How should Legends of Tomorrow set up its characters for next year?

Update on 6/27/2017:

I originally wrote this post on 2/13/17, in between episodes 2x11 and 2x12. Now that year 5 of the Arrowverse is complete, I'm adding some notes to point out my reactions to how things actually turned out. Also, I'm updating some of my hopes of how these characters could be used in the Arrowverse's year 6.

Update on 12/9/2017:

Now that we've seen the first 9 episodes of season 3, I'm adding a couple small updates to discuss how things have turned out.

Opening Remarks

So far, Legends of Tomorrow season 2 has been a very impressive improvement over season 1. Most shows (including Arrow and The Flash) come up with a great premise for their first year or two, then slowly deteriorate over time as they run out of ideas. Legends has done the opposite: gone from a pretty mediocre first year to a downright fantastic second.

That being said, it's probably not too hard to make your show entertaining when you're straight-up stealing all the best characters from Arrow and the Flash. I mean seriously, Legends is currently using 4 out of 6 of the main villains from the last 4 years of the Arrowverse (not that I'm complaining!). Those characters are significant to the shows where they originated, so the conclusion of Legends season 2 will likely have ramifications on Arrow and the Flash.

As for the Legends themselves, we can also expect some cast changes. The show's creators insist that Legends of Tomorrow is an anthology show, meaning that it has a different main cast every year. Granted, the turnover was not all that drastic from season 1 to 2, but it's a safe bet that at least a couple Legends are gonna be getting the boot at the end of this year.

All those characters make for a lot of moving pieces on the Arrowverse chessboard that need to be set up for future storylines. Who will go back to Arrow and the Flash? Who will stay on Legends? Who will get killed off? Who will not get killed off, but just be written out of the show (a la Kendra and Carter)? Here's how I would do it if I were... well, whoever decides these things.

I've ordered these sections from least to most interesting.

The Legion of Doom

Damien Darkh

Verdict: Back to 1987, just to die in 2016

Seems pretty clear what has to happen to our old buddy Damien. Legends of Tomorrow isn't going to erase a year of Arrow, so one way or another, Damien has to end up back in 1987--and probably with no memory of his time traveling escapades. After this year, I don't really expect to see much more of Darkh in either Legends or Arrow.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Of course, I was right that Damien would end the year back in '87 with no memory of his time travels. I guess I was wrong that we wouldn't be seeing him again, though. He is already confirmed to be appearing in Legends season 3. Seems a little weird to me--eventually, you kinda want your dead characters to stay dead. In any case, Neal McDonough is always fun, so I'm sure his appearance will be fine.

Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash

Verdict: Either imprisoned, or stranded somewhere/time

This one's not so clear-cut. It's possible that the Black Flash catches up with him and kills him--fixing the paradox of his existence, but honestly I imagine that the writers want to keep Eobard around for potential future appearances on both the Flash and Legends. I could see him using the Spear of Destiny to somehow repair his paradoxical timeline, getting the Black Flash off his back. Frankly, there's a million and one psudeo-science-y explanations the writers could come up with to get him out of this.

My guess is that they want to keep him alive, but leave him in some situation that explains why he isn't an immediate threat. For example, maybe the Legends defeat him and put him in some sort of prison. Alternatively, he could be stranded in some time with no ability to use his speed (We've seen that happen to Eobard before in Flash season 1, but recall that this particular instance of Eobard diverged from that timeline before he was stranded in the year 2000. Perhaps he's predestined to lose his speed soon?). In any case, I predict we'll be seeing more of Eobard in Flash season 4 and beyond.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Frankly, as good as Legends season 2 was, I was a little disappointed by the finale. The gimmick of having the Legends interacting with their past selves wasn't mined for quite as much comedy and drama as it could have been, and everything just built to an overly ambitious, poorly choreographed fight in a big empty field. Thawne summoned a bunch of time remnants, and then the Black Flash showed up and killed erased him. All-in-all, not a bad finale, but not as inspired and creative as the season had been up to that point.

I am a little irked by the decision to put such a permanent finish on Thawne's story arc. In general, I've got no problem with characters being killed off, but in this case you just know that the Reverse-Flash is going to be showing up more on the Flash in future seasons. As long as you're planning to use the character again, better to set up a cool continuity between the shows than to simply resort to some tired mumbo-jumbo about remnants and the dangers of time travel, like will probably end up happening. Just my opinion.

Update after episode 3x09 "Beebo the God of War":

Well, was I right or was I right? Damnit, Crisis on Earth-X: so good in some ways yet so frustrating in others. Now what is the continuity of the Reverse-Flash supposed to be? Honestly, I think I'm ready to stop wasting my energy trying to work it out--obviously the writers have.

Leonard Snart / Captain Cold

Verdict: Back to 2017 to form the Rogues and face the Flash

We know that Snart is going to be resurrected and join the Legion of Doom in the back half of this season. We also know that Wentworth Miller (who plays Snart) has signed some kind of multi-show contract that lets the writers put him in any Arrowverse show where they want him. I doubt they did that just for his one small guest appearance in the Flash episode "The New Rogues," so I expect he'll be back on the Flash for good soon.

If you ask me, a return to a villainous Captain Cold would be great news for the Flash. At the end of Flash season 1, they were clearly setting up some big Rogues storylines for season 2 (see "Rogue Air"). It seems like that all got preempted when the decision was made to shift Snart over to Legends of Tomorrow. Now they have a chance to get the Rogues back on track as Barry's premier adversaries (let's all try to forget about Mirror Master...ugh).

The Flash is really, really lacking some good recurring villains who aren't all the same-old, same-old speedsters. Gorilla Grodd is one good option and Captain Cold is another. Let's hope that Flash season 4 is the first year that doesn't have a speedster as Barry's big bad.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Bad news. Very, very bad news. I guess at this point the writers have just given up on ever doing the Rogues on the Flash. It's a shame, especially since Wentworth Miller does just a good job with Captain Cold. After Mick and Leonard's little heart-to-heart at the end of "Aruba," it started looking pretty unlikely we would ever see the Rogues in full force. After Snart's totally un-villainous role in "Infantino Street," it seems all but impossible.

At least the Thinker will finally be a non-speedster main villain for Flash season 4. Of course, if I know how the Flash writers operate, they'll opt for giving him some kind of equivalently super-overpowered metahuman abilities, instead of going with the interpretation of the character that simply outsmarts the Flash. We all know that for the last couple years the only way Barry solves any of his problems is by running real fast. God forbid anyone on Team Flash has to actually, you-know, think.

Malcolm Merlyn

Verdict: Back to 2017 to form his own Legion of Doom

I feel that my first 3 predictions are pretty reasonable. Let me tell you right now, this one is a lot more out there. So let's start with the easy part: I think it's a safe bet that Malcolm's days on Arrow are not over. Sure, maybe, he dies at the end of this year and Team Arrow never sees him again, but I think he's probably too important a character on Arrow to be killed off so unceremoniously... on another show. He is practically Oliver's arch-nemesis after all (discounting Slade who we're never gonna see again anyways).

So imagine this: Malcolm gets plopped back in 2017, and--inspired by his time traveling adventures--resolves to form his own team of super-villains--just without the time travel stuff. What would their goal be? Oh, I don't know... they can come up with something. Who would be on the team? Really, the sky's the limit. For starters, the names Gorilla Grodd and Black Siren come to mind.

In any case, this new Legion of Doom pops back and forth between Arrow season 6 and Flash season 4 for a little while, before eventually being defeated in a Team Arrow/Team Flash team-up. Hell, throw the Legends and Supergirl in there and this could even be the plot for next year's episode 8 mega-crossover! Sounds pretty good, right?

Now, I've got no real argument for why this is definitely the writers' plan for Merlyn going forward. On the other hand, I can't really think of any reason why they couldn't pull this off. Seems like something they would do, right? Here's to hoping.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Quick sidebar: "Lian Yu" was so, so, so good, wasn't it? I was kinda expecting a trainwreck what with about a gazillion characters being lined up for the episode, but the writers knew exactly what they were doing. They allotted good time for meaningful dialogue to the characters that deserved it (Slade and Oliver, most prominently), and knew how to give the players we already know well (like Diggle and Felicity) good-enough character moments in very sparse, economically-worded lines. Bravo.

As for Malcolm, he got to go out as a hero to his daughter, which I guess is what he cared about above all else in the end. Of course, they left it open for him to pop up in a couple years and turn out to be alive ("The League didn't call me the Magician for nothing"!), but for the time being he's going to be out of the picture. He certainly won't be around to head up the Legion of Doom 2.0 next year as I was hoping.

But fear not! I have devised an alternate plan! Talia quite likely survived the razing of Lian Yu, right? The character was frustratingly underused in Arrow season 5 (one of my few nit-picks with the back third of the season), so I can only assume that the writers have some big plans for her for next year. What could be bigger than heading up a team of the Arrowverse's premier baddies? Call it the Secret Society of Super-Villains and then follow the basic plan I laid out above, culminating with a showdown between the Society and the newly christened Justice League in the week 8 mega-crossover. It practically writes itself! (Just kidding. For the record, I do know that this is very wishful thinking.)

The Legends

Sara Lance / White Canary

Verdict: Not going anywhere

Let's start with the easy ones. Legends of Tomorrow is an ensemble show, but if you had to pick one person to call the main character, it would be Sara. Bottom-line: she's a fantastic character, and she's crucial to the show. As for an in-universe explanation, she's got no real connections back in the present, and it seems like she's having a hell of a time playing Time Master.

Whether or not she remains captain of the Waverider is a little less clear. I hope she does, but it's gonna depend on what they want to do with Rip Hunter next year. For more on that, see his section below.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

No surprise here. "Aruba" only solidified Sara's role as the true lead of the show, what with the whole climax hinging on her resisting the temptation of the Spear. No change in my previous assessment: Sara is the quintessential Legend and she's not going anywhere.

Mick Rory / Heat Wave

Verdict: Nowhere else to go

As the primary comedic relief, Mick is as indispensable to Legends as Felicity is to Arrow. On top of that, his relationships with his teammates are simultaneously the most entertaining/hilarious and most interesting/emotional on the show. I can't imagine that the writers would want to dump him.

Yes, this means that he would not be joining Captain Cold's Rogues back in the present according to my theory above. At this point, the character of Mick seems firmly set on his path to becoming a hero. His inclusion in the proto-Justice League during "Invasion!" demonstrates that pretty clearly.

Furthermore, he's almost certainly going to be siding with the Legends against his old partner Snart at the end of this season (perhaps after some back-and-forth, though). Once he burns his bridges with Snart (see what I did there?), the Legends will truly be his only friends/family, and he'll have no reason to go back to 2017.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Nothing too unexpected for Mick. Though he did have a very brief fall from grace when he decided to join the Legion, that only set him up to perform his most heroic deeds yet when he single-handedly risked his "perfect" life in the Doomworld to save his friends and restore reality. Unlike past heroic actions, where he pretty much would just go along with whatever group he was in because he had nothing better to do, here he made a decisive and admirable decision all on his own, with no selfish ulterior motive for doing so. Heat Wave is officially a superhero in the Arrowverse, and he is a Legend to stay.

Nate Heywood / Steel

Verdict: Here to stay

I cannot overstate how much I love Nate. He's a member of a rare but wonderful breed in the world of superhero fiction: very smart people who aren't scientists. He's the super-expert on history that Rip kept claiming to be, but never actually was. On top of that, he's just a down-to-earth, likeable guy. Honestly, I give the character of Nate Heywood (in other words, the show's writers and the actor, Nick Zano), a lot of the credit for season 2's dramatic improvement in quality.

As for in-universe explanations, it sure seems like he's having fun being a Legend. Additionally, he doesn't seem to have anyone/anything he's in a hurry to get back to in the present. As Oliver very astutely pointed out to him, Nate's practically been waiting his whole life for a chance to do something like this. I don't see Nate leaving the Legends anytime soon.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Yup, not much to add to what I said before. The Steel costume needs a little work though; that helmet especially looks pretty dorky. Just fix that, and Nate's got all the makings of one of the Arrowverse's best superheroes yet.

Update after episode 3x09 "Beebo the God of War":

It does seem like they've ditched the helmet in season 3. Good choice. Nate looks pretty good in costume without it. Besides, why would he even need a helmet when his head, you know, turns to steel.

Ray Palmer / Atom

Verdict: Probably sticking around

In my mind, Sara, Mick, and Nate are sure things to stay Legends. Ray is just one notch lower--right around 90% confidence. His relationships with the other Legends are fun, but not irreplaceable. Since he's presumed dead, he doesn't have much waiting for him back in the present. However, if he did want to return, he could probably build up a pretty nice life for himself pretty quickly after revealing his survival to the public.

I can't imagine him coming back to be a series regular on Arrow. That boat sailed as soon as they brought in Curtis to be his approximate replacement. That means that if he was to leave Legends of Tomorrow, he would probably cease to be an Arrowverse regular. Still, he would be a great candidate to sign a multi-show contract and start making fun guest appearances on Flash, Arrow, and Legends every once in a while. Unlike the Hawks, the Atom is a beloved Arrowverse character and I don't think the writers would want to ditch him completely.

All that being said, I really think it's most likely that he stays where he is on Legends. I just find it interesting to think about the possibilities for him if he were to leave.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Again, nothing much to add. This is a little off-topic, but Ray had some really stand-out episodes this year, didn't he? "Moonshot" in particular was quite memorable and entertaining. I'm very confident he'll be sticking around for all of next year.

Amaya Jiwe / Vixen

Verdict: Back to 1942 with her

Amaya really doesn't particularly want to be a time-traveling Legend. She wants revenge for Rex Tyler's murder. Just like how Kendra and Carter hit the road after stopping Vandal Savage, Amaya seems like a made-to-order, plotline-satisfying, one-season Legend (that's a lot of hyphens!). Unlike most of the other Legends, who are social outsiders, she has friends and a team back in the 40s where she came from. Sure, she's friendly with the Legends, but mostly just in a polite, coworker-ly kind of way (that is, until she hooked up with Nate out of nowhere!).

On the out-of-universe side of the coin, Amaya is really just not a very exciting character. Don't get me wrong, it's not nearly so bad that it detracts from the show in the way that Kendra did. It just seems like there's no strong reason to keep her around when the story is clearly set up to get rid of her at the end of this year. I'm pretty confident that Amaya's gonna land back in the 40s.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

I guess I made this prediction just a week too early. After watching "Camelot/3000" (great episode, by the way), I knew that Amaya's fate had to change. She had learned too much about the future--specifically about the future of her friends in the JSA. Also, by interacting with the future versions of the JSA members, she had participated in events that were predicated on her having left the timestream and never returned. If she were to go back to 1942 now, she would rewrite half the story of Legends of Tomorrow season 2, which obviously isn't gonna fly.

On the other hand, Amaya has a certain destiny back in the past: she must give birth to Mari McCabe's mother. Don't take anything for granted, though: bear in mind that that can happen without Amaya every actually going back and living in Zambesi. After all, we know very little about the life of Mari's biological mother. Circumstances could quite possibly arise whereby she simply drops off her newborn baby back in her home with the Anansi totem. That wouldn't contradict anything we've seen in Vixen, the animated show. All we can really be confident of is that she's not gonna die before giving birth to a daughter.

All that being said, I'm at a bit of a loss when I try to anticipate the plan is for Amaya. Her name is notably absent from the synopsis they released for season 3, whereas every other Legend on the show is mentioned specifically. Like I said up above, I think that she could be written off the show without any great loss if they want to free up some real estate for new characters. On the other hand, the writers certainly telegraphed an ongoing romance with Nate, but it hasn't really gone far enough that they couldn't just say they broke it off over the summer break. All this is a long-winded way of saying that I really don't know what to expect.

Update after episode 3x09 "Beebo the God of War":

And after 9 episodes of television... I still don't know what to expect! Well, that's not quite true. They're doing some story about her totem acting up (surely related to Mallus) and the fact that her totem is connected to Zari's totem (it still isn't clear to me whether or not it's supposed to be one of the 5 Lost Totems of Zambesi, too). But these storylines are clearly being saved for the latter half of the season, so after setting them up in the first couple episodes, Amaya has just sorta hung around and done nothing of much consequence. Hmm, whatever.

Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson / Firestorm

Verdict: Well, it's been a good run...

They've got to get rid of more people than just Vixen. Process of elimination leaves Firestorm as the most likely candidate. To be clear, I like Jax and Stein as characters, I just think they may have run their course.

Both characters have good reasons to go back to 2017. Stein has his new daughter Lily (who may have been introduced in part to facilitate a Firestorm exit) and wife Clarissa (whom he supposedly loves so much, but doesn't seem to be too broken up about not seeing for months at a time). Jax has his mother, whom he mentions from time to time, and more importantly he has his whole life ahead of him. Seriously, Jax is a bright and vibrant young guy who hasn't ruined his chances for a normal life yet like Sara and Mick have. Sooner or later--probably sooner--he ought to go back to the present and start building a life for himself. Also, he's real horny and doesn't seem to be having much luck on the time-traveling circuit.

Of course, it's all speculation, but Jax and Stein really do seem like the most expendable Legends right now. My hope is that they give them one really strong, Firestorm-centric episode before the end of this season, and then ship them off to the land of Flash guest appearances and off-screen adventures in Pittsburgh (...that's probably confusing if you don't get the reference, huh?).

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

I guess I was wrong. Or I suppose they could still get written off near the start of season 3--no reason character departures can only happen at the ends of seasons, right? Then again, they were named in the season 3 synopsis (whereas Vixen wasn't), which certainly seems to indicate a continuing place in main cast. If Amaya and Rip are both gonna be off the Waverider, there is certainly room for 2 new Legends onboard without getting rid of anyone. It just seems like it would be more dynamic (less formulaic) to occasionally cycle out some old characters, instead of just annually piling on new characters and dumping the ones that don't fully land at the end of the year. This is just nit-picking, though. I have no big complaints. I really do like Jax and Stein.

Update after episode 3x09 "Beebo the God of War":

No, no, me of the past! Have more confidence in your prediction! You were right after all!

Yup,  Martin and Jax are gone: in Martin's case, rather more permanently than I expected. Victor Garber wanted to be done with the show, so instead of giving him some boring open-ended goodbye, the writers chose to go all the way with it. I approve of the decision. In fact, Stein's death and the emotional fallout from it was perhaps my favorite part of the crossover (and L3x09).

As for Jax, we will of course be seeing him again in some capacity or another. As I wrote above, I rather like the idea of Jax having himself a normal, happy life instead of being a full-time superhero, but there's no reason the Legends can't call on him once in a while, as he himself told Sara as he departed. We could even see him crop up on The Flash, in theory, though I wouldn't particularly expect that. In any case, well done to the Legends writers for how they handled this whole business with Martin and Jax leaving.

Rip Hunter

Verdict: Oh, who the hell knows

Let's get one thing out of the way. I really, really don't like Rip Hunter. All through season 1, he was the most whiny, incompetent time captain you could ever imagine. Meanwhile, everyone and their brother kept going on about how he was the most brilliant, legendary Time Master in history. I guess other fans of the show don't all feel so negatively about him, so for the sake of objectivity I'll admit that I have a strong anti-Rip bias (I think it's something about English accents that rubs me the wrong way).

Then again, I must say that they've done much better with Rip this season than last. Of course, I probably think that largely just because he hasn't been around for most of the season (and when he did return, he had an American accent, haha!). Even besides that though, I do feel that Rip is better used as a lone-wolf time-traveling man-of-mystery (that's a lot of hyphens, again!), as opposed to an actual member of the Legends who hangs out on the Waverider. The real question is whether the writers can keep coming up with interesting storylines for him in that vein for another year. I'm not sure if there's really too much there.

The alternative is that Rip returns to Waverider and the Legends. Frankly, I don't know what the hell he could do that would be useful, though. Sara and Mick know how to pilot the ship, Jax knows how to service and fix the ship, Nate knows more about history than Rip, Martin understands time travel on a theoretical level, and Mick knows the intricacies time travel on a practical level (from his Chronos training). Even if Jax and Martin leave the show as I predicted above, Rip is pretty much dead weight from my perspective.

If it was up to me, I'd kill him off. Of course, I don't think that will happen. For whatever reason, the writers seem to have convinced themselves that he is a major and crucial character on the show. As long as he doesn't swoop in and usurp the captain's chair from Sara, I really don't care what they do with him.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

Well, hey! I guess the writers agreed with me on how best to use Rip (you know, besides killing him). The season 3 synopsis says that he will be starting his own time-policing organization called the "Time Bureau" which he presumably intends to be a replacement for the defunct (read: all dead) Time Masters. Honestly, it doesn't sound like the most entertaining idea to me, but the Legends writers have bought themselves some political capital in my book after their successes in season 2. I'm sure they'll make it fun.

Closing Remarks

So there you have it! Now you know how Legends of Tomorrow season 2 would end if it were up to me. Of course, it's not up to me, but I feel pretty confident that at least some of these predictions are sound nonetheless.

Let me know in the comments if you think I've overlooked anything or you have an alternative theory for any of these characters. Also, let me know who you think should join the show next year! Connor Hawke, H.R., and Wild Dog as new Legends!?!?! Hey, one of those is within the realm of possibility (the first)! And who should be next season's big bad(s)? Honestly, I have no ideas, so I'd love to know what you have in mind.

Update after Arrowverse year 5 (Summer 2017):

So, Adrianna Tomaz, eh? Well, they can't call her Isis, that much is for sure. Back when Guggenheim hinted that they were gonna adapt a character who wasn't originally from the comics, I had it pegged as one of those 4 superheroes they created to add diversity on Super-Friends. You know, the ones who were adapted very broadly into the Ultimen on Justice League Unlimited and then as the Runaways on Young Justice. I had certainly never heard of any live-action TV show from the 70s starring Shazam, much less a female spinoff Shazam named Isis.

The details they released about the character didn't really excite me to be honest, but as I've said several times, I trust the Legends writers enough to give them a chance on whatever they want to try. My main concern is that they're gonna go overboard trying to make the character politically relevant. If "Spectre of the Gun" taught us anything it's that the Arrowverse writers lack the finesse to make any kind of political comment without tripping all over themselves. Oh! And also that we shouldn't read into it too much when an episode happens to have the same name as an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. Yeah...there was no connection...

Update after episode 3x09 "Beebo the God of War":

I actually kinda like Zari! They definitely haven't made the character too political, as I was worried. For some reason, in my head, I imagined her coming in and inciting a full-blown mutiny against Sara. Which still may happen, I guess, but I think it's realistic that she would take things easy at first as she is getting the lay of the land, what with time travel and everything.

As for her personality, she certainly isn't as... bombastic as most of her co-stars (did I really just use that word unironically...), but that doesn't really bother me. I like the fact that she's a bit more understated. She feels like a real person (which Sara, for example, no longer does). Though the eponymous episode that introduced her was frankly weak, her character moments since then in "Phone Home" comforting young Ray and in "Helen Hunt" sympathizing with Helen of Troy have done a lot to humanize her as a both compassionate and strong-willed person. Speaking of Zari and Ray, am I the only one that detects a romance inbound? I'd be down--poor Ray deserves some romance after all these years (I refuse to count Kendra).

Hope you enjoyed!
Phillip