The most comic series in the universe of interconnected CW superhero shows, Legends of Tomorrow presents a colorful but often sloppy and dysfunctional team of heroes who travel through time to save the world and, just as often, end up creating additional problems. The line-up shifts from season to season but the core of the team has consisted of Sara Lance, aka White Canary (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer, aka Atom (a charming Brandon Routh), the former villain turned unlikely hero Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell), and history detective Nate Heywood, aka Steel (Nick Zano).
This season also sees the return of John Constantine (Matt Ryan), a man with supernatural powers and knowledge of demons and evil creatures, and shapeshifter Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), an eternal imp whose true identity plays an important role in the season's storyline, and it brings Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan), once the leader of the Time Bureau, onto the ship as a member of the team.
Season 5 launches with the finale of the five-part crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths," an epic that ends with a rewrite of the TV DCU timeline. The immediate effect is to erase the existence of Zari (Tala Ashe), an elemental who was romantically involved with Nate, but she returns as an alternate reality version of herself.
Meanwhile, down in Hell, someone is releasing the worst villains from history to wreak vengeance on Earth, sending the team to pre-Revolutionary Russia, pre-Revolutionary France, 1990s Hong Kong (to battle Genghis Kahn), and 1918 England, among other historical hotspots.
The show continues its whimsical storytelling playfulness with episodes that drop the team in a 1940s gangster melodrama (where Ava gets a musical number), a 1980s serial killer-at-a-prom horror film, a college comedy, a William Shakespeare play, and (twice) in parodies of other TV shows.
For my money, this is the most fun superhero series on TV. It embraces the absurdity and humor of 21st-century heroes fitting into past eras with a unique mix of knowing parody, character comedy, dramatic tragedy, and team loyalty.
The combination of superhero action and time travel color gave the show a strong fan base that stuck with it through the changes in the line-up. This season it loses another core character when Ray proposes to Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford) and leaves the ship to start a new life. A sixth season has been announced for2021.
15 episodes on four discs on DVD and Blu-ray, with two featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. The Blu-ray includes a limited edition bonus disc featuring all five episodes on the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" miniseries along with six featurettes. Recommended.