DC's Legends Of Tomorrow Season 1: 8 Ups And 5 Downs From 'Progeny'

Is it ever right to kill a 14-year-old?

by Andrew Pollard
Legends of Tomorrow Progeny
The CW

In terms of conundrums, Progeny threw up the biggest question yet for our team of Legends: is it right to kill a 14-year-old boy who is destined to grow up and become an evil tyrant whose ascension will lead to the post-apocalyptic Vandal Savage-run world we’ve seen glimpsed in the far future?

Rightly so, this is a problem that splits opinion amongst the Legends, with some seeing it as they need to kill this one child in order to save billions of people in the future, whilst some of the other team members still see it fundamentally wrong to kill a child regardless of what the implications are for the future. It’s certainly heavy stuff for Rip Hunter and his team.

What was also enjoyable about this latest Legends offering is that it was set in the future. Up until now, every episode has centred on the past bar a brilliant trip to a grim and grizzled future Star City. Here, we got to see how things play out going forward and what new threats will rise in order to lead to the world of chaos and dictatorship that Rip Hunter calls home.

When all was said and done, this ‘future of change’ was a mixed bag, both in terms of results for our Legends and also for us in terms of viewers, but here’s a look at this latest episode’s ups and downs.

13. Downs...

Legends of Tomorrow Progeny
The CW

Spoilers

This is a major gripe for a lot of fans of many shows, and it was something that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow did with this most recent offering. Yep, I’m talking about giving away spoilers in its opening credits.

Falk Hentschel’s Carter Hall was killed off after only a few episodes of Legends of Tomorrow. Of course, being the immortal Hawkman, he’s destined to return to the show at some point, but his surprise return here was ruined for viewers as the actor’s name popped up during the show’s opening.

Now Hentschel wasn’t back in his Hawkman guise, for we’d instead see him in the mundanity of the former life which saw him father Aldus Boardman, but it was still disappointing to see his appearance in the show spoiled.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.