Legends of Tomorrow’s best historical encounters

All the president’s men

During the Revolutionary War, the Legends sided with George Washington and the Americans against evil Rip and the British, who had been armed with modern weapons. Heat Wave saved Washington from certain death and then motivated him to be a strong leader for America. The two men fighting the British together is one of the more memorable Legends of Tomorrow moments. Anytime a great man in history is in need of a pep talk to escalate their masculinity, Mick Rory will be there.

Next war, Civil. But this was not your great granddaddy’s Civil War. The Legends helped Ulysses S. Grant battle zombie Confederates. The bonkers storyline is improbably accompanied by a poignant civil rights message. Grant’s spy was a black soldier, who passed on his assignment to Jax. He and Vixen, the only two black members on the team at the time, venturing to a slave plantation was a little on the nose, yet was perceptibly well intentioned. Jax heroically completed his mission for General Grant.

During the Vietnam War – the Legends are starting to run out of wars to fight in – the team confronted Gorilla Grodd. How did the giant genius ape end up in the 1960’s? Does it matter? His mad plan was to assassinate Lyndon B. Johnson. Again Jax stood out amongst the heroes as he saved LBJ from a mine. A parallel plot had Mick get captured by his own father in the middle of the jungle. On Legends of Tomorrow, it is a small world after all.

In the penultimate episode, Grodd was back on the hunt for another American president, Barack Obama, but this time he chose to attack well before the inspirational leader became president (the 1980’s). How Grodd’s motives could even produce his intended results were more unclear than in Vietnam. But it was fun to see good ol’ Barry and before Sara used the memory neuralizer on him, Obama gave her a nice farewell speech.

Next: 50 greatest super heroes in comic book history

That was not even the main plot in an episode that featured actor John Noble (the voice of Season 3 villain Mallus) being recruited by the Legends for a sneaky plan that required Noble to imitate Mallus’ voice. Does it get any more meta? I’m sure we will witness loads of more amusing ridiculousness in Season 4 of Legends of Tomorrow.