On Legends of Tomorrow, the heroes come from a variety of backgrounds, but when it comes to Zari Tomaz, she actually comes from a completely different time. Zari joined the team after the Legends paid her a visit in a dystopian 2042, and since then she’s been trying to figure out a way to prevent that bleak future.
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How bleak of a future? Where Zari is from, A.R.G.U.S. controls the United States, there are severe anti-metahuman laws, religion is outlawed, and various comments Zari has made paints the world as a dark, polluted place where nothing and no one is safe. It’s a world with no joy, as we’ve seen with Zari being amazed at blue skies and white picket fences in “Phone Home” and not having frame of references for the movie Groundhog Day in “Here I Go Again”.
But, even if 2042 is a bleak, horrible place, why does Zari have no memories of happier times? Even if the Arrowverse 24 years from now has seen some major changes, Zari should be old enough to remember happier times, complete with blue skies and cultural references. Could Zari really be from a different timeline altogether? Let’s break down our theory that Zari isn’t just from the future, but from a totally different timeline.
For starters, Zari’s age is the key. Zari appears to be contemporary in age to the other women on the Waverider, so she’s probably in her early 30s, meaning that she was probably born somewhere between 2008 and 2012. Even if we assume that whatever goes down with Mallus triggers the bleak world of 2042, that means that Zari would be between six and ten in the present — old enough to have at least vague memories of non-illegal Halloween candy, blue skies, and normal childhood things. Instead, Zari appears to have never experienced any of these things. However, if Zari is from an alternate timeline, it’s possible that the world took a dark turn long before Zari’s childhood, which may have changed everything.
If Zari is from a different timeline altogether, where is she really from? One theory is that Zari is from a timeline that is a remnant of the Flashpoint universe. In the second season finale of The Flash, Barry Allen runs back in time to save his mother from being murdered. The bold move to change history is prompted by Barry’s father, Henry Allen, having been murdered by Zoom. Distraught at the prospect of living in a world without both of his parents, Barry wants to change the past. However, his actions have consequences, and he creates an alternate timeline. Barry ultimately goes back to the past to set things right, creating a reset timeline — one that is mostly restored to the original, but has a few changes. It’s possible, given how touchy timelines are in the Arrowverse, that Zari is either from the Flashpoint timeline herself or the disconnect between the current timeline and Zari’s future comes from whatever events changed or were erased when Barry “fixed’ Flashpoint.
Wherever Zari is from in time, there are two things we know for sure. Gideon told her that the only way she can prevent her brother’s death is to stay with the Legends and that Zari and her totem will be instrumental in stopping Mallus.
Do you think Zari is from a different timeline? Share your thoughts in comments!
Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
