When we did the story on the new CW Arrowverse shows, we left our Legends of Tomorrow. Not only because the season started a week later than the others but because my verdict was still out on this one. Now the verdict is in: there is nothing legendary about Legends of Tomorrow.

Yes, I cut right to the chase with the cold hard facts.

When this show first started four seasons ago it had so much promise. You had a time squad being led by Rip Hunter that consisted of Hawkman & Hawkwoman, Firestorm, the Atom, Captain Cold, Heatwave and White Canary. They had the stamp of approval from Green Arrow and Flash. The main villain was none other than Vidal Savage, the oldest immortal villain in the DC universe which is perfect for a time-traveling band of heroes.

Legends of Tomorrow started strong and hit the ground running. This may have been the problem.

Since 1959, the Rip Hunter character has been a time travel force in the DC universe, especially during main events that change the course of the universe. The characters history is so deep in the comic universe, that there were a lot of avenues you could have taken after season one to continue to base the series around him. As a comic book geek, in my mind I thought with Rip Hunter on board how could Booster Gold not be too far behind. But, as always, the problem with DC not following their own source material, these were plot devices not taken advantage of. This may have been the problem.

Now let’s get back to this mini Justice League you had in the first season. The Hawks, Firestorm and the Atom are all popular comic book characters. Despite that fact that the writers did not follow the source material from the books completely regarding their powers, seeing these Justice Leaguers together was part of the appeal for the show. The Flash’s rogue gallery of villains is comparable with the villains that torment Batman. Captain Cold and Heatwave are two of these heroes. White Canary is a character from the Arrow-verse who was one of the many versions of Black Canary but since one of the main flaws to Arrow is that they can’t seem to get this character right she was moved to Legends of Tomorrow.

Early on it was rumored that the cast of heroes would be changed with each season. Little did we know that the replacements would be characters that couldn’t hold a candle to what the show started out with. This may have been the problem. In season one, the villain was Vidal Savage. In season two you had a version of the Legion of Doom. After that, the villains were not anything to write home about. Season three and four had Damien Dark but we had already seen him in action for a whole season of Arrow. This was now overkill and this may have been the problem. The problem with Legends of Tomorrow is that it is a show of missed opportunity. Here you have a group of heroes traveling on a ship that can not only break the time barrier but the breach the multiverse.

In season two when they brought in the Justice Society of America that was a move in the right direction. Sadly, there have been little moves like this done during the four seasons this show has been on the air. With so much of the DC cannon to play with, there is so much missed opportunity to bring in other such heroes from all over. Yes, you brought in Jonah Hex and John Constantine who is now a series regular but that is nothing compared to what you could have brought to the table. Where are Challengers of the Unknown, The Linear Men, and Booster Gold who have strong ties to Rip Hunter? For that matter how are you doing a time travel show without the Rip Hunter character? Similarly, most of the heroes in the first season have a tremendous backstory and enough to pick from to have a few years’ worth of story.

With Waverider, there have been missed opportunities to go to different times and universes where the Legends could team up with other heroes. Where is the trip to the Legion of Superheroes time in the future? Or when they made a trip to medieval times, why didn’t they feature the Shining Knight? The biggest problem of missed opportunity is the world of magic. The third season dabbled in magic and they made a smart move by bringing in Constantine to help with the problem. At the end of the third season, Constantine showed up to interrupt the Legends vacation by letting them know that they had unleashed various magical demons on the world. Hence, this season is spent finding and capturing them so Constantine can send them back to where they came from. But instead of this being a job for the likes of Heatwave, the Atom, and White Canary, shouldn’t this be a job for Justice League Dark?

Who is Justice League Dark you ask? Justice League Dark was a version of the Justice League that consisted of heroes who specialized in magic. Heroes like Constantine, Zantana, Madame Xanadu, Shade the Changing Man, Swamp Thing, Deadman and others were brought together to fight supernatural evil in the world that was out of the scope of what the regular Justice League could handle. If you want to leave characters like White Canary, the Atom and Heatwave to fight what they can’t defeat or understand, the writers can at least have some of these magical heroes guest star each episode to help. You have these toys in your arsenal. Use them.

Legends of Tomorrow has become a farce and the weak link in the CW Arrow-verse. By often using light-hearted humor even during the most serious situations and fights, what could be an awesome DC universe team up show has been a disappointing joke. In order to save this show, the showrunners would need to utilize the entire DC universe and timelines and introduce other known characters even if it’s just for guest appearances. And please bring back Rip Hunter. It makes no sense to have the Legends and a Time Bureau without him.

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Kenny Walker Jr

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