31. Rip Hunter
The original captain of the Waverider may just be one of the Arrowverse’s most revolutionary characters because, without Rip Hunter, there would be no outcasts and misfits to mess up the timeline and we would not have been gifted with the off-the-wall adventures that Legends of Tomorrow continues to provide us with – and that is a fact that should never be overlooked.
Originally from the year 2166, Rip was a member of the Time Masters and was forced to watch as immortal tyrant Vandal Savage waged a war the likes of which the world had never seen before, in which his wife and son were killed. When his colleagues refused to step in to correct history, he took it upon himself to do so, stealing a Waverider and assembling the most eclectic and bizarre collection of superheroes and supervillains to help him in his mission.
While he didn’t always make the right choices, and even went on an evil stint during the show’s second season, Rip was the glue that held the Legends together throughout the first season, and it’s unfortunate for him that the show progressed to a stage where he just didn’t fit in anymore. But that is the sad truth: his mission was complete following the first season while the rest of the characters were only beginning to tell their stories.
Though he did continue to make his presence felt in a recurring capacity, as the leader of the Time Bureau, his apparent death in the Season 3 finale gave the writers an opportunity to see how the show would function without him – and it functioned ridiculously well on the foundations that he built.
Rip made a major impact thanks to the creation of the Legends and, because of him, the Arrowverse was a much richer (and crazier) place. He changed the timeline, he stopped Savage and he left history with its own personal guardians. His wife and son would be very proud.