Rip Hunter

Rip Hunter is a fictional time traveler and a main character, later a recurring character, featured on the CW Network television series Legends of Tomorrow. He was played by actor Arthur Darvill. He was introduced in the pilot episode of the series.

Biography
Rip Hunter was born some time in the 22nd century. As an adult, he became a member of an august organization known as the Time Masters, who monitored aberrations in the timeline and interfered when necessary. Rip's motivations for continuing his work in this group took a personal turn when an immortal demagogue named Vandal Savage murdered his wife and son. In the hopes of preventing these events from coming to pass, Rip took matters into his own hands.

Rip violated all protocols of the Time Masters and used his time ship, The Waverider to gather select individuals from Earth's past to help him change the timeline. He specifically selected people whose overall importance to the flow of the timestream was minimal. Though history would never regard them as heroes, they would come to know them as Legends.

Ultimately, Rip fell out of favor with his own group, and parted company from them. When the Legends violated the laws and vagaries of the space-time continuum, they effectively "broke" time, creating dozens of chronal aberrations called anachronisms. Rip spent the following five years creating the Time Bureau - an organization specifically designed to effect repairs in the time line created by the Legends. This however, proved ineffective or all involved. The Legends, seeking to atone for their own mis-deeds, stole the Waverider and tackled these anachronisms directly.

Rip on the other hand, had his own agenda - one which even his followers in the Time Bureau would refuse to entertain. Rip began investigating an evil demonic entity known as Mallus. Rip's work on ferreting out Mallus' intentions and power levels caused him to lose face with the Time Bureau and they booted him out. When the time came for the Legends to face Mallus directly, Rip sacrificed himself so that the Legends would have the winning edge over their adversary.

Notes & Trivia



 * Rip Hunter is based on a character featured in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Showcase #20 in June, 1959 and was the main character in his own series, Rip Hunter... Time Master from 1961 to 1965, as well as the Time Masters eight-issue limited series from 1990.


 * Actor Arthur Darvill is no stranger to playing time-traveling characters. He previously played the role of Rory Williams on the British science fiction series Doctor Who. Rory was a companion of the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith. Darvill appeared in seasons 5-7 of the series.


 * Actor Aiden Longworth played young Rip Hunter in the episode "Last Refuge". Like Arthur Darvill, Aiden likewise would appear in other time travel programs. He would go on to play Werner Doehner in the pilot episode of the TV series Timeless.