DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which returns to The CW on 2ndMay,had a rough first season. Composed of C-list DC Comics superheroes and supporting charactersfrom the Arrowverse, the series struggled to find its footing with boring star-crossed romances and a turgid “epic” scope. But even amongst this first season, there was rough potential, andLegends of Tomorrowhas slowly refined and reinvented itself into a fantastic freewheeling “superhero” show, whosesixth season promises to be just as strange.
Legends of Tomorrowdoesn’t have the same name recognition asArrow,The Flash,orSupergirl, and its truncated 15-episode seasons (as opposed to the standard 22) means it remains a hidden gem. At first,Legends of Tomorrowtried to replicate its fellow CW shows’ formula of semi-serious stakes and the tragic, brooding backstory of Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), whose family was killed by the immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crumb). But this only meantLegends of Tomorrowwas rote and disposable. Instead,Legends of Tomorrowhas shaken itself up so itbarely feels in the same universe of the Arrowverse, with Season 3 – the best place for newcomers to jump on – morphing the series into the best version of itself.
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Humor
Legends of Tomorrowis primarily a comedy show now. Most Arrowverse shows contain jokes, one-liners, and silly moments, but they’re mostly amendments to dramatic shows. EvenThe FlashandSupergirl– initially touted as being light-hearted and wholesome alternatives toArrow’s gritty intensity – are now burdened with serious topics and heavy stakes. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with superhero shows likeBlack LightningorFalcon and the Winter Soldieraddressing real-world issues. But the time-travelingLegends of Tomorrowhas embraced its wacky premise so that even critical plot points involve magically-enchanted nipples or theLegends being trapped on parodies ofStar TrekandFriends.
Legends of Tomorrowoften takes these big, goofy swings at silly time-travel hijinks, like having Ernest Hemingway fight a Minotaur or Julius Caesar taking over a toga party. The show has gained a sense of glee, going down to the camera-work feeling looser and more hand-held and episode names shifting from generic titles like “River of Time” and “Compromised” to cheeky references like “Slay Anything,” “Necromancing the Stone” and “Romeo v. Juliet: Dawn of Justness.” Everybody involved in the show seems to be having fun, includingLegends of TomorrowfeaturingArrowvillain Damian Darhk (Neil McDonough) having his “resurrection” scored to “Return of the Mack” –music and sing-a-longsoften pop up inLegends of Tomorrow.
Most importantly,Legends of Tomorrowis genuinely and consistently funny. Its brazen devil-may-care attitude brings in the big entertaining spectacle, but it’s sold by the committed cast of characters. They are well aware of how ridiculous the show has gotten, and this self-aware, off-the-cuff commentary makes it all the more enjoyable. During “Here I Go Again,” when teammate Zari (Tala Ashe)is stuck inside a time-loop alaGroundhog Day, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) mutters “it was only a matter of time before we did one of these.” And when leader Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) gives a standard mission briefing, the other Legends encourage her to reiterate it with “more pizzazz.”Legends of Tomorrowgets as much comedy from the Legends’ all lining up for the Waverider’s single bathroom together as being chased by a murderous puppet in “Hell No, Dolly!”
Heart
Yet it’s precisely becauseLegends of Tomorrowembraces its comedic core that it becomes more dramatically effective. By having the Legends be silly and funny – getting drunk together or bickering at breakfast – they become far more endearing. Straightforwarddramatic shows sometimes forget to make their characters likable, so audiences are meant to feel sympathetic for their trying situations without actually being familiar or engaged with them. But byLegends of Tomorrowhaving its crew be so likable, viewers actively root for them to survive.
Nate and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) becoming “science bros” is funny in itself, but it also creates a lovely openly affectionate male friendship, effectively enhancing Ray’s departure from the series with his wife Nora Darkh (Courtney Ford) – itself a sweet romance bolstered by Ray’s puppy-dog eyed optimism and that the two are married in real life.
The show also non-didactically foregrounds itsLGBTQ+ and queer romances, with the bisexual Sara Lance becoming co-captain of the Waverider with committed girlfriend Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan).Legends of Tomorrowis raunchier than average Arrowverse shows, withJohn Constantine (Matt Ryan), who joins the show in Season 3, also be bisexual – something ignored by his own NBC show – hooking up with Sara but having Season 4 revolve around his love for Desmond (Christian Keyes). EarlierLegends of Tomorrowepisodes like “Night of the Hawk” highlighted the discrimination Sara and the non-white Legends would face in earlier time periods, but although well-intentioned, currentLegendssimply embraces itssexual and racial diversitywithout making a big fuss.
Legends of Tomorrowgallivanting to new time periods each episode ironically brings the crew closer together. There is little outside world. They live together outside the timestream and, as mentioned, there’s only one bathroom. So, the Legends become a “new family” to support and rally each other on. Unlike onArrowor evenSupergirl, their adventures are not a “job” or a “mission,” but something the Legends choose to do together, and enjoy. The Legends’ title is ironic, Rip Hunter originally picked them because they were “forgotten from history.” So the group is not typical “heroes” but oddball losers, and it’s through this quirky rag-team mentality that the heart and humor ofLegends of Tomorrowshine all the brighter.
Freedom
Time-travel shows can gethung up on the rules and paradoxes of the genre. And whileLegends of Tomorrowtoyed with this early on, now it plays fast-and-loose with the structures, a recurring joke being how irresponsible the Legends are with history, and that they “screw things up for the better.” The show uses such freedom to reinvent itself, like discarding Rip Hunter’s storyline and embracing a supernatural element. Or when Amaya Jiwe left the group in Season 3, her actress Maisie Richardson-Seller ingeniously returned asthe shapeshifter “Charlie”.This is also true of Zari, whose timeline was altered by the Legends in Season 4, making her retroactively replaced on the team by her brother Behrad (Shayan Sobhian) while Zari became a completely different person.
Such unlimited freedom has openedLegends of Tomorrowto its most outlandish scenarios, such as Nora Darhk becoming “cursed” as aFairy Godmother(tiara and puffy blue dress and everything) or the Legends fighting a terrifying, LSD-emitting Unicorn at the Woodstock Festival. Many cite Gorilla Grodd traveling to hunt down a young Barack Obama in “Guest Starring John Noble,” but the very same episode has the Legends going tothe set ofLord of the Rings, recruiting real-life actor John Noble to make a fake recording of the overarching demonic villain Mallus, whom Noble voices in the show. Later, the Legends defeat Mallus through combining their souls into aKaiju-size Furby-esque creature Beebo.
So,Legends of Tomorrowhas only embraced its silliness and imagination as its developed, including mixing up the very format of some episodes. Alongside theGroundhog Daytime-loops, the series has featured anin-universe mockumentary of the Legends(“Meet the Legends”) and Bollywood musicals (“Séance and Sensibility”), and when Constantine goes through the Legend rite-of-passage by breaking the timeline in “Legends of To-Meow-Meow,” Zari becomes a cat while the Legends are reinvented as parodies ofThe A-Team,Charlie’s AngelsandThe Muppets.
Once a collection of supporting characters,Legends of Tomorrowhas become something uniquely special. Its unabashed embrace of comic book absurdity is combined with true sincerity towards its characters, creating a comedic and unpredictable series that never feels vindictive. Even when thoselike Dominic Purcell’s Mick Rory leave the main cast, the series’ infectious glee shows little sign of slowing down.Legends of Tomorrowunshackled itself from the formula and burdens of its past, and dove into the weird and wonderful freedom of its future.
Season 6 ofDC’s Legends of Tomorrowwill premiere on the CW on May 2nd.
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