8 DC Comics Characters The Arrowverse Has Saved
6. Damien Darhk
Arrow's big bads have been some of the biggest villains in the DC universe - Ra's Al Ghul, Deathstroke, Dark Archer. For the fourth season, it was a weird decision, then, for the writers to pluck Damien Darhk from obscurity and name him as Oliver Queen's latest nemesis.
In the comics, Darhk is a minor foe of the Teen Titans who only appeared in a handful of issues in 1999. A baby-faced mysterious figure, the true extent of the threat the character possessed was never really explained - though he was an excellent hacker and highly wanted by the CIA and FBI.
Presumably choosing him for his awesome name alone, Arrow had free reign to do what they liked with the character. What they went with was making him an immortal and hugely powerful sorcerer, a former member of the League of Assassins and the head of H.I.V.E. Though the season as a whole was Arrow's weakest, Neal McDonough's Darhk was one of its highlights. He was probably even better on Legends season two, when he formed the Legion of Doom with Reverse-Flash, Malcolm Merlyn and Captain Cold.
In short, the Arrowverse managed to turn a forgotten comic book villain into one of the best antagonists in any of the four shows.