Arrowverse: Why Nate And Ray Aren't Real Friends | ScreenRant
Nate and Ray have an epic bromance in the Arrowverse. But are the Atom and Steel really as tight in DC's Legends of Tomorrow as fans think?
The Arrowverse is full of a number of heartwarming friendships. The Legends in particular have become almost family, but there's a bromance that has always stood out among its members. Nate and Ray are pretty much inseparable.
Perhaps it's their love for knowledge, the way they geek out together or everything they have faced, but Nate and Ray are supposedly best friends. But there are plenty of signals that suggest they aren't what they appear. Here are 10 reasons why the two might not really be friends.
10 Leaving Him Behind
Ray's journey with the Legends has been completed now that he has departed from the Waverider to start a new life and perhaps even a family. This was a massive blow to Nate, who clearly considers Ray to be one of his closest friends.
However, when you leave the Waverider, there's almost no going back. It's difficult to keep in contact with a team that could be anywhere at any time. Ray's decision to leave was essentially a way of saying that he no longer wanted Nate in his life.
9 Distracted By Romances
Both of these heroes have been incredibly distracted by romances in the past. So much so that it can sometimes come to damage their relationship. Nate's obsession with finally getting with Zari could have really destabilized the team.
Ray's relationship with Nora was not only deemed ridiculous by the team due to her villainous past, but it's also part of the reason that Ray left his friends behind. The bro code isn't exactly intact when it comes to Nate and Ray.
8 First Doubts
When Ray and Nate first met one another there were a lot of doubts from either one of them. It was clear that they may not get along very well. Ray can come off as a rich boy scout who doesn't really live in the real world.
Nate on the other hand can sometimes be arrogant but was also not trusted in battle because of his blood condition. There were a lot of barriers put up between them early on, and it was clear that the first impressions might not have been the best.
7 Departing From The Waverider
Nate also made the decision to depart from the Waverider, although this was because of a job. Instead of continuing to travel with his supposed friend and help him in times of need, he instead decided to take up a job with the Time Bureau.
This was in part due to trying to fix the relationship with his father and also because Nate wanted a new challenge. However, he visited the Waverider less and less, which caused a lot of conflict with his former teammates, who no longer felt that they knew him.
6 Letting Each Other Take Hits
Perhaps it's a sign of friendship that both of these men have tried to sacrifice themselves for the other, but on the other hand, it's clear that they both allowed the other to do so. On multiple occasions they've made decisions that could kill the other because of their good nature.
For instance, Ray choosing to become Neron meant that he was essentially putting Nate in more danger. Nate meanwhile had the struggle of whether they would have to kill Ray to defeat the villain. This ended up leading to Nate's death, creating an even more confusing array of sacrifice.
5 Nate's Origins
Nate became the hero Citizen Steel in large part due to Ray. In many ways, the Atom encouraged Nate to become a superhero, giving him powers and even a cool costume to wear into battle as part of the Legends.
Ray knew what kind of lifestyle this was but encouraged it to happen anyway. By giving him the powers and the suit, it was as if he was immediately putting Nate in the line of danger, when he may have never chosen to be in that situation.
4 Taking A Risk On Nate's Life
What's more, Nate's origins come because Ray was trying to save him. Due to Nate's blood condition, he wasn't healing properly from a wound. Ray stepped in and administered an experimental drug which ultimately gave Nate his powers.
However, Ray didn't really test this beforehand and had no idea of what would actually happen to Nate. In some ways Ray experimented on Nate, and could have risked taking his life right there on the Waverider.
3 Original Team
The original team has a bond that cannot really be matched by anyone else. The group is very depleted now, with Ray, Sara and Mick being the last remaining members of the first team that set sail into time.
Ray and Sara in particular have a friendship that can't really be compared to anything else. Because Nate does not have this experience alongside Ray, their friendship is severely weakened.
2 Hiding The Big Secrets
If you have a big secret, you usually share it with a friend. Ray on the other hand held a number of discoveries close to his chest. From his initial relationship with Nora to the request to kill of Sara from Constantine, he hid a lot.
Nate also managed to keep a fair few secrets, especially relating to his dad and what was happening at the Time Bureau. There was almost a suggestion here that the two couldn't really trust one another.
1 A Knight's Obsession
Ray traveled back in time and took part in the Knights of the Round Table and the era of Camelot. Although assuming it was fiction to start, Ray quickly fell in love with the reality he had found himself in and decided that he never wanted to leave.
This was a big blow to Nate as he was going to lose his best friend. What was worse is that Nate found in the history books that Ray was going to die. Ray still didn't listen, and almost risked Nate's life because of his ridiculous fantasy.