The first two DC superhero shows picked up by the CW, Arrow and The Flash, are incredibly popular and beloved by fans, which is not surprising seeing as they are fairly well known heroes with easily identifiable powers and enemies. The Green Arrow protects his city with some pretty nifty archery skills and a crew of other masked helpers, while The Flash uses his speed to fight bad guys with his loyal team of scientists and police. In both cases, the comics are well known pieces of pop culture that had a built in fanbase before their television premieres.
In the case of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, however, the heroes the audience roots for are slightly more obscure, with some of them complete unknowns to casual superhero fans. The show revolves around nine people attempting to save the world by traveling through time to stop Vandal Savage (more on him later) from destroying everything they know and love.
First, there are the “sarcastic” ones of the bunch. Captain Cold and Heat Wave are brothers, former criminals who battled the Flash, and so filled with snark it’s a wonder how they get anything else done. Sara Lance isn’t much different as far as sarcasm goes, but she has more heart and good will toward others than most people on the team. She also has the closest ties to characters from other shows, as the sister or Laurel Lance and the former lover of the Arrow himself, Oliver Queen. Then there are the smarty pants heroes of the group. Ray Palmer (aka The Atom) is a world renowned scientist who manufactured a suit and system that allows him to shrink to the size of an ant (not too dissimilar from that other insect-sized superhero over at Marvel…). Dr. Martin Stein, one half of Firestorm, and Rip Hunter, are the de facto dad figures of the group and lead the team when everyone else might want to give up.
Finally, there are the characters that fans seriously might not know even if they are fans of this universe. Hawkgirl and Hawkman are technically 4,000 year old Egyptian demigods who were originally killed by a jealous Vandal Savage and are brought back to life as ordinary people every time he kills them, only to eventually realize their powers and connection again. Yeah, it’s about as convoluted yet awesome as it sounds. Jefferson Jackson is the other half of Firestorm and is constantly having to pinch himself to believe he’s a superhero. Then of course there’s that small issue of Vandal Savage, who happens to be one of the most evil villains in DC comics history. Watch the video above to see the team in action and get excited about their heroic feats.
