In the 8 years since its inception, the Arrow-verse has provided audiences with live-action versions of some of the greatest DC Comics villains. Some are the big names people know and love, and others are villains that would've likely never gotten screen time elsewhere than The CW's hero shows. Unfortunately, all good arcs must come to an end and some of DC's villains are now seemingly off the board for future storylines.
Or are they? With Arrow resurrecting old characters in its finale and "Crisis On Infinite Earths" changing all sorts of things up with Earth Prime, the Arrow-verse could pretty much bring back anybody. If writers in the Arrow-verse are interested in doing that, here are some villains I'd love to see get new life in the universe for one reason or another.
Vandal Savage
If ever there was a villain that got the short end of the stick in the Arrow-verse, it's Vandal Savage. The immortal villain of DC Comics has had a few interesting arcs in his comic book history, which made his run in Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow so frustrating. If he were to return, I'd love to see him play a recurring role throughout the Arrow-verse. Ideally he'd be building a plan that's a little more deep than what was seen in Legends.
An immortal man would have the time to amass a good deal of wealth and power, and strike that delicate balance of evil that's socially acceptable in a comics-based world. Think of a villain similar to Lex Luthor, but obviously his plans can be much slower burns given his immortality. Savage has calmed down since given the chance to eternally torture people in Hell; imagine what he might be capable of if he makes it out again!
Ra's Al Ghul
It's somewhat ironic that the one DC villain who is notoriously known for cheating death is dead in the Arrow-verse. Sure, the power shift in the League of Assassins after Ra's al Ghul's demise made for some good Arrow drama, but it came at the cost of a major villain that could've been involved in many plans and plots within the Arrow-verse.
It's a shame Ra's Al Ghul is dead, especially in the era of Batwoman. If by some freak chance "Crisis" brought back the iconic leader, it would be great to see him attempt to take over Gotham in Batman's absence only to go toe-to-toe with Batwoman. Perhaps he could revive his own league within Gotham City, if only temporarily, and give Kate the same sort of challenge he gave Oliver back in Arrow's run.
Clifford DeVoe
The Thinker broke The Flash's long streak of speedster villains, and in doing so gave the series what i'd say is one of its best seasons. Clifford DeVoe didn't need to outrun Barry Allen; he had him beat at just around every turn. Then things changed, and unfortunately DeVoe's hubris resulted in him and his contingency plan being blown into oblivion.
It was a disappointing end to a character that could've been a great long-standing rival to The Flash. Part of me likes to imagine The Flash writers have some additional way DeVoe backed up his consciousness so that he could appear unexpectedly in another season similar to how Reverse-Flash did in Season 5. Hey, there's still time for that to happen, and I for one would love to see the brilliant DeVoe concoct yet another plan that turns Barry Allen's life upside down.
Manchester Black
If there's anything the Arrow-verse is light on right now, it's vigilantes who kill. Manchester Black was that guy for Supergirl, and even managed to stay just clear of the law to keep Supergirl off his tail for a while. Of course, as with most dangerous vigilantes, a hero can only take so much, and it all escalated to a point where Manchester Black was converted into energy by the Staff of H'ronmeer,
With Earth-38 now part of Earth Prime, perhaps there's an opportunity to give Manchester Black another chance at life. I'd enjoy if The Elite were a little more of a force to be reckoned with in the re-imagined Earth, though they probably wouldn't last long staying in National City. Perhaps he'd move back home and start up The Elite there and give our heroes a chance to travel outside of the United States?
Batman (Earth-99)
Kevin Conroy finally got a chance to portray Bruce Wayne in live-action, and it was glorious. Unfortunately the actor wasn't playing a Batman viewers were familiar with or likely expected from the voice of Batman: The Animated Series. This Batman, consumed by fear and rage, ended up killing a majority of his enemies as opposed to the whole no-killing thing. He even ended up killing Superman after misidentifying him as a threat to humanity.
Kevin Conroy's Batman died pre-Crisis, but there's always a chance he could exist somehow in the new Arrow-verse. If he were alive, I'd like to see him return for some adaptation of Dark Knights: Metal. For those unaware, that was a DC Comics event where a negative multiverse of Batmen who went to extremes to save their Earths founded a Justice League bent on Justice at any cost. The Flash has already teased Red Death (one of the villains from the arc) in its universe, so I see it as something The CW could pull off.
Captain Cold
Few villains in the Arrow-verse have undergone the transformation that Captain Cold has on The Flash. The character was frequently seen as one of the hero's greatest rivals, but on The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow became a bit of anti-hero. He exited a hero and occasional ally to The Flash, which is not typical of the Captain Cold from comics lore. As someone who loved Wentworth Miller's run before he left in pursuit of other projects, I'd love to see him or someone else reenter the Arrow-verse to play a more traditionally evil Captain Cold.
There would be no better way to correct the character's persona than to see Leonard Snart return as someone unrecognizable to his former allies, and be just as "cold" as he has been in DC Comics. Pull it off, and the Arrow-verse could have yet another strong villain in its ranks similar to Reverse-Flash or Malcolm Merlyn that it can call upon again and again to stir up big trouble for heroes.
Got a suggestion for a dead Arrow-verse villain that needs to return? List it down in the comments below, and be sure to stick with CinemaBlend for more on what's happening in the world of television and movies.
