Oliver Queen may be preoccupied with preparing for a second showdown with League of Assassins leader, Ra’s al Ghul, but that doesn’t mean that the villains of Starling City are going to sit back quietly and let him focus. Almost as soon as gangster Brick (Vinnie Jones) has been conquered, Vertigo-peddler Werner Zytle is back on the streets cooking up more trouble for Team Arrow.

Luckily for Oliver, who relies on his training and his gadgets to take down the bad guys, there haven’t been all that many superpowered villains on Arrow. Those with special abilities tend to be more interested in going up against Barry Allen’s Flash in Central City, since he’s a metahuman who can really give them a run for their money.


Oliver’s luck is about to run out, however, as IGN reports that Arrow season 3, episode 19 will be titled ‘Broken Arrow’ and will feature a metahuman called Jake Simmons – A.K.A. Deathbolt – who is capable of harnessing and weaponizing plasma energy. Deathbolt (not to be confused with Deathstroke or Deadshot) is a slightly-altered version of a DC comics villain who could control electricity, and the character will be played by Doug Jones.

You’d be forgiven for not recognizing Jones, since many of his roles involve a staggering amount of make-up and/or CGI. He played both the Fawn and the Pale Man in Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy horror film Pan’s Labyrinth, and in comic book movie circles he’s known for playing Abe Sapien in both Hellboy movies and the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. More recently he appeared in sci-fi series Falling Skies as friendly alien Cochise.

It’s possible that Jones’ casting means that Deathbolt will be somehow deformed or that the role will require heavy make-up, since that is Jones’ speciality, but that won’t necessarily be the case. He has appeared in quite a few films and TV shows wearing nothing other than his own unique features, and recently guest-starred in the third season of Teen Wolf as an entirely human villain called William Barrow.

Although there have been strength-enhanced Mirakuru soldiers on Arrow before and Barry Allen has dropped in from The Flash for his introductory and crossover episodes, Deathbolt will be the first metahuman villain to appear on the show and it’s likely that he hopped over from Central City to Starling City following the particle accelerator explosion. Oliver has managed to hold his own in sparring matches (and more serious fights) with the Flash, but will Deathbolt prove more of a challenge?

Arrow airs Wednesdays @8pm on The CW.