Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Arrow episode "Brothers and Sisters." Read at your own risk!
Arrow literally just said goodbye to a character not that long ago, and now it seems The CW series just said goodbye to another one. Granted, we're not 100% sure the superhero show killed off the character, but the scene in question really makes it hard to think otherwise and there are some fans not at all happy about it. Here's what happened to Kirk Acevedo's Ricardo Diaz, and the reactions from those none too happy about it.
It all began with Lyla and Diggle pulling the trigger on The Ghost Initiative all in an effort to bring in Dante. Eventually, the two decided to go in solo with just Diaz in a mission that went sideways when the villain shorted out his device and informed Dante it was all a trap. Diaz then tried to make an escape, but Felicity held him at gunpoint just long enough for John to knock him out.
The Ghost Initiative was suspended, and Diaz was sent back to Slabside for his attempt to escape. The villain was last seen chilling in his cell when he spotted a familiar face staring at him. Arrow fans didn't get to see who, but they did see the room doused in liquid from a overhead fire sprinkler. It was gasoline, and when the mysterious figure tossed a lighter into the cell it and Diaz burst into flames.
Arrow didn't explicitly show Diaz breathe his last breath, so there is a chance he survived that raging inferno inside his prison cell. Best case scenario, he was an incredibly long road of recovery ahead that will almost surely take him out of commission as a big bad for quite a while. His odds are survival feel incredibly low, but surely that nickname as The Dragon has to count for something, right?
Kirk Acevedo's potential exit from Arrow was surely celebrated by some, but there were others quite upset he was written off. Seriously, there were some people outright livid at the Arrow-verse show for doing it, with some even claiming they'd never watch again.
Yikes. Not everyone reacted with such aggression, of course, although they did make it known that Ricardo Diaz was something they'd miss going forward on Arrow.
That's just one of the many tweets of people outright shocked by the moment, and somewhat sad that the Arrow villain might soon be dust in the wind. Others were convinced it was curtains for the villain, and that he would not return to cause the Queen family any longer.
If Ricardo Diaz is gone, is Dante the new big bad of Season 7? His partnership with Emiko certainly does put him in a more powerful position this season, although he has some big shoes to fill. Then again, Diaz seemed pretty rattled by Dante, so maybe those shoes were too small to begin with.
There's also the mystery of who may have killed Diaz, and one would imagine Arrow will answer that in due time. Did Emiko do it to take care of a loose end for Dante, or did Laurel do it to give Felicity some peace of mind as she goes through her pregnancy? Black Siren acted like she was above doing the wrong thing earlier in the episode, but is it so hard to believe she'd change her mind?
Arrow airs on The CW Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. For a look at some new things headed to television in the coming weeks, hit up our midseason premiere guide.
