Arrow's Main Villains Ranked From Worst To Best

One of the latter series' longest serving baddies, Ricardo Diaz, once a mere drug dealer, gradually becomes one of Star City's most powerful people, owning much of the city's law enforcement and judicial personnel and thus being virtually untouchable.

Initially part of a group named The Quadrant, Diaz, known as Dragon, eventually murders his way up to the position of leader, revealing him to be the main antagonist of season six. His organisation is crippled by Oliver Queen and Black Canary, and, in the following season, he returns with the aid of the Longbow Hunters to take down the Green Arrow once and for all.

Despite this, he is captured once again, and made an unwitting agent of A.R.G.U.S. in the Suicide Squad-like project, the Ghost Initiative. Diaz cunningly finds a way to bypass the detonator in his head, allowing him to betray his 'employers', but during the escape, the duplicitous man is finally subdued and imprisoned for good. Shortly after, an unknown figure, later shown to be the leader of the Ninth Circle, kills Diaz in his cell by setting him on fire.

From a street-level criminal to a dangerous political enemy, Ricardo Diaz's presence is felt long after his demise, from his killing of police captain Quentin Lance to the coercing of Oliver's friend from Lian Yu, Anatoly Knyazev.