Legends of Tomorrow: Who is Commander Steel?

Tonight on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, audiences got their first look at the Justice Society of America — and among them, there were a couple of familiar faces.

Those would be Hourman, who appeared in last season’s finale (briefly), and Vixen — a pre-Arrow version with a different secret identity but the same concept and design all in all.

Along with the familiar faces, though, were a handful of new ones, including Stargirl, Doctor Mid-Nite, Obsidian, and Commander Steel.

Commander Steel is Hank Heywood, Sr., the first in a line of DC heroes to use variations on the Steel moniker. A legend in the World War II era and a member of the All-Star Squadron and later the Justice Society of America, Heywood’s body had surgically-implanted mechanized steel devices that allowed his body to work on a superhuman level.

Originally just “Steel,” he was promoted to Commander Steel by President Roosevelt in 1940 — so while this is his first appearance in live action, it’s timeline-accurate to call him Commander Steel by this point in his career since the story takes place in 1942.

Among those who would carry on the Steel name are Heywood’s grandson, Citizen Steel — Nate Heywood, played here by Nick Zano — and longtime Superman ally John Henry Irons.

There’s a number of characters that tonight’s villain, “Baron Krieger,” might be from the comics — and one of them, Baron Blitzkrieg, is the man who injured Heywood, necessitating his mechanical upgrades.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.