By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The Arrowverse was the most successful superhero cinematic universe since the DCAU, but it was plagued by a major problem: from the very beginning, these shows were way too grim and gritty. Who the heck wants a show where Green Arrow starts as a stone-cold killer or one where an evil version of the Flash is constantly trying to murder our speedy hero’s main squeeze? Fortunately, the antidote to all this edginess is Legends of Tomorrow (2016), and you can now stream this raunchy, raucous TV show on Netflix.
The plot of Legends of Tomorrow is that a man has stolen a timeship and is frantically trying to stop the supervillain who will doom the Earth in the future. To this end, he recruits a very motley crew of heroes and villains, but their fiery personalities make it hard for them to work and play well with others. That’s too bad, though, because unless these characters can start working together today, everyone and everything they know won’t have a tomorrow.
The cast of Legends of Tomorrow changes a bit over time, but one constant feature is Caity Lotz, a fiery performer best known outside the Arrowverse for The Machine. The show also includes Brandon Routh, who is ironically best known for playing the title character in another DC project: Superman Returns. The man who brings the whole sick crew together is Arthur Darvill, best known outside this show for playing one of the more memorable companions in Doctor Who.
While the heroes are cool, it’s the villains who really shine in Legends of Tomorrow, including Dominic Purcell (best known for Blade: Trinity) as a bald bruiser with hidden depths. His onscreen partner in crime is Wentworth Miller (best known for Prison Break), whose expert thief character is particularly good at stealing every scene. Later, the show adds Matt Ryan, reprising his smirking antihero Constantine character from the TV show of the same name.
While traveling through time and space, Legends of Tomorrow managed to impress the critics of today. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has an average Tomatometer rating of 89 percent, putting it among the Arrowverse’s critical favorites.
Flagship show Arrow only has an 86 percent rating, whereas The Flash has an 85 percent. And Legends of Tomorrow just barely leaps over Supergirl in a single bound, as DC’s premiere girl power show has a rating of 88 percent.
Sadly, Legends of Tomorrow took home no real major accolades, but it was nominated for some very prestigious awards. For example, it received Saturn Award nominations for the Best Superhero Adaptation Series award (twice) and Best Superhero Television Series award. It also received a Critics’ Choice Super Award nomination for Best Superhero Series and Teen Choice Award nominations for crowd-pleasing performers Caity Lotz and Brandon Routh.
As for me, what I love most about Legends of Tomorrow is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Instead it leans into the zaniness that makes comic books so fun in the first place.
For a perfect example, look at the season three finale, “The Good, the Bad and the Cuddly.” As DC’s own farewell to the series recalls, the Waverider crew ends up in the Old West, combines into the giant stuffed animal Beebo, and defeats a demon with a hug. That sounds like a parody of a superhero finale, but the show commits to it. The team’s ability to come together still saves the day; the ridiculous blue mascot simply makes that familiar idea a lot more fun.
This is a show where our heroes have to save a college-age Barack Obama from a bad CGI gorilla man, and that’s not even the craziest thing that happens in that season! If you’re ready to put down the grim, serious superhero media and just vibe out to some colorful and creative shenanigans, this is most definitely the show you’ve been looking for.
Will you agree that Legends of Tomorrow is the best show in the Arrowverse, or is this one-time-traveling TV show you’d rather leave in the past? You won’t know until you stream this silly, stylish, and sexy superhero show for yourself. After binge-watching this cozy classic, you’ll be left asking other DC shows and movies the same question Joker kept posing to Batman: “Why so serious?”
LEGENDS OF TOMORROW REVIEW SCORE
