Diggle’s Doppelganger Continues A Cool Legends Of Tomorrow Tradition

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 8, “Stressed Western.”

David Ramsey’s appearance as Bass Reeves in Legends of Tomorrow continued the tradition of casting prominent Arrowverse actors as historical doppelgangers. While the tradition probably started as a cost-saving measure or to set up certain jokes, it could open the door to future cameos by other actors whose Arrowverse series have come to a close. In either case, Ramsey’s long-anticipated cameo proved to be worth the wait, even if he was not appearing as the Green Lantern John Stewart, as some had predicted.

When it was announced that David Ramsey (who played John Diggle on all eight seasons of Arrow) would be returning to the Arrowverse to direct several episodes and make a few cameo appearances as John Diggle, Legends of Tomorrow bucked the trend by announcing that Ramsey would be playing a mystery role sometime during season 6. That role was Bass Reeves, a legendary lawman, who was the first Black Deputy U.S. Marshal stationed west of the Mississippi River. Over his three decades in law enforcement, most of which was spent working among the Native American tribes in the Oklahoma territory, Reeves captured over 3000 outlaws alive, supposedly without ever being shot once despite engaging in numerous violent arrests. Some historians believe Bass Reeves’ exploits may have inspired the Old West legends that were later used to create the character of The Lone Ranger.

Ramsey’s appearance as Bass Reeves came in the Legends of Tomorrow episode “Stressed Western,” which Ramsey also directed. Reeves teamed with the Legends to restore some sense of normalcy to the town of Fist City after outlaw Levi Stapleton took over the town with the help of an alien sandworm. During the final battle with the sandworm, Reeves wound up fighting alongside Sara Lance, who did a double-take upon seeing his unmasked face, and addressed him as Digg, John Diggle’s nickname. Unsurprisingly, Reeves didn’t understand the reference, and the episode did not explore the possibility of Reeves being John Diggle’s ancestor, despite both men being equally unflappable under fire. Regardless, this marked the latest occurrence of Legends of Tomorrow casting an Arrowverse actor as a historical figure.

The most famous example of this tradition came during Legends of Tomorrow season 5, where Courtney Ford, who played sorceress turned fairy godmother Nora Darhk, was also cast in the role of Marie Antionette. Ford played the role several times over the course of season 5, even returning as Marie Antionette for the season 5 finale, “Swan Thong,” despite having left the series as a regular by that point. The tradition started with Victor Garber in Legends of Tomorrow season 3, where Garber played Sir Henry Stein, an actor and ancestor of Professor Martin Stein, whom Garber played in several Arrowverse series.

It remains to be seen how John Diggle will be introduced into other Arrowverse series later this season. However, David Ramsey’s appearance in Legends of Tomorrow helped to cement one of the show’s most fun traditions. Hopefully, this will pave the way for other notable Arrowverse actors to return for quick cameos, as a nod to what came before or just as a simple sight gag. It is amusing, for instance, to imagine Stephen Amell returning to play Robin Hood.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1839 Articles Published)

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Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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