Arrow: Ranking Every Character From Worst To Best
24. Ricardo Diaz
Taking over from Cayden James as Big Bad halfway through the sixth season, Ricardo Diaz was revealed to have been the mastermind behind all of the manipulating that sent his predecessor on his revenge-driven scheme in the first place. While that would have been a lot more plausible if the character was portrayed as more than just one-dimensional thug in the first half, it didn't stop actor Kirk Acevedo from stealing the show in the second.
Orchestrating a city-wide takeover, Diaz grounded Arrow in the city-orientated realism that we hadn't seen from it in far too long and, when he was given time to breathe, he turned out to have a surprisingly deep (and compelling) backstory. His reign of terror would also result in one of the strongest back half of episodes the show had ever produced.
It's a darn shame that he was once again wasted in the seventh season.