6 Times Arrow Improved Green Arrow Mythology (& 4 Times It Failed)

5. It's Helped To Showcase Lesser Villains

For the majority of viewers, Arrow villains such as Ra’s al Ghul and Deathstroke, Arrow – like so many of its fellow Arrowverse shows – has used its platform to showcase certain lesser-known villains.

There were plenty of one-and-done appearances from various DC rogues, but Arrow also managed to give so many bad guys and gals multi-episode arcs that dug deeper on what makes them tick, or even integrated them directly into the story of Oliver Queen.

Characters such as Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk, Brother Blood, Deadshot, China White, Ravager, Count Vertigo, Bronze Tiger, Cupid, and Brick are just a smattering of comic book villains who were brought back for several episodes of Arrow in order to give you a sense of their own personal arcs.

In fact, some of these – such as Ravager and Brother Blood – were main players for an entire season, while Malcolm Merlyn has obviously been used as a mainstay of Arrow throughout the majority of its eight-season run.

Arrow has never simply settled for having an overarching ‘big bad’ across each season, and the series has brilliantly managed to keep just such a ‘big bad’ fresh and like a legitimate threat while simultaneously dropping in other villains who aren’t merely just throwaway characters.