There’s a new show, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, featuring several DC Comics characters debuting on The CW, Thursday, January 21. Most of the characters had their first appearance on Arrow and The Flash, and they’ve been gathered by a mysterious time traveler to fight an immortal villain throughout time to prevent his rise to power in the 22nd Century.

Who are all these characters and where are they coming from?

Rip Hunter

Rip Hunter is a Time Master from the year 2166. In his time, the world has been taken over by Vandal Savage. Hunter arrives in the present to put together an elite team to find Savage throughout time. His goal is to stop Savage before he grows into power.

Rip Hunter first appeared in DC Comics in 1959. He started out as a hero traveling through time in a time sphere to deal with different threats. He later evolved into a character concerned with maintaining the stability of the timeline.

Ray Palmer/Atom

Ray started out on Arrow as a brilliant businessman and CEO of Palmer Technologies. He soon became an ally to Green Arrow and his fellow crimefighters. He designed an exosuit with different abilities. When testing a new function of the suit, he caused an explosion and ended up shrinking. For months, he was believed to be dead.

Ray first appeared in comics in 1961. Ray doesn’t use an armored exosuit. He was a scientist working on reducing objects using white dwarf star matter. He discovered he could safely shrink himself and eventually became close friends with Hawkman.

Sara Lance/White Canary

Sara Lance was trained to fight by the League of Assassins, as seen on Arrow. She eventually left the League and returned home to Starling City where she fought alongside Green Arrow as the Canary.

After going back and forth with the League, she was killed through Malcolm Merlyn’s evil scheme.

Dead for over a year, she was resurrected by being submerged in a Lazarus Pit. Because of the length of her death and the experience in the Pit, she no longer had her soul. Green Arrow called in a favor to John Constantine who was able to give her back her soul.

Sara left Starling City after the ordeal and will be fighting in a white uniform, going by the name White Canary.

Captain Cold

Leonard Snart was a career criminal in Central City. He betrayed and killed an arms dealer after acquiring a freeze gun. He was dubbed “Captain Cold” by one of the Flash’s allies.

Snart was able to discover Flash’s identity. Despite being a crook, he does have a sense of honor. Snart has agreed to keep Flash’s secret and not kill innocents in exchange for Flash not apprehending him.

Captain Cold first appeared in comics in 1957 and has been a long time foe of the Flash. He is the leader of the Rogues, a group of villains who all agree to his no-killing rule.

Mick Rory/Heat Wave

Mick is the other non-hero joining this gathering. Rory has worked several jobs with Leonard Snart (Captain Cold). During one job, Rory was badly burned in a fire. Even though he was burnt before, he accepted a flamethrower given to him by Snart and continued committing crimes by his side.

In the comics, Rory grew up obsessed with fire. He became part of the Rogues and used his pyrotechnic urges to commit crimes.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl

Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders have been connected through several past lives, as seen on the recent The Flash/Arrow crossover. The two lovers have been killed by Vandal Savage over two hundred times. After each death, they are reincarnated and attempt to reunite with each other.

In the comics, Carter was a reincarnation of an Ancient Egyptian prince named Khufu. He shared a similar connection to Kendra as seen on the TV shows. His origin has changed a few times over the years with one version making him a member of the winged police force on Thanagar.

Kendra was originally an Egyptian princess. She and Carter were cursed to die and then reincarnate, over, and over, always dying when reaching the peak of their love.

Jefferson “Jax” Jackson and Professor Martin Stein

Martin and Jax combine to become Firestorm. As a result of the explosion caused by the Particle Accelerator (in The Flash), Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond were forced to share a body. They were eventually separated but still combined as Firestorm in order to help the Flash. When Ronnie Raymond died, Stein needed another individual to merge with when his health started to fail after not merging for a period of time.

Jax was tracked down as being suitable to merge with Stein due to his exposure to the explosion. He was reluctant at first, but Jax soon accepted his role as a hero.

Firestorm first appeared in comics in 1978.

When Ronnie died in the comics, it was Jason Rauch that merged with Stein. Jefferson Jackson did appear in comics as one of Ronnie’s friends.

Vandal Savage

Savage was an ancient Egyptian priest named Hat-Set. He’s been around for thousands of years and became immortal when he consumed the souls of Chay-Ra (Hawkgirl) and Khufu (Hawkman). The two are reincarnated after each death. Savage seeks them out and has killed them over 200 times. Each time he kills them he grows stronger.

Vandal Savage is the main focus for the heroes in the show. Their mission is to prevent his rise to power in the year 2166.

In the comics, Savage isn’t connected to Hawkman and Hawkgirl. During the prehistoric times, a meteor crashed on Earth. The radiation granted him immortality and increased his intellect. He has claimed to be numerous famous and vicious leaders throughout time, and to have been close with numerous other famous people through history.