‘Legends Of Tomorrow’ Trailer: Midseason Premiere Promises Old Friend, Legion Of Doom [Video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt–ze3CuGU

Legends of Tomorrow ended 2016 on a major cliffhanger: Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) is living in 1967 as a film director without a British accent. Hunter has been missing since the Season 2 premiere, but the Legends have been sidetracked this season by Nate Heywood, the historian-turned-Man-of-Steel, and by the death of Justice Society of America superhero Rex Tyler in 1942 at the hands of Flash villain Eobard Thawne. All the disparate pieces finally come together in the trailer for the midseason premiere in January.

The primary takeaway is that Thawne, Malcolm Merlyn, and Damien Darhk have teamed up to form the “Legion of Doom,” a name coined by the Legends boys (that Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance hates), and that the Legion is responsible for Rip Hunter’s current predicament. The villainous team-up is a suitably large threat for the Legends, whose members this year include Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Amaya (also known as Vixen), a member of the Justice Society who joins the Legends to track down Justice Society member Rex Tyler’s killer.

The new Legends of Tomorrow trailer has a number of surprises going by in a flash. Among the usual quick glimpses of superpowers in use, it appears the show will also be traveling back to the American Revolution. There’s a glimpse of Nick Zano as Heywood in what looks to be colonial garb, as well as a shot of the British army (easily recognizable by the red coats) lined up and ready to march. A quick shot of Amaya in bed with Heywood also suggests that their romantic entanglement will continue.

The trailer raises some questions about Rip Hunter’s circumstances. Is his role as a film director merely a cover the Legion created in order to hold him hostage, or have the Legion created a brand-new timeline out of a tiny aberration? A quick glimpse of Rip screaming to be released certainly suggests captivity, but the latter is sure to bring the Legends down on them hard, given the revelations of Flashpoint during the multi-show crossover.

The trailer concludes with a shot of Eobard Thawne asking, “Who do we kill first?” A showdown between the Legends and the Legion should definitely be thrilling. Despite being outnumbered, Thawne is a speedster equal to Barry Allen, while Damien Darhk is basically immortal and has mystical powers to boot.

Legends of Tomorrow will have plenty of time to build the hype for that fight, as last month TVLine reported that the show had received an additional four episodes on top of some excellent ratings retention.

The Legends will also be chasing down timeline aberrations on a new night. Legends will be moving to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern, following sister show The Flash.

The move has less to do with ratings and more to do with an embarrassment of riches at The CW, per TV Guide. The network needed to make room for its new Archie Comics-based television series Riverdale. Given Legends of Tomorrow’s success in the Thursday timeslot, it seems fitting for the network to plant a new show there to give it a chance to survive. Legends, after all, inherited the Thursday timeslot from smash hit The Vampire Diaries (per TVLine).

The midseason premiere is titled “Raiders of the Lost Art,” a nod to the first Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Whether “art” refers to a name (like Rip Hunter’s undercover name) or a piece of lost artwork (perhaps Rip’s illustrious career as a filmmaker) remains to be seen.

Legends of Tomorrow returns January 24.

[Featured Image by Al Powers/Invision/AP]