‘Arrow’ 100th episode retrospective: Was Malcolm Merlyn, Deathstroke, or Prometheus best Big Bad?
For every good hero, you need good villains — that’s one of the many things “Arrow” did right within its first 99 episode. They presented many a character who you should fear, including some iconic adversaries from the comics to some that are more original creations / at the very least remixes of characters from the source material.
So who is the best of the best? That’s always going to be up for debate, but if you look below, you can get a pretty good sense as to who we believe to be the greatest of the five Big Bads that we’ve seen on the show to date.
5. Ra’s al Ghul (season 3) – Sure, he has a great deal of comic-book lineage behind him, and he certainly was mysterious and interesting. Yet, what did Ra’s really accomplish other than knocking Oliver off of the edge of a mountain? We know that he was important, but he’s probably the least villainous of the major villains we’ve seen on the show.
4. Damien Darhk (season 4) – Darhk absolutely has one of the best villain resumes out there, given that he tried to destroy all of Star City and is responsible for the death of Laurel Lance. The story fizzled out pretty terribly at the end, but there was a time when we were loving Neal McDonough’s performance and thought he had unlimited potential.
3. Prometheus (season 5) – The jury’s still out on if he remains this high, but he feels perfectly in line to be a great “Arrow” villain. We know that he’s connected to our hero in some way, he’s grounded within this world, and he’s already proven to be methodical in his approach. He’s absolutely what we want to see Oliver face at this point in his life.
2. Slade Wilson (season 2) – We’re splitting hairs between our top villains because we love both of them so. Deathstroke because one of the deadliest characters in the show’s history, he took Moira Queen out of the world, and it took an exhausting and clever operation to have him taken away. Let’s ignore what happened in season 3 altogether.
1. Malcolm Merlyn (season 1) – He’s got a significant death toll, but more than that he’s the one villain Oliver hasn’t found himself capable of killing to date given that there are such clear emotional connections here. He was Moira’s lover, he is Thea’s father, and he is the father of Oliver’s late best friend Tommy. Yet, he was behind the attack in the Glades, he puppet-mastered Thea at various points, and he’s soon to be a part of the Legion of Doom. We’re not taking the latter into account, but he’s the most multi-layered villain in the entire CW superhero universe.
Best Recurring Villains – We figured we’d throw a little love here towards The Count (season 1), Tobias Church (season 5), Deadshot (starting in season 1), Cupid (starting in season 3), and Brick (season 3).
Who is your favorite “Arrow” Big Bad? Vote in the poll below, and take a look at more of our coverage leading up to the 100th episode! (Photo: The CW.)