‘Arrow’ 100th episode debate: Could Deathstroke be back via Flashpoint?

There’s been a tremendous amount of hype surrounding both the 100th episode of “Arrow” and the crossover it contains for quite some time. What’s probably getting lost somewhere in the shuffle is the return of Deathstroke within this episode.

When we first learned earlier this fall that the famed comic-book villain was returning, it was a cause for tremendous celebration; yet, at the same time, it was a cause for confusion. Manu Bennett has not been on the set of the show since the third season, Not only that, but most indications are that he’s not happy with the way the character’s story ended, telling TheMusic in Australia the following last year:

“I think Deathstroke had a lot of possibilities with Arrow but, I think they took it in the wrong direction. … It took the Justice League to defeat him; it took an army to take him on. In Arrow, it took a while for Oliver [Queen/Arrow] to prove his point, but [season three] was just a beating of Slade, adding insult to injury.”

We do still like to think that there’s a chance Bennett could come back someday to potentially get a chance to tell more of the Deathstroke story that he wants out there in the universe, but at the same time, we don’t get any clear indication that this is happening with “Arrow” #100, given how he was in New Zealand at the time of its filming.

So how could we be seeing Deathstroke? There are a few different possibilities that we can think of.

1. It’s a person in a mask through the entire appearance – Maybe Bennett or a soundalike recorded a voice, and the villain spends the entire episode in costume where you don’t see their face.

2. It’s a copycat – There were certainly plenty of people aware of Deathstroke and what he did during season 2; therefore, we figure that there’s a reasonably good chance that someone else could be trying to emulate his plans.

3. We’re going Flashpoint – What if Barry Allen altering the timeline meant that someone else became Deathstroke rather than Slade? Could that be some of what we have coming up? It’d be interesting, but we don’t know who it could be — would the show turn a now-alive Robert Queen into the character? Could Shado be under the mask?

What do you think is going on with Deathstroke in episode #100? Vote in our attached poll, and be sure to check out a story over here about a surprise person showing up in costume during the 100th episode. (Photo: The CW.)