“Legends of Tomorrow” Trailer Drops at The CW Upfronts and It’s Going to Be EPIC

Nora Dominick ‘17/ Emertainment Monthly Assistant Stage Editor

At CW’s upfronts on May 14, 2015, the network unleashed a trailer for Legends of Tomorrow, a new Arrow/The Flash spin-off series. The CW Network has been transformed into a network fully dominated by DC superhero television. With Arrow and The Flash becoming the floor-plan for successful superhero television, it was only a matter of time before The CW duplicated the formula for a third time.

Legends of Tomorrow is produced and created by the go-to DC TV producers, Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti. Next year alone, the duo will have a hand in Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and now Legends of Tomorrow. The show will feature new characters and fan favorites from both the Arrow and The Flash universe and just from the trailer alone, The Arrow (Stephen Amell) and The Flash (Grant Gustin) will be crossing over into this new world as well.

The trailer begins with Oliver Queen talking about how he started this crusade on his own. He didn’t think he needed anyone else. Then Barry Allen decided to shake Oliver’s world to it’s core and bring in superpowers to the ever growing fight against evil. Now, there is a looming villain that is too strong for Oliver and Barry to take on alone. And in the words of Barry Allen, “Sometimes the world needs a team.” And with that the Legends of Tomorrow crew assembles.

The trailer gives details on each and every member of this new, epic superhero team. A fan-favorite and beloved character on Arrow is making her triumphant return in Legends of Tomorrow. Since rumors of the show first dropped, fans anxiously awaited how Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) would be revived for this new series. The trailer reveals that Sara Lance will be revived using the Lazarus Pit in Nanda Parbat, a useful discovery thanks to Thea Queen (Willa Holland) on Arrow, who was revived by it this season. Sara will come back to life but not as The Canary. She will take on the name The White Canary. With the Lazarus Pit said to have major side effects, it’s no wonder the Sara Lance seen in Legends of Tomorrow will be vastly different from the one fans knew on Arrow.

There are numerous other fan-favorites making the move to Legends of Tomorrow. One of whom is Ray Palmer/ The A.T.O.M (Brandon Routh). Ray was last seen on the Arrow season finale trying to figure out the shrinking mechanism on his exosuit before he was blown to bits. Legends of Tomorrow shows how everyone’s favorite tech nerd is revived. Everyones favorite villains from The Flash, Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) will also assemble as part of the team and will no doubt stir up some trouble within the newly formed group. Lastly, Professor Stein/ FIRESTORM (Victor Garber) will also make the leap from The Flash and if the trailer is any indication, he seems to be the brains of the entire operation considering he provides the voiceover.

Then there are the newcomers to this DC Television universe. One of the newcomers to Legends of Tomorrow is Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée), a girl with wings and a past lives complex. Renée is most notable for her work on Broadway in the recent revival of Pippin and Big Fish. Renée will be making her television debut with the role of Hawkgirl. This character has never been portrayed on television and it will be interesting to see how Renée creates this iconic character for the screen. Also a newcomer to this universe is Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), a member of the Time Master, a group slated to protect time itself. Hunter is sent from the future to assemble this group of ragtag heroes and villains. Darvill is mostly known for his work as Rory Williams on Doctor Who. He will make his glorious return to the screen with a character that is also new to the DC TV universe. Hawkgirl and Rip Hunter are two incredible characters and fans cannot wait to see how Renée and Darvill portray them.

The trailer also introduces the first villain for the team. Oliver Queen tells the team, “His name is Vandal Savage. He’s been alive thousands of years. He’s immortal and commands the most powerful army the world has ever seen.” The team will be traveling threw time in order to stop Savage’s reign of terror. With a villain already in place for the Legends of Tomorrow, fans are anxiously awaiting his portrayal and the epic, movie-style fight sequences Berlanti and Kreisberg are known for. With villains on the Legends of Tomorrow team, it’s hard to see how this will go smoothly, however Rip Hunter sums it up best when he says, “In the future none of you are heroes… You’re legends.” We get chills just hearing that.

Legends of Tomorrow is currently slated for a mid-season premiere at The CW. No official date has been released but suffice it to say 2016 is going to be a year filled with superheroes on The CW. Until then, fans are likely to catch a glimpse at this new team on The Flash’s season one finale Tuesday at 8/9c on the CW. Until 2016, fans can continue to play this trailer over and over again and hope that Legends of Tomorrow soars to new and incredible heights.

Legends of Tomorrow will premiere in 2016 on The CW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MubNoWQiSc