Captain Cold

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Name: Rei
DW username: N/A
E-Mail: honeychasers@gmail.com
IM: rei.neke
Plurk: reineke

Other Characters: N/A

Character Name: Leonard Snart / Captain Cold
Series: The Flash / Legends of Tomorrow
Timeline: The finale of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.
Canon Resource Link: Leonard Snart, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow

Character History: Leonard Snart in this form is a character in CW’s DC universe. So far he has appeared in Flash and been a main character throughout the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, but he is set to return in some form or other in at the very least these two shows in the next seasons.

Born on June 2nd 1972, Leonard didn’t have a fun childhood ahead of him. His father, Lewis, was a criminal and – according to Leonard – not a very good one. He went to prison after a failed robbery when Leonard was still just a child and when he returned years later, he had become an even worse father than he had already been before then. Leonard’s sister Lisa was born after his father returned. The age difference between them was significant, but in spite or because of that, he clearly felt very protective of her and responsible for her. No wonder, given their father’s physically and emotionally abusive nature, who taught them lessons that left scars and still called them disappointments.

Meanwhile Leonard spent time in juvie, never finished high school and once he was of age, he apparently had more than a couple of stints in prison as well. In juvie he met Mick Rory, who saved him from getting killed by fellow inmates and who has had his back ever since. They have worked together on and off, but clearly they share a very close bond and many joined memories. When Leonard talked about his partner, it was Mick he’s referring to.

He was a criminal, known for his meticulous planning and research, plotting his schemes down to the second. In fact, he was so good at it all that he seemed bored by the lack of challenge. Enter the Flash, Central City’s first costumed hero, and someone who inspired Leonard to step up his game.

When the Flash - a superhero equipped with superspeed - entered the scene in Central City, he really did embrace the role as his villain, his rogue. They agreed on the terms of the game, as Leonard refers to it, and their relationship developed further from there. This wasn't the superhero and supervillain story where their fates are tied together because of an origin story. What happened was that Leonard viewed Central City as his city, as he also confirmed when the Flash asks him to go somewhere else, and so he naturally had to be opposite of the hero that elected to protect Central City.

It could be said that Leonard became obsessed with the Flash, under the guise of wanting to defeat and kill him, but clearly mostly just interested in seeing if he could succeed. It was the Flash that made him look beyond his usual approach and when a so called ‘cold gun’ – built by Cisco Ramon – falls into his hands, he is interested specifically because cold is in many respects the opposite of speed. He also obtained a ‘heat gun’ at the same time, which he passed on to his old friend Mick Rory, rekindling their old partnership, something he had previously regarded as too risky after a heist had gone awry due to Mick’s pyromania.

Leonard had always had certain rules, such as not killing cops, as that meant ‘too much heat’. The Flash was the first one to not only call him out on having a code, but also who made him agree that since he didn’t need to kill – he was good enough not to – he shouldn’t. So Leonard’s code was adapted accordingly and he – as Captain Cold – clearly considered himself the Flash’s closest enemy.

Him and Mick teamed up with his sister, Lisa, and together they executed a plan that led to Cisco Ramon building the partners their guns again as well as another gun for Lisa. It was then that he also learned the Flash’s secret identity, Barry Allen. He was clearly becoming fond of the idea of gathering a variety of rogues around him, a team to oppose the Flash. Playing villain turned out to be a lot of fun. But at the same time, Barry Allen kept insisting that he had good in him.

Things developed further from there when Barry helped him deal with his father, who was his and his sister's abuser. Barry helped in spite of Leonard’s insistence that he didn't need to be saved, something he also asserted when he ultimately killed his father for – as he put it – having broken his sister’s heart - asserting control of his fate the moment he can. Perhaps control was in many ways the important concept here, Leonard wanted and almost needed to be in control of his own life, his own decisions and to some extent even of the people important to him, most evident in his relationship with Mick Rory.

Since Barry helped him and saved his sister's life, their dynamic shifted even further. Although a plan Barry asked him to help with ultimately ended in Leonard betraying him to further his own goals, he also shot someone who was about to kill the Flash. More and more was added to the nature of the game and one aspect in particular didn't seem to solely amuse Leonard: Barry's insistence that he had good in him.

More encounters with Barry had him telling Leonard this again and again. Sometimes to be let down and sometimes to ultimately leave Leonard without much room to argue. Maybe not a hero, but doing a lousy job of being a villain.

This gets to him, because it has never been part of how he sees himself and he is used to defining his own role. The name and status of Captain Cold he was quick to embrace, but this is something that has him at a loss.

Cue Rip Hunter, who comes in offering time travel with a team set to destroy an immortal who is supposed to become the world's worst dictator at some point in the future. Rip Hunter initially tells them that in the future, all of these people he chose for the team won't have made an impact, but by joining the team they could become legen - wait for it - dary.

Why does Leonard Snart decide to join a mission like this? The reason he gives Mick Rory, his partner, to talk him into it is simple enough: All of time to steal on a much grander scale than they ever had the opportunity to before.

But what's true? Sometimes it is hard to tell with a man who keeps things as close to the chest as Leonard, but we can let his actions speak for themselves. Very early on, in the third episode of Legends of Tomorrow and at the first opportunity he has, Leonard elects to returning to his own past in an attempt to change his family's history. He doesn't tell his companions just what exactly his plan is initially when he steals a jewel from a museum in the Central City of the past, but then it's revealed when he takes said jewel to his own old house.

In the original timeline, his father had been arrested for the theft of said jewel and Leonard wanted to prevent that, because his father has become a lot worse after that prison stint. When in his old house, Leonard runs into his younger self, who's about ten years old and wears dinosaur pyjamas and generally seems to be set on being the cutest thing ever. He asks Leonard what he's doing here, introducing himself as 'Leo' to the man that claims to be one of his father's friends. Leonard's voice is soft and sincere when talking to his former self and he drops to his knees in front of him, telling him to never let himself be hurt inside his mind or in his heart. The scene ends when Leonard's father arrives and Leonard gives him the jewel and also tells him that he's only leaving him alive because his sister hadn't been born yet and he couldn't let that happen.

Upon returning from this detour, Leonard learns that it didn't change a thing, as his father was now, in the new timeline, caught shortly thereafter, trying to sell the jewel Leonard gave him.

So it already becomes obvious that, no, Leonard didn't just take this opportunity for Criminal 101 reasons. But then, what else? What about the team? While Leonard doesn't think much of altruism and isn't used to not being the one in charge, he fully accepts being on a team and very quickly asserts to Rip Hunter that this means that no one should ever be left behind. He questions Rip Hunter's authority on multiple occasions and distrusts his leadership. Yet he remains with the team and, ironically, sometimes can be seen almost acting as Rip Hunter's guilty conscience regarding keeping all of the team alive and together.

As such it is him that talks Sara Lance down from killing Martin Stein - something considered to keep him from giving away secrets under torture while in captivity. Once more he drops his act, his voice unaffected and real when he talks to her. Later on he says that he did it because Sara didn't want to be a killer, which was certainly another motivation.

All of this initially stands in stark contrast to his partnership with Mick Rory, which perhaps unsurprisingly soon leads to trouble in their criminal paradise. Leonard is the first to refer to the team as their friends and Mick soon discovers that the reasons Leonard used to talk him into coming on this trip can't have been all that truthful, when Leonard not only refuses to stay with him in the Star City of the future, but also punches Mick out to drag him back against his will. On the other hand, even before this, Mick was the one insisting on saving Ray in one instant when Leonard wanted to leave him behind to focus on their own safety instead, since apparently in spite of Leonard's sudden team spirit, no one should be a risk to them and their partnership.

After Leonard 'betrayed' Mick by dragging him back from Star City, their relationship worsened, culminating in Mick handing the team over to time pirates. Time pirates, I know, this show is nothing if not entertaining. Anyway, while they manage to defeat the pirates, this also results in Leonard 'dealing' with Mick, apparently killing him.

Without Mick around, some of the fire certainly seems to have left Leonard, but that doesn't keep him from being a competent and valuable asset to the team. Luckily he doesn't have to wait that long for Mick to return. However, this Mick is now 'Chronos', someone who was captured and brainwashed by the Time Masters, the organisation that wants to take the team down to keep them from messing with the time stream. Chronos remembers Leonard and the others, but there is an emotional detachment mixed in with the resentment he still feels. This shows when he captures Leonard and tells him that he'll find his sister and kill her, over and over again, in front of him. This can definitely be seen as a breaking point for Leonard, the emotion on his face at that moment also being enough to break anyone else.

Nevertheless, he frees himself at the first opportunity - even though that means freezing and shattering his own hand - and makes it to the team in time to keep them from killing Chronos, killing Mick. Instead they decide to try and undo the brainwashing. At first this seems like a pointless exercise, but then Leonard lets Mick beat him up and gives him the opportunity to 'kill him and walk', but apparently Mick can't do anything out of love, so he won't do that.

With this very tentative reunion in place, Leonard appears at once more driven to achieving their mission, but also more ready for it all to be over and his doubts over Rip Hunter's handling of basically everything multiply. Sara Lance acts in many ways as a catalyst in his and Mick's relationship, they are often seen all in the same frame. Sara is easily the team-mate he is closest to, even offering and receiving emotional support, which is quite something coming from the ice man.

The mission of killing Vandal Savage becomes more and more crucial and at one point they almost succeed, but only almost. They come across Savage's daughter Cassandra, who Leonard managed to get through to by touching on his relationship with his own father and all the abuse he has had to suffer at his hands. With his daughter's help, they manage to capture Savage, but not kill him and decide to bring him to the Time Masters' court.

The tension on board is palpable and once more Rip Hunter makes decisions Leonard disagrees with. Leonard tells Mick that he feels that the mission will go wrong and that it is time to abandon ship. But before they can act on that, although Leonard certainly tries, things do indeed go wrong. Although they have Vandal Savage captive at this point, when they turn him over to the Time Masters, the proper authority, they free him instead, stating that he and his reign are 'supposed to happen'.

Almost all the team is captured and it is here that Rip Hunter and in turn everyone else learns about the Oculus, which the Time Masters use to manipulate, control and watch time. The team decides, upon getting free, to destroy the Oculus, which starts an interesting game of switcheroo when first Ray Palmer - who was meant to die there according to the Oculus - holds it in self-destruct mode with the goal of, duh, destroying it. However, Mick Rory steps in, punching him out and taking over. Of course, this is the point where Leonard comes in. "My old friend, please, forgive me."

One last time he punches Mick Rory out, leaves him with his cold gun and the ring he wears in memory of the first heist Mick and him pulled that went wrong (I couldn't make this stuff up, they are so married) and takes over for him, ready to sacrifice himself. Sara comes in just in time to see the decisions he has made and kisses him before leaving with the unconscious Mick. Leonard is alone surrounded by enemy soldiers when he says his last words: "There are no strings on me." and then he explodes. Or is sucked into the time stream. Or ends up somewhere else and we just don't know it yet, it is very up in the air right now.

However, the team mourns him and they mourn him as a hero, even as they acknowledge that it's the last thing he'd want to be remembered as. Mick Rory is seen holding the ring and looking very sad and so it is only fitting that in the last episode, one of the last scenes, is Mick travels to the year 2013, before any of the events of the Flash or Legends of Tomorrow transpired, to tell Leonard that he has always been his hero.

Leonard Snart's role is as complex as the man himself, but ultimately he always tries to define it for himself. No strings.

Abilities/Special Powers: Nothing. Well. Arguably he has the power of making people question their sexual orientation, but that just comes with the package and is probably not supernatural. Probably.

Third-Person Sample: Ever since he could remember, Leonard had been very aware of time. His schemes tended to be thought out to the second, recognising patterns, shifts and then counting down. Just as he was always planning, time was usually a factor, down to the second. He used it as a way to know what would happen, to arrange for things to go down the way he needed them to. A way to be in control.

Then he’d found out about the Oculus and the realisation that his movements, his actions, perhaps his every thought had been manipulated by an outside force hit him like a ton of bricks, a weight that made it hard to breathe and hard to think clearly. Events had left him no choice but to play along until the very moment when suddenly there was clarity again.

It all happened quickly in the end. Telling Mick to forgive him and knocking him out. Sara-- Sara, who understood what he was doing and who didn't question him. His gun and their ring was with Mick and once they were safe, Leonard said his last words and it all exploded around him.

There were no strings on him. There was nothing on him at all any more until suddenly he was somewhere and he wasn't dead. At least he could still think and, after a moment, breathe. The gleaming light of the explosion had blinded him and while that wore off he stayed on the ground, eyes shut. Only tentatively did he feel around with his hands, feeling the wooden floor under his fingertips. All he knew for sure is that he thought he'd be dead. Expected to be gone.

Welcome to Wonderland.

First-Person Sample:

[The recording comes to life and at first there’s a pair of steel blue eyes, just a bit too close to comfort. Leonard pulls the device back quickly, adjusting it to an appropriate distance. The eyes are still blue, but now the rest of his face is visible, as is part of his torso, all dressed in black. He leans back against a wall, one hand loosely around his own arm while the other is obviously holding the device.]

I can roll with this. Afterlife, limbo, apparently Wonderland. Whatever. Down the rabbit hole. I’ve read the book; I might have even had some of the shrooms.

[Just for a moment he looks up, eyes narrowing at something beyond the screen and then he just dismisses it with a shake of his head, focusing on the recording again.]

What I’d like to know is whether anyone knows about time. Not looking to be taught how to read the clock here. I’m interested in the time stream. Timelines. Anyone happen to have a clue about that?

[That out of the way his hand lets go of his arm, the only visible sign of him relaxing.]

Also, more importantly, I know all about tea parties, but does Wonderland have iced tea?

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