Superhero overload

MANILA, Philippines – From the same production house, Warner TV, that gave us The Flash and ARROW, comes its latest mid-season superhero series, Legends of Tomorrow. Premiering on the same day (Jan. 22) as its debut in the US, the new DC family member airs Friday nights at 9 and gives new meaning to the term “extended family.”

With time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter (played by Arthur Darvill) as the central character, the series revolves around his assembled crew of superheroes battling the villainous immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump), whose agenda is to wreak total chaos and utter destruction, exploiting mankind’s weaknesses throughout history. Merging time travel with superpowers, and the peculiar chemistry that evolves by putting superhero misfits and egos in one show, is the promise held out by the new series.

We were treated to a screening of the first of the 16-episode series and it was a curious blend of offbeat humor, fast action, science hijinks and a plotline that fully takes advantage of the time-travel elements. With a cast of characters that we had encountered on a recurring basis on both The Flash and ARROW, expect the familiarity and their now expanded exposure to secure a steady base of fans and followers. Among the superheroes brought together by Hunter to combat savage are The Atom (Brandon Routh, who once played Superman), White Canary (Caity Lotz), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) and Hawkman (Falk Hentschel), and Firestorm — the team-up of Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jax Jackson (Franz Drameh). In a casting coup, we also get the two stars of yesteryear’s hit series Prison Break — Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell — taking on the roles of Captain Cold and Heat Wave, two career criminals who uneasily now fight on the “good side.” The chemistry between the two will hopefully be fully developed in the episodes to come.

The show’s production values and tone are targeted for a broader (read: younger) audience. References to Star Wars pepper the script and the shafts of humor are reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy. The darker elements of DC and Marvel film franchises, the deeper psychological dilemmas we encounter in those films, are relatively absent in the pilot episode, where straightforward action and plotting, in spite of the time-travel considerations, were what drove the episode. Like a comic book or graphic novel come to life, the ensemble nature of the Legends and the promise they hold for further spin-offs should keep the interest factor of the series on a high.

Ultimately though, it is the character of Rip Hunter (Darvill, who once played Doctor Who), his motivation and ability to harness the different superheroes that loom as the key to the series’ success — in much the same manner that Professor X, Magneto and Nick Fury are the more mercurial of characters in their respective universe.