In the wake of the Arrow season 4 mid-season finale, could Felicity have an iconic comic book role in front of her?
Warning: This post contains major spoilers from the Arrow mid-season finale, “Dark Waters.”
At the end of the Arrow season 4 mid-season finale, “Dark Waters,” Oliver publicly proposed to Felicity, and she accepted. However, after the happy couple left the rally, they were set upon by a group of Ghosts and Felicity was shot. When Oliver pulled her from the back seat of the limo, she did not appear to be breathing.
Who is Oracle?
Let’s back up for a second for some context. In the DC Comics, Barbra Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon, is Batgirl. In Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker shoots Barbara in the spine, and she is paralyzed from the waist down. No longer able to be Batgirl, Barbara instead becomes an intelligence expert and information broker for superheroes and even the Suicide Squad. In this role, she goes by the code name Oracle.
Oracle is also the founder of the Birds of Prey, a team of female superheroes who operate as Oracle’s field agents. While Black Canary and later Huntress serve as the core of the team, other superheroines have been a part of the team over the years.
Why the history lesson?
Many fans have already equated Felicity with Barbara Gordon’s Oracle due to her talents for hacking and finding information for Team Arrow. However, Felicity has never had a code name — and many fans have been against naming an able-bodied character Oracle because it would erase a significant disabled character from the comics.
With that being said, it appears as though Felicity was shot in the spine during the attack:
We’ve already gone over the reasons that Felicity isn’t the one in the grave in the time jump scene, which leads to the question of why shoot Felicity, other than shock value? (After all, we’d like to give the writers a bit more credit than that.)
The evidence is piling up
If Felicity isn’t dead and Felicity isn’t simply fine (as evidenced by the promo), where does that leave us? Exploring the aftereffects of the shooting. But why do we think that means Oracle? Let’s consider the evidence:
- This story would also provide the opportunity for Felicity to slide into the shoes of Oracle without erasing a disabled character. Moreover, it would also give Felicity her own story to explore rather than leaving the effects of the shooting to be just about Oliver and Damien Darhk. (See number 3 for more.)
- While it’s true that Felicity would likely not remain permanently paralyzed — though it’s not out of the question — it’s worth noting that in the New 52 reboot, three years after the events of The Killing Joke, Barbara undergoes experimental surgery in South Africa that restores her mobility.
- The reason for this choice to restore Barbara’s mobility ties back into reason 1 of this list. According to writer Gail Simone, the writers wanted to explore how “the after-effects of something like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or other trauma-related syndromes can strike even very smart, very intellectually tough people, even soldiers and cops.” This is because the topic is largely unexplored in comics. However, PTSD is something the show has explored through various characters, particularly Oliver Queen, in previous seasons, so Felicity dealing with her own trauma would fit in with what the series has already done.
- Arrow isn’t shy about borrowing from Batman’s lore, and this story fits in with that history. The show has already done an episode titled “Birds of Prey,” and bringing in an Oracle character would give the show even more room to explore that line of stories as well.
- According to EP Marc Guggenheim, we’ll be learning Felicity’s code name in Arrow season 4, episode 11 (further evidence Felicity will survive the shooting), and the code name will have an A in it, which Oracle does.
- Additionally, a video was posted to Instagram of little Sara Diggle playing in a wheelchair on set. Just whose wheelchair is that? Probably Felicity’s.
- And finally, lest we forget, the Felicity-centric episode in season 3, “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak,” was originally titled “Oracle.”
The evidence is mounting in favor of Felicity becoming Arrow‘s Oracle in the back half of season 4, but we’ll have to wait until the show returns in January for answers.
Arrow‘s mid-season premiere airs Wednesday, January 20 at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.