Rip Hunter first appeared in 1959, and had an eponymous title from 1961 to 1965. Copyright DC Entertainment Inc.
Ciara Renée (left) and Falk Hentschel star as Hawkgirl and Hawkman in Legends of Tomorrow. Katie Yu/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
In addition to being a superhero and martial artist, Black Canary is now a rock singer as well. Copyright DC Entertainment Inc.
By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
If you watch Arrow and Flash on The CW, then you know most of the characters populating the new show Legends of Tomorrow already. If you’re a DC Comics reader, you probably know all of them.
Legends of Tomorrow, airing on Thursday nights beginning Jan. 21, features a man who travels from the year 2166 to the present. His purpose is to recruit a group of heroes and rogues who previously appeared on Flash and Arrow to battle a villain who also appeared on both of those shows: Vandal Savage.
And a motley crew it is! Here is who they are, and where they came from:
THE ATOM (Ray Palmer)
In the Comics: First appearing in 1961, Palmer was a physics professor and researcher at Ivy University (read: M.I.T.) who discovered how to shrink from his six-foot height to the subatomic level, and change his weight from 180 pounds down to zero. He fought crime as The Atom for decades, but in his current incarnation he is more of a scientific consultant.
On TV: Palmer (Brandon Routh) was a scientific genius and the CEO of Palmer Industries on Arrow, who built an Iron Man-like exoskeleton to fight crime in Star City. In a bizarre accident, he also learned how to shrink – to what extent, and how well he can control it, we don’t yet know. He has turned Palmer Industries over to Green Arrow’s girlfriend, Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and is determined to become a hero.
CAPTAIN COLD (Leonard Snart) and HEAT WAVE (Mick Rory)
Comics: Debuting in 1957 and 1963, respectively, Snart and Rory built hand-held super-weapons that freeze and burn, respectively. The temperature twins are longtime members of Flash’s “Rogues Gallery,” a group of villains who nevertheless have an odd code of honor. In a recent DC Comics storyline, Snart was pardoned of all crimes by the U.S. president after helping during a crisis, and joined the Justice League. Yes, you read that right.
TV: Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Rory (Dominic Purcell) stole their weapons from S.T.A.R. Labs on Flash, and were dubbed Captain Cold and Heat Wave by uber-nerd Cisco Ramone (Carlos Valdes). Snart knows Flash’s secret identity but has not revealed it, and has occasionally aided the Scarlet Speedster when it has suited his purpose.
FIRESTORM (Martin Stein and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson)
Comics: In a 1978 story, Nobel-winning physicist Martin Stein and high school student Ronnie Raymond were caught in a nuclear accident that fused them into a single being: Firestorm, the Nuclear Man. Able to fly, transmute matter and generate heat, the Firestorm body was controlled by Raymond, while Stein was reduced to a voice in the Firestorm’s head, giving advice and counsel. The Firestorm “matrix” has gone through a variety of occupants over the years, and currently Firestorm is made up of Raymond and fellow high school student Jason Rusch.
TV: Physicist Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Ron Raymond (Robbie Arnell) were fused into one being during the particle-accelerator accident that gave Flash his super-speed. The TV Firestorm generates a fiery plasma and flies by projecting it from his hands. Raymond has subsequently died, and his place in the Firestorm matrix has been filled by garage mechanic Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh).
HAWKMAN (Carter Hall) and HAWKGIRL (Kendra Saunders)
Comics: Introduced in 1940, Carter Hall was an idle playboy who had an interest in archaeology. Contact with a “glass knife” from ancient Egypt revived memories from a previous life as Prince Khufu of Egypt’s golden age. His girlfriend Shiera Sanders, introduced at the same time, was Khufu’s inamorata Shiera (later Chay-Ara), both killed by jealous priest Hath-Set. Hall discovered a mysterious “ninth metal” (later Nth metal) that allowed him to fly, and created wings to control that flight. Shiera donned wings in 1941, and the duo fought crime – and a reincarnation of Hath-Set -- as Hawkman and Hawkgirl. There have been numerous iterations of the characters since (some from another planet), with the latest Hawkgirl being Kendra Saunders. But all are reincarnations of the originals, Khufu and Chay-Ara.
TV: As in the comics, Carter Hall (Falk Hentschel) and Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renée) appeared in Flash as the latest reincarnations of Khufu and Chay-Ara, although their wings are organic and spring from their backs as needed. (That’s a pretty good decision by the showrunners, as characters standing and sitting with six-foot wings would look pretty awkward.) In this version, though, the villain they face through their multiple lives isn’t a repeating reincarnation of Hath-Set, but the immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump). According to Hall, Savage has killed the pair in their every one of their 206 incarnations until the present one, when Flash and Green Arrow helped the Hawks defeat the immortal villain (at least temporarily).
Vandal Savage on TV isn’t terribly different from the one in the comics; both gained immortality from a meteor and are not very nice men.
WHITE CANARY (Sara Lance)
Comics: Black Canary’s first appearance was in 1947, a hero named Dinah Drake pretending to be a criminal in order to infiltrate gangs. Eventually her heroic nature was revealed, and she joined the Justice Society. Since 1983, the character appearing as Black Canary has been the daughter of the original, and has been an important part of the Justice League and Birds of Prey. Black Canary II has a sonic-scream power called “the Canary cry” and is one of the most accomplished martial artists in the DC Universe. In current “Black Canary” comics, she is the lead singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band, where she doesn’t need a Canary cry to damage ears.
TV: Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) was lost at sea on Arrow, whereupon she was found and trained by the League of Assassins to be a formidable martial artist known as Black Canary, who buttressed her butt-kicking with a mechanical sonic device called the Canary Cry. Eventually killed, she was resurrected in the mystical “Lazarus Pit” in Nanda Parbat, and has become White Canary to make up for her previous sins. (Her sister Laurel, played by Katie Cassidy, continues as Black Canary in Star City.)
RIP HUNTER
Comics: First appearing in 1959, Rip Hunter was an inventor who created a time machine, in which he had numerous implausible adventures with his best friend Jeff Smith, his girlfriend Bonnie Baxter and her kid brother Corky. (It was a simpler time.) Over the years Hunter’s origin and modus operandi have changed a number of times, a big one featuring him as one of the “Linear Men” who prevent time travelers from damaging the timestream. In his current iteration, he is the son of superhero Booster Gold, who travels to the present to make sure his doofus kid does what history says he does, in order for the timestream to flow properly.
TV: What little we know of this new-to-TV character is that Hunter (Arthur Darvill) is a Time Master who recruits the above super-characters to stop Vandal Savage from irreparably damaging the timestream, while preventing his own actions from damaging it as well.
Whew! That’s a lot of characters! And, amazingly, there will be even more. The producers say Legends will poke all around the DC Universe, including the Wild West.
So, yes, we’ll meet characters like Jonah Hex. Which is an article for – literally – another time!
Reach Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), the Internet (comicsroundtable.com), Facebook (Captain Comics Round Table) or Twitter (@CaptainComics).
Replies
Fun note: Arthur Darvill formerly played Rory Williams, companion to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who, another show about time travel.
Good to know!
A few months ago I was reading through the more recent Booster Gold series, in which Rip Hunter played a major role. I looked for that Ruip Hunter Showcase edition pictured above, but I didn't look too hard. I know virtually nothing about the character's Silver Age incarnation. Now that he's featured in a new television show I have another reason to be interested. Anyone know where I can score a copy?
Westfield Comics has it
http://westfieldcomics.com/store.cgi?cid=1&SearchString=%22rip%...
Amazon has a single copy at a reasonable price
Thanks, Richard! I have two main brick & mortar sources, and two main online sources. Almost never can I not find something at one of the four. Last week I asked my LCS owner if he could get a copy for me. If he doesn't have one by Wednesday, I'll order it from Westfield or Amazon. (Will the TV show make it more desirable and thus harder to find? I doubt it.) Thanks, again!
The feature's first two Showcase try-outs (out of four) were included in Showcase Presents: Showcase.
I understand that all four Showcase issues are included in the first Rip Hunter volume, along with the first fifteen issues of his title. I don't think they printed a second volume.
The cover of Rip Hunter ... Time Master #21 is unmissable.
Here's a look at the cover Luke points out.
Oh, those pesky girls and their bickering! So vain! So shallow! It's a good thing men were there in the Silver Age to play hoaxes on them to teach them a lesson!
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