In Arrow season 3, episode 21, “Al Sah-Him,” Ra’s al Ghul name dropped a DC Comics character. But just who is Damien Darhk?
Background
At the beginning of “Al Sah-Him,” Ra’s tells Oliver about being conscripted by the League of Assassins with another man, Damien Darhk. The two were the front runners for becoming the next Heir to the Demon, but Damien was not chosen. Damien fled the League with his followers and waters from the Lazarus Pit.
“Damien continues the League’s ways, but through his own organization filled with a hive of agents devoted to his own agenda,” Ra’s explains. He goes on to list a number of events we saw play out in the series, stating they are all the work of Damien Darhk and his organization, who we assume to be H.I.V.E., based on Ra’s’ phrasing.
Watch the scene below:
Set up
Though this scene is used in the episode to establish why Oliver must target Nyssa, a rival Heir to the Demon, it also serves, we believe, as a set up for season 4. Why?
Well, H.I.V.E. is the group that hired Deadshot to kill Diggle’s brother, Andy. And, according to David Ramsey, “From my understanding, H.I.V.E. is going to be a big part of next season’s big baddie. We are going to delve right into why H.I.V.E. hired Deadshot to kill Andy and what H.I.V.E. is all about to begin with. There will be a lot of Diggle’s connection to H.I.V.E. next season, so stay tuned.”
Meanwhile, this dovetails nicely with what we’ve heard about Arrow‘s season 3 finale, “My Name is Oliver Queen”; it “will introduce a major, formidable, fierce new foe for Oliver, and his reign of terror will continue well into season 4.”
And yes, we believe this “new foe” to be Damien Darhk with the information we have now.
So, who is Damien Darhk?
If the name isn’t familiar, don’t worry. He’s actually a relatively minor character from the comics, first appearing in the 1999 Teen Titans comic The Titans #1. He’s described as a “major player” in the underworld with a connection to H.I.V.E. (which is, in the comics, a Teen Titans villain.)
A tech genius, Damien was investigated by both the CIA and FBI, but neither organization was able to obtain any hard evidence against him. Investigators were also taken aback by his apparent age — early 20s — versus his well-established network of connections, which would be explained by Damien stealing waters from the Lazarus Pit before fleeing Nanda Parbat.
Season 4
As if this were not enough set up, however, we can’t help but theorize a bit more. The DC Wikia interestingly describes Damien as a “wi-fi fiend” who communicates with “the very latest forms of mass communication.”
Who does this description remind us of? Felicity “bitch with wi-fi” Smoak, of course.
Source
The little we know about Felicity’s father — that he’s a highly intelligent criminal who abandoned the family when Felicity was young — ties nicely in to this description (while allowing room for Arrow‘s own spin on the character), so we have to wonder if Damien Darhk is actually Felicity’s father.
This would be an interesting way to personally tie in the season’s big bad, assuming it will be H.I.V.E., to multiple main characters. This would also be a logical continuation of season 3’s League of Assassins story arc, with the connection to Ra’s.
With two episodes left this season, there are no doubt plenty of twists and turns still to come, but we look forward to seeing how this season ties into the next.
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.