How The Cast Of Legends Of Tomorrow Should Really Look

Premiering in 2016 on The CW, Legends of Tomorrow united recurring characters from the network's so-called "Arrowverse" series Arrow and The Flash — along with newcomer Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) — to form a single time-hopping superteam. The show puts lesser-known DC Comics heroes like the Atom, Firestorm, and Commander Steel front and center, and the very first Legends roster includes two characters traditionally known as villains: Central City rogues Captain Cold and Heat Wave. 

Ironically, while Legends of Tomorrow mines DC Comics' history, the concept doesn't come from the comics — at least, there's no Legends of Tomorrow team in the comics. There was a Legends of Tomorrow miniseries released the same year as the show, but it isn't a team comic; instead, it's an anthology series with separate stories for characters like Firestorm, Metamorpho, and the Metal Men.

As the CW series progresses, the heroes go further from their roots, eventually rarely even dressing in their "super" costumes. It's understandable if when you spot them in the comics, you aren't sure who you're looking at. If you'd like a guide, keep reading to learn how the cast of Legends of Tomorrow should really look. 

First appearing as Ray Palmer in Arrow's first season, Brandon Routh's version of the character used to be much more attached to the suit that enables his shrinking than he is nowadays. Like most of the Legends, Palmer hasn't completely given up the suit, but we tend to see him in it less and less, and in the comics we haven't seen him in it much at all. 

In his brief appearances after DC's 2011 New 52 reboot, Ray Palmer uses a suit just like his counterpart in the Arrowverse. But for most of his comic book life, the Atom doesn't need any Iron Man-type suit to shrink. His suit shared the same basic color scheme, only with brighter shades. He also doesn't fly or fire beams from gauntlets like the Atom of Legends does. The most recent version of the Atom seen in DC Comics wears a suit like Brandon Routh's, but he isn't Ray Palmer. He's Ryan Choi, who recently worked alongside the strange Justice League of America team including Batman, Lobo, and Killer Frost, among others. 

Of all the Legends of Tomorrow cast, Matt Ryan's physical appearance as John Constantine is arguably the most comic book accurate. Constantine has almost always appeared as a smoking man in a trench coat. His knowledge and mystic abilities seem to often be paired with a constant hangover, as he usually appears to have just woken up from a long bender. It's enough to make you wonder why he even bothers with the tie. 

While it wasn't initially considered a part of the Arrowverse continuity, Matt Ryan first played the character on NBC's short-lived Constantine. Ryan's Constantine officially joined the Arrowverse when his character showed up in one of the many island flashbacks in the 2015 Arrow episode "Haunted." Two years later he joined the Legends in the middle of the third season with "Beebo the God of War," and soon became a regular cast member. 

Honestly, perhaps the least comic book accurate part of the Constantine's involvement has nothing to do with his physical appearance, but rather the very notion that he would spend so much time with a bunch of superheroes in a time/space ship — something the comic book Hellblazer could only tolerate for so long.  

Upon first gaining his powers, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) initially wears an outfit that looks similar in color scheme to the comic book Commander Steel — though it appears to be armor rather than the skintight costume of the comics. In season 4, Nate joins the Time Bureau with his dad, trades in his time-hopping for an office, and his costume for a business suit. Most episodes since have come and gone without even seeing him use his powers.

The current status of Nate Heywood in the comics is an mystery. Ever since DC Comics' 2011 New 52 reboot, Nate hasn't been seen. A hero named Commander Steel died as part of the 2018-19 DC miniseries Heroes in Crisis, but it wasn't Nate. 

There have been three different versions of Commander Steel — Nate Heywood, his grandfather Hank Heywood, and Nate's cousin Hank Heywood III. Initially, the Commander Steel in Heroes in Crisis is only referred to by his superhero name, so it isn't clear which version he is. But in Heroes in Crisis #5, we see a recording from before Steel's death in which he describes specific events that happened to Hank Heywood III — such as when he was killed by Doctor Light in the 2009-10 line-wide event Blackest Night. 

Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) hasn't been a series regular on Legends of Tomorrow for some time, though he's one of the founding members and he keeps making his way back into the Arrowverse in various ways. 

The Snart of the comics, unsurprisingly, physically presents himself with a lot more color. On Legends and in his other appearances across the Arrowverse, Snart's costume mainly consists of a winter jacket with a fur-lined hood and his trademark goggles. In the comics, his costumes tend to be much more involved. They're almost always blue and white from head to toe, with fur lining the hood as well as other parts of the getup. 

Snart's moral ambiguity is very much in line with his DC Comics portrayals. Recently in the Flash comics, Snart changed his codename to Commander Cold and started working on the side of the law in Central City, even taking Barry's place when the speedster took a prolonged leave from his hometown. Even before this, Snart has often been depicted as having a strict code of honor that allows for stealing and violence when necessary, but he's a far cry from someone like Lex Luthor or the Joker. In some ways he seems himself as much of a protector of Central City as the Flash even before his shift to heroics, and isn't beyond punishing the city's other rogues when they get out of line.

The Legends of Tomorrow version of Firestorm is interesting because while there have been multiple younger halves of the Firestorm — in both the Arrowverse and the comics — Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh) is purely a creation of the Arrowverse. When Firestorm first appears in The Flash, he's the merging of Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) and Martin Stein (Victor Garber). Raymond is replaced by Jefferson Jackson, and it's this version of the Firestorm duo that appears on Legends until the middle of the third season when Martin Stein dies in the Arrowverse-wide "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover. Jackson remains with the Legends until the end of that season, returning to his roots as a mechanic to maintain The Waverider. 

While Jackson doesn't appear in the comics, there was an African American Firestorm introduced in 2004's Firestorm #1 who, like Jackson, takes on the powers of Firestorm after Ronnie Raymond's death. Raymond dies in the miniseries Identity Crisis while battling the villain Shadow Thief.  

Visually, Jackson's and Rusch's outfits are pretty similar. The most noticeable differences are that Jackson doesn't have a headpiece like Rusch and his gloves have more red than yellow.  

The demon Neron is the big bad of Legends of Tomorrow's fourth season, though when we see him it's mostly while he's inhabiting someone else's body — first John Constantine's former boyfriend Desmond (Christian Keyes), and later Ray Palmer. When the demon comes to the surface, he transforms his host into a monstrosity without eyes, mouth, nose, or ears, with pock marks all over their face. When he finally emerges from Ray's body and Constantine kills him in the season finale, he appears only as a wisp of black smoke. 

In the comics, Neron looks much more like what you would expect from a comic book villain. Introduced in 1995's Underworld Unleashed #1, Neron appears as a large man with pointed ears, long white hair, fangs, and pale white skin. He wears a green and gold outfit, along with a green cape with red interior. It's tough to imagine reproducing the character in live action without it looking insanely corny, which is likely why Legends of Tomorrow chose to forego the green outfit — and everything else.