Legends vs. Myths
Main Cast: Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Dominic Purcell
Sara: “All right, Time bros —”
“Hey, World!” (Season 4, Episode 16)
Ava: “And Time ladies.”
Charlie: “And Time monsters”
Mona: “And Gary.”
Sara: “As I was saying: Legends,… our work here is done. Gideon, fire up the ship! It’s time to hit it.”
Legends of Tomorrow is the most consistent Arrowverse show. The mix of superheroes, time travel, and shenanigans created three good seasons. But can Legends keep up the streak with a new cast, fewer episodes, and a menagerie of magical monsters? Let’s find out.
Scene Select
The Good
Arcane Allies
Charlie: “You know, I could have been anyone when I got my powers back. Do you know why I kept coming back to this form?”
“Legends of To-Meow-Meow” (Season 4, Episode 8)
Zari: “Because Amaya is very hot?”
Charlie: “It’s because this was the form I was when I joined the Legends. Now I’ve been a part of many crews. And you guys, well,… you’re not rubbish.”
Zari: “Listen… destroying history for personal gain, it’s happened to almost everyone here. Rite of passage.”
Kid Flash and Vixen left Legends of Tomorrow after season three, making new blood necessary. Two characters are so new that they don’t even have an equivalent in the comics.
John Constantine (Matt Ryan) goes from recurring guest to a full time member of the Legends. He is recruited to help the Legends track down monsters that have been scattered throughout history. Unbeknownst to the team, Constantine is using the Legends to flee from a powerful demon that is targeting him. A large chunk of Legends’ fourth season serves as a continuation of Constantine’s canceled show.
The next addition is Charlie, a shape-shifting punk rocker initially played by Anjli Mohindra. The Legends discover her while hunting down a monster in 1970’s London. As the Legends prepare to send Charlie to Hell, she uses her shape shifting powers to guilt trip them before finally settling on the form of Vixen (Masie Richardson-Seller).
The Legends decide to spare Charlie, but Constantine uses a curse to trap her in Vixen’s form, making it her new default. She’s kept as a prisoner due to her knowledge of the other magical Fugitives, but soon earns a spot on the team.
The final addition is Mona Wu (Ramona Young). She is introduced as a geeky delivery girl who accidentally finds out about the magical creatures. Her compassion and knowledge of mythology leads the Legends to put her in charge of caring for captured monsters. During this time, Mona falls in love with Konane, a werewolf-esque creature called a Kaupe.
Mona becomes a Kaupe named Wolfie after Konane accidentally scratches her. For unknown reasons, Mona has the ability to shift between her human and her Kaupe forms. The Legends allow her to join and escape being captured and killed.
Tempus Fugit-ives
Sara Lance: “You were right. There’s a magical creature at Woodstock. Now let’s go!”
“The Virgin Gary” (Season 4, Episode 1)
John Constantine: “You know, for someone with a time traveling machine, you seem to be in an awful hurry.”
Sara Lance: “John, the unicorn has already gored two hippies!”
The Legends of Tomorrow were forced to blow open a portal to Hell to defeat the demon Mallus in the third season’s finale. This is how the magical Fugitives escaped into history. And now it’s the Legends’ job to put them back.
Don’t think the Fugitives are all the usual suspects like vampires and mummies. The first Fugitive encountered is a murderous unicorn. Later threats include a giant octopus; Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love; and a killer puppet voiced by Pee-wee Herman.
The most dangerous Fugitive is Tabitha, also known as the Fairy Godmother. She implies she is the same one from Cinderella and has become fed up with humans constantly asking for things. Tabitha uses her magic to screw with the Legends and tries to find a host who will let her wreak havoc on humanity. Luckily, her magic can only be used at the command of the person to whom she has bonded.
Magical Music
Charlie: “Hang on, is this a Bollywood musical number?!“
“Seance and Sensibilities” (Season 4, Episode 11)
Zari: “You bet your ass it is.“
We make the occasional joke about superhero musicals here, but Legends of Tomorrow comes close to becoming a musical this season.
The episode Legends of To-Meow-Meow involves part of the team traveling through alternate timelines. Each of these timelines has a unique theme song based on another show. There’s an “A-Team” inspired track for Custodians of the Chronology, a “Charlie’s Angels” sound-alike for Sirens of Space-Time, and a children’s song for DC’s Puppets of Tomorrow.
James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James plays a key role in two episodes. In the first, Hank Heywood (Tom Wilson, aka Biff in Back to the Future) plays the song to lull a minotaur to sleep. It’s brought back in a later episode as part of a focus to cast a spell. Amusingly, the Minotaur also returns and has learned how to play it. Who taught him, Orpheus?
The music comes to a crescendo in “Seance and Sensibility”, when Zari is bewitched by Kamadeva. His magic causes the two of them to start singing and soon turns 1800’s London into a Bollywood musical, complete with costumes.
All this singing would be evidence that the shark has been thoroughly jumped but somehow perfectly fits the Legends of Tomorrow tone. Some viewers will find the singing stupidly jarring, but it winds up working, much like the Legends themselves.
The Bad
Dreary Demon
Neron: “Denizens of Hell, for far too long, we have been forced to live like insects underneath the Earth. Soon, a door will open, Look to the sky and await my signal. With me as your king, we will Make Earth Hell Again.
“Hey, World!” (Season 4, Episode 16)
Neron is season four’s Big Bad, a manipulative demon who is stalking John Constantine. He has several demonic powers, but his two most used are inducing conflict and possession. He first appears disguised as Constantine’s lost love Desmond (Christian Keyes) and possesses other people as the season progresses.
Neron is boring as hell, a generic demon doing generic demonic things. He tempts people with power, exploits secrets and weaknesses, all that jazz. The attempts to give him a smarmy personality just make him annoying when he should be terrifying.
The Verdict
Legends of Tomorrow’s fourth season expertly balances a lot. Science fiction and sorcery, historical figures and mythological monsters, and all while introducing new characters. As with the first three seasons, season four is worth your time.
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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