10 Arrowverse Villains Who Were Actually Heroes

Slade Wilson is one of the Arrowverse's most complex characters, and arguably its greatest villain. His fall from grace and eventual redemption arc is one of the franchise's best, as it has given audiences exhilarating action and compelling character work- and it helped no end that Manu Bennett's performance helped flesh out a possibly clichéd military-driven antagonist.

One of Oliver's first allies, Slade was trapped on Lian Yu after a mission to rescue Yao Fei went awry due to the machinations of mercenary Edward Fyers. He and Fei's daughter, Shado, trained Oliver in a number of martial arts disciplines and they later took down Fyers and his operation.

Unfortunately, Shado's death and Wilson's Mirakuru-induced rage led to Slade and Oliver becoming enemies - which is an event that would haunt the future Green Arrow for years to come.

Slade channelled his desire for vengeance and his bloodlust into a plan designed to take everything from Queen and destroy Star City.

Of course, that stunning second season of Arrow saw Oliver eventually stop Deathstroke, and Slade Wilson was imprisoned on Lian Yu where he eventually regained his sanity and aided Oliver on a number of occasions - somewhat atoning for his past actions and finding some measure of peace in his life.