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“ | The infamous Sara Lance. I've been waiting a long time for you. | „ |
~ Bishop meeting Sara Lance. |
“ | I'm the man who's going to save all of humanity. | „ |
~ Bishop. |
Bishop is the main antagonist of the TV series DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
He is the founder and CEO of AVA Corporation who is responsible for the creation of AVA clones, including Ava Sharpe. After witnessing the destruction of Earth from his time period, he set out to create a new race of augmented humans by having aliens kidnap people throughout history for his experiments. He also ordered the kidnapping of Sara Lance. He is the archenemy to the Legends.
He is portrayed by Raffi Barsoumian.
History[]
Past[]
At some point in his life, Bishop founded AVA Corporation and both created and designed the AVA clones, coming into possession of one whom he recruited as a nurse.
After witnessing Earth's destruction at the hands of human greed, Bishop made it his goal to create a new augmented human race who could withstand anything. To that end, he hired the Necrian couple Kayla and Gary Green to kidnap many aliens and humans throughout history to experiment on for his cause, including a pilot named Amelia Earhart whom he spliced with Zaguron DNA.
He also created a system in which he would create a clone of himself carrying his consciousness to take his place in case something happened to him. Through this, he was able to become "immortal". He used this opportunity to modify his own body to resist pain and more. He also installed a failsafe in case he was backed into a corner, where he could make his consciousness digital and upload it into the cloud so he could clone himself anywhere.
In order to fulfill his plan, Bishop built a base on an Earth-like planet called Pliny X19 which he planned to terraform. Keeping tabs on Earth, where he hoped to find the quintessential human to serve as the base for his experiments; finding Sara Lance "unkillable", Bishop had Gary infiltrate the Legends through the Time Bureau and ordered them to abduct Sara Lance as he wished to have her DNA for his project. He also became aware that Sara fell in love with one of his AVA clones.
Meeting Sara Lance[]
After Sara and Gary Green fled from a mutated Amelia Earhart, whose Zaguron side had bitten Sara, Bishop sent the AVA clones to capture Sara but they were eaten by Gary. When she entered Bishop's lair, Bishop was surprised to see that the infamous Sara Lance was here and told her that he has been waiting for her for a long time.
However, Sara, having been poisoned by Amelia, was in critical condition which led to Bishop giving her the antidote before she collapsed. However, in reality, Bishop cloned Sara and put her memory and consciousness in the new cloned body since there was no antidote for Zaguron poison. He also enhanced the clone with alien DNA, wanting the Sara Lance clone to be the first of his new enhanced human race.
As Sara recovered, Bishop explained to her his plan which immediately received his captive's disapproval, chiding that humanity can't be saved by depriving them of everything that makes them human which, to Sara, was precisely what Bishop was trying to accomplish. After asserting that no one can get a grand undertaking such as this perfect the first time, and that he was still under the trial ad error phase of his research, Bishop then tasked Nurse Ava to take care of her. Nonetheless, Sara attempted to escape with Nurse Ava but the latter tricked her and led Bishop to them and the ship. He reveals that, in light of Sara ejecting all the other captured specimens from the ship that she was on, the containment pods they were all placed in were nonetheless able to procure and secure workable genetic material from each and every one of those species, showing the assembled collection before her, which he needed Sara to lead him to, and proceeded to knock her out although she managed to snap his neck.
Cloning Himself[]
Despite dying, a clone of Bishop took his place and greet Sara after she woke up. He explained to her how he survived through cloning which she expressed disgust. Bishop later learned how there was an intruder named Mick Rory who knew Sara, realizing it was a rescue operation. He ordered one of his AVA clones to lower the barrier and let the planet's toxic atmosphere kill them, not showing much concern for the clones in the field. Sara later called out for Bishop and showed interest in his plans. Excited that she was more open to his proposal, he invites her to dinner. During dinner, he reveals that Mick had arrived and that he lowered the barrier to kill him. Angered, she reveals that she played along and attacks him.
She drags him to his lab where it shows one of his clones being created, sickening Sara. He later taunted her about not being the real Sara, showing her a corpse of her original body and revealed that she is also a clone. He explains how she died from the Zaguron poison and he uploaded her consciousness into a clone body. He explains how he plans on cloning her multiple times and send them all other the galaxy to colonize other planets as a new chapter for the human race, horrifying her immensely. Viewing Sara as a disappointment, he takes the engagement ring she was going to propose to Ava with and has his clones take her to the incinerator, saying he'll just tinker with the clones until he gets one that's cooperative.
Death[]
Some time later, as Bishop was working in his lab, Sara returned and demanded to know why she's healing. After knowing that the clones turned on him, Bishop reveals to Sara he merged her with the DNA of an alien. She injects him with a drug that prevents him from becoming another clone. He refuses to help her create a human clone of herself. She happily sets to make one herself and blow up the base afterwards, watching him die.
Later, Bishop is revealed to still be alive and takes one of his own clones hostage. He is confronted by Mick, who fries and kills him before he could shoot him. However, it was shortly later revealed to be a trick and his consciousness becomes digital. He starts uploading his consciousness into the cloud, which could only be stopped by blowing the base. Realizing that he will do so before her clone is created, Sara is convinced by Mick to come back as who she is now and blows the base, destroying Bishop's consciousness before the upload could complete.
Revival and Manipulating the Legends[]
To be added
Personality[]
Bishop is seen as having a god complex, thinking of himself as the savior of humanity despite his means achieving that goal being outlined by science and more than likely render recipients less-than-human. He is also quite an eccentric, as he is prone to singing his sentences and going into unusual tangents. Bishop also has no patience for healing naturally; if he gets moderately "broken", he sets up a mind transfer into a clone and kills his old body.
Bishop has a poor understanding of emotional connections and free will (or just ignores it). He has no idea his AVAs secretly hate him, and assumed his Sara clone would obey him. He tried to get Sara to abandon her life on Earth, and keep the original's engagement ring from her stating it was "[Sara's] past. [She didn't] need it anymore." When Sara refused to comply, Bishop simply decided to kill her and keep tinkering with cloning Sara until one obeyed him.
Trivia[]
- In Season 3, Bishop is responsible for Gary Green joining the Time Bureau so he could then kidnap Sara Lance for his experiments, and is also the founder behind AVA Corporation that created Ava Sharpe.
- Despite his death and the destruction of his consciousness at the beginning of Season 6, the 2021 SDCC trailer confirmed that he will somehow return later in the season.
- Despite future Bishop being deceased in the Season 6 finale, past Bishop is still alive and will return in the Season 7 to fight the Legends.
- After past Bishop's death and redemption, by helping the Legends to escape, Evil Gideon of Bishop's Waverider becomes the main antagonist of the second half of Season 7.