Did ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ Just Introduce an Infinity Stone?

Tonight’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow introduced a new method of time travel to the Arrowverse and may have just introduced one of Marvel’s Infinity Stones as well.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow, “No Country for Old Dads”, below.

Tonight’s episode saw Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) held captive and tortured by Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) and Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford) so that they could force him to fix the broken Fire Totem. However, Ray soon informs the Darhks that they would need an immense amount of energy to do it, leading Damien to reveal cold fusion was discovered in the early 1960s and the only reason the world doesn’t know that is because he assassinated the scientist responsible for it in East Berlin back in 1962. Ray and Nora then must travel back to a divided Germany to get the secret to cold fusion, but that doesn’t go quite as planned. Before Ray and Nora can escape back to the present, her method of time travel is destroyed. That method? A little thing called a Time Stone.

For those who have no idea what Marvel’s Infinity Stones are, you’re going to want to get up to speed before Avengers: Infinity War hits on April 27th, so here’s a quick primer. The Infinity Stones are six incredibly powerful objects that are tied to and control different aspects of the universe. The specific stones are the Space Stone, the Mind Stone, the Reality Stone, the Power Stone, the Soul Stone, and the Time Stone. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the whereabouts of the sixth Infinity Stone — the Soul Stone — is currently unknown. Sounds quite a bit like the Zambesi Totems of the Arrowverse, particularly with one of the Zambesi totems’ whereabouts completely unknown as well as its powers and origins.

While the time stones that the Darhks have been using in their own time travels this season aren’t actual Infinity Stones, it’s a clever nod to one of the biggest mysteries in comic book live action entertainment right now but nods to the Marvel Cinematic Universe aside, the introduction of the time stones does reveal a new method of time travel in the Arrowverse. Previously, the only known methods were via Time Sphere or time ship such as the Waverider or the Time Bureau’s smaller time courier device on Legends or Barry Allen/The Flash’s Speed Force abilities letting him run into the past or future. The time stones used by the Darhks don’t appear to be connected to either of those other methods, though it’s possible they could be the key to that sixth, mysterious Totem.

As we’ve speculated, the sixth totem could be a Time Totem and if the introduction of time stones to the Arrowverse weren’t a solid enough hint, that’s not the only tidbit of information from “No Country for Old Dads” that could be hinting to the identity of the final totem. When trying to locate Ray via the Anansi Totem and the ancestral plane, Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) and Zari (Tala Ashe) are told by Amaya’s ancestor that time itself is the prison Mallus is being kept in. Every anachronism weakens the timeline and gets him closer to freedom. With time being so significant for the demon and the totems being integral to his return, it’s not impossible that the final totem has been around all season — in the form of the time stones, letting the Darhks hop around time until Mallus is freed.

Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.