DC's Legends of Tomorrow: What Makes Vandal Savage a Terrifying Villain?

Why does it take 8 heroes (or at least 8 people attempting to be heroes) to take down Vandal Savage (Casper Crump)? That's a question that still hasn't been fully answered in DC's Legends of Tomorrow. Savage was initially introduced in the massive The Flash/Arrow crossover in November, but the full extent of his powers and the motives behind his villainy are being explored in the time-jumping context of Legends.

"The Vandal character didn't have much of a story [in the crossovers]. He was just being introduced as a knife-throwing villain," Crump explains to TVGuide.com. "I always tried to take responsibility for [my] character, to make him three dimensional instead of being bad or evil. He has a sensitive side. He has a human side to him as well. Hopefully, as Legends develops we can get more into that."

Part of that complexity will come from Savage's connection to Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) and Hawkman (Falk Hentschel). He's been hunting them for 4,000 years and only lost one of their over 200 battles. As long as one shred of the immortal exists he can be resurrected to go after his Egyptian foes over and over. However, as Legends progresses more of Savage's history with the Egyptian couple, specifically with the Priestess, will show a softer side.

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"It is complex being in love with someone that you can't get and your life depends on killing her. That's one of Vandal's soft spots that I am trying to develop more," Crump says. "I'm trying to transform that weakness onto different [relationships] that he has with different characters."

Those characters happen to bea team of ambitious people eager to make their mark on history. While they are still trying to gel as a family, they all agree that Savage is someone that has to be taken down. The immortal super villain is more excited than worried by the challenge though.

"These guys make his life difficult. He sees it as a challenge and he likes a good challenge. That's what he does. That's what his motivation is -- a good challenge," Crump says. However, there is one legend that raises his blood pressure more than the others. "Rip Hunter [Arthur Darvill], of course. They have a thing because Vandal killed his family and now he's coming back to take revenge."

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A team of people coming after you with powers that include fire blasts, super strength and freeze guns could intimidate anyone, but Crump sees it as a compliment to how powerful Savage has become.

"They are really trying hard [to bring me down]," he says. "Maybe they'll succeed, but we don't know yet."

Legends of Tomorrow continues Thursdays at 8/9c on The CW.

(Full disclosure: TVguide.com is owned by CBS, one of The CW's parent companies)