Because Green Arrow doesn’t have the biggest cast of characters in the comic books, Arrow has had to draw upon characters belonging to other superhero families, including a certain Caped Crusader. From minor villains like Firefly to Season 3’s main antagonist Ra’s al Ghul, the series has included several minor and major Batman players during the last three seasons. Now it’s possible that one infamous Batman character from recent years will be introduced later this season to take on Oliver Queen. He's rolling with the title "Damian Dark."
The villain being referred to as “Damian Dark” will be introduced in the Season 3 finale and should reappear during Season 4, according to TV Line. The article describes Damian as a major, formidable, fierce new foe for Oliver.” There isn’t much to go off of here, but the article did speculate that this might be a version of Damian Wayne. For those who aren’t familiar the comic books, Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Guhl, Ra’s’ arguably more well-known daughter. Trained by his mother and the League of Assassins, Damian was originally supposed to disrupt his father’s crime fighting activities, but he ended up switching sides and becoming Robin.
If this is indeed a version of Damian Wayne, Arrow might need to alter him significantly. For one thing, even if Oliver serves as a Bruce Wayne stand-in, there’s no way that this version of Damian would be related to him. Oliver only has one illegitimate child out there, and he’s currently living in Central City with his mother. Second, even with all the crazy things that have been seen on the show, a 10 or 12-year-old being Oliver’s “fierce” foe doesn’t quite work, even if he has been trained by the League of Assassins. With all the changes they would have to make, in the end Arrow’s Damian would barely resemble his comic book counterpart.
Fortunately, there is another possibility for who this new mystery villain might be. In Season 2, it was revealed that a mysterious organization called H.I.V.E. hired Deadshot to kill John Diggle’s brother Andy. H.I.V.E. is a terrorist organization that has frequently fought with the Teen Titans in the comics, and one of its members is named Damien Darhk. As obscure as this guy is, given that the organization is set to be explored sometime in the future, it would make sense if this villain was him rather than Bruce Wayne’s bastard son. Using Damien Darhk may be the way that Arrow sets up H.I.V.E. as the main Season 4 antagonist. Whether the character ends up being a H.I.V.E. member or an adaptation of a Batman character, Oliver will definitely have his work cut out ahead of him.
Arrow returns with new episodes Wednesday, March 18 at 8/7c on The CW.
