Legends of Tomorrow: Every DC Comics Reference in the Season Finale

The article contains nothing but Legends of Tomorrow spoilers. 

Welcome to our Legends of Tomorrow reference guide. The newest CW superhero show isn’t exactly full of the biggest and brightest stars in the DC Universe, but it does contain some of the coolest. Don’t be fooled by the fact that these aren’t household names. Many of these guys and gals have been kicking around pop culture longer than most big screen Marvel heroes.

Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 Finale: Legendary

– Firestorm finally learned one of his key comic book powers: matter transmutation! Back in the day, shooting fire wasn’t really Firestorm’s thing (believe it or not…I mean he did it, but it wasn’t his main thing). Instead, it was usually the more cartoon friendly matter transmutation stuff. 

– Any time the team splits up to do different tasks in different places or eras, that’s “a classic Justice Society of America trope” from the comics. I didn’t realize that would be prophetic.

– So, I’m pretty sure the soldier who croaks in France is Sgt. Rock, the wartime hero who wasn’t actually created during World War II, but has a creative pedigree of Robert Kanigher and the legendary Joe Kubert (co-creator of Hawkman and Hawkgirl!). So, for real…was that Sgt. Rock? And if so, wasn’t he a little young to be the grizzled Rock? I’m a little confused. Please straighten me out.

– The idea that the meteor was actually Thanagarian in origin is a new thing, but the idea of combining the mystical and alien elements of the Hawks’ origin story isn’t. Much of Kendra’s modern origin (and what we see in the show) was inspired by David Goyer and Geoff Johns’ reinvention of the characters in the pages of JSA. It kind of merged the best of the Golden and Silver Age Hawk origins into something appropriately modern. It’s not how it played out here, but the basic idea of that merging is the same. It’s pretty cool. 

– Rex Tyler is Hourman!!! I’m not sure if this is intended to be the original Hourman of the World War II era of the Justice Society, or a descendant of his operating in the future. Either way, this is extraordinarily awesome. 

Hourman first appeared in Adventure Comics #48 in 1940. He’s a founding member of the JSA. Originally, he was just a dude who took a pill to get super strength and endurance for an hour, but later versions of the character gave him some more advanced powers. I don’t want to speculate too hard on this yet, but I gotta love that subtle costume design, which looks a little bit more like the Rick Tyler version of the character than the original.

Special note: at one point the CW was developing an Hourman TV series, but it never happened.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 1: “Pilot”

Rip Hunter has existed on the margins of the DC Universe since 1959, and has been associated with sci-fi teams like the Challengers of the Unknown and the Forgotten Heroes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear those names mentioned in connection with Legends of Tomorrow at some point, even if the teams themselves are never actually called that. 

We also get to see Rip addressing a council of Time Masters at what I imagine has to be Vanishing Point (it’s not just the name of an awesome movie and Primal Scream album, y’know), which is where the Linear Men operate out of. I’m assuming that the Time Masters/Linear Men are interchangeable for the purposes of this show.

Who are the Linear Men? Ummmm…think of them kind of like Time Lords except not really. They’re more like “continuity cops” in that they travel through time resolving Time Paradoxes. 

Also, Rip was calling himself a “Time Master” at least four years before the debut of a certain (more famous) Time Lord. Arthur Darvill’s own Doctor Who connections are purely coincidental, I’m sure.

Rip is referred to as “Captain” Hunter at one point. He never held any kind of title like that in the comics, at least as far as I know. Feel free to correct me and I’ll update this. But he’s gotta be captain of something, so…

The name of Rip’s time travelling spaceship is the Waverider. Waverider was a minor superhero from the ’90s who could travel through time under his own power.

Here’s what he looked like…

The ’90s ladies and gentlemen!

Oh, and the ship’s AI is “Gideon” the same supercomputer designed by none other than Barry Allen. We met Gideon in Harrison Wells’ secret lair on The Flash season one. I still haven’t found an acceptable comic book counterpart for it, though.

Also, let’s just take a moment to appreciate Rip’s wondeful ray gun six shooter thing.

Anyway, I’d better get back on track.

While the folks in charge of the DC TV Universe and the budding DC Cinematic Universe have made it abundantly clear that their TV and movie properties won’t cross over, executive producer Geoff Johns has used the magic word of “the Multiverse” when describing their multimedia approach. In the comics, when Crisis on Infinite Earths collapsed the DC Multiverse, only Rip Hunter, because he was kind of existing outside the timestream when it happened, remembered how things used to be before reality/continuity merged and altered.

What I’m trying to say here, is that the Rip Hunter of Legends of Tomorrow might have “knowledge” of realities and alternate timelines that won’t be familiar to our heroes, but would certainly be familiar to audiences. Keep an ear out for references like that.

Holy moley, I got a headache just typing that.

I don’t expect that to get too much play, to be honest, but if they’re looking to throw fans a bone, that’s how it could be done. I wrote much more about how Crisis on Infinite Earths relates to DC’s TV and movie universes right here.

– Vandal Savage is actually one of the oldest characters that any of the CW superhero shows has ever showcased (Jay Garrick, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl still win, though). He first appeared in Green Lantern #10 in 1944. Since then he’s…oh, honestly, you’re better off just reading this other article about his history. Trust me on this. It’s far too much for this space.

He also has a daughter with the unfortunate name of Scandal Savage who was a member of the Secret Six. I will lose my mind if Scandal shows up on this show as a potential love interest for Sara Lance.

In the comics, Vandal’s immortal foe was appropriately named the Immortal Man. But while Vandal essentially just kinda lives forever, the Immortal Man would die and get reincarnated. Kind of like some other folks we know on this show…

– Hawkman and Hawkgirl both appeared in Flash Comics #1 in 1939. That’s right, the same comic that introduced Jay Garrick, and the very concept of the Flash to the world, is the one that brought us Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

Now, let’s not get too crazy with digging into the comic book origins of those two, because it’s complicated. For the most part, they’re going with what Geoff Johns and David Goyer set down in the excellent JSA series from the late ’90s which is kind of a combination of many different Hawkman stories (and there were lots…seriously, it’s a mess).

In the original version of the story, Khufu and Chay-Ara were killed by Hath-Set, another guy who keeps popping up in new lives. For the sake of narrative convenience, Hath-Set and Vandal Savage are now the same person, which they weren’t in the comics, where the Hawks have no special connection to him.

In their early appearances, Carter Hall’s eternal lover was Shiera Sanders. But Kendra Saunders was introduced in the pages of JSA Secret Files #1 in 1999. She was a distant relative of Ms. Sanders, and when Kendra attempted suicide, Shiera’s soul stepped in, Carter Hall came into her life, and…well. Yeah. It’s better than it sounds and mildly less confusing than I’m making it out to be.

None of this takes into account the fact that for decades Hawkman and Hawkgirl were intergalactic policemen from a planet called Thanagar named Katar and Shayera Hol. That’s a whole ‘nother can of worms to feed your birds. I wouldn’t be surprised if we at least hear some kind of mention of Thanagar before this is all done.

– It’s also worth noting that the Hawks are operating out of St. Roch, a fictional DC Comics city located in Louisiana. I’m pretty sure this is the first mention of St. Roch on any of these shows, but if I’m wrong, please let me know.

The Atom first appeared in the same title that a few years earlier had brought us the first appearance of Barry Allen. 1961’s Showcase #34 by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane reinvented a forgotten golden age hero with a very cool costume and some expectedly sci-fi trappings.

The comic book Atom has a knack for getting lost in strange subatomic worlds, often with their own civilizations contained in them. I really, really hope we get to see something like that happen on this show. Brandon Routh mentioned that he loves the Sword of the Atom comic in an interview with Den of Geek, and that book dealt with exactly that kind of scenario.

There’s also a neat reference to Ray Palmer having taken one of Martin Stein’s classes at Ivy University. Ivy is where the comic book Professor Ray Palmer got his superheroic start. You have to love how Stein kinda blows him off about the whole thing, too.

– Firestorm first appeared in Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #1 in 1980. He was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom. He rose to some prominence on episodes of several incarnations of the Super Friends animated series, and even had his own Kenner Super Powers action figure, long before ever superhero on the planet had six variants made for them.

While they first introduced Firestorm in his “traditional” dynamic of Ronnie Raymond/Martin Stein over on The Flash, he never really felt quite right. Ronnie was too polite and cerebral compared to the (sorry) hot-headed jock of his comic book counterpart, and the less we speak of the awful “sweatshirt” costume they saddled him with, the happier everyone will be.

So for Legends, we have a far more familiar Firestorm to comics fans. Jefferson Jackson is much more like Ronnie Raymond than the actual TV Ronnie ever was, for starters. Jefferson isn’t the first African-American half of Firestorm, either. That would be the more cerebral Jason Rusch, who we also met on The Flash, but who I doubt we’ll see again.

They even gave him a genuine superhero costume. It looks about as cool as you could expect anything in those colors to look, I guess.

The White Canary of TV has little to do with the character from the comics, a Black Canary foe from the pages of Gail Simone and Ed Benes’ excellent Birds of Prey comic.

Anyway, she wasn’t Sara Lance, that’s for sure. As it is, Arrow has played fast and loose with all the Black Canary stuff, but trust me, it’s better that way. It’s almost impossible to unravel. 

And then there are these two…

Captain Cold first appeared in Showcase #8 in 1957. He was one of the first villains the Flash ever took on. Given how much time he has spent on screen over on The Flash, you probably don’t need more of an introduction than this.

Recently in the pages of the Geoff Johns written Justice League comic, Len Snart has begun the journey towards being a full-blown superhero. Considering that Geoff Johns is an executive producer on the CW’s DC superhero shows, that was no coincidence.

Heat Wave first appeared in The Flash #140 (1963) and he was (like lots of Flash villains) created by the genius Flash creative team of John Broome and Carmine Infantino. While a little more colorfully-attired in the comics, and perhaps a little less overtly/wildly crazed, he’s always had an obsession with fire. You know, the medical definition of pyromania.

Now, these are bad guys, kinda, but then there’s this one…

– The Boba Fett lookalike is named Chronos. Now, assuming that it isn’t spelled “Kronos” or something, there are two very cool possibilities here.

There was David Clinton, probably the Atom’s most notorious arch enemy. Also, the most notoriously poorly dressed supervillain I can think of.

See what I mean?

I don’t think it’s Clinton, although you have to admit, there’s a certain similarity to the general shape of their masks.

I do however think it’s this guy…

Walker Gabriel fits the bill a little better. He’s a tech based sometimes hero/sometimes villain (and after all, the guy on the trail of the Legends team is only doing his job) with a chronal suit of Linear Men technology that allows him all kinds of access to the timestream and the history of objects and people. I’m telling you, this is the guy. Or at the very least, it’s a hybrid of both characters.

(I totally reserve the right to change this if it turns out I’m wrong, so get your screenshots ready!)

Now, how about some other, kinda random references?

– There doesn’t appear to be any particular significance to the 2166 date, other than it being 150 years in our future. However, keep in mind that Eobard Thawne (the Reverse-Flash) is from the 22nd Century, and would be about 15 years old here. I don’t know if we’re going to run into a teenaged Eobard Thawne at any point, but you have to figure anything is possible, right?

Also, just as it does on The Flash and Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow takes place in “real time,” with this episode taking place in January of 2016.

– In his speech to the other Time Masters, Rip compares Vandal Savage to Per Degaton. Like Savage, Degaton is another one of the oldest villains in the DC Universe, and he gave the Justice Society agita for years. He’d be a perfect villain for Legends of Tomorrow season 2 if we get there.

– There’s a moment with Green Arrow talking the Atom through a mission. It’s not anything of significance from the comics or anything like that, but I just want to point out that we’ve reached a point in this DC TV Universe where moments like this can happen. It just felt like it came straight out of a 1970s issue of Justice League of America or something.

– Aldus Boardman was created specifically for the show. BUT…the photo of Aldus Boardman as a baby with his heroic parents appears to come from the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. This is somewhat significant since Hawkman and Hawkgirl first appeared in Flash Comics #1, published in 1939 (don’t be fooled by its 1940 cover date, it came out in 1939). But also, the New York World’s Fair was just kind of part of the whole explosion of the Golden Age superhero zeitgeist. I’ve always felt they’re linked.

– Jefferson tells Gideon to “Fire photon torpedos” when Chronos attacks the Waverider. There’s an important distinction between “proton torpedoes” and “photon torpedoes.” “Proton” indicates a Star Wars reference. “Photon” is Star Trek. Since Star Wars is cool right now, and Star Trek has always been the nerdier of the two franchises, and Legends of Tomorrow is the nerdiest frakkin’ show on the planet right now, you’re damn right it’s a Star Trek reference.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 2

– Ivy Town University is Ray Palmer’s alma mater. This place has been kicking around the DCU for as long as the Atom has. In the comics, Ray was a professor here when he first developed his shrinking technology.

Speaking of that, Ray brings up the white dwarf star matter and the alpha particles they generate, which is all straight out of the first Atom comic book story.

– Damien Darhk showing up is fun fan service, and whatever that’s cool. Damien Darhk showing up dressed like Ernst Stavro Blofeld (and not the fake-ass Christoph Waltz version from that dreadful Spectre movie) on the other hand, is genius, and possibly my single favorite thing we’ve seen Darhk do since he was introduced.

It’s interesting that Darhk has HIVE drones with him, though. His split from the League came further back than we thought, and even though they downplayed a little of the immortality angle on Arrow, clearly the Lazarus Pits’ effects are as long-lasting as their comic book counterparts.

– Who’s on the Wanted poster in Rip’s cool little early 20th Century study/library?Wanna take bets on it being Jonah Hex? Also, the fact that Rip has a “study” like that just makes him even more nerdy and awesome in my book, so we’re cool. 

– There’s discussion of a “Carlin Award.” I wonder if that’s a nod to legendary Superman editor, Mike Carlin?

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 3: Blood Ties

– Ray totally shows his age this week with that “all that time playing Asteroids” joke. I kind of wish they would have taken the Asteroids visual a little further, though.

For the record, this is Asteroids, in case you’re too young to know…

– The emerald that Snart steals is real (the Maximilian Emerald is at the American Museum of Natural History, apparently), and not Kryptonite like many were speculating when the trailer came out (via Jim Dandeneau)

– Rip Hunter makes a comment about seeing “Men of Steel die” and “Dark Knights fall.” For starters, each is a reference to a specific comic book story, Doomsday and The Dark Knight Returns, respectively.

But it’s also an explicit reference to DC’s multimedia Multiverse, something that was explored to great effect on The Flash “Welcome to Earth-2” and that we’ll see far more of with the upcoming Flash/Supergirl TV crossover. Rip knows all about this stuff, and just knowing that he knows is kind of a cool, big deal.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 4: White Knights

– 1986 was a really good year for DC Comics. Crisis on Infinite Earths ended. The Dark Knight Returns was published. Watchmen was published. Alan Moore wrote an amazing Superman story. John Byrne rebooted Superman with The Man of Steel limited series. I could go on and on and on…

– Valentina Vostok was a member of the team of DC Comics misfits known as the Doom Patrol and first appeared in 1977. She was known as Negative Woman, having been fused with a being made of negative energy. Something is clearly going to happen to her next week, but that may not be it. Valentine kicked around the DC Universe for about 30 years before apparently taking the ol’ dirt nap at the end of the events of Blackest Night. As far as I know, she hasn’t shown up since.

– The idea of a “Soviet Firestorm” is one that was explored in the comics back in the day. Mikhail Arkadin first appeared in Firestorm #64 in 1987. His name wasn’t mentioned, but the angry soldier who keeps getting in everyone’s name was credited as Mikhail Arkadin. So, ummm…yeah, keep a lookout.

– The episode title is “White Knights” but White Nights was a 1985 Cold War thriller that starred Russian ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov. Considering how much this show loves the ’80s (even in episodes where they aren’t on a mission there), I refuse to believe that this is an accident. 

– You ready for possibly the nerdiest thing I will type all week (and for me doing this job, you know that’s saying something). Listening to former Superman Brandon Routh speak Russian made me think of the opening scene of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, where Christopher Reeve saves some Russian Cosmonauts and then addresses them in their language. 

– Speaking of Brandon’s Superman connections, Ray gets made fun of for being a “boy scout.” That’s usually a “criticism” leveled at Superman himself by people who don’t know any better.

– Ray “always wanted to be a spy.” And he was! On Chuck!

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 5: Fail-Safe

– Of COURSE Savage was buddies with Stalin. I was half expecting a “my good buddy Adolph” at some point, but I forgot this was before Putin started trying to rehab the image of the Nazis in Russia.

– It’s like they tried to work in references to the two greatest fight movies of all time: Rip et al enlist the aid of the Russian mob to break into the gulag, and fight with some gangsters in a Russian bath house a la John Wick. Then at the end, there’s a prison riot in the mud like The Raid 2. Both of these fights, while good for TV, are pale reflections of their source material.

– Jax runs across the prison yard (did I hear right that it was 150 yards in 12 seconds? Because blown ACL or not, I’m pretty sure that’s faster than world record pace) and lets out a “Barry Allen who?”

– Stein tries to stall Vostok’s Firestorm solution by telling her about the Soviet Union’s collapse, and he makes a point of calling out their anti-gay law. Good job, Martin.

– They don’t officially do the Doom Patrol thing with Vostok – when she’s split out from Stein, she doesn’t go full Negative Woman. She just explodes in a blue mushroom cloud as they fly away.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 6: Star City 2046

– The team jumps into a school bus to avoid Connor fighting off a horde of Ravager’s goons early in the episode, and Sara definitely says “shit” when she leaves the bus to help him.

– Ravager is a title that’s been held by several people in the DC Comics Universe: the first was Grant Wilson, Slade’s son. He had similar abilities to his father, and died a few times. The best to hold the title was Slade’s daughter, Rose Wilson. His other brother, Jericho, is a mute former Teen Titans member with a blonde jheri curl who has the same powers as Captain Ginyu – he can possess people he makes eye contact with. 

– Old, bearded, one-armed Oliver is from Dark Knight Returns, the “last Batman” story by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley, where iconic images like Batman in power armor fighting Superman, and a jagged bat flying through a shattered window came from. 

– “…a warehouse on Adams and O’Neill” Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams did the Green Arrow/Green Lantern road trip comic that had Speedy get hooked on the smack.

– Connor Hawke is not John Diggle Jr. in the comics. In the comics, he’s the child of Oliver Queen and Sandra Hawke. He’s raised basically as a monk, and for at least one issue of Grant Morrison’s JLA, he is a total badass when he takes down The Key alone.

– Was the “Blackhawk armored car job” something we saw on The Flash, or is this just a random reference to the Blackhawk shipping company?

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 7: Marooned

– There is also a really smart conversation about who was the better captain of the Enterprise between Kendra and Ray. Kendra is team Picard, Ray is Kirk. Ray calls Picard sexless, and Kendra rightly cites Vash. They are, however, both wrong. Sisko 4eva.

– Captain Jon Valor isn’t a space pirate in the comics. He’s just a regular pirate. The Black Pirate, in fact, starring in some ‘40s issues of Action Comics and popping back up again in Starman, maybe the best DC comic ever made.

– Eve Baxter may be based on Bonnie Baxter, Rip’s girlfriend from his 60s introduction. For the love of Christ, do not google Eve Baxter unless you want to know when an actress is turning 18.

– Rip’s two remote commands are the Kanjar Ro protocol to cloak the ship, and the Imperiex Onslaught to start it shooting. Kanjar Ro is a space dictator who, whenever he shows up, you know it’s moderately serious business.

The Imperiex Onslaught maneuver is based on the two worst crossovers from the ‘90s: Imperiex is “the embodiment of entropy” and causes periodic big bangs and was just genuinely terrible in “Our Worlds At War” (but much better in the criminally underrated Legion of Super Heroes cartoon).

Onslaught was the combination of Professor X and Magneto who killed the Avengers and Fantastic Four in the morally and fictionally repugnant crossover “Onslaught” that led to Heroes Reborn and yes it was in fact provably worse than the Clone Saga.

– Rick Starr: Space Ranger was a for real comic character. The Space Ranger showed up in several issues of Showcase in the ’50s, before moving to Mystery In Space. I don’t get how you drop this much DC space stuff in here and NOT put Captain Comet in.

Ray’s chances of survival after he ran out of oxygen were calculated by Gideon as being less than 3720 to 1 after he drifted into an asteroid field trying to avoid a star destroyer I mean after he went into cardiac arrest after he ran out of oxygen. Wasn’t that the number that C3P0 told Han Solo were his chances of successfully navigating that asteroid field in Empire Strikes Back?

– Speaking of Star Wars, Rip Hunter straight up pulls the “I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you,” line.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 8: Night of the Hawk

– Just for the record, this episode was directed by Joe Dante, director of Gremlins, Innerspace, and many other pieces of genre wonderfulness.

– I’m sure they paid a bit for “Rock Around the Clock,” but it’s worth it. This show’s going to end up with a sneaky good soundtrack. See also Superman: The Movie for another good superhero related use of this song.

– Vandal’s 1959 cover name is “Dr. Curtis Knox.” In Smallville, Curtis Knox was an immortal mad scientist who had the know-how to cure the mostly awful freaks of the week. He was apparently supposed to be Savage, but they weren’t allowed to use him.

– From my notes when the meteorite first showed up: “OH MY GOD IS THIS ECLIPSO? UPDATE: it’s fucking not.”

– The meteorite was glowing bluish-purple, much like the Heart of Darkness gem, the purplish diamond that gives Bruce Gordon or Superman or (ugh) Jean Loring :rubs bridge of nose for a minute: or whoever’s holding it superpowers and insanity. Eclipso was created by Bob Haney and Lee Elias in House of Secrets in 1963 and is not in this episode at all.

– There are a metric ton of Back to the Future jokes in the episode. No surprise, given how openly nerdy everyone has already proven to be.

– “Hall H for the Criminally Insane” might be the funniest joke this show has ever told. Hall H is the room where all the big panels and trailers and movie reveals take place at San Diego Comic Con. SDCC’s crowd control and ticketing policies make this a perpetual, catastrophic shitshow.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 9: Left Behind

– Ray reveals that he was an Eagle Scout with “over 100 merit badges” because OF COURSE he was. There are currently 132, and when Ray would have been scouting age, there were different ones, but probably a similar number.

– Side note, do you think Brandon Routh gets to go to bed feeling vindicated every night right now? Not that it’s Henry Cavill’s fault, but it’s got to feel good for him to be a part of the widely beloved DC TV Universe while Superman gets repeatedly abused in the DC Cinematic Universe.

– Atom and Hawkgirl end up living in Hub City, and shame on these producers to drop Hub City into an episode without bringing in its two most famous residents: Ted Kord and Vic Sage, Blue Beetle and the goddamn Question. Both characters were acquired by DC when they bought out Charlton Comics, and began appearing in DC books around the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths. They were the basis for Nite Owl and Rorschach in Watchmen, and later appeared as themselves in the best single issue comic from 2014, The Multiversity: Pax Americana (more on that probably next week).

– Ti’julk Mr’asz is a Vyrgan teleporter conscripted into the Legion of Superheroes who takes the superhero code name Gates. UNFORTUNATELY that’s not the Gates that Ray is referring to in his class. It’s Bill Gates’ dad.

– I’m kind of surprised they didn’t have Ray and Kendra and Sara undo their lost two years by going back to the point where the Waverider first left to pick up their younger selves. I had a whole “AND THAT’S WHY RACHEL SUMMERS EXISTS” rant ready to go, but instead they went with “uh, time paradox gtg.” Oh well. *puts dissertation-length tirade about Hypertime’s applications in the Marvel Universe back in the drawer*

– Watching Sara train are none other than the Demon’s Head, Ra’s al Ghul, who you may remember being run through by Oliver in Arrow or being usurped by Malcolm Merlyn later in Arrow. Matt Nable continues his work in the role, and for a guy who’s going to be perpetually compared to David Warner (Ra’s…’s? voice from Batman: The Animated Series) Nable does well.

– With Ra’s is his daughter. Not Nyssa, the one we’ve already seen in a recurring role on Arrow. No, instead we get the famous one, Talia.  Talia Head, the Leviathan, first appeared in Detective Comics #411, created by Dennis O’Neill and Bob Brown. Since we’re fawning over semi-unrelated Grant Morrison work here, you should really also read his Batman.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 10: Progeny

– This one borders on what part of the review it should fall in. I have no record of a Sydney Palmer existing in DC Comics, although I believe Ray did have a brother named Danny. But the whole “brother who looks exactly like you” and then “I no longer have to feel the weight of responsibility over fathering a child I never knew” thing was another one of those “erred too closely on the side of bullshit” moments in this episode for me to fully get behind. It was a dopey reveal.

– Per Degaton is one of the oldest villains in DC Comics, believe it or not, although the version we meet here isn’t much like his comic book counterpart…and not just because of his age. Per Degaton was a Justice Society villain, and he’s been kicking around the DC Universe since 1947. He was never the heir to a dictator, but he always had dictatorial ambitions and a fascist fashion sense (more on that in a minute).

I have to confess, I was kinda hoping they would save Per Degaton as the potential villain for a future season of the show. I’m sure there’s still time for that to happen, given how the future can shift in a show like this.

– Oh, and the Kasnian army/Degaton’s soldiers all basically look like the comic book version of Per Degaton, which was a nice touch.

Check it:

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 11: The Magnificent Eight

– Jonah Hex first appeared in All-Star Western #10 in 1972, where he was created by John Albana and Tony DeZuniga. He has since had his adventures guided by the likes of Joe Lansdale and Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. 

You can see some military garb in Jonah’s costume (and the historians among you can tell me if any of it was accurate). Jonah fought for the wrong side in the Civil War, but wasn’t fond of slavery, and it eventually led to him trying to do the right thing and getting everyone killed. He’s never really been a happy character.

But for real, Joe Kubert is an all time comic book genius, and you should just seek out his work and cherish it.

– Hex and Rip obviously spent some quality time together (and I have to love that Rip is wearing Jonah’s old coat), but it’s possible that Jonah’s time traveling days aren’t over. The character spent a brief period in the ’80s in a Mad Max inspired post-apocalyptic wasteland. Maybe the next time we see Jonah, that’s where he’ll be.

– Did you spot Kubert’s Barber Shop in town there? Joe Kubert is the artist most associated with Jonah Hex, and with good reason. He’s also the artist most associated with Hawkman, also for good reason. He’s also the co-creator of DC Comics WWII hero Sgt. Rock, who absolutely needs to make an appearance in a future Legends of Tomorrow episode.

– Ray introducing himself as “John Wayne” reminds of Marty McFly introducing himself as “Clint Eastwood” in Back to the Future III. There’s no way this wasn’t on purpose.

– So, Hawkman, when he lived in this period, was known as “Hannibal Hawkes.” Hannibal Hawkes was also the DC western hero known as Nighthawk. This is no coincidence, either.

– Did anybody else feel like Snart’s garb made him look a little like Yul Brynner’s famously relentless cyborg in Westworld?

By the way, not just the western setting, but the overall tone of this episode made me nostalgic for one of my favorite TV shows of all time: The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, which starred Bruce Campbell. There’s only one season, track it down and watch it. It’s amazing.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 12: “Last Refuge”

– Ray’s “come with me if you want to live” line is, of course, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature lines from The Terminator franchise.

– OK, I know that we’ve known the first name of Ray’s lost love for awhile. I had forgotten her last name was Loring, to be honest. Is this the first time we’ve actually seen an image of her, though?

– This is the first I’ve ever heard of Rip Hunter’s name being “Michael.” This is cool, because fellow time traveling DC superhero (and a character that I desperately want to see on this show!) Booster Gold is named Michael Jon Carter.

Oh yeah, and Booster is Rip’s dad.

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 13: Leviathan

– Cassandra Savage isn’t from the comics, sadly. The Savage daughter that I really, desperately want to see on this show, and who would make such a perfect addition to this cast of characters next year is Scandal Savage, though. Holy moley, that needs to happen. 

– When I first saw the leviathan in the trailer for this episode, I thought they had actually brought Chemo to the screen. A really skinny version of Chemo. But now we know that giant glowing things can be done really, really well on Berlanti superhero shows, so maybe it will happen one day!

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 14: River of Time

Was that Katana’s mask in Rip’s study?

Legends of Tomorrow Episode 15: Destiny

– The Thanagarians are coming! The Thanagarians are coming! This is great news.

Thanagar is the kinda fascist planet that gave us the Silver Age versions of Carter and Kendra. Katar Hol and Shayera Thal. These two weren’t star-crossed immortal lovers, but husband and wife intergalactic cops. The Thanagarians are prone to rash, warlike actions when provoked, so if Earth is in their crosshairs in 2166 (or further on), I’d be willing to bet either someone here provoked them, or they’re being tricked/manipulated.

They did once go to war with the planet Rann, and now that I think about it, Adam Strange would be kind of a good fit for this show, wouldn’t he?

– For cryin’ out loud, somebody help me with the 4587 references on all these shows!!!