Month in and month out, superheroes need supervillains to fight. And not all of them, at first, are going to be winners. For every Joker, there’s a dozen Polka-Dot Men sitting on the back bench. Arrow, though, has been allowed to take some of DC Comics’ most historically underwhelming villains and turn them into genuine, credible threats. Where are these guys in the comics?
Deathstroke
Deathstroke has never really been one to have much dimension in comics. The best arc he had was decades ago, when he went up against the Teen Titans over a family dispute, and ever since, he’s more or less just been the generic snarky badass who shows up and gets beaten down when Ollie has had enough of him.
The show gives him far more personal motives, though, as he blames Ollie for the death of the woman he loves. Helped considerably with Manu Bennett playing him, Deathstroke’s anger is rooted in some far more relatable circumstances, and he delivers some truly painful blows to Ollie as a result.
Nyssa Al Ghul
On the page, Nyssa is the Jan to Talia Al Ghul’s Marcia; Talia gets all the attention, the tragic romance with Batman, and the love of Ra’s, while Nyssa gets… well, we won’t get into it but suffice to say, Ra’s Al Ghul didn’t learn any parenting skills over the centuries. But Arrow gave Nyssa a lot more dimension, an actual romantic life, and even a few heroic moments. Now that her love Sara Lance is back, and she’s offended the entire League, we won’t be surprised if Nyssa is spending a little more time in Star City.
China White
One of the early questions about Arrow was where the bad guys were going to come from; Ollie doesn’t exactly have Batman’s rogues gallery. Fortunately, Arrow made superb use of China White, a relatively minor and recent villain, and made her an ongoing menace, having her pop up in six episodes so far. We haven’t seen her in a while, but it’s likely only a matter of time before she goes up against Ollie again.
Brother Blood
A cult leader/arms dealer, Brother Blood spends a lot of his time in the DC Universe getting taken down by sidekicks and former sidekicks. He’s less a supervillain and more of an obstacle that talks, usually at length, about how great he and his cult are. So Arrow turning him into a conniving politician was a welcome change of pace; after all, as mayor of Starling City, he might have done some real damage. Although, come on. His last name’s “Blood.” Nobody thought he was a supervillain?
The Royal Flush Gang
In the comics, the Royal Flush Gang are a bunch of criminals who dress up like playing cards and use playing-card inspired gadgets to rob banks. Not even an attempt to turn them into an organized crime cartel really worked; you can only take a guy dressed up as a playing card so seriously.
On Arrow, they’re the Reston family, a loving bunch of people driven to robbing banks after the economic collapse of Starling City. Even better, they’re smart; the Restons mark one of the few times anybody has bothered to bring a riot shield to a fight with a guy who uses arrows.
Count Vertigo
Arrow has taken two shots at reinventing Count Vertigo, a smug snake in the comics who can make you dizzy. Yes, that’s really his superpower. Thankfully, in the show, both Vertigos are much more practical and way more dangerous as vicious criminals who use designer drugs to take out their opponents. Although, it has to be noted Laurel did manage to fall for the same trick twice, which does help them.
Ted Gaynor
To give you an idea of how deep Arrow goes, Ted Gaynor is a foe of the Blackhawks, which only hardcore DC fans have ever really even heard of, let alone read a comic book about. But he’s a perfect foil for Diggle, and if anything, Gaynor’s arrogance and force-above-all mentality fits in with a supervillain more now than ever.
Shrapnel
Shrapnel is a walking chunk of metal who throws pieces of himself at superheroes before they figure out how to whack him with a magnet and send him back to jail. Seriously, in the comics, that’s pretty much all Shrapnel, as a villain, does. So Arrow turning him instead into a mad bomber means not only does he get to have a star turn for once, he’s even a threat who isn’t taken out in the first five minutes. Of course, he did retain the character’s trademark stupidity when he decided to try and double-cross Amanda Waller, but there’s only so much you can do.
The Huntress
Helena Bertinelli never quite worked as a hero, especially when paired with Batman; the angry Mob princess murdering gangsters with a crossbow always felt more like the Punisher’ style more than the Caped Crusader’s. So turning her into a foil for Ollie as he struggles with his murderous tendencies was a brilliant idea.
Double Down
A rather obscure Flash villain, Double Down never got much time in the limelight both because of the Rogues and because, come on, you’re throwing things at the Flash. Not even Captain Boomerang can throw things at the Flash fast enough to do anything other than watch them stop in mid-air and then fall to the ground. But he makes a good foe for Ollie, even if his powers turn out to be a little gross; he’s essentially throwing callouses at people. Dude, that’s just not cool.