‘DC: Legends of Tomorrow’ Brandon Routh Describes Exit As: ‘Was Not Well Handled’

Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer has been an excellent character in the Arrowverse ever since he was first introduced in Arrow, several years ago. With his return in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, his character flourished and became one of the high points of the series. Next week, he and his real-life wife, Courtney Ford, will appear in Legends for the last time and despite the earlier press, it sounds like it isn’t the happy ending we’ve been led to believe.

In a new episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s ‘Inside of You’ podcast, Routh talked about his character’s exit (minor spoilers). Along with calling it “a very traumatic event for me” and saying “not something I was expecting. It was not well handled.” Routh also gave a little more detail about his exit than the CW execs will probably be happy about.  

“In the comic book world, Ray Palmer…disappears, but he leaves his belt behind, which is in the comics how he has the power to shrink, and this young man takes over, Ryan Choi, and becomes the Atom. That’s not what happens with Ray…he doesn’t get lost into the multiverse. We’re not following the comic book structure.”

Here’s the synopsis for next week’s episode:

SAYING GOODBYE – The Legends continue their hunt for pieces of the Loom of Fate and find themselves face to face with William Shakespeare. Ray (Brandon Routh), Nate (Nick Zano), Rory (Dominic Purcell), Constantine (Matt Ryan), Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) and Behrad (guest star Shayan Sobhian) stay a little longer on the mission making things worse after lying to Sara (Caity Lotz). Meanwhile, Ray and Nora (Courtney Ford) make another big life decision that leaves the team surprised and best buds, Nate and Ray, on the outs. Jes Macallan, Tala Ashe and Olivia Swann also star. Alexandra LaRoche directed the episode written by Ray Utarnachitt & Matthew Maala.