How Arrow Season 3 Finale Sets Up Spinoff 'Legends of Tomorrow' for Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer

The Arrow Season 3 finale aired last night, and fans are likely still digesting everything that happened. But there is one scene in particular featuring Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer that sets up the spinoff Legends of Tomorrow in a bizarre way.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

In Routh's final scene of the episode, he tested his new nano tech on the Atom suit and caused a massive explosion throughout the top floor of Palmer Technologies. By all accounts, Ray should be a little more than a pile of ashes right now, so it's unclear exactly how this sets up the spinoff.

Showrunner Marc Guggenheim spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and discussed how that scene came together.

"Ray's last scene, which is a very definitive sendoff, was actually something we talked about way back at the beginning of the year, long before the spinoff was discussed," he said. "While Ray's sendoff does a nice job of teeing up where he is headed in the spinoff, it was always something we were going to do. It functions both as an end to Ray's story in season three, as well as a little tease of what people might be able to expect from the spinoff."

In related news, we know the network has ordered the spinoff to series. And it sounds like the show will be epic in scope based on the description. Here's how TVLine described the show:

"When heroes alone are not enough... the world needs legends. Having seen a future he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat -- one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they've ever known?"

Could this have something to do with the "Crisis" we've seen in the future newspaper on The Flash? Or is it some other threat? And could the time travel aspect of the show explain how Caity Lotz's deceased character of Sara Lance/Canary appears on the show?

What do you make of Ray's final scene? Let us know in the comments section.