Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold is pretty much the only character we haven't seen in The Flash, Arrow, Legends or Supergirl this season. However, that will soon change. Fans who kept up with news from San Diego Comic-Con know the character is somehow alive and will return to the series. Now, it looks like Captain Cold will finally grace us with his presence in episode 16. He was spotted alongside his partner in crime, Heat Wave, filming on the Central City set in Vancouver.
While Leonard Snart made an appearance via Mick’s hallucinations earlier this season on Legends, we have not yet been acquainted with his “straight up villain” side, which Miller says to expect from him when he starts working with the Legion of Doom -- a supervillain group consisting of Reverse-Flash, Damien Darhk and Malcolm Merlyn.
Miller didn't specifically say how Captain Cold is alive during his interview with Entertainment Weekly, but he did say something suspicious: Apparently, he doesn’t remember his kiss with Sara.
Last season, Snart sacrificed himself for the team and shared a passionate near-death kiss with White Canary. Miller said he’s looking forward to continuing that arc, but said,“There was a kiss, remembered by White Canary, but not Snart.”
“My sense is that if Snart comes back into the storyline via his present day incarnation, then he’s a straight up villain. He hasn’t gone on that first season Legends of Tomorrow journey yet, so when we meet him again — quote unquote alive in 2017 — I imagine that he’s going to be much like when we first met him the first season on The Flash, which I’m looking forward to, because it means I get to arc to a completely different place.”
This means we’re likely getting a past version of the character, meaning he only knows the pre- Legends portion of his life. There are a couple of options about how this could go down.
The easiest would be that during the Oculus explosion, Snart got trapped in the time force (Chillin’ with Ronnie and Eddie). Stuck there, somewhere in the time vortex, The Reverse-Flash saves him and makes him help find the Spear of Destiny in return -- thus Captain Cold joins Legion of Doom. However, this theory doesn't explain why he wouldn't remember the Legends.
Another theory is, like Reverse-Flash did with Damien Darhk, he goes back to Central City around 2014 to recruit Snart, luring him with information of his future death. They travel through time to change their destiny, which means it's still unclear of those future events would occur.
But that option would mean the past has changed. If Thawne simply saved Captain Cold by going back in time and bringing his 2014 self to the present, that could mean the Oculus explosion would have happened and destroyed everything. Which means his return has to be a little bit more complicated. It would mean that to prevent a Paradox, the version of Captain Cold we saw sacrifice himself last season was a time remnant. That could explain why Mick is having hallucinations.
The last, and maybe least likely option is Flashpoint. Rip Hunter says the temporal zone protects the Legends from changes to the timeline, which is how they all remained unaffected by Flashpoint. But since Snart wasn’t in the temporal zone, it’s possible Flashpoint changed his past--he became a cold-blooded killer, like Miller describes above, instead of a Legend.
What’s interesting about the set photos, though, is Mick and Snart back together again in Central City. This looks more like a flashback scene, unless Mick and Snart end up back together in Central City at some point during the episode. It appears the two are robbing a bank and the police show up. Mick is seen carrying a large duffle bag and HollywoodNorth.buzz reports when Snart says something to them, they simply walk away as Snart receives a phone call. Maybe the scene has something to do with this new version of Snart, the version of him last seen on The Flash Season 2.
As for Mick, he’ll be faced with the question of whether he even belongs on a superhero team, in light of his villainous past as Captain Cold’s accomplice. He struggled with that same question earlier this year when he hallucinated Snart. It’ll be interesting to see how Mick and Sara (who had a fling with Captain Cold last season) react when they find out Captain Cold has gone back to his old ways. Dominic Purcell told Entertainment Weekly Mick will certainly be tempted to join his old friend.
“I don’t think Mick is a good guy,” Purcell says, “and there’s a lot of history there. Mick loves Cold.”
As for his upcoming partnership with the Legion of Doom, Miller said Snart has never been fond of authority, and he certainly won’t change now.
“What I can tell you is that Snart is not used to taking orders,” Miller says. “He’s not a team player. That was certainly his story the first season on Legends, so I expect fireworks.”
How do you think Captain Cold is alive again? Let us know in the comments below!
