Legends Of Tomorrow: What We Know About Mallus So Far

Legends of Tomorrow is back, and enjoying a fantastic third season that doesn't take itself too seriously. After breaking time itself, the Legends started season 3 in a whole heap of trouble, but this was quickly dealt with when Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) popped back from the future with his brand new Time Bureau. It seemed, at first, that the Legends were no longer required. After all, as much fun as the Legends are, they aren't actually that good at fixing time!

As the season has progressed, however, the Legends have re-formed, and even picked up a new member along the way. It seems that this rag-tag band just can't stay away from trouble, and Rip and the Time Bureau are willing to turn a blind eye, because Rip thinks that the Legends might turn out to be useful against the Big Bad of season 3: the mysterious Mallus (John Noble). So far, Legends has provided a few hints as to who Mallus could be, and the past two weeks have given us our first real look at the newest Arrowverse villain. Here's everything we know so far.

Hints At Mallus's Power In Season 3 So Far

Before the recent episode, 'Return of the Mack', only very small hints had been provided about who, or what, Mallus is. From the start, Rip explained to his Time Bureau crony Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan) that he wanted to keep the Legends in play because they might be the best chance anyone has of stopping Mallus. It's clear that this is someone that Rip is incredibly afraid of, but he was remaining tight lipped about why that was.

At the end of 'Freakshow', the season's second episode, we then met the first follower of Mallus, a cloaked woman who knelt by a lake in order to resurrect Kuasa (Tracy Ifeachor). Kuasa, for those who don't watch the animated Vixen series, is the sister of Mari McCabe (Megalyn Echikunwoke), the granddaughter of Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) and holder of the Vixen totem. Mari and Kuasa battled it out with fire and water totems, and Kuasa was lost; until this season, when Mallus has resurrected her. Although the hooded servant said that they had 'work to do', she did not reveal what that work was.

The First Good Look At Mallus

Last week gave fans the first look at who Mallus really is, as well as much more detailed description of the villain from Rip himself. In 'Return of the Mack', the Legends travel to Victorian England, where there seems to be a vampire on the loose. Turns out, there's still no such thing as vampires, but a secret occult society is there instead, and they want to resurrect a familiar enemy: Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough). Not only that, but Darhk's daughter, Nora (Courtney Ford) is also back in play, and has given herself over to Mallus in order to get her father back.

Mallus and Nora do manage to bring Damien back to life (much to the disappointment of the Legends, who thought they were finally rid of him), but that's not all that we see of the big bad in this episode. When Rip goes rogue from his own Time Bureau and gets involved, he demands to speak to Mallus directly. Nora gleefully agrees, and we see her eyes turn dark red and a husky voice come from her: Mallus, possessing his servant to speak to Rip. He declares that Rip would die if he saw Mallus's true form (for he is a God), before he leaves and the Darhks escape. Rip himself is handed over to the Time Bureau for going rogue, but before they take him, he tells Sara (Caity Lotz) and the Legends about Mallus, and charges them to stop him.

This week, Mallus takes a back seat in 'Helen Hunt', although his minions make an appearance as the Legends attempt to return Helen of Troy (Bar Paly) to her own time from the golden age of Hollywood.

Mallus's Plan And Powers

Mallus hasn't yet revealed his whole plan, but by this point we do know quite a bit about him. For one thing, this is an entity outside of the usual bounds of time and space. He calls himself a God, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything literal; Savitar also called himself a God, but turned out to be a time remnant of future Barry Allen (Grant Gustin). According to Rip, he's been around forever, and that the old Time Masters were too afraid of him to even speak his name. He hasn't risen before, however, because he wasn't able to. But, thanks to those meddling Legends and their destruction of time, it seems that he can come through into the world; not a good thing for anyone, really. He also seems keen to keep destroying time, as Damien Darhk revealed this week that 'anachronisms are good for business'.

Although his powers are clearly vast, the only concrete manifestations of his abilities that have appeared on Legends of Tomorrow so far are the ability to possess and speak through his servants, and the ability to resurrect the dead. He also appears to be some form of magic, or to use magic, as he is resurrecting magic-wielders. Nora also has the ability to capture and hold fire and Ray's blasts when she is posessed by Mallus, although it's not clear how much of that is her own magic, and how much belongs to her master. Both Kuasa and the Darhks are powerful magic-users, and it's likely that Mallus isn't going to stop there. Other villains with magical powers may return this season to join the legions of Mallus; possibly even Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) or Vandal Savage (Casper Crump).

Why Can't The Time Bureau Deal With Him?

Given that the Time Bureau is well-equipped to deal with threats to the timeline, and generally a little better at their jobs than the Legends (if we're honest), why is it that Rip is so determined to have the Legends be the ones to take on Mallus? From 'Return of the Mack' it seems that Rip not only has no faith in his organization's abilities to defeat Mallus, but he doesn't even think that they truly understand what Mallus is. He says that they cannot comprehend what they are facing, and when they come to take Rip in, it's clear that they don't even really believe that Mallus exists.

The Bureau were created in order to deal with one thing only: the anachronisms created when the Legends broke time. Everything that they do is in order to return these anachronisms to their own time. A larger threat, one that is outside of time entirely, is just not something that they are prepared for. More than that, they are regulated and by-the-book. Any capable villain would be able to see their next move a mile away. It's not something that matters when dealing with people and creatures displaced in time, but when it comes to Mallus, the Bureau are hopelessly outmatched. The Legends, on the other hand, have dealt with all kinds of big bad craziness already. They are capable of making plans on the fly, and doing things in a totally unexpected way. It is this that makes Rip believe that they are capable of beating Mallus. The fact that the Legends have also dealt with magic, and even have some of their own, is certainly not going to hurt, either.

Welcome To The Jungle

Next week, the crew of the Waverider head back to the Vietnam War, where a familiar face is back and causing mayhem: Gorilla Grodd. The trailer and synopsis show Zari and Amaya working together again, while the boys run into someone from Mick's (Dominic Purcell) past... which means that he may start to get a little more character development this season. And while Damien, Nora and Kuasa were a big part of 'Helen Hunt', it looks like they aren't going to be popping up again next week, giving fans a break from the big-bad focus.

It's likely that now the basics of Mallus's plan have been revealed, Team Mallus will go into hiding for a little while. The first big showdown between the two teams isn't going to come until episode 10, 'Daddy Darhkest', which will also bring Constantine (Matt Ryan) into the mix, presumably as a magic-user to help the Legends battle Mallus. The Legends will probably have to face off against this new big bad several times over the course of the season, but at least we know a little bit about him.