DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Series Premiere Recap With Spoilers

The series opens in London, 2166, as Vandal Savage and his armored stormtroopers lead a "second blitz." He sees a woman and kills her than, after her young son spits in Savage's face, kills the child as well.

As he does this, a voiceover explains that Savage has managed to conquer the entire planet. that voiceover comes from Rip Hunter, who is addressing the Time Masters Council, asking them for permission to take a time ship and go back in time, stopping Savage's crimes before they occur.

On board a large ship called The Waverider, Rip tells a Gideon computer that he's going back to 2016 to recruit a team for the mission.

We get a quick rundown of each team member, seeing The Atom, who's working with Green Arrow to take down a number of HIVE soldiers; Sara Lance, drinking alone at a pub in Tibet and beating up some men who are trying to assault a woman; Firestorm chasing down gun-toting baddies outside a chemical plant; Hawkman and Hawkgirl, bickering; and Captain Cold and Heat Wave, on their way out of a bullion exchange robbery.

Hunter approaches each of them, flashing them with a handheld device and finally meeting with all of them as a group on a rooftop where he pitches them to help him stop Vandal Savage. Apparently the fact that Green Lantern and The Flash delivered the death blow, rather than Hawkman and Hawkgirl, he will return. Hunter tells the team that they're an elite team, known far and wide as legends in the future — that they're each destined for greatness. He shows them an apocalyptic vision of Savage's world 150 years in the future, and tells them he hopes they won't let the world down. He gives Stein an address on a card, telling the group to meet him there in 36 hours if their answer is yes.

On a rooftop in Star City, Green Arrow dukes it out with a group of Ghosts when Ray Palmer seeks out his help. He tells Oliver he's going on the mission — that this is his chance to make a difference, given that when he "died" the first time nobody seemed to care.

At her (their?) apartment, Hawkgirl tells Hawkman that she doesn't want to go. Ultimately the two decide to spar, with the winner making the decision.

Laurel and Sara are already sparring at the Arrow lair when Sara tells her about the offer. Laurel tells her that she should go — that she's lived in the shadows so long, it's time for her to "be a hero in the light." She gives her a white version of the Canary suit Cisco designed for her.

Captain Cold tells Heat Wave that they should go so that they can use time travel technology to steal priceless items from before the technology that helps bring them in now.

At his office, Stein tells a reluctant Jax that they have a great opportunity. Ultimately Jax says no, and pours a drink for each of them. They toast, and Jax drinks — then passes out, as he's been drugged. Later, he remains unconscious in Stein's car when he arrives at the address on the card: it's an empty lot. The rest of the team arrive, joined finally by Rip, who reveals that the Waverider has been invisible. He invites them aboard.

Inside the ship, everyone is pretty impressed. Stein and Palmer debate the likely mechanics of the ship, with Palmer saying they'd talked about this theory before when he was Stein's student — but Stein doesn't remember it.

Hunter reveals that he's going to take them to 1975 to find Professor Aldus Boardman, an expert on Savage.

Af the scene of their takeoff, an armored man identifying himself as Chronos kills a pair of teenagers who saw The Waverider leave.

Rip says they're going to get some period-appropriate clothes and visit Boardman just a day before his death, where any interaction with the Legends would minimize his historical impact. The Rogues, Sara, and Jax stay behind on the ship.

At Boardman's office, the team arrives; he's asleep on his typewriter. He wakes up and immediately recognizes the Hawks; he's obsessed with their stories.

On The Waverider, Sara decides to go out for drinks with the Rogues; they leave Jax behind.

At the university, Boardman recaps the origin of the Hawks and their ties to Hath-set (Savage's first name).

He's got a theory that they all share power from the meteors in their origin story — something that binds them with Savage.

Boardman reveals that when he first knew the Hawks, they were his parents shortly after World War I. He even gives them a photo of the pair holding him as a baby at the World's Fair. He tells them that Savage hides in the shadows, but that he places himself near the seat of power, nudging the world in his direction without making himself a target.

Hunter asks Boardman where to locate Savage, and Boardman says he has an educated guess.

At a local bar, Heat Wave brings the drinks and puts on some music while Sara dances, attracting the attention of a big guy who hits on her. She rejects him, instead hitting on his girlfriend. When he grabs her by the wrist, she beats him up. As a bunch of his friends join in, he takes a half dozen or so of them down, too, but as the crowd gets bigger, she invites the Rogues to join her. They beat up half the bar and trash par to the place.

On board The Waverider, Jax asks Gideon to take him home. Gideon says she can't comply, but the conversation is interrupted when Chronos starts attacking the ship with thermite grenades.

At the college, Rip takes Boardman's notes and rushes to The Waverider after Stein realizes that Jax is in danger. The Hawks insist on bringing Boardman with them to prevent his impending death.

When the team converges on the ship, they tussle with Chronos, Rip doing some damage to him with his gun and giving them a chance to get on board so Firestorm can merge and The Atom can get his armor. Boardman is injured in the scuffle, and just as Chronos is about to throw another grenade, the Rogues and Sara arrive, hitting him with a car. Together, the team manages to get everyone including Boardman onto the Waverider and escape to The Temporal Zone, a kind of time limbo.

Rip is upset about the disaster of the mission to the '70s, but has to admit that Chronos works for the Time Masters when Hawkgirl punches him and starts threatening him. Sara follows up to try and get more details when he admits he isn't a Time Master anymore. He further admits that the real reason the team was chosen is that they all have minimal effect on the future.

The Atom demands Rip admit why he's really after Savage; Rip admits that the woman and child we saw killed at the start of the episode were his wife and son. He says he understands given the circumstances if the team decide to leave.

At the medical bay, Kendra visits Boardman, who gives her his mother's engagement ring. She tells him she remembers it, just before he passes out. She thanks Hawkman for pressuring Rip to bring Boardman with them, and the two have a moment.

Stein apologizes to Jax for manipulating him, saying that at his age, you never know how many adventures you have left. He says that his favorite part of football wasn't winning, but the feeling of family and community he got when his teammates had his back. He says this group, for better or for worse, has that.

In a storage room, Ray sits with Sara and the Rogues; he's demoralized, saying he might as well have stayed dead, but Sara tells him that if they're going to change history, there's nothing to say they can't change their own future, too. She says the whole mission is about changing the future Rip is using to make his projections.

The Hawks come onto the bridge to tell Hunter that Boardman has died. Rip apologizes, but Hawkgirl realizes that he might have died peacefully at home if she hadn't insisted on trying to stop it.

The rest of the team enter, telling Hunter that they plan to come along, too, for various reasons. Canary asks how they find Savage, and Hunter says he's already had Gideon plot a course.

In Norway (also in 1975), Savage has killed a number of men. He has troops with him and has stolen a nuclear warhead.