Legends Of Tomorrow Tidbits – “White Knights”

In “White Knights” — the fourth episode of Legends of Tomorrow — the audience saw the team fractured by the end of the episode.  Martin is nowhere near Jax, so becoming Firestorm is out of the question.  Plus, the separation in physical location is just one problem.  The two had an argument where some harsh words were said.  Rip was also shown to make some temporary sacrifices — that didn’t go too well with Leonard — for the good of the team.

Quick Recap of Legends of Tomorrow – S01E04 – “White Knights”

In 1986, while performing a heist at the Pentagon to retrieve information about Vandal Savage’s whereabouts, Kendra is overtaken by uncontrollable rage.  Rip later assigns Sara to be Kendra’s mentor to help her.  Martin and Jax are still quarreling because Jax feels that Martin is too overbearing.  Discovering Vandal’s current location, the team soon heads to the Soviet Union.  Their initial entry into the country is rough due to being tracked by Chronos — a bounty hunter sent by the Time Masters.  They’re able to fend him off and crash land.

Ray will pose as a fellow scientist and try and get information from a female Soviet scientist named Valentina Vostok.  After Ray fails at this task, Leonard intervenes and is able to charm Vostok, getting the information the team needs.  On board the Waverider, while in a sparring match, Sara’s own bloodlust takes over.  Rip discovers an anomaly outside of Moscow.  Upon investigation it, he discovers that his former mentor, Time Master Druce was on board the ship that was tailing them.  Druce offers Rip a deal, which also guarantees the safe return of his team to their proper timeline.

Sara and Kendra soon find out that Rip purposely paired them together in the hopes that they would help each other.  Rip meets with Druce again and discovers that it was a double-cross.  Druce intends to have Rip and his team executed in order to maintain the timeline.  A fight breaks out where Firestorm is separated Chronos’s grenade and Jax is hurt.  On board the Waverider, Martin and Jax have a heated argument.  Martin’s overbearing nature is due to him not wanting to lose another friend and partner.

Martin, without Jax, uses fake credentials and sneaks into Vostok’s lab.  He discovers a thermacore which Vandal plans to use to make another Firestorm.  Martin attempts to remove it with the help of Ray and Leonard in the control room.  Ray and Mick are taken hostage by Vostok — who’s working with Vandal — and her guards.  Martin retrieves the thermacore, but is also taken hostage.

At a gulag, Martin is given the task of recreating the Firestorm matrix for the Soviets and Vandal.  If he doesn’t, they will execute his friends.  On board the Waverider, Rip vows to save Martin, Ray, and Mick, and reunite the team.

Character Highlights

Mr. Leonard Snart wins this round again.  The man is full of surprises.  In “White Knights” he shows that he can charm anything out of anyone.  When Ray — the nice guy that he is — couldn’t even get Vostok to look at him twice, Leonard comes in for the save — well, more like a save for the team, as Ray was just left in the cold, literally.

The runner up this week would have to go to Martin Stein.  He had rather harsh words for Jax, and that anger showed through with some powerful dialogue.  Direct and uncompromising, he told Jax to grow up because what they’re doing is bigger than all of them and their personal issues.

Easter Eggs and References

• Kendra was called a “Winged Avenger.”  The moniker “Winged Avenger” is the nickname of Hawkgirl in the comics.
• Ray makes a reference to Top Gun (1986) when he says, “No one’s ever been this close to one before!”
• The word “Svarog” as mentioned in the episode, means “Fire God.”  It’s also used in the name for Svarog Square.  The Star of Rus that resides in there looks like a more angular version of Firestorm’s traditional logo seen in the comics.
• In the comics, Valentina Vostok was a member of the Doom Patrol.  She would later become the White Queen in Checkmate.  Checkmate was the organization Amanda Waller worked for.
• Time Master Druce asks Rip to return with him to the Vanishing Point.  In the comics, the Vanishing Point was where the Linear Men resided.  It was a point outside of time that was immune to any changes to the timeline.
• Mick tells his captor that he’s going to “go Rocky IV on your ass.”  Rocky IV (1985), released during the height of the Cold War, pitted Rocky Balboa against Ivan Drago — a formidable Russian boxer who killed Apollo Creed during an exhibition fight.  Rocky would later face Ivan in the Soviet Union and defeat him.
• Mick calls Time Master Druce “Timecop” which is the name of a movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme playing a character who polices the timeline.
• The guard who talks to an imprisoned Martin is Mikhail Arkadin — later known as Pozhar.  In the comics, Pozhar was merged with Firestorm after a nuclear explosion

Questions

• Now that Amanda Waller is dead on Arrow, will Valentina Vostok replace her in Checkmate?  After all, Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow do share the same universe.
• If Martin does create a Russian Firestorm, will Mikhail Arkadin become Pozhar?

Next: Catch up on Legends of Tomorrow with a recap of 'White Knights'

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW on Thursdays at 8:00PM EST.