First Look At Captain Cold's Return To Legends Of Tomorrow Is Kind Of Heartwrenching

Warning: spoilers ahead for Legends of Tomorrow. Don't read any further if you are not up to date on the DC time travel series.

Wentworth Miller's Leonard Snart has become one of the Arrow-verse's most unexpectedly popular characters since his initial introduction on The Flash. From his badass persona to Miller's delightful scenery-chewing, the character has pretty much everything we want from this gloriously campy small screen superhero universe. He's popped up here and there over the course of the last season in hallucinations or flashbacks, but next week's episode will see him finally return in earnest. As the latest trailer indicates, it is a suitably tragic moment for his former comrades, because he bemusedly looks ready for a deadly fight.

Last night's episode of Legends of Tomorrow featured a reasonably happy ending for our team of time travelers. They managed to recover the final piece of the Spear of Destiny, and Ray Palmer even figured out that Legends' Eobard Thawne is a time remnant of the one we saw at the end of The Flash's first season. However, next week's episode will turn the victory on its doomed head, as the Legion of Doom will recruit a nastier version of Leonard Snart into its ranks to face off against his former allies. That is great storytelling and yet another reason why fans of Arrow and The Flash who gave up on Legends of Tomorrow should consider giving this series another chance.

The Leonard Snart reveal for next week's episode is devastating on a couple of levels. For starters, it is always tormenting to see teammates turn on one another. We saw that happen earlier this season when the Legion of Doom reprogrammed Rip Hunter into a (somewhat bumbling) henchman. But Rip wasn't originally a coldhearted villain. And on another level, it is sad to see this older version of Captain Cold turn on his team because it undoes quite a bit of the excellent character development that we saw last year. This Captain Cold has (presumably) not confronted his father, not bonded with the various Legends, and not sacrificed his life for a higher calling. So he's a snarkier, douchier version.

Take a look at the full trailer for next week's episode of Legends of Tomorrow below for a closer look at all of the wacky time travel antics:

Of course, it is entirely possible that Legends of Tomorrow is bluffing. Leonard Snart is distinct from the other members of the Legion of Doom in the way that he has been portrayed over the last few years, and seeing him introduced so late in this season could indicate that he is far less committed to the supervillain team than Darhk, Merlyn, or Thawne. Is it possible that Snart is actually faking his villainy to protect Mick Rory? It most certainly is, but we will have to wait and see how this all pans out when the episode finally airs.

Legends of Tomorrow airs every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST. Check out our midseason premiere guide for more information related to 2017's remaining spring television debuts, while our summer premiere schedule will keep you updated on everything coming to the small screen later this year.