Way back when, in 2013, the CW Network decided to jump back into the superhero fray with the premiere of the television series Arrow. The show became the catalyst for a larger comic book adapted television universe titled the Arrowverse, and has spawned a number of series including The Flash, Vixen, Black Lightning, Supergirl, and my personal favorite, Legends of Tomorrow (LOT). LOT tells the story of a group of ragtag heroes and villains who are brought together to travel throughout time. Think a little bit of Guardians of The Galaxy meets Doctor Who, and you’ve got a three-season odyssey of adventure filled time travel. When I say that this show is one of my favorite television series on the air right now, I’m being completely honest.
There’s just something about seeing heroes and baddies like Firestorm, the White Canary, the Atom, Vixen, Captain Cold, Heatwave, and Vandal Savage make the jump from the pages of comics to the small screen on a weekly world saving basis. Add to this the show is filled to brim with fun and humor, and you can’t but help to fall in love with the weekly exploits of these group of legends. Combining two of my geeky loves, time travel (thank you, Back to The Future, for getting me hooked on time travel stories) and comic books I was sold on this show from the very beginning. Sit back enjoy some awesomely fun facts about LOT.
25 The Legends Stage A Prison Break
Way back when, the FOX network had a television show called Prison Break. The premise of the show is that a guy decides to get arrested, with the intent of breaking out his older brother who was falsely imprisoned because of a political conspiracy. The show was a pretty good suspense thriller that went on to run for six seasons and even spawned a seventh “reboot” season.
Legends of Tomorrow's connection to this series includes two of its lead actors.
Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell were both in the FOX series, where they played the mentioned brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln “Linc” Burrows. The actors were teamed back up to play bank robbery/criminal partners Captain Cold and Heatwave in The Flash. The duo worked so well together on the Scarlet Speedster’s series that they were then brought over to Legends of Tomorrow in the first season.
24 The Fall Of Knights
We all love easter eggs. I’m not speaking about the multi-colored, usually well hidden tasty delectable items that a bunny brings. I’m talking about those hidden secrets that usually crop up in our favorite TV show or film. Films like the recently released Ready Player One are chock full of them. Legends of Tomorrow is not exempt from this trend. In episode 3, season 1 (Blood Ties), resident time traveler Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) mentions, "I've seen Men of Steel [perish] and Dark Knights fall." Comic book fans will realize that this is a big comic book pink colored trivia tidbit, referencing some of DC Comics’ most famous comic book characters. This is a reference to the story lines The Death of Superman (1993) and Batman: Knightfall (1993-1994), which feature the Man of Steel’s passing and the Dark Knight’s fall at the hands of villain Bane.
23 Superheroes Crossing Paths
Shared universes have always been a huge part of the comic book landscape. As a fan of these pieces of work, it was often a regular thing to see your favorite heroes and villains crossover in each other’s respective comic book series. Some characters have even had comic book series’ which focused on this very fact, case in point, the Batman/Superman comic series which ran from October 2003–August 2011.
Using the example of the DC Comics source material, the CW Network has decided to have all of their universes cross paths in numerous ways.
Legends of Tomorrow is set within the same universe as Arrow and The Flash, and their characters have crossed over with the other Arrowverse shows like Supergirl. In fact, Legends of Tomorrow is filled with characters which got their start on both Arrow and The Flash.
22 Don't Mess With The Timeline
Remember in the Back to The Future trilogy when Doc Brown always expressed concern about messing with the timeline? Well, it seems that some of the characters from the LOT universe have experienced such changes firsthand. In Episode 6, Season 1 (Star City 2046), John Diggle’s (David Ramsey of Arrow) son (John Diggle Jr.) became the Green Arrow in an alternate future after the original Green Arrow is forced to retire. The character is actually created in an alternate timeline as a result of the after-effects of Flashpoint, which occurred on the series The Flash. Without getting too bogged down in details, as a result of the events of Flashpoint, John Diggle and Lyla Michael’s daughter, Sara Diggle, was erased from the Arrowverse continuity, and replaced with John Diggle Jr. (a.k.a Connor Hawke) whom the Legends encounter in an alternate timeline in Star City.
21 Apocalyptic Futures Are A Strange Thing
So running in parallel with the Connor Hawke alternate timeline point, the Legends encounter their own “timeline issues.” During the first season of LOT, the Legends’ big baddie is a villain named Vandal Savage.
He sports a crazy beard, is immortal, and wants to take over the world.
Needless to say, he’s a huge thorn in the side of the Legends, and they sometimes come out on the losing side of the fight against Savage. For example, in episode 6, season 1 (Star City 2046) the Legends encounter an alternate future where they didn’t stop Vandal Savage. They find a Star City (home of the superhero the Green Arrow) overrun by criminals, where Oliver Queen/Green Arrow loses his arm in a fight with Deathstroke and retires. Kind of a downer.
20 The Dark "Arrow" Returns
We find that Oliver Queen has one arm, which is a callback to the Oliver Queen character in the super popular comic book series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In this comic book series, the Green Arrow is a one-armed superhero, fighting the good fight who helps to coax Bruce Wayne to fight crime again. In the LOT episode, Oliver has decided to give up fighting crime. This runs parallel to how Batman/Bruce Wayne decided to leave a life of crime fighting in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In that comic, the Green Arrow helped an older Bruce Wayne/Batman to defeat an evil Superman with a Kryptonite arrow. Another funny part about this is that the CW Network’s Arrow television series has often pulled from the Batman mythos in its storytelling, so it appears that Legends of Tomorrow took it step further.
19 Make A Left On Adams And O'Neil.....
We mentioned easter eggs a while back on this list. I’m still not speaking about the lilac tinted eggs that you seek out on Easter Sunday, but more of the pop culture sugary goodness that we all know and love. In episode 6, season 1 (Star City 2046), during one of the scenes of the episode Oliver Queen (the Green Arrow) mentions a warehouse on the corner of “Adams and O’Neil”.
This is a shoutout to the creative team of the famous DC Comic book series Green Lantern/Green Arrow.
The creators of the series were Neil Adams (artist) and Dennis O’Neal (writer), two of DC Comic’s most famous, talented creators. In this series Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) travel across the United States, encountering a host of social issues of the time, including topics that hit a little heavy.
18 Titanic-Sized Issues
The Legends of Tomorrow cast is filled up by a roster of talented actors and actresses. One of these actors includes Victor Garber (Dr. Martin Stein/Firestorm). The actor has appeared in a long list of movies and television series including Alias, Power, The Flash, Sicario, Argo, Legally Blonde, and Law and Order. Garber also had a famous role in the mega-blockbuster film Titanic. In the movie, he played Thomas Andrews, the Scottish engineer and shipbuilder who designed the Titanic. In the season 2, episode 2 (The Justice Society of America) of Legends of Tomorrow, when Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) mentions visiting the Titanic, Dr. Stein mentions “there is no way that I would step foot on the Titanic.” This funny callback to the actor's role in the film gets a confused look from his crewmates, and the episode continues on.
17 Musical Chairs In The Arrowverse
In a little bit of moving around, when the Legends of Tomorrow trailer was filmed for the premiere season, scenes had to be re-shot. First the trailer for LOT was filmed before the current seasons of Arrow and The Flash (seasons 3 and 1, respectively) had ended. So because of that, there had to be scenes that were reshot to align with the respective seasons of both programs. The plan was to have all of the storylines match up. Some of the changes, as minuscule as they might seem, included the Arrow officially becoming the Green Arrow, with a new costume. Also, the crest on the Flash’s costume also changed. Lastly, a new Firestorm was introduced. Robbie Amell’s Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm was followed by Franz Dremah's Jefferson Jackson/Firestorm. At the end of this “shuffling,” the trailers going forward reflected the numerous behind the scenes changes.
16 Helping The Young President
In season 3, episode 17 (Guest Starring John Noble) of Legends of Tomorrow the time travelers have to save a young Barack Obama from an attacking villain, Gorilla Grodd. Sara Lance/the White Canary goes back to get some much-needed consultation from the young president with a big decision that she makes.
This stellar scene was almost cut.
From a TV Line article, “We almost lost the scene where Sara went back and talked to him,” co-showrunner Phil Klemmer tells TVLine, “because we weren’t going to be able to make our days, we didn’t have enough money, and all the rest of that stuff.” The EP also freely admits that the Sara/Barry consult—after which she bittersweetly said, “I really miss you” (before flashing away his memories)—was mere icing on an already delicious cake.”
15 Mallus Is To John Noble...
Okay, let’s get META. In the same episode that saw the Legends visit a young president, season 3, episode 17 (Guest Starring John Noble) actor John Noble (Fringe) guests stars a himself. The Legends go and meet up with the actor while he’s filming Lord of The Rings in 1999 in which he appeared as the character Denethor. In an attempt to have one of the season’s big baddies, Nora Darhk, believe that she is taking orders from her boss Mallus, they record Noble’s voice in a bit of trickery, because he sounds like the demon. The twist here is that John Noble is actually voicing the demon Mallus throughout season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow. So within the context of this fictional show, “real world” Noble helps to save the day from a villain which he voices for a fictional TV show. Has your mind been blown yet?
14 Did Someone Call A Doctor?
Let’s get even MORE geeky with this list. Legends of Tomorrow is a show about superheroes who travel across space and time to save time from being tampered with. As mentioned before, it's like a pairing of Guardians of The Galaxy meets Doctor Who meets The Justice League.
A huge nerdy smorgasbord of geeky goodness.
So, there’s even more of a Doctor Who connection within this mix. Arthur Darvill, who plays Rip Hunter, is the fourth actor in the Arrowverse who is a Doctor Who alumni. Darvill starred as The Doctor's companion Rory Williams in the television series. The other three actors are John Barrowman/Malcolm Merlyn (Captain Jack Harkness), Alex Kingston/Dinah Lance (River Song), and Colin Salmon/Walter Steele (Dr. Moon). So a former Doctor Who companion at is the leader of a time-traveling group of DC Comics heroes.
13 Similar In Name Only
The Legends of Tomorrow television series actually has nothing in common with its comic book counterpart. In 2016 DC Comics released the Legends of Tomorrow comic book series that doesn't really share anything with the show (aside from the name, that is). It does have some of the characters from the Firestorm story, like Metamorpho, Sugar & Spike, and the Metal Men. It seems as if the creators of this series decided to make their own series featuring different characters and situations from a variety of other DC Comics lore, in addition to melding some other genre favorites, leading to a hodgepodge of a series. For example on filmmaker Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg described the series as Justice League meets Doctor Who.
12 A Super-Sized Atom
There have been numerous examples of actors who have played different characters in different comic book adapted properties. For instance, you’ve got Chris Evans who has played both Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four film series and Captain America in Marvel Studios' cinematic universe.
Then we have Ryan Reynolds who played the Green Lantern in the character's namesake film and has gone on to hit it big with playing Deadpool in two separate films. It seems a certain fan favorite Legend has also done the same. This is Brandon Routh’s (the Atom/Ray Palmer) second time playing a DC superhero. He was cast as Clark Kent/Superman in the big-budget film Superman Returns (2006).
11 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
One of the things that works pretty well in Legends of Tomorrow is the idea of a rotating cast of characters. Whether for good or bad, there has often been a cyclical pattern for some of our favorite characters in terms of their stay on the series. Original cast members have been included in this rotating door of characters, and sometimes even appear in Arrowverse television series like The Flash and Arrow. In season 1, episode 16 (Legendary), of the series, this was the last time that Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold) appeared as a series regular. Without spoiling the reason as to why this happened (because hey, you really need to watch this show), the actor would go on to be added as a recurring actor for future episodes.
10 Awesome Headgear
Want some more Easter eggs? Rip Hunter keeps a treasure trove of random items he's collected over the years of being a protector of time. One such item includes a cooking pot. You might ask, what's so special about a cooking pot? Well, this is no ordinary cooking pot.
This pot was once owned by the original DC Comics hero Red Tornado.
Most comic book fans have come to know the Red Tornado as the crimson colored cyborg who has helped the Justice League in the pages of comics, and on television in both live action/animated programs. The character was created by Sheldon Mayer in 1939. The character was originally a human, a lady by the name of Abigail Mathilda “Ma” Hunkel. Possibly the first female superhero, she would put on a the trademark pot with holes for eye slits and fight crime as the superhero Red Tornado.
9 Multiple Vixens
I mentioned way back when on this list that the Legends of Tomorrow has something of a reputation for keeping a rotating cast of characters/actors. This even occurs for actors that haven’t even appeared in the series at all. In this case, let's talk about the case of multiple Vixens. Megalyn Echikunwoke was Mari McCabe/Vixen, the first heroine to appear under this namesake in the Arrowverse. She went on to appear in the animated Vixen series, and on Arrow as a guest star. The Legends of Tomorrow creators wanted her to appear as the character on the TV but she couldn’t due to other previous acting commitments. The producers would later on cast Maisie Richardson-Sellers to play her grandmother Amaya Jiwe, an original Vixen who was a member of the Justice Society of America.
8 The Spielberg Connection
Here’s a little bit of film trivia for you. Neal McDonough originally made his appearance as the magic-wielding Damien Darhk during season 4 of Arrow. He went on to become an antagonist for the Legends of Tomorrow during seasons 2 and 3. During Season 2, episode 3 of the series (Raiders of The Lost Art) the Legends meet a young Steven Spielberg.
The episode involves them fighting against the Arrowverse’s version of the Legion of Doom to prevent them from obtaining the sacred Spear of Destiny.
Fun filled trivia time: McDonough has the honor of being the only Legends actor to have appeared in a Stephen Spielberg movie, Minority Report. McDonough played Fletcher, a member of the future crimes task force that is hunting down Tom Cruise’s character in the film.
7 Role Reversal, Legends Of Tomorrow Style
Ready for some more Neal McDonough secrets? This one also involves Legends team member Hawkman/Falk Hentschel. Neal McDonough and Falk Hentschel are the only Legends of Tomorrow cast members to play for both sides (Marvel Comics and DC Comics). McDonough appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter, and the Agent Carter television series as Howling Commando bowl hat wearing member Timothy ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan. Falk Hentschel was in an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013) as HYDRA agent Mark Scarlotti. So it seems that the roles were reversed in their respective comic book movie/TV universes with McDonough playing the good guy for Marvel, and Hentschel portraying a Hydra baddie. As M. Night Shyamalan might say, there’s your twist.
6 Attack The Block Spawned Careers
Franz Drameh a.k.a Firestorm has grown to be one of the most integral parts of the Legends of Tomorrow team. After gaining his abilities in The Flash, Jefferson became a member of the Legends crew during Season 1 and has been a part of the team ever since.
Drameh actually got his big break in the British sci-fi/comedy film Attack the Block.
He played Dennis, one member of a group of friends who discover a War of The Worlds-style invasion is happening in their British neighborhood, and lead the fight against the invading aliens. The leader of this group of friends is yet another British actor who has made it big in American sci-fi films: John Boyega, the actor from Pacific Rim Uprising and Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Guess there must be something in the Attack the Block waters.