The CW just announced that all of its superhero shows, “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl,” “Black Lightning” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” have been renewed for more seasons and will return in the fall.
Unlike the other four shows, however, “Legends of Tomorrow” takes a different approach to what it means to be a superhero. The team is an unlikely group consisting of an assassin, a hacker, a criminal, a historian and an inventor. Instead of calling themselves heroes, the characters refer to themselves as “Legends” because although the strategies they use may be dangerous and life-threatening, they still get the job done.
Their unconventional strategies make for exciting and unpredictable narratives, and even more so due to the fact that they travel throughout time to complete their missions. There are many moments that stand out in Season 3, but here are six that are especially worth mentioning, in no particular order.
1. Jax Reunites with Young Stein
After an emotional goodbye to Martin Stein in the four-part Arrowverse crossover, “Crisis on Earth-X,” Jax is left feeling guilty and heartbroken over of the loss of his partner and other half of superhero Firestorm.
When the Legends receive a notification of an anachronism involving a young Martin Stein stranded in the time of Vikings, Jax sees this as his opportunity to warn Stein about his impending death. However, the young Stein had already guessed what happened to his future self, seeing that he was nowhere in sight, and tells Jax that he isn’t afraid of his future.
The reunion not only gives some much-needed closure to Jax but also to longtime fans of the series since Stein has been a regular character on the show since its debut. After saying one last goodbye, Jax decides to leave the team so he can fully cope with his loss.
The two characters’ departures weren’t all too sad since it left the door open for more possibilities in the show’s future, including adding some new characters that fans love from the comics.
2. Return of John Constantine
Following the cancellation of the live-action “Constantine” television show based on the comic book character John Constantine, the CW announced the creation of an animated series for its digital platform, the CW Seed.
To tease fans about the upcoming series, the character made a guest appearance on “Legends of Tomorrow.” The crossover was an exciting moment in the series because it marked the return of a live-action John Constantine after fans hadn’t seen him for nearly three years.
He appeared in the episode titled “Daddy Darkhest,” where he helped Sara and the other Legends perform an exorcism on Damien Darhk’s daughter, Nora. Since the Legends were up against an evil demon named Mallus in possession of Nora Darhk, it only made sense to recruit the demon master himself, John Constantine, to deal with the exorcism.
3. Zari Gets Stuck in a Time Loop
In an episode reminiscent of “Groundhog Day,” Zari somehow ends up living the same day over and over again on the Waverider ship. From arguing with Sara, attempting to repair the ship and then dying in a blast, Zari doesn’t understand why she is the only member of the team experiencing these events repeatedly.
Each time she begins a new day, Zari tries to either change the events leading up to the blast or discover why the blast happened in the first place. This leads to Zari bonding with her teammates and getting to know some of their deepest secrets.
In the end, she decides that the only way to end her time loop is to sacrifice herself to save the other members from dying in the explosion. Zari gives an emotional speech about how she has learned to love the Legends in all the time she has spent in the time loop and how she now considers them her family.
Up until this point, fans were not that familiar with Zari since she had just joined the team, but the episode successfully caused viewers to feel more attached to her and even consider her an official Legend.
4. Elvis Presley Makes a Guest Appearance
One of the reasons why fans love “Legends of Tomorrow” so much is that the show incorporates real people from history into its storylines. Last season, fans saw filmmaker George Lucas from the Star Wars franchise, and for Season 3, the show included a guest appearance from the rock-and-roll legend himself, Elvis Presley.
Set in Memphis, Tennessee, the episode revolved around Elvis recording his first record, which ultimately resulted in chaos once the Legends discovered that the singer is the owner of the death totem, causing his music to raise the dead from the ground.
Similar to the other episodes based on real people, Elvis Presley’s appearance on the show intertwined real facts and events about the singer to turn it into an interesting narrative about time travel. One of those scenes included a discussion about Elvis’s twin brother, Jesse, who died as a stillborn.
As the owner of the death totem, Elvis accidentally caused Jesse’s ghost to appear and attack the Legends. Once he learned to cope with the death of his brother, Jesse was finally able to rest in peace.
The episode served as an interesting rewrite of history that left fans eager to see who else would be making a guest appearance this season. Spoiler Alert: Barack Obama joins in a later episode!
5. Damien Darhk’s Sacrifice
Damien Darhk has been in the Arrowverse for many years, starting with “Arrow” and then crossing over to “Legends of Tomorrow.” As a ruthless killer, Darhk has been the cause of death for several characters in the Arrowverse, including the Black Canary.
In Season 3 of “Legends of Tomorrow,” fans see a side of Darhk that they haven’t seen before: a father. Throughout the season, Darhk tries to create a relationship with his daughter Nora while simultaneously trying to make her connection to the demon Mallus more powerful so they could both rule the world together.
However, Darhk soon realizes that in order to have power, he would have to sacrifice Nora. He agrees to do so at first but then has a change of heart and puts himself in danger instead to save his daughter. The show has portrayed Darhk as a cold-blooded killer for years, so his selfless act was the first time fans saw him take action for someone other than himself.
6. Beebo vs. Mallus
The entire season led up to the moment when the Legends would battle the “big bad,” Mallus. When the Legends failed to defeat him using their totems, Amaya and Nate took a vision quest to see how Amaya’s ancestors used the totems to effectively take down Mallus the first time around.
They discover that instead of using the totems individually, the original totem bearers worked together to effectively take Mallus down. The Legends then confront the demon once again, but this time, they combine their totems together to create an energy so pure that it creates the ultimate warrior.
Because the result is a conglomerate of the Legends’ definition of what’s “pure,” they accidentally create a giant, furry, Beebo. In what the biggest plot twist of the season might possibly be, fans would have never guessed that an evil demon’s biggest foe would be a huge, fluffy, blue stuffed animal whose fatal attack would be using the power of cuddles.
Season 3 of “Legends of Tomorrow” definitely had a lot of memorable moments, from action-packed scenes, to shocking revelations, to emotional goodbyes. Thankfully, fans can expect more exciting moments on the show when it returns for its fourth season in the fall.
