Legend’s of Tomorrow: Pilot Review

DC’s Legend’s of Tomorrow

Does It Stack Up?

Guys and girls, DC’s Legend’s of Tomorrow premiered on Thursday and it is definitely worth talking about so let’s do just that.

Legend’s of Tomorrow is CW’s third DC property, along with Flash and Arrow,  so does it stack up? Not yet.  I can’t stress the phrase “not yet” enough. This show was fun and has a ton of room to grow. LoT is the story of Rip Hunter, a time master from dystopian future who comes back to our time to recruit heroes, and villains, from the Arrow & Flash universe. Why?  To come together and help stop the catalyst of this horrible future, the immortal Vandal Savage. now we’ve already encountered Vandal Savage once before, during the big Arrow/Flash team up episode.

Who Are The Legends Of Tomorrow?

In the pilot we were also introduced to Hawkman who appeared in search of Hawkgirl for reasons we won’t get into here, its a long story. So who is on the roster here?

We have:

• Sara Lance/White Canary
• Ray Palmer/The Atom
• Leonard Snart/Captain Cold
• Mick Rory/Heat Wave
• Martin Stein and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson who together make up Firestorm
• Carter Hall/Hawkman
• Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl
• and Rip Hunter himself.

Overall they make up a surprisingly fun team, especially given the aspect of time travel. In episode 1 they go back to 1975. Not too dangerous but fun as hell. Watching these 9 people try to navigate the world of bell bottoms and jive turkeys, was rewarding. I had a blast watching White Canary, Captain Cold, and Heat Wave decide to head to a bar, since the rest of the team left them behind to go consult an expert on Vandal Savage.

Heat Wave is delightfully insane, and his love of Captain and Tennille made me laugh, especially when the bar erupts into a fight. Captain & Tennille isn’t exactly brawl music, but hey, don’t fuck with Sara Lance. I was perfectly enjoying her solo dance scene until some shit head biker decided to sexually harass her. In fact, I could watch an entire episode of just White Canary dancing to 70’s music.

My kinda bird………see what I did there?

Legends Thinks Big

The area where the show shines is that it is epic in scope. The time travel is a cool concept and it allows for us to see the heroes in multiple different situations, and it also raises the stakes. If they fuck up the entire trajectory of history changes. It also allows us to see some very cool stuff. Different time periods mainly but also how the characters interact with these people. What will people who don’t even have electricity yet think of a super suit, and two men with a cold and heat gun. It also allows us to see some cool characters, it has already been confirmed that at some point we’re going to run into Jonah Hex, which hopefully will be super cool. The movie was a total botch.  Jonah Hex desperately needs a mulligan, more than Constantine even.

I can’t wait to see this guy on TV

Rip Hunter, Your Pants Are On Fire

One thing that also really stood out to me was when it was revealed that Rip Hunter had lied to the team. He says “In my time you aren’t just heroes, you’re legends.”, but later it is revealed that the group are not legends in the future.  They’re nobodies who’s names have been forgotten by time, and they were assembled because they have no heavy impact on the future, so therefore their deaths won’t fuck up the timeline. They’ve been assembled because they’re safe, and I found that an interesting direction to take the show. It explains why Rip Hunter didn’t simply try to assemble Flash and  Green Arrow, because if either of two die it will send major ripples through time.

Finally

A few stray observations, Rip Hunter has an interesting line where he says “In my time I’ve seen men of steel die, and dark knights fall.” Is this a reference to Batman and Superman? Of course it is, but does it mean anything is the real question. Will these two titans exist at some point in this universe or is it just a fun throw away reference, like the Wayne Tech/Queen Enterprises merger in Flash? We don’t know, but unless something gives or Batman V Superman is a massive flop, I doubt we’ll see either of them on the CW DC shows. It’s still a fun thing to reference though.

Overall guys, Legends of Tomorrow is fun, has an epic scope, cool special effects, and an interesting cast of characters. It’s acted well and written well. I just hope that this show busts wide open and starts having some real fun with their awesome premise, and characters. Given the premise and the time travel aspect, I can potentially see some really fun things in this shows future. So watch it, have fun with it, don’t take it too seriously, and think of it as more of a sci fi romp, than a superhero show.