‘Legends of Tomorrow’: Could “The Curse of the Earth Totem” Connect to Vandal Savage?

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which struggled to find its groove in its first season, has since found a dedicated audience of enthusiastic fans…but now that they have righted the timeship, could tonight’s episode actually connect back to the show’s first big bad?

In “The Curse of the Earth Totem,” which will air tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, the Legends find themselves face to face with the legendary pirate Blackbeard — a character with an interesting history in DC Comics.

There have been numerous depictions of Blackbeard in DC, Marvel, and other comics over the years, but the one that has had the most impact on DC history is the revelation that he was one of a number of identities used and discarded by immortal caveman Vandal Savage, who positioned himself throughout history to always have wealth and power, but rarely to be the man at the top — the one with a target on his back.

In Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, the titular hero had been shot back through time and had to keep living, dying, and being reincarnated over and over again until he reached the present day so that he could return as Batman. In so doing, he found himself positioned eternally against Savage, who took up numerous identities throughout history and somehow always found himself at odds with the Dark Knight, never realizing that he was always fighting the same futile battle against a reincarnating foe.

That dynamic is fairly similar to how Savage was introduced into the Arrowverse, although the key difference being that he knew that Hawkman and Hawkgirl were being reincarnated over and over, and delighted in slaughtering them time and time again.

That Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne ran as a contemporaneous sister series to Time Masters: Vanishing Point, the series most often cited as an influence on developing Legends of Tomorrow, makes it even more likely that the writers and producers on Legends know that the very first mission the Legends undertook was to slay the man known to the world as Blackbeard.

Without the Hawks or Rip Hunter, it is possible that a 1717 version of Vandal Savage could find himself interacting with the Legends and never know it. Further, the implication that the character is somehow tied up in the matter of the missing Earth Totem could suggest Savage’s hand: perhaps the old villain either has, or is seeking, what would obviously be a formidable source of power.

Of course, the episode synopsis pegs “The Curse of the Earth Totem” as taking place in 1717, a year before Savage is said to have adopted the Blackbeard identity in the comics. Perhaps, not wanting to enter the continuity tangle of interacting with Savage again even in secret, the date of tonight’s episode was chosen deliberately.

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