Legends of Tomorrow Recruits Batman v Superman Actor To Play A Bulldog

A veteran voice actor who has contributed voices or creature sound to films like Frozen II, Suicide Squad, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made his latest Arrowverse appearance in tonight's episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, titled "Mortal Khanbat." Robin Atkin Downes, who ironically will soon appear in an animated Mortal Kombat film in the voice of Kano, has previously voiced characters in Supergirl (Jo) and The Flash (a Dominator), before settling into a part on Legends providing the voice for a bulldog on the end of John Constantine's cane. The cane figured heavily in tonight's episode, because while most of the team tried to deal with Genghis Khan feuding with the Triad in 1997 Hong Kong, Constantine (Matt Ryan) along with Gary Green (Adam Tsekhman) and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) were trying to figure out a way to save John's life as he died of sudden-onset lung cancer.

The Bulldog was actually something of an important character throughout the episode, as it advised John on matters of the supernatural and matters of the heart. He mostly blew it off, but John did turn to the cane and heap affection on the bulldog when his life was at least momentarily spared at the end. The cane itself had been a necessity for John since he was struggling to walk given how bad his illness was.

In the comics, Constantine tricked the Devil into taking away his lung cancer. On Legends, Hell has undergone a few management changes and is currently under the control of Astra Logue, who both serves as this season's big bad and was responsible for giving John his stay of execution in "Mortal Khanbat."

The Bulldog (credited in the closing crawl only as "The Bulldog") seems to be pretty wise in the way of the supernatural, lecturing John on his brief flirtation with asking the angel Gabriel to come to his aid. "There are some things worse than death," the Bulldog tells John when the Master of the Dark Arts says that even if he ended up serving the angels, he would at least be alive. One has to wonder (although there is little onscreen evidence of it) whether ending up as a sentient cane-topper for a notorious bastard may be such a fate worse than death.

No word yet on whether the Bulldog will be a recurring guest this season, although it does not seem unlikely given that Constantine's house, where the ghost of Astra's mother haunts, seems to be a kind of staging ground for a lot of what John and Gary are up to this season...and that's where the cane appeared.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, following episodes of The Flash.