Legends Of Tomorrow: Zero-Gravity A Speedster’s Kryptonite?

By Steve Lam | Mar 19, 2017

In DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s “Moonshot” episode, Ray revealed that Eobard Thawne had no speedster abilities in zero-gravity. Was this a new rule made up for DC’s television universe?

This week on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow‘s latest episode, “Moonshot,” we learned some new rules for The CW’s DC universe—speedsters can’t function without gravity. We’ve researched high and low, and this was never a rule in the comics. Did the writers suddenly get lazy and use this fact to make the Legends’ job easier?

Eobard discovers that Ray is in the lunar lander with him. When they’re about to face off, Ray makes the statement, “He doesn’t have super-speed without gravity.” Huh? Where and when did this rule of DC-physics come into play? And how did Ray figure this out?

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I’ve combed through multiple sources and there isn’t any references to the Flash or other speedsters having their abilities taken away because of a lack of gravity. And how can a lack of gravity affect a speedster anyways?

Speed and acceleration are still present in space. I’m no physicist, but don’t they measure how fast something is orbiting Earth with meters per second—a measurement of speed? Let’s give the show the benefit of the doubt and assume that speedsters need to have physical contact with the ground to run. That still doesn’t negate their abilities to phase or quickly grab onto objects.

Looking further into DC lore, I did, however, discover something related to gravity—the Speed Force (something all speedsters draw upon) makes a speedster appear as if he/she is defying gravity. Plus, the Speed Force defies all the laws of physics anyways because it’s not part of our reality. So how does gravity even affect the Speed Force if it’s something from another dimension or plane of existence?

Another inconsistency is the fact that when Ray and Eobard were on the moon, Eobard’s abilities didn’t return. The moon still has gravity—just not as much as the earth. So Eobard’s powers should’ve at least come back proportionate to the amount of gravity that was present.

Even on the Waverider—which has artificial gravity—Eobard should’ve gotten is abilities back. It wasn’t until the ship returned to Earth did Eobard phase out of his cell and make an escape.

Let’s also not get into Ray suddenly becoming the foremost specialist on the Speed Force. I mean, the folks over at STAR Labs don’t really count for anything right? All they have are a bunch of speedsters on their team, and a member (ahem, Barry) who has actually been inside the Speed Force! Even Team Flash has never mentioned zero-gravity affecting speedsters.

The only explanation is that the writers wrote themselves into a corner. And their band-aid solution will later come back to bite them. I think the god-like powers of a speedster were a bit too much of a challenge to write in, and they wanted an easy way for Ray to temporarily defeat Eobard.

If zero-gravity really does take away a speedster’s powers, how can the Flash be seen zipping around the Watchtower in the DC Animated Universe? Isn’t the Watchtower in space, generating artificial gravity for its occupants? These are all things to think about. And I really do hope they revisit this out-of-the-blue concept soon. I’m sure DC fans want a good explanation.

Next: Catch up with a recap of 'Moonshot'

Also, on theStream.tv, our friends will be doing Legends of Tomorrow After Shows. The excitement continues on Fridays as theStream.tv also gives fans a weekly round-up of The CW’s superhero universe—Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow—with their DC TV Universe special.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. EST.