Stephen Amell has gotten into a lot of brawls over the years on Arrow thanks to the stunt-heavy superhero action in Star City and beyond. As Oliver Queen, he's been beaten, bashed, shot, stabbed, skewered, and smashed by more than one car. Amell usually doesn't have to face too many attacks in his real life, but that changed in a big way during a weekend encounter with an overzealous fan. Stephen Amell was actually headbutted by an Arrow enthusiast who wanted to live his dream of fighting the Emerald Archer. Take a look at Amell's post-headbutt selfie:
Ouch! Stephen Amell's Facebook post just goes to show that he's pretty cool when it comes to his fans. Some actors might not take too well to being randomly headbutted by a stranger; but Amell just shook his hand and declined to fight. He could have headbutted the guy back or run away or reminded him that the Green Arrow is a fictional character whose fights are carefully choreographed on a TV set. Kudos to the CW star for not freaking out, especially considering that his face is pretty much his job. Not to diminish Amell's acting abilities, but he isn't known as "Mayor Handsome" for nothing.
Of course, Stephen Amell might just be glad that he got off with only a headbutt. He was kicked in the face during a stunt mishap not too long ago, and his nose was definitely off-center for a bit. A little bruising around the eyes might have come as a relief to Amell in comparison. Who knows? Maybe the makeup team on Arrow won't even bother trying to cover the bruises. They could bring some extra authenticity to the show in later episodes.
On the whole, the fights have generally been one of the most realistic elements of Arrow. Stephen Amell does a lot of his own fighting during production, which really helps sell Oliver as a formidable fighter. The hood doesn't cover everything, and Oliver moves around so much that we'd definitely be able to tell if a stunt man was doing all the fisticuffs. Amell has trained hard for his skills, so many fans have appreciated his efforts, and not just because of how fun it is to watch him on the salmon ladder.
Arrow relied less heavily on fight scenes in Season 4 thanks to supervillain Damien Darhk preferring magic to brute force, but Oliver has been facing very human bad guys like Tobias Church and Prometheus in Season 5 that have unleashed his physical prowess once more. Hopefully the stunts will continue to highlight what Stephen Amell does best. Who needs magic when there's an athletic actor who seems to love filming fight sequences? Come to think of it, maybe Prometheus is to blame for sending that hero-hunting Arrow fan to Amell in the first place.
Oliver is undoubtedly in for a lot more fights in the rest of Season 5. Flashback Oliver is currently in a pretty sticky situation with Dolph Lundgren in Russia, and Present Oliver is having some major problems with Prometheus. Tune in to The CW on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET to see what happens next. Hopefully Stephen Amell can continue filming without any surprise headbutts from fans.
