Legends of Tomorrow Started as Darker, Suicide Squad-Style Villains Story

During his presentation at the Television Critics Association today, The CW's Mark Pedowitz acknowledged that DC's Legends of Tomorrow is "lighter" than Arrow and The Flash, comparing the upcoming series to Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Who.

That wasn't always the case, though; Pedowitz told reporters that the original idea for the project came from his own desire to do a darker, villains-driven series that he described as evocative of The Dirty Dozen.

It's possible that project was scuttled because of similarities to the Suicide Squad movie, although that's impossible to know. Pedowitz simply said that producers Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Phil Klemmer "had a better idea."

It wasn't that long ago that Arrow's David Ramsey claimed The CW was mulling a Suicide Squad series to spin out of Arrow. Not long after that, though, the Suicide Squad movie was announced, elements of the property's mythology started appearing less frequently on Arrow, and The Flash began to overtake Arrow as The CW's signature hit. Having seen the Legends pilot episodes, it certainly feels more like a spinoff of The Flash than Arrow, and so it's as possible that the success of The Flash had more to do with the decision to go this way than anything having to do with the Suicide Squad movie.

When heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known? DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW stars Victor Garber ("The Flash," "Alias"); Brandon Routh ("Arrow," "Superman Returns"); Arthur Darvill ("Doctor Who"); Caity Lotz ("Arrow"); Ciarra Renee ("Pippin"); Franz Drameh ("Edge of Tomorrow"); with Dominic Purcell ("The Flash," "Prison Break"); and Wentworth Miller ("The Flash," "Prison Break"). Based on the characters from DC Comics, DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti ("Arrow," "The Flash," upcoming "Pan"), Marc Guggenheim ("Arrow," "Eli Stone," "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters"), Andrew Kreisberg ("Arrow," "The Flash," "Eli Stone," "Warehouse 13") and Sarah Schechter ("Arrow," "The Flash," upcoming "Pan").

Legends of Tomorrow premieres Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.