Legends of Tomorrow does a great job of showcasing the various heroes in their universe, but the villains don’t necessarily get the same treatment, until now that is. “Legion of Doom†gives us one of the better villain origin stories across the DC CW shows.
Up until this point, Eobard Thawne has been the defacto leader of the rag-tag group of villains, but Malcolm Merlyn concocts a plan to even the playing field, and it works spectacularly. Throughout the episode, Merlyn and Darhk bicker back and forth about the true motivations of Thawne. As you might expect, and in a typical heist drama with multiple up-and-comers, they both think that one another is trying to vye to edge the other one out. One of the best scenes has the two fighting each with what look like scimitars as the shell of Rip Hunter sits in bewilderment.
It’s clear that Thawne implanted the thought in both of their minds that he himself is crucial to the plan, and it is Rip that points this out to the two blustering fools. They finally question why someone with the power to travel to different timelines and dimensions needs the help of two more ordinary individuals, comparatively speaking. I love that they tie in various storylines from The Flash, the fact that while speedsters do have the ability to alter various timelines, there are consequences of doing so. Barry was impacted by this when he was being chased by time wraiths, but Eobard is running away from something much, much worse: Black Flash.
Although Black Flash wasn’t in the episode that much, the way they were able to come together and save Eobard Thawne, for the time being anyway, was fantastic. Merlyn shot his arrow, Darhk swung down a sword and Black Flash stopped them all, but then Eobard came in with a speed punch. Seeing them work together was strangely exciting; although, it follows through on the fact that DC has some of the best villains. It is definitely nice to see the trio have even footing, and it will be interesting seeing how they manage fighting on two fronts: Black Flash on one, and the Legends on the other.
Black Flash appears to be one of the most terrifying villains in the Legends/Flash universe. It’s like ratcheting the time wraiths up to a hundred and making them even more menacing. It would make sense for Black Flash to transition to The Flash proper, but we will just have to wait and see how the Legends crew eventually handles the situation.
While the Legion of Doom was the main draw, we continue receiving some Martin Stein shenanigans. Stein went from loathing the fact that he had a daughter of which he never actually knew, to absolutely loving her and becoming the father that he always wanted to become. Only one problem, she is indeed still an aberration.
They implore Lily’s help to figure out how to activate the artifact to find the Spear of Destiny,  but that means she does eventually board the ship. I don’t really understand how her just boarding the ship doesn’t cause another aberration, but Mick spilling the beans certainly did change things. While Stein obviously hated Mick for telling Lily that she is an aberration, it provided a nice resolution to his current internal struggle. He eventually does smooth things out with her by explaining his fears of not wanting to have a child. It may not have been the way he wanted it to happen, but it provided a nice conclusion for their short spat.
