Esperanza Cruz (Earth-Prime)

Esperanza Cruz
Biographical Information
Aliases	Nicknames Spoons La Torera Big Game Hunter (Beast/Slayers) Esperanzita Codenames Spooner Stella Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz
Status	Alive
Citizenship	American
Born	Late 1910s Odessa, Texas
Home Universe	Earth-Prime
Physical Information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Associations
Home	Cruz Residence; Odessa (formerly) Spooner's Lair; Texas (formerly) Waverider; Temporal Zone (formerly)
Occupation	Legend Hunter (Beast/Slayers) Member of the Masqueradies (1925) Janitor at the McDougle Jemison Factory and Base (1943) Owner of the Cruz Apothecary (possible future)
Affiliation	Legends of Tomorrow Masqueradies (1925) McDougle Jemison Factory and Base (1943) Cruz Apothecary (possible future)
Relatives	Unnamed (maternal grandmother) Celso Cruz† (father) Gloria Cruz (mother) Unnamed (foster father)
Appearances
Portrayed by	Lisseth Chavez Dominique Lucky Martell (young)
First Appearance	Ground Control to Sara Lance
Last Appearance	Knocked Down, Knocked Up

“	Aliens put something in my head. And now they won't shut up.	”
— Headline of Cruz's alien encounter[src]

Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz is an individual who possesses exceptional powers connected to aliens through the Fountain of Imperium.

Cruz was recruited by the Legends of Tomorrow in search of Sara Lance after her kidnapping by Gary Green and Kayla.

Biography

Early Life

Esperanza Cruz was born in the late 1910s and later moved to Odessa, Texas after her father's death.

Cruz was unable to speak before she was six years old. However, she was able to communicate with her mother using different ways, which the latter always understood.

Saved by the Fountain

Fountain saves Cruz

In 1925, one day harvesting mushrooms for her mother, Cruz was approached by a man wearing a trench coat. Posing as a "healer", Cruz invited the man to her home and had a meal with Astra Logue and her older self. In order to talk to older Cruz privately, John placed a Sleep Spell on the Cruz family and Esperanza woke up on her mother's lap. As Cruz now possessed the knowledge of her mother's upcoming death, she attempted to prevent the tragedy from happening. Eventually Logue was able to convince Cruz to maintain the timeline integrity and brought her to the fountain, who later brought her to 2000.

In 1925, Cruz witnessed her mother being shot to death by Doc and his group of greedy "oil men". She then ran away to a forest and encountered the Fountain of Imperium, who sent her to 2000 where she lived a new life with her memories erased.

"Weird Girl Talks to Aliens"

Waking up in a new time period with her memories erased, Cruz was given the memory that she was kidnapped by unknown aliens and was able to escape with an alien communicator allegedly placed in her head and gained the power to hear aliens, not knowing she was connected to the Fountain of Imperium. She also no longer found her mother and presumed she was dead during the "kidnapping".

Cruz was taken care of by foster parents. Since she was 13 years old, she has been bowling as her foster father brought her to league nights. As a result, Cruz considered bowling very important to her as it made her feel like she belonged somewhere.

“	Yeah, after my abduction, I started wearing tinfoil hats. It blocked any alien signals I could pick up.	”
— Cruz to the Legends[src]

Later, Cruz went to live off the grid in Texas and went by "Spooner". She also protected herself by putting tinfoil on her hat to prevent aliens from finding her.

Into the Cosmos

Lending a Hand

In 2020, Cruz detected two trespassers in her lair. She then used a stun gun and knocked the two unconscious. Later, she tied them on a table, assuming them as aliens searching for her. During the process, she sharpened her knives and overheard Behrad's communication with the Waverider and removed his comms. However, the comms were able to contact the Waverider and reveal their location. The ship then arrived at Spooner's lair, and she shot it with her Energy Gun. Ava Sharpe then convinced her to go with them in search for Sara Lance. She was skeptical and refused, only to be shot with her own stun gun and abducted to the Waverider.

Cruz meets Ava Sharpe

She then woke up in the med bay and was greeted by Ava Sharpe and Behrad Tarazi, who were unarmed and told Cruz that they would not hurt her. As they discuss Cruz's abilities, she agreed to help and was aided by John Constantine. With the help of the Book of the Law, Constantine was able to boost Cruz's alien communicator and astral project her to Lance's location. However, Cruz was unable to hold for a long time and Sharpe stepped in, sending a message to Lance and confirming her safety. Constantine was then quickly dying as the energy passes through him and Zari Tarazi used the Totem to stop his suicidal actions.

Cruz and the Legends

Hours later, Behrad Tarazi ran a test on Cruz's brain and found no anomalies in her brain, with Gideon proposing a dissection of her brain. As Behrad disagrees, Cruz suddenly heard alien shrieking and brought him to the bridge, only to find aliens floating in the Temporal Zone and scattered through time. Sharpe then smiled and told Nate Heywood that the scatter proves Lance's safety as she would be the only one capable of such a mess.⁣ref name="Ground Control to Sara Lance"/>

Possible Future

“	You live with your mother, and together you found a clinic that helps hundreds of people. It's considered a milestone in the discipline of mental healing.	”
— Gideon[src]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Cruz channels the Fountain

“	This thing in my head is like an antenna. If I send a signal to your friend, the aliens who put it there could find me.	”
— Cruz on her powers[src]

• Connection to the Fountain of Imperium: Cruz was sent to 2000 by the Fountain of Imperium after fleeing her mother's murderers. She later developed a connection to aliens, allowing her to be able to hear them at a long distance. However, the ability is two-sided and allows aliens to locate her whereabouts.
  • Telepathy: Cruz was able to create a connection with Fernando, a mute Magic user, allowing her to understand his thoughts and talk to him telepathically. Cruz was then capable of creating a link between Fernando and Constantine through singing the Legends' lullaby.
    • Empathy: When Cruz approaches aliens, she is able to sense their emotions and feelings. She also shared her pain to Doc in order to prevent her mother's death.
    • Psychic Projection: Cruz can project a psychic image in individuals' minds.
  • Multilingualism: Aside from speaking English and Spanish, Cruz's powers evolved after joining the Legends, allowing her to speak different aliens' languages.
  • Power Transferal: Cruz has the ability to switch powers among superpowered individuals.

Abilities

Cruz holding her energy blaster

• Marksmanship: Cruz was able to shoot both Behrad and Mick with a stun gun easily. She is also proficient at using Energy Guns and was able to shoot through the Waverider.

“	Tables may have turned, but I ain't going down without a fight.	”
— Cruz to the Legends[src]

• Hand-to-Hand Combat: Cruz is trained with basic self-defense combat techniques by her mother, claiming that she is a fighter.
• High-level Intellect: Cruz was proven to be intelligent, with her strategies being effective against aliens.
• Technology: Cruz was able to set up technology in her lair and detect trespassers.

Equipment

Current Equipment

• Knives: Cruz uses knives as torturing weapons.
• Energy Guns: Cruz possesses multiple Energy Guns, one nicknamed "pequeña amiga" and one that is able to shoot through the shield of the Waverider, with the setting from one to "middle finger"

Former Equipment

• Guns: On multiple occasions, Cruz wielded a variety of firearms.
  • Palmer Cap-Chur Short Range Projector: Cruz was shown to use a tranq gun as a non-lethal weapon on trespassers.
  • Norinco Type 56: While protecting the Legends from the army, Cruz utilized a Norinco Type 56 she disarmed from her enemies.
  • Rail Gun: Cruz used a rail gun until she was convinced to stop using it.
  • M1911A1: Cruz utilized the M1911A1 against Fascist soldiers after disarming it from Captain Noriega.
  • Smith & Wesson Model 10: Cruz greeted her enemies with a Smith & Wesson Model 10.
    • Sawed off Over and Under Shotgun: While facing Gideon's replica, Cruz utilized the Sawed off Over and Under Shotgun.

Appearances

Appearances
	Ground Control to Sara Lance	Appears
	Meat: The Legends	Appears
	The Ex-Factor	Appears
	Bay of Squids	Appears
	The Satanist's Apprentice	Appears
	Bishop's Gambit	Appears
	Back to the Finale: Part II	Appears
	Stressed Western	Appears
	This Is Gus	Appears
	Bad Blood	Appears
	The Final Frame	Appears
	Bored on Board Onboard	Appears
	Silence of the Sonograms	Appears
	There Will Be Brood	Appears
	The Fungus Amongus	Appears
	The Bullet Blondes	Appears
	The Need for Speed	Appears
	wvrdr_error_100 not found	Appears
	Speakeasy Does It	Appears
	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist	Appears
	Deus Ex Latrina	Appears
	A Woman's Place Is in the War Effort!	Appears
	Paranoid Android	Appears
	Lowest Common Demoninator	Appears
	The Fixed Point	Appears
	Rage Against the Machines	Appears
	Too Legit to Quit	Appears
	Knocked Down, Knocked Up	Appears

Notes

• The character description for Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz is the following: "Tough and self-sufficient, Spooner Cruz lives off the grid, devising ingenious tech for the detection of—and defense against—space aliens. And while some might call her paranoid, she calls it being prepared.' A survivor of a childhood alien encounter, Spooner now believes she has the ability to communicate telepathically with aliens—making her the perfect recruit for Waverider captains Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe and the Legends who, in season six, will be hunting down extraterrestrials who have been displaced throughout history."
• Cruz is catholic and asexual.

Gallery

• 
  Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz
• 
  Cruz as a fork
• 
  Cartoon Cruz
• 
  Big Game Hunter
• 
  Young Cruz

Promotional Images

• 
  "Space Oddity"
• 
• 
  "The Legends are out of this world!"
• 
  "A Roaring Rewind"
• 

References

Other versions of Esperanza Cruz
New Multiverse Earth: Prime/Android