Arrow Season 4: Complete DC Comics References Guide

Arrow season 4 is finally here, and with it, a whole stack of new DC Comics references, easter eggs, superheroes, and supervillains. I'll continue to catalog all of them in my weekly reviews of Arrow, but for ease of access, I'll also start compiling everything (sometimes more in a slightly more in-depth version) in this post, which I'll update weekly.

While my weekly reviews will reflect what we learn week to week, I reserve the right to change any entries here based on what we learn in later episodes. With that in mind, read on with caution if you're behind on episodes. Also, if it was already covered in season one, you probably won't find it here. If you're just looking for a complete guide to the DC Comics references from last year, click here.

If there's anything I missed, please let me know in the comments or on Twitter, and if it checks out, I'll update the article.

Click the episode titles to go to full reviews of each episode, too! Newest episode will always be at the top, and then they'll be chronological after that...

Arrow Season 4 Episode 2: The Candidate

- Michael Holt eventually becomes the superhero known as Mr. Terrific. Holt is a genius level intellect, probably surpassing Ray Palmer and Felicity. He's generally best known as a member of the JSA, and the overall Justice Society vibe on both Arrow and The Flash remains pretty strong.

I wonder if Felicity is going to help him invent his trademark T-Spheres as the revolutionary technology that's coming to save the company?

- Anarky has very little resemblance to his comic book counterpart. He was a Batman supporting character and vigilante, originally pegged as a potential new Robin. It never happened, but interesting things tend to happen when Batman villains show up here.

He was never quite such a looney tune, though.

Oliver Queen ran for mayor not once, but twice. 

The first time, during Green Arrow's time as a back-up feature in the Superman/Batman title, World's Finest, he didn't win. But the second time, during DC's "One Year Later" period in the wake of Infinite Crisis, the people of Star City had Oliver Queen as their Mayor (you can find that story in Green Arrow: Crawling Through the Wreckage by Judd Winick and Scott McDaniel). 

- Reiter, the flashback villain, bears very little resemblance to his comic book counterpart...Baron Blitzkrieg. As in, he's a nazi. I don't think we'll be seeing any of that this year.

Arrow Season 4 Episode 1: Green Arrow

- It turns out the picturesque little suburb that Oliver and Felicity were hiding out in is Ivy Town, home of Ivy University, where the comic book Ray Palmer first discovered his shrinking powers.

- No, your eyes didn't deceive you. That was most certainly a flight jacket with the name "Jordan" on it in the Coast City bar. Hal Jordan is, of course, Green Lantern, and we all know those test pilots love to drink. Whether they choose to take this any further is anybody's guess, but I have reason to believe that we might actually get to see a little more of Hal later this season.

- Damian Darhk first appeared in Titans #1 in 1999. He is an exceedingly minor DC villain. So minor that he has only made a handful of appearances, and hasn't been seen since '99! From what we saw of Damian here, he has very little in common with his comic book counterpart. I have a whole lot more on Damian Darhk right here if you want to keep reading.

Needless to say, the comic book version doesn't have mystical powers.

- The HIVE agents have a color scheme that's almost the yellow and black traditionally associated with a bee-themed supervillain organization, so I guess that's kinda cool. The goggles add to the vibe nicely, don't they?

- Kord Industries plays a major part in this episode. Ted Kord is the man behind this one, and he's the coolest version of the Blue Beetle, a character I'm still really hoping we get to see one of these days.

In addition to all the weapons Kord Industries manufactures, you can see they're working on some microprocessing technology. I wonder if it's the kind of thing that could power a super suit, or cool Beetle-esque goggles or something similar? 

I really need to see Blue Beetle happen. 

- You kind of have to appreciate the amusing reference to how unlucky people who hold high office in Star City are.

- It's interesting that they're drawing an additional distinction between standard metahumans and mystically powered superbeings in this universe. Now, if Arrow orThe Flash actually get around to introducing aliens to the mix, we'll have the full set of potential superhero and supervillain types present and accounted for. Then again,Supergirl should handle the alien angle nicely, but since we still don't know where that show fits in with all the rest of these...I don't know what to think.