ForComicJunkies: ARROW SEASON 4

As they once sang on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, “Where do we go from here?” That’s the big question facing the producers/writers/actors after the action packed third season finale of Arrow. I mean . . . It was a pretty definitive ending. It was a little Dark Knight Rises-esque actually. Oliver left the city in the hands of Diggle, Thea, and Laurel. Oh and the police . . . But ya know . . . they’re pretty useless.

Geez Lance! I can smell the booze from here!

Stephen Amell has gone on record saying that the Arrow suit is done for. He’s not gonna be wearing it anymore as it would tarnish Roy’s sacrifice. He’s absolutely right and the producers thus far have been pretty good at not only surprising the audience but exceeding their expectations. So where will season 4 go? We’ve been told it will have a lighter tone, H.I.V.E. and Damien Darhk are the villains, and Diggle will be donning some sort of costume. Let’s take a look at where the characters could be going next year:

THEA AS RED ARROW/SPEEDY

This one is pretty obvious. Using Roy’s old costume, Thea aided Team Arrow during the finale. She’s had training from Malcolm Merlyn and can now defend herself and protect Starling City. They've been building this up since the pilot episode. In my opinion Thea still has a long way to go. She was never my favorite character. I think she grew up during season 2 but when she ran to Malcolm I lost some respect for her. I didn't really start to appreciate her till the last couple of episodes of season 3 when she finally stood up for herself and contributed to the cause. She's still not quite a hero but I'd love to see season 4 open with her kicking some ass and taking names.

LAUREL CONTINUING AS THE BLACK CANARY

Laurel had a much better story arc this season than the past couple of years. She grew beyond love interest to becoming her superhero identity from the comic books. I’ve always been a big fan of Black Canary and one of the things I love about her is that she’s a leader. In fact, she was elected leader of the Justice League of America during Brad Meltzer’s run. I want to see her in a leadership role instead of constantly stand off-ish with Oliver and the rest of Team Arrow. She’s proven herself in the field, now let’s see her step up and be a leader. With Oliver gone and Thea becoming a hero now, she's gonna need someone to watch her back and Laurel could be that person now. It would be cool to see a similar scene from the season three premiere where Arrow and Arsenal were a well oiled machine but now it's Laurel and Thea. That would be pretty exciting and different for both characters.

DIGGLE AS . . . ??

As Batman once said, “The mask isn’t for you. It’s to protect the people you care about.” I think Diggle finally gets that and will look into developing a superhero persona. There is a rumor that he’ll be John Stewart Green Lantern but the producers have debunked that and that’s for the best in my opinion. The other rumor is that he’ll be Guardian.

I like that idea because that character is so obscure that fitting Diggle’s backstory to him shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. To be quite honest I think it would great to see Diggle become a brand new hero. One that either has never been in the comics or is so obscure that nobody’s heard of the character in 80 years. You know like . . . Hmm . . . maybe it's better if they invent a new character cuz a lot of the black characters from the 40s were SUPER racial stereotypes.

FLASH, ATOM, AND THE LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be getting some sort of crossover with the Flash and the Legends of Tomorrow. In the (freaking awesome) preview for the series we see Barry and Oliver giving the team their mission. I have a sneaking suspicion that scene was filmed exclusively as a teaser and won’t appear in the actual series. I could be wrong, but it was a crazy long exposition scene that fits better as a preview rather than a scene in the first episode. But again . . . I could be wrong. Also, the best thing about Arrow is how it’s mostly grounded in reality. I’d like to see a crossover but only if it’s organic. Otherwise it would be too wacky. But then again, it’s based on a comic book so it’s bound to get wackier as the seasons go on. I'll live with the wackiness as long as we get to see Green Arrow, Flash, Atom, and everyone else kicking ass because it's the FUCKING JUSTICE LEAGUE!!!!

OLIVER WILL BECOME SOMETHING . . . ELSE

Stephen Amell said that he’s done wearing the Arrow suit. Well, gosh! The heck are they gonna do? He CLAIMS not to know what’s happening next year (apart from the flashbacks) but I have a feeling he’s being a bit of a fibber.

Look at that sly bastard . . .

Odds are we will start to see the rise of the actual GREEN Arrow from the comic books. Next season is meant to be a total overhaul for the character and the series in general. I think we’ll start to see Oliver be a little more like his comic book counterpart. During the 70's, Green Arrow went after "corporate fatcats." Granted that's a little similar to what he did in season one but it was more political. It would be great to see Oliver helping out the common man and stopping regular bad guys as well as the big comic booky villains. But then again . . . maybe they have another idea . . .