DC's Legends of Tomorrow

On the heels of Marvel's high budget Avengers movie extravaganza, DC is looking to cash in in a similar fashion......only in a lower budget, televised way (along with the addition of the possessive "DC's" added to the title, similar to "Marvel's The Avengers" or "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD").  The CW is currently home to 'Arrow' and  'The Flash' (and previously 'Smallville'), DC's televised universe, which is in no way connected to the DC cinematic universe. While Marvel ties their film and television offerings together, Warner Brothers has decided to keep things separate here. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, we know their movies are high budget, and their T.V shows are generally regarded as mid-low budget. Most likely considering that they air on the CW which is not as big of an entity as ABC (owned by Disney). This is turn forces Warner Brothers to cut the fat so to speak.  I wouldn't call 'Arrow' and 'The Flash' bad shows at all. I enjoy both of them to an extent. But they straddle the line between action and teenage drama.

I attribute this to a lower budget, others may not. It may be artistic difference but when you watch a DC (or Marvel) movie and watch DC television, the differences are apparent. This doesn't change with the first trailer for DC's Legends of Tomorrow. DC's televised version of 'The Avengers' .Basically a spin off of Arrow AND The Flash. 'LoT' features some familiar faces: 

• Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/The Atom (DC's version of Ant Man) 

• Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart/Captain Cold 

• Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory/Heat Wave

• Victor Garber as Martin Stein/ Firestorm

• Ciara Renee as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl

• Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/ White Canary 

• Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter.

If you watch 'Arrow' or 'The Flash' you're already familiar with almost all of these characters. Rip Hunter has yet to make appearance but will in the May 19th episode of The Flash. 

With the first trailer of the new show being released I took it upon my anal self to break down 4 problems I wish they'd address

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1. The Atom-

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Like Ive been saying, DC television is primarily mid budget. This translates to sub par special effects. I can understand not throwing gobs of money into TV seeing as you have to produce a new episode every week, rather than one 2 hour movie, but this also means sub par costumes, mainly The Atom. The suit has already been seen, and continues to look terrible in the new show in my opinion. Its a mix of Iron Man and Ant Man both in ability and appearance. They could have went in a different direction than plastic body armor and chintzy ray guns. I was hoping for an upgrade but the budget just couldn't abide. It just looks overly clunky and confusing. the Original Atom didn't have robotic laser shooting armor, so I'm not sure why DC went full bore in this direction. It looks like 'Hiro' from "Big Hero 6" or an even worse version of Netflix's 'Daredevil' outfit.

2. Captain Cold and Heatwave- 

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You may remember Captain Cold (great name) and Heatwave from their other TV show.. 'Prison Break'. Wentworth Miller and  Dominic Purcell have already portrayed on television together in the aforementioned show, so all I can think of is this being a Prison Break sequel even though it is not. Two escape criminals teaming up?.. feels like typecasting a bit. It may just be me, but its like casting "bumbling besties Gilligan and the Skipper" on a completely different show where they're  "bumbling besties Steve and Fred". It just feels odd. I put up with it on the Flash, but not sure how it will work on a weekly basis. Add in that their only powers are a freeze gun and a heat gun and it STILL feels boring. 

3. Heatwave AND Firestorm-

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This is just personal preference but they have two stars with the same ability so to speak. Both fight with fire. Yes one actually has 'powers' and shoots fire and the other is just a regular dude with a flame thrower gun. It seems like duplication of effort. Why have an inferior version when you have Firestorm?! I suppose they'll take turns setting stuff on fire when fire is called for. It just feels completely redundant.

4. The CW Recipe-

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Look, I enjoy the Flash... I do, but it has one major flaw. It follows the same exact recipe as 'Smallville' did. Each week, a DC hero battles a new villain. This recipe has started to become stale. 'Week 1= fight villain #1, week 2= fight villain #2, week 3=fight villain #3, week 4= fight villain #4' Its extremely repetitive and feels lazy. I am glad the Flash throws in some side story and lore along with its obligatory story lines. The Harrison Wells arc has been a Godsend in the Flash series and does a good job of giving us something different for a change. I can only hope Legends of Tomorrow doesn't use the same basic episode recipe show after show after show. And if it does, which I'm sure it will anyway, give us some Harrison Wells/Reverse Flash type action PLEASE!

 

Overall the trailer looks ok. It doesn't look spectacular, doesn't look terrible. It looks like the CW through and through. That's what we've come to expect with DC television I guess. Makes you think how DC television would look on a different station. Gripes aside, I'm looking forward to Legends of Tomorrow, especially with the addition of 'Doctor Who' famed actor Artur Darvill as 'Rip Hunter'.
I hope they do a good job and it doesn't look too cheesy. Only time will tell. If it sucks? ...well...then we have the upcoming Justice League on the big screen to make up for it.