‘Arrow’ season 3: Was Deadshot eliminated by higher-ups?

Almost the moment that we saw Deadshot killed off on this past episode of “Arrow” entitled “Suicidal Tendencies,” there was one prevailing conspiracy theory in the minds of many: The character was most likely a casualty of what happened over at DC Comics and Warner Bros., who are bringing the character to the upcoming “Suicide Squad” movie. The character is set to be played by Will Smith.

We wondered whether or not this was something that we were ever going to get an official comment on, mostly because hands could have been tied and it was very well possible nobody wanted the truth to get out there. However, it does now feel like many of the theories were actually correct. Speaking in a post on his Tumblr in response to a fan, executive producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed that Deadshot is “is off the table for the nonce.” Basically, this is a character that simply cannot be used. We don’t really think that it is hard to read between the lines in terms of why.

Ultimately, we’re not going to mince words here: This is a pretty terrible decision, especially to longtime fans of this character and of Michael Rowe’s work on the show. As we said in our recent podcast, we don’t blame producers for it at all. The problem we feel is that DC is doing its fans a disservice, and also think them to be ignorant in that having two different versions of the same character would somehow confuse and ruin a product, when there are often numerous comics series featuring the same heroes running at the same time.

Ultimately, this stinks. It feels like higher-ups are taking away much of the good stuff surrounding John Diggle, especially for something that may or may not work.

That lies the end of our rant, but we’ll have some other coverage on all things “Arrow” soon. Also, you can sign up to get some more TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: The CW.)