DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: 9 Things You Might Have Missed In “Out of Time”

Tonight’s season 2 premiere of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was a wild jaunt through time with a heck of a teaser at the end — but it wasn’t quite as full of Easter eggs, winks, and nods as most episodes.

Partially because they were busy making jokes at history’s expense rather than DC Comics’s — and partially because, honestly, there was so much plot to fit into the episode.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t spot a few things along the way, though…!

So: What did we see? What did we miss?

Read on, and comment below.

OUT OF TIME

As has been the case a lot in the first couple of weeks of The CW’s TV season, the episode’s title — “Out of Time” — is a bit of a reference in and of itself.

It’s likely been the name of a number of time travel-related stories — but most recently, it was the name of a story that ran through The Flash #30-35 (from the 2011 series) and featured, among other villains, The Reverse-Flash.

The fact that the final moments of the episode incorporate the “surprise” appearance of Eobard Thawne, then, suggests this could have been a more-than-incidental use of the name.

OLIVER QUEEN

Yeah, we’re going to count this one.

Oliver Queen, seen wearing a suit and not in his Green Arrow costume for the purposes of this season finale, is played by Stephen Amell. The star of Arrow, Oliver is generally considered the genesis point for The CW’s DC Universe (even though they obviously had Smallville and Birds of Prey long before Arrow came along).

Amell’s Green Arrow appeared in the series premieres of both The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, so this episode more or less continues a tradition.

NATE HEYWOOD

Nick Zano joins the cast as Nate Heywood — “Citizen Steel” — who in the comics inherits the powers and costume of his grandfather.

He’s a troubled individual, suffering from both physical and emotional damage, in the comics — but as Zano told ComicBook.com at Comic Con International: San Diego, that’s not the direction they’re going with Heywood on TV:

Here, it seems he’ll be serving the role of non-powered person on the Waverider, at least for the time being, and providing a guiding hand to the team navigating the sands of time without Rip Hunter.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

Yes, it’s worth noting that Stein, Mick, and Rip kind of cut a distinctive figure.

Cardinal Richelieu, depicted as one of the villains of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers, being included in this episode more or less cements the idea that they look like that on purpose — and explains why certain characters who were strategically important in the fight — like Jax, for instance — had to stay out of sight.

REX TYLER

Rex Tyler, the Golden Age Hourman and a veteran member of the Justice Society of America, is one of a number of DC heroes who would pass on his name and legacy numerous times over the decades to come in the comics.

On TV, he made a single, brief appearance at the end of the season 1 finale of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and will show up again — with the rest of the Justice Society this time — in next week’s episode as well.

DAMIEN DARHK

Damien Darhk was the season four big bad on Arrow.

Like Ra’s al Ghul, he’s a very old man who has been kept relatively young by the Lazarus Pit becuase of his position of power and authority first within the League of Assassins and later in H.I.V.E.

Originally created as a villain in The Titans, Darhk’s control of H.I.V.E. — an organization tied to the death of John Diggle’s brother since the earliest seasons of Arrow — made him an ideal choice when The CW decided to introduce a magical villain last year. He was nearly unbeatable until Oliver figured out how to manipulate Darhk’s energy to his own ends, and now he’s dead — except that as somebody who’s been not only alive, but rich and powerful for decades, he’s surprisingly easy for a time-traveling troublemaker to find and recruit.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

First of all, he’s appeared in DC Comics before. In an oversized issue Superman vs. Wonder Woman, Nazis went after Einstein in 1942. Ultimately, Wonder Woman rescues him but ends up finding out about the Manhattan Project. After becoming a person of interest for a while and throwing down with Superman a bit, she ends up teaming up with the Last Son of Krypton to track down and defeat Baron Blitzkrieg.

Secondly, the thing with his wife is actually based in historical controversy.  Mileva Marić was a Serbian physicist and has long been rumored to have coauthored Einstein’s 1905 paper on relativity.

INSULTING RAY

Calling him a “boy scout” feels like a nod to Brandon Routh’s time as Superman, but the whole “what are you without that suit?” reeks of Marvel’s The Avengers.

That’s a comic book movie reference twofer!

REVERSE-FLASH

Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash, may have something up his sleeve.

At the end of The Flash‘s Season 3 premiere earlier this month, he said that while his future was as it should be, Barry’s might not be. Barry then went home to discover a number of small anomalies that made his life and those of his friends worse.

Now, we learn that “somebody” is outfitting the villains of history with future tech in order to push the world to a slightly worse place.

Could Eobard Thawne have stepped right out of “Flashpoint” and into “Out of Time?” Either way, seeing him and Darhk together is enough to make seasoned Arrowverse fans quake in their boots even before they know the other members of Thawne’s little Legion of Doom.