The team's name is taken from the premise that after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, time is strictly linear and paradoxes can unravel the sole remaining timeline.

During Gog's attack on Superman in the event The Kingdom, killing him in his present and then traveling back to the previous day to do it again, the Linear Men are shaken at the lack of anomalies on their equipment.

Rip Hunter then goes on the run from his former colleagues after he took the Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman characters from the year 2020 (along with the children of various other heroes) back in time to 1999 to help the younger 'Trinity' stop Gog.

[7] The Legends of Tomorrow is based on Linear Men, with its members being Arrowverse characters like Sara Lance/White Canary, Atom (Ray Palmer), Mick Rory, Nate Heywood, Zari Tomaz, Wally West, John Constantine, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Rip Hunter, Jefferson Jackson, Martin Stein, Leonard Snart and Amaya Jiwe.

Intending to stop Savage, Hunter recruits a team consisting of Ray Palmer, Sara Lance, Martin Stein, Jefferson Jackson, Kendra Saunders, Carter Hall, Leonard Snart, and Mick Rory.

However, they are plagued by the Legion of Doom, a time-travelling team led by Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne), who has recruited versions of Damien Darhk, Malcolm Merlyn, and Leonard Snart to find the Biblical Spear of Destiny, with which they can alter their fates.

The team is joined by Amaya Jiwe, an African superhero from the Justice Society of America, and Nate Heywood, a modern-day historian who acquires the power to become solid metal at will.

The team loses both members of Firestorm, but is joined by Zari Tomaz, a hacktivist from 2042 whose air-controlling amulet is connected to Amaya's totem, and Wally West, a speedster formerly under the tutelage of the Flash.