Spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow are below.
Tonight’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow was a particularly fun one for fans of The CW’s sector of the DC Universe, as the titular squad spent the hour within the in-ruins city limits of Star City in the year 2046. There, we got a peek at one old face (complete with a beard) and two new faces, including that of Green Arrow 2.0 Connor Hawke. But in a twist that was totally unexpected (despite everything being expected in this anything-goes universe), we learn that Connor Hawke wasn’t this vigilante’s given name at all. He was actually born John Diggle, Jr.
What the what? It looks like at some point in the years after Rip Hunter swooped everyone into his ship and took off on this time-skipping adventure, John and Lyla Diggle felt it was appropriate to start conceiving again to give Sara Diggle a younger sibling. And the product of said conception, an act which hopefully did not involve Diggle’s helmet, was apparently destined to carry on his father’s name and part of his father’s legacy. Only this guy doesn’t feel like he’s worthy of using Diggle as his surname, and he thus takes on the alter ego Connor Hawke, which sounds like a devastatingly under-thought pseudonym by a dim reincarnation of Hawkman.
Admittedly, this wasn’t the most jaw-flooring surprise, even when compared to other Legends of Tomorrow shocks. But there’s still a strange mental exercise that happens when one processes how things have changed in a fictional world they’re invested in, and there’s something downright sad in comprehending Diggle dying at some point in the 30 years between our present day and Star City 2046. Now, this future likely won’t even come to being if the super crew does what they intend to do in taking down Vandal Savage, so it’s definitely not set in stone that Diggle and Lyla will still bring the second-generation Green Arrow into the world. Or that Oliver will end up needing his robotic arm.
All in all, it’s a pretty perfect way to spin this temporary storyline. While Connor Hawke is both Oliver’s Green Arrow successor and his son in the comics, we knew that couldn’t happen on the show thanks to all that secret son business happening on Arrow this season. So what better way to introduce this new hero than by tying him to one of Oliver’s closest compadres. It not only shows us that Team Arrow can prevail through anything, but also that all Oliver needed was to be told “You can do it,” in order to save the day.
And do it they did, as both Green Arrows took out nuevo Deathstroke and spoke of their intentions to continue building Star City back up to what it once was. Again, these guys probably won’t exist in the normal timeline, but at least we know they’re out there at some point in time, honoring the Diggle name by way of delivering justice. Now if Connor could just lend Oliver the Green Clippers.
Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursday nights on The CW.
