Meet the New Characters of Arrow Season 3

You can keep waiting for a Justice Leaguemovie. You can keep wondering when Warner Bros./DC will catch up to Disney/Marvel in the "fan service by the minute" department. Or you can join those of us will be watching Arrowand digging our weekly dose of live-action DC Comics mythology.

Now that Arrowseason three is moving right along, we're going to be quite busy over the summer trying to keep up with all of the DC Universe heroes and villains that get added to the roster (and don't even get us started on The Flash). A lot can happen in a 23 episode season, and considering how Arrow's second season wasn't the least bit shy about playing to the fans, we expect season three is going to up the ante considerably. 

We'll keep this updated as new characters are added to the roster. Beware, as some of this could be considered spoiler-y, especially since I can't help but discuss these characters in relation to their comic book counterparts. Now, to the Arrowcave (which was considerably less cool in the comics than it is on the show)!

Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/The Atom

Why kick this off with Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer? Mainly because this is the first time in Arrow's history that a bona fide Justice League member is going to be a recurring character on the show. Mr. Routh will appear in 14 episodes, and Ray Palmer is going to be a major player as the new owner of Queen Consolidated. He should be able to make good use of their applied sciences division.

It seems a little unlikely that Palmer will don a costume and shrink much this season (that kind of sci-fi seems like it might feel more at home over on The Flash...and we wouldn't rule out an appearance over there, either), but this is still a stalwart of DC's Silver Age who will be making near weekly appearances on the show. Plus, this is a guy who has played Superman himself, and did a fine job of it (whatever problems Superman Returns had, Routh wasn't one of 'em). 

Devon Aoki as Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana

Devon Aoki's Tatsu Yamashiro is set to appear during this season's Hong Kong flashback sequences where we'll learn even more about Ollie's journey to becoming the unstoppable badass he has become. Tatsu is one of Ollie's mentors, and if you're a comics fan, maybe, just maybe, her specialty is swords. If there's a character likely to appear in the present day as well as the flashbacks, it's Tatsu...possibly in her superheroic identity of Katana. We can hope.

Karl Yune as Maseo Yamashiro

Another one of Oliver's mentors (some descriptions refer to him as a "handler) for this season's flashback sequences. Slade Wilson may have taught Oliver how to survive, but it may very well be Maseo Yamashiro who really teaches him how to fight. A husband and wife team of badasses shepherding the future hero through sketchy missions dictated by Amanda Waller? Yes, this already sounds more interesting than the island and the Amazo.

Peter Stormare as Werner Zytle/Count Vertigo

Werner Zytle...that's Count Vertigo to his friends. Yes, we already had a Count Vertigo on Arrow(played by Seth Gabel), but who says he was ever the real Count Vertigo? Right now we know that Peter Stormare will appear as the new (or the original?) Count Vertigo on the season premiere, but we suspect you don't get an actor like this just to make him the villain of the week.

John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn

Alright, fine...he's not a new character. But we sure are glad to see him back as a series regular. Barrowman is going to have some heavy lifting to do as Malcolm Merlyn this season. Not only is he going to be a (surprise!) major, season-spanning bad guy (although not the only one, I'm willing to wager), he's now got his daughter to mold in his image. Thea Queen (Thea Merlyn?) has been a major component of the show since the very first episode, and now she has a heroic (or villainous) journey of her own to take, with Malcolm as her guide.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Amanda Waller

No, she's not a new character either. The thing is, we're almost certainly going to see more of Amanda Waller this season than ever before. As we saw in the season 2 finale, Waller has a relationship with Oliver that goes back several years. Not only does season three have to explore their history, but it's a safe bet that we're going to see more (lots more, hopefully) of the Suicide Squad in the present day.

Now, the big question, what characters do you want to see show up this year? Don't worry...there's still about 22 episodes that need to be cast, and we expect this list is going to get longer by the week. Keep checking back for all our Arrowseason three news at this link.

Arrowseason three premieres on Wednesday, October 8th at 8 pm EST.

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