The Legends: Comics Vs Show

[scarynikki12]

This is the place for talking about the comic inspiration of our cast of characters. No show spoilers allowed BUT comics themselves will be discussed freely.

Enjoy!

[FurryFury]

So, guys! Tell me about Vandal Savage. I'm intrigued.

[The Crazed Spruce]

In the comics, Vandal Savage was a caveman who fell asleep next to a strange glowing meteor, and woke up immortal and highly intelligent.  Over the centuries, he'd conquered large portions of the known world under various names (Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, etc), but eventually decided that he was sick of having a target on his back, so he started working behind the scenes as an advisor to would-be conquerors (for instance, he was a general in Napoleon's army, and one of the leaders of the Nazi regime during World War 2).  Around the same time superheroes started showing up, he decided to try his hand at conquering on his own again, which is about where we walk in. :)

[FurryFury]

Such a history of failures! Would be pretty fun to learn our time traveling heroes were to blame!

Does he have actual superpowers (besides this) and well-known connections to some of the superheroes?

Edited May 14, 2015 by FurryFury

[Sakura12]

That explains the we have to travel through time from the trailer. That sounds kind of awesome if it is what they get to do. Travel all through various times in history trying to stop one guy from changing the future. 

[The Crazed Spruce]

Such a history of failures! Would be pretty fun to learn our time traveling heroes were to blame!

Does he have actual superpowers (besides this) and well-known connections to some of the superheroes?

Well, he's immortal, heals from pretty much any injury, and is as strong as a neanderthal.  He's also a brilliant strategist.

 

He's fought pretty much every DC hero at one point or another, but was mainly used as a foe for the Justice Society or the Justice League as a whole.

[nksarmi]

The cartoon movie Justice League: Doom features him as the primary villain who forms the Legion of Doom.  He was also featured in the Justice League cartoon.  He's a pretty huge villain so casting will matter a lot.  I hope they do a much better job than they did with Ra's.

[FurryFury]

Well, other than Ra's, their casting for villains was mostly good (Manu Bennet and Tom Cavanaugh especially), so let's hope for the best.

[Sakura12]

I've been reading up on Vandal Savage, he apparently has a lesbian daughter named Scandal. I wonder if we'll meet her. And Roy Harper is a descendant of Savage. 

[nksarmi]

Interesting bit about Harper.

 

So I mentioned it over in speculation, but while it's not really comics, there was a JL cartoon three-part story where Vandall Savage messes with time and the JL has to go back to WW2 and prevent the Nazi's from winning with advanced tech they shouldn't have.  I suspect the spin-off will feature stories like that - the team travelling throughout time to "fix" what Vandall is trying to "break."

[FurryFury]

Haha, it reminds me of Final Fantasy XIII-2, where the main characters did exactly this (although it was a bit more complicated). Hope it won't end the same way, though.

Edited May 15, 2015 by FurryFury

[Kromm]

I've been reading up on Vandal Savage, he apparently has a lesbian daughter named Scandal. I wonder if we'll meet her. And Roy Harper is a descendant of Savage. 

Scandal Savage was linked to The Secret Six, which in terms of DC filmed media spinoffs has kind of been folded into/eliminated in favor of The Suicide Squad in terms of positioning (even though the villain characters used is different, as were their motivations).  Then again, it might make perfect sense to have her around this show, either solo OR as part of a Secret Six team, because there's clearly a partition between the main DCTU and the current DCMU, and if the Suicide Squad is being used in one, they may want to explore using a similar set of characters in the other to avoid duplication.

 

She's generally more of an antihero than a villain and only in a bad reinvention would be played as on her father's side.  She'd be more like how they've played Nyssa--not a goodie by any means, but not really with the same agenda as the evil immortal Daddy.  Given that Vandal already has a bit too much in common with Ra's, they may totally stay away from bringing forth a daughter Vandal has conflict with though, just to avoid comparisons.

[FurryFury]

Another big bad with a lesbian daughter would sure seem strange, especially if their personalities are similar. That said, I don't think it's a deal-breaker even if they do it. Sara would have to lampshade it, of course.

[Kromm]

Another big bad with a lesbian daughter would sure seem strange, especially if their personalities are similar. That said, I don't think it's a deal-breaker even if they do it. Sara would have to lampshade it, of course.

Sara: "Geez!  Does every immortal super-baddie have one like you at home?"

[MarkHB]

Is White Canary a comic book character predating the Arrow series? Or are they just inventing heroes now to cover their casting screw-ups?

White Canary in the comics. Obviously, they're just reusing the name. I'll have to say that she didn't debut until after I had stopped buying the books regularly, so I don't really know her.

[Agent Dark]

She's a minor villain that was created for Black Canary and The Birds in the Gail Simone Birds of Prey era.  AFAIK she didn't appear anywhere else, and was probably ret-conned out during the "New52" reboot (or at least hasn't been written into The New52 continuity).  I'd say that very little to none of the comic character would be present in Sara Lance, more that they're just using the name.  More of a "Gandalf the Grey is dead; Gandalf the White rises" kinda thing.

 

Scandal Savage is also another character that was created by Gail Simone for her "Secret Six" comic (which was an awesome series, highly recommend checking it out).  Again, I don't think Scandal really appeared in anything else, certainly not in any major way anyway, and was basically ret-conned out of the New52 continuity.  I don't think she'll show up in Legends of Tomorrow, but if she did it would be pretty awesome.  Especially if Knockout (her girlfriend, and a former Female Fury which are Darksied's elite bodyguard/team) showed up too.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Agent Dark

[KirkB]

I get with his name being Vandal him not being the best judge and all, but who names their kid Scandal? 

[Sakura12]

Celebrities? 

 

They've named their children Moxie Crimefighter and Pilot Inspektor. Maybe Vandal reads a lot of tabloids. 

Edited May 18, 2015 by Sakura12

[Kromm]

Gail Simone is somewhat reachable by twitter.  I suppose if you felt it was a burning question you could try and ask her why she picked that name (other than the rhyming, the obvious explanation).

 

One suspects it might even be a nickname/codename only.  Although the various resources on the net seem to think it is actually her name, she's a relic from pre-52-reboot DC and was probably allowed to be a little more openly campy (whereas the 52 stuff is arguably shittier, but often have dull "grounding" aspects behind them).

[Proteus]

I was surprised to read that Heatwave becomes a good guy in the comics eventually. If the show writes Captain Cold and Heatwave as actual characters and not just a guy obsessed with freezing things and a guy obsessed with burning things, maybe they wouldn't be so hard to watch.

[Starfish35]

According to Matt Mitovich @ TVLine:

Ciara Renee said that the origin of her winged hero, Kendra Saunders, will be “melding some [Hawkgirl origin stories] together”.

For those more familiar with Hawkgirl in the comics, any idea what that might mean?

[Sakura12]

According to Matt Mitovich @ TVLine:

For those more familiar with Hawkgirl in the comics, any idea what that might mean?

 

I think it means they are melding together most of Hawkgirl's origin.

 

Hawkgirl is an Egyptian princess that has been reborn multiple times throughout the centuries along with her lover Hawkman. The Kendra version has two stories, one she commits suicide and her ancestor Shiera Hall (the Golden Age Hawkgirl) took over her making her the new Hawkgirl. The New 52 Kendra Munoz-Saunders is a professional treasure hunter, and was hired by the World Army before an unrevealed event occurred in Egypt that resulted in the grafting of wings to her back,.

[MarkHB]

Just for a rough attempt at completeness, the Silver Age Hawkgirl was a policewoman from the planet Thanagar, named Shayera Hol, who came to Earth with her husband and police partner Hawkman (Katar Hol) in pursuit of an intergalactic criminal and stayed; the hawk gear, including the wings, was the Thanagarian police uniform.  Later, IIRC, they decided that Thanagar was (or became) a fascist police state which is sort of the situation that the Hawkgirl in the Justice League cartoon came from (although her wings were organic).

[tessaray]

I've tried a couple of times with other shows to try and catch up with the comics but with so many decades and versions of every character, it just got too confusing and I ended up just going with what was onscreen.  I figure if something is important comics-wise, eventually it will get mentioned in a forum or on io9.

 

But thanks to Arthur Darvill, I kind of want to dip into Rip Hunter's story before the show airs.  Without spending a fortune, that is.  Are there any title recommendations that would just give me a feel for the character?  Or any that are just fun time travel reads? 

[Delphi]

I don't read much outside of the bar family comics, but I liked Time Masters: Vanishing Point. It's a limited series centering around the Justice league trying to find Bruce Wayne while he's lost in time. I'm not sure if there is a collected edition or not though.

[tessaray]

That looks kind of fun. When I Googled it, a page came up with Rip Hunter telling Superman not to do anything to change the past.  I know we'll never get anything like that but I wonder which one of the team is going to mess up first and change something they'll have to fix. :-) 

[BkWurm1]

Ray trying to save Anna

 

My second choice would be Heat Wave trying to steal the Crown Jewels (or the like) 

 

If Ray, then he has to let Anna die.  If Heat Wave, oops, he dies.  Hey, Rip said not everyone survived.  ;)

[The Crazed Spruce]

Here's a quick rundown of Hawkgirl's origin in the comics.

[tessaray]

I finally got around to finishing Time Masters - Vanishing Point.  I rarely read comics but really enjoyed it, even though I didn't really know who half the characters were. (I did know the big ones, Superman, Green Lantern, etc.)  

 

The most intriguing thing was the last page and a chalk board with lots of things Rip says he didn't write.  Most of them, I had no clue about but the very last one said "CAPTAIN COLD = HERO?" so that was fun.  

[BkWurm1]

Came across something that mentioned that in the comics Ray Palmer and Hawkman are BFF's.  Could make for an interesting dynamic. 

[Delphi]

I'm not so sure the concept of Rip Hunter predates Doctor Who, honestly. I think when Rip first showed up he was just traveling in a time sphere with his girlfriend and some mates. I don't think the whole master and lonely traveler of time started until around Crisis on Infinite Earths.

[tarotx]

I have never read the comics but Rip Hunter Time master series was first published in 1961. And the showcase stories 1959ish seem like early Doctor who a bit of history and sci fi science.

[tarotx]

What happens in the comics when a character is killed at the Vanishing point?

People (in article&review comments as well as in some facebook groups I follow) keep saying, Snart dying out of time means he will be returned to 2016. Does that mean to the point of 2016 before Legends first episode leaving a Snart without the months of learning and being shaped by the events of the show? So we will have a Snart return to being a mostly Villain? Otherwise, he would just rehook up with the team?

So Snart will be a version of what happened to Doctor Who's Donna Noble?

Edited May 15, 2016 by tarotx

[CabotCove]

Milking that brand

 

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW #6

FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MAN

Written by GERRY CONWAY

Art by EDUARDO PANSICA and ROB HUNTER

Firestorm and Multiplex must go head to head to seize the future of our world as the Quantum Field generator is still unpredictable and begins causing mutated machinery and insects to overrun our reality!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/legends-of-tomorrow-6-dc-comics-2016

 

Firestorm looks to be one of the  main characters. Atom, Hawkman, Vixen also appear.

Edited August 17, 2016 by WildcardC

[MarkHB]

I'm not sure what the deal is with the updated Sugar & Spike; the originals were babies in a Sheldon Mayer comedy strip (the conceit being that baby talk was real communication, but only babies could understand it). 

I am pretty sure that Metamorpho and the Metal Men fall firmly into the category of "Heroes the CW will never have the budget to present properly" :)