Arrowverse: The 'Big Bads' Of Every Season - Ranked
4. Dark Archer
The very first Arrowverse villain, Malcolm Merlyn was the perfect nemesis for season 1 Oliver Queen, who pledged to fight for his city after the death of his father. Merlyn, meanwhile, lost his wife, and he took the opposing stance, vowing instead to level half of Starling City.
In his twisted attempt to avenge his wife, Merlyn acted only for himself, actually causing the Queen's Gambit to capsize, so that Ollie and his father couldn't stand in his way, and setting the entire plot into motion. Merlyn became the Dark Archer, always a step ahead of Ollie, while John Barrowman was a step ahead of the rest of the cast.
Merlyn's plan actually succeeds, which proved that he was a man of his word, and set Arrow's tone as a show where the hero didn't always get his way.
The character just misses out on the top three based on his later appearances. His presence in the early stages of season 3 made sense to the plot, and while the producers obviously wanted to keep Barrowman around, the Dark Archer is not a character to twiddle his thumbs while Ra's, Darhk, Ollie and later Reverse-Flash walk all over him.