After a successful run of eight seasons, CW’s Arrow has finally come to an end. Oliver Queen faced a lot of villains over the course of the series, fighting some of the evilest supervillains in the Arrowverse. But not all of them were created equal. Many Arrow villains ranged from lame to cool.
The list of foes that the Green Arrow has had to face is long, with many of them being minor thugs who had failed the city, as well as failed to remain relevant for more than a few episodes in the show. Regardless, the Green Arrow–despite being a fish out of water–has also had to successfully face off against some of the coolest and insanely powered villains that CW’s Arrow had to offer.
Update on June 29th, 2021 by Darby Harn: Arrow villains run the gamut from the best to worst adversaries in the Arrowverse, and with eight seasons on CW, there are just so many of them. Oliver Queen's foes often reflect the varied history of DC Comics, which has had periods of silliness from the late Golden Age and early Silver Age of Comics, to the darker, more mature era of the Bronze and Modern eras. Darker doesn't always mean better, so some of the lamest Arrow villains are relatively recent and vice versa. All in all, the show gave Arrow everything he could handle in villains and then some.
Lamest: Captain Boomerang
Captain Boomerang is cool enough in the DCEU to be one of the few returning members of The Suicide Squad, decreasing his probability of death in the sequel by a fair bit. He's not so cool in the Arrowverse. Nowhere near as fun and compelling as the Jai Courtney version, this take on the character never really made much of an impression after his debut in the third season of the show.
Part of the problem is Arrow has a lot of villains in the same mold, and the show made a habit of comparing Boomerang to them, especially Deathstroke. The character only made a few appearances in the show before ultimately being killed off in the fifth season.
Lamest: Shrapnel
Shrapnel, the supervillain alias of Mark Schaefer, is a lame Arrow villain mostly because he's stranded between the silliness and darkness that the comics tend to span. A terrorist who plants bombs everywhere, he's also a disgruntled toy shop owner.
The show didn't know whether to take him seriously or not and seemingly didn't, killing him off rather quickly after his second season debut. The character died as a result of one of his own bombs, which had been surgically implanted in his body.
Lamest: Constantine Drakon
Constantine Drakon has a cool-sounding name, but he's one of the lamer Arrow villains in the series. He also the distinction of being the very first villain that Oliver Queen goes up against, debuting in the pilot of the series. He doesn't stick around though and fails to make an impression.
He's the head of a security firm in the series, but in the comics, he's much more of a meta-human threat with multiple arms. A more faithful adaptation might have made him more interesting as a villain, but the series took a more realistic bent early on, arguably a flaw in Arrow for some fans.
Lamest: The Calculator
The Arrowverse made a slight change to the storyline of Noah Kuttler, aka The Calculator, making him the father of Felicity Smoak and making Felicity into Overwatch, as opposed to the Oracle in the comics. This change ended up hurting the portrayal of the genius-intellect cybercriminal, rather than making it more interesting.
While fans got to see the criminal ingenuity of The Calculator on a few occasions (read the web-nukes), him proving to be a threat was quite short-lived. The character even worked with Team Arrow to hack into Rubicon and foil the H.I.V.E’s plan, making The Calculator seem soft as a villain.
Lamest: Emiko Queen
The inclusion of the Red Arrow seemed like a pleasant prospect for fans of the show. However, the way the character was showcased did not live up to the hype that it had created. Oliver’s half-sister, who initially posed as the Green Arrow, only to be much later revealed as the leader of The Ninth Circle, lacked the ruthlessness expected from a formidable foe of the Green Arrow.
Furthermore, she was killed off far too easily, dabbled too much in family drama, and her change of heart just before dying seemed unconvincing and far too melodramatic. Although responsible for the unmasking of Oliver Queen, the show failed to develop the character into the formidable Red Arrow that she becomes in the comics.
Lamest: Cyrus Gold
Similar to the Red Arrow, Cyrus Gold is an iconic supervillain when his comic version is taken into consideration. Unfortunately on Arrow, the character does not enjoy such a development.
Known to ardent comic book fans as Solomon Grundy, the show ignores the name and limits the reanimated zombie to being a lab-rat for Sebastian Blood who has injected Gold with Mirakuru. Although Cyrus Gold managed to overpower the Green Arrow at times, he is hardly as strong as was expected of him.
Lamest: Jeremy Tell
Jeremy Tell, also known as Double Down, is a metahuman supervillain who first appeared in CW’s Flash. He also proved to be a thorn in Oliver’s side. He was hired by Damien Darhk as an operative for H.I.V.E. Having the powers of throwing cards that animate from Tell's body-tattoos, he comes off as a cheap knock-off of one of Marvel's most powerful mutants, Gambit.
However, his integrity by not revealing H.I.V.E secrets even when pushed into a corner by Spartan and the Green Arrow is worthy of appreciation.
Coolest: Murmur
Murmur is one of the coolest Arrow villains and one of the creepiest. A man wrongly imprisoned for providing a false confession, he sowed his mouth shut and turned to a life of crime. His disturbing but simple appearance made him very compelling. He ran up against Arrow and his allies on many occasions.
He would eventually become a member of H.I.V.E., the clandestine criminal organization founded by Damien Darkh. Murmur would become one of Darkh's most trusted associates and one of the most persistent villains in the series.
Coolest: Damien Darhk
A trained member of the League of Assassins with mystical superhuman powers is what Damien Darhk practically is. Forcing the Battling Bowman to come out of his comfort zone of fighting mob bosses and street thugs, Damien Darhk literally changes the tonality of the series in the fourth season.
Coupled with Darhk’s sadistic charisma, killing of Black Canary, and Mephistophelian plan of destroying the world with nukes, he is arguably one of the coolest and toughest villains that Oliver has had to fight. He was so menacing that the Green Arrow even decided to forego his rule of no-killing and end the evil villain once and for all.
Coolest: Ra's Al Ghul
Arrow writers essentially swapped out Bruce Wayne’s story arc with that of Oliver Queen’s in the series, making Ra’s Al Ghul one of his primary villains. Ghul, one of the greatest Batman villains in the comics, tried to destroy Oliver’s beloved Starling City much as he did Gotham in the comics and movies.
Furthermore, Ra’s Al Ghul defeats Oliver Queen devastatingly during the latter’s trial by combat on top of Nanda Parvat. In spite of a lackluster portrayal of the League of Assassins, Ra’s Al Ghul shines as a formidable opponent to the Green Arrow.
Coolest: Ricardo Diaz
Ricardo Diaz, also known as The Dragon, is one of the most daunting and ruthless villains of Arrow. His rise to the status of a crime lord from that of a mere drug dealer is in itself quite fascinating. It is further complemented by his complete lack of remorse and overwhelming control over Star City’s political and judicial systems, as well as its law enforcement.
Although caught, he even managed to bypass A.R.G.U.S’ detonator, which they had implanted to make him forcefully join the Ghost Initiative. The fact that this character remained relevant until the seventh season of the show, and was never really directly defeated by Oliver Queen, makes him by far one of the coolest.
Coolest: Prometheus
Prometheus is one character that was truly able to break the Emerald Archer and exact ruthless revenge on him. Vowing to avenge his father, whom the Green Arrow had killed during the first season, Simon Morrison trains under Talia Al-Ghul and manages to kidnap Oliver’s near and dear ones, imprisoning them on Lian Yu.
Even at the edge of defeat, Prometheus does not let the Green Arrow have the satisfaction of winning. He shoots himself instead. Triggering a series of explosions on the island as he dies; Prometheus even manages to kill Samantha Clayton, the mother to Oliver’s child, thereby having the final say in the matter.
Coolest: Bronze Tiger
Bronze Tiger is one of the coolest Arrow villains because of his journey from villain to hero in the series. Ben Turner starts off as a mercenary and enemy of Oliver Queen, but over the course of the series, eventually becomes a trusted friend and ally.
He helped Arrow take down the Ninth Circle and also worked with the show's version of Task Force X. Only comic book fans may know he was also a member of the Suicide Squad in the original DC Comics.
Coolest: Malcolm Merlyn
Despite the fact that he sacrificed himself trying to save Thea at the end, Malcolm Merlyn is arguably one of the most troublesome and persistent villains that the Emerald Archer has had to face. Starting from the death of Tommy, to forging a self-interest-fueled relationship with Moira Queen, Malcolm Merlyn has consistently proven to be a problem for Oliver.
He was also the sole reason behind the Glade Earthquake. Self-anointing himself as the leader of the League of Assassins after the death of Ra’s Al Ghul, he is also one of the most capable and formidable foes that the Green Arrow has had to face.
Coolest: Deathstroke
Hellbent on avenging Shado’s death and considering Oliver to be responsible, Slade Wilson repeatedly haunts the Green Arrow in season two of the series. Not only is Deathstroke one of the most capable Arrow villains in the series, he's also one of the most ruthless. He even goes as far as to kill Oliver’s only remaining biological parent - his mother, Moira.
His accurate portrayal by actor Manu Bennett and iconic visual appearance, faithful to the comics, make him by far the coolest DC supervillain to have appeared on Arrow.