Arrow's Main Villains Ranked From Worst To Best

He may not be the deadliest on this list, or the most otherworldly, but in terms of sheer longevity and endurance, no character has lingered around longer in the Arrowverse as a bigger thorn in Oliver's side than John Barrowman's Malcolm Merlyn.

A father of two - Oliver's childhood friend Tommy, and, as it turns out, Thea Queen - and the former CEO of Merlyn International, Malcolm is driven mad by the murder of his wife in Starling City's crime-ridden district, the Glades, and, as the Dark Archer, dedicates his life to avenging her death as bloodily as possible.

Training in Nanda Parbat under Ra's al Ghul, Merlyn returns to Starling City in season one to perform the Undertaking - i.e. blowing up the Glades. Tommy is killed during the event, and Malcolm shows about as much remorse over it through the series as he is capable of: not very much.

After the death of Ra's al Ghul, Malcolm becomes the new ruler of the League of Assassins, and later a pawn of Damien Darhk (after Oliver relieves him of one of his hands). But at the core, everything he does is purely out of his own self-interest, even when he occasionally lends his assistance to Team Arrow.

The Dark Archer's only noble act in the whole series comes right at the end, when Malcolm saves Thea by stepping on a landmine in her place. Still, after five seasons, that's hardly enough to redeem all the evil he's wrought.