Arrow is trying something new with its bad guys in Season 7. Not only did the previous bad guy escape to menace another day at the end of Season 6, but the show also brought in a trio of new baddies to make the most of the newly vigilante-free Star City. Emily Bett Rickards, who plays Felicity Smoak, had this to say:
When you have a multitude of people who are sort of distracting [you] and working as a team toward evil, you're, for lack of a better word, screwed. The team doesn't necessarily have a designated leader since they've been broken up. It goes back to, what is everybody's cost? If you don't have the same amount of cost, you're going to face disagreement and trouble and possibly not having good teamwork against three people that are working together as a team with a dedicated message, which is probably, at the root, of it evil. They're kind of outnumbered in terms of mental game, which transfers into the powers that they have.
When Season 7 kicked off, Team Arrow was really a thing of the past. The former members of the team were still friends and allies, but the vigilante ban combined with the terms of their immunity with the FBI meant that they had to find their own ways of pursuing justice. Felicity's absence due to witness protection meant that she wasn't even around. Any sense of cohesion behind Oliver's former teammates was lost when he went into the clink.
Oliver is the only one 100% out of the fight for Star City thanks to his incarceration, but Team Arrow isn't a team anymore, and that is a weakness that the Longbow Hunters could exploit. Every single one of the former members of the team could be fighting fit and ready to go; unless they're all on the same page, they likely won't be able to beat these new baddies. Based on what we know about them from the comics, each one will be formidable enough on their own.
With the new baddies working together, Emily Bett Rickards' comments to EW indicate that the good guys will need to come together sooner than later. Felicity vowed to return to Star City and fight to take down Ricardo Diaz, even sending William away to boarding school, with his major arc of the season seemingly taking place in the future. Diggle is hard at work at ARGUS, with Curtis backing him up in the tech department.
Dinah is still fighting the good fight for Star City thanks to her position as SCPD captain. Rene is itching to return to the vigilante life, so he's probably the one who could be most easily persuaded to get back into the mask. Even Laurel -- who is really only sometimes one of the good guys -- is fighting the good fight in her own way now that she landed the unlikely position of District Attorney.
If at least some of these characters can set aside their differences and work toward a common goal, the Longbow Hunters will be in trouble. As two of the original members of Team Arrow, Diggle and Felicity may need to be the centers of a new group. If not... well, hopefully that new Green Arrow is free to do a lot of crime-fighting.
You can catch new episodes of Arrow on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW ahead of new episodes of Legends of Tomorrow. For some non-superhero viewing options, take a peek at our fall TV premiere schedule.
