Arrow has lined up a diverse group of villains for its third season. Oliver Queen will soon be drawn into conflict with comic book bad guys like Digger Harkness, Cupid, his old nemesis Malcolm Merlyn and League of Assassins leader Ra’s al Ghul. However, Oliver may face his toughest challenge yet when Danny Brickwell makes his debut. The name might not sound familiar, but Green Arrow fans know him better by another identity: Brick.
Variety is reporting that British actor Vinnie Jones will play Brick in episodes 10, 11 and 12 of the third season. Brickwell is described as a “ruthless gang leader” who earned his nickname after surviving dozens of gunshots, and will attempt to destroy the Star City government. Brickwell was mentioned in season 1 as part of Robert Queen’s list of people who had ruined Starling City, so he’s been up to no good for many years. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get to hear Oliver tell Brickwell that he’s failed the city. Brick has also appeared on Young Justice and a Green Arrow animated short from Cartoon Network’s DC Nation.
Brick was introduced to the comics in 2004 as a former low-level enforcer who slowly built his own criminal empire and eliminated all underworld competitors. After a reign of terror that resulted in the deaths of several Star City politicians, Brick was eventually defeated by Green Arrow, which wasn’t an easy task with Brick’s super-strength and invulnerability. It’s doubtful that Arrow’s Brick will be as powerful as his comic book counterpart (who once survived a missile strike), since the show’s producers have stated they’re moving away from superpowers in the third season. Still, if bullets won’t put this guy down, then Oliver will need to come up with some creative options to defeat this monstrosity.
This isn’t Jones’ first foray into comic book villainy. He played Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand, where he earned notoriety for the line, “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!” He also appeared in the short-lived NBC superhero show The Cape as Dominic Raoul, a.k.a. Scales. However, with a three-episode appearance, Brick sounds like he’ll be a menacing addition to Oliver’s rogues gallery. The show just needs to make sure not to give him any laughable one-liners. Jones has had enough of those for a lifetime.
One other thing to note from this announcement is the wording of Brick’s goal: to bring down the “Star City government.” In Arrow, Oliver’s home is Starling City, but in the season 3 premiere, Ray Palmer revealed a plan to the Queen Consolidated board to rebrand as Star City. This is so the citizens could move past the devastation of Malcolm Merlyn and Slade Wilson’s attacks over the past two years. For now this is just an idea, but if this article is correct, it sounds like Starling City may be renamed by the time Brick’s criminal rampage begins.
