks down The Atom (Brandon Routh) who was in Star City helping The Arrow gather intelligence on HIVE. Next up, the White Canary (Caity Lotz). Rip finds her hiding out in Tibet and captures her as she’s smashing a man’s head against a barstool. While Firestorm is in Pittsburgh working on trying to get along, Rip catches Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh) and Professor Martin Stein (Cedric Yarbrough) off guard while their in the middle of a tiff. He grabs Hawkman and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) in St. Roch and finally heads to Central City to scoop Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell) while they’re in the middle of a robbery.
He tells his ‘recruits’ the Time Masters Council sent him to assemble a team to defeat Vandal Savage, and convinces them they will be remembered as legends, not just heroes if they succeed. He shows them a holographic video of plane dropping bombs and cities burning. After he’s done making his spiel, he hands Professor Stein a card with an address of where to meet if they’re in on the mission.
Ray Palmer (The Atom) links up with Oliver Queen (The Arrow) to get his advice on the big time-traveling trip. The seasoned vigilante is hesitant until Ray explains he’s felt empty inside since everyone thought he was dead and didn't care.
Captain Cold (Leonard Snart) and Heat Wave (Mick Rory) hash it out back at their hideout. “I have no desire to save the world, especially 100 years after I’m dead,” Snart tells his partner in crime. However, Snart changes his mind (still not sure why) and they head off to meet Time Master.
Professor Stein takes a more extreme method. Instead of wasting his time trying to convince Jefferson ‘Jax’ Jackson, he just roofies him like it’s no big deal. Stein totes his better half around in his convertible and somehow Jax doesn't wake up until the team is about to take off in the Wave Rider for their first mission.
The Legends meet Gideon, the Wave Rider’s “interactive artificial consciousness.” Rip orders Gideon to take them back to the 1970’s to meet Dr. Aldus Boardman, expert on Vandal Savage and his relationship to Hawkman and Hawkgirl. If you’ve watched Arrow or The Flash , you’ll know this backstory already. Long story short, Vandal Savage maintains immortality by killing the winged-duo in every lifetime. Thousands of years ago Savage had a crush on Shiera (old Hawkgirl) and out of jealousy he killed her and her lover, Hawkman (Carter).
Turns out Dr. Aldus Boardman is the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who were in his lifetime named Joe and Edith until Savage killed the lovers when Dr. Boardman was 10 years old. Yes, that’s right Kendra, Hawkgirl, is Aldus Boardman’s mother. This was perhaps the biggest surprise in the episode.
Also spicing things up, Ray Palmer’s DC Comics arch nemesis was introduced. Known to manipulate time in the comics, Chronos has been sent by the Time Masters Council to take out Rip Hunter and ruin his mission to stop Vandal Savage. Since Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and White Canary decided to go to the bar instead of protecting the time-traveling ship, Jax is left to fend for himself against Chronos. Everyone makes it back to the Wave Rider before it gets too damaged but don’t manage to kill Chronos.
The team is very upset about the unexpected attack and can tell Rip is hiding something. He reveals he is no longer an official Time Master. He explains the only reason they were each chosen is because their life has a minimal effect on the timeline.
Everyone takes a moment to ponder over the new information, but they all have enough sympathy for Rip’s cause that they decide they’re willing to stay. Aldus Boardman dies by the end of the episode, but not before he passes along a ring to Kendra that was once her own. The closing scene shows Vandal Savage in Norway in 1975 walking on a road full of dead people and military machinery. “There is no renaissance without the dark ages. I’m just trying to make this world a better place one war at a time,” Savage says as he grins at the camera and the screen fades.
New to The Flash and Arrow? Learn more about each character here. Catch the next episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow Thursday, Jan. 28 on The CW at 8 pm.
