Last week, in the mid season premiere of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the bold gunslinger from the future, Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), had become a hack movie director in 1960s Los Angeles until he was abducted by the Legion of Doom. This week, in the aptly titled episode “The Legion of Doom,” the Legion’s pursuit of the Spear of Destiny makes the villains briefly turn on each other before uniting to completely bring Rip over to their side.
“The Legion of Doom” predominantly focused on the titular bad guy squad made up of the Reverse-Flash (Matt Letscher), Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), and Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), the Dark Archer who once held the highest title of Ra’s al Ghul. The Arrow villains’ suspicions briefly drive them to challenge Eobard Thawne, but the resolved conflict ultimately strengthens the Legion of Doom’s bonds. Thawne’s certainly glad to have their help when he’s chased by a Time Wraith, a ghoulish “guardian” of the Speed Force. Darhk and Malcolm have the bright idea of doing the last thing speedsters would think of: standing still.
Their reward for working together? A techno-babble doo-hickey that contains all of Rip Hunter’s missing memories. How Rip lost them in the first place is … not clear, yet, but the Legion give them back to him in a violent, nasty way. If the Waverider crew was shocked to discover Rip living as “Phil,” a whiny student at USC, they’ll be even more surprised to see him now. He’s a badass again, but unfortunately, he’s EVIL. Rip is so evil, in fact, that he closes out the episode by shooting George Washington point-blank.
If there’s any good left in Rip, we’ll find out later this season, as Legends of Tomorrow continues to air Tuesdays on the CW.
