Are you ready for the onslaught of new TV projects with masked men and women in the wake of The Avengers massive success?! The CW get's first crack at this audience with Arrow, the successor to Smallville... but that is where the similarities stop. Arrow is not the wise cracking Oliver Queen we are familiar with in this darker, more Batmanny tale of vengeance.
Oliver Queen creates the persona of Arrow -- a vigilante -- to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. Arrow premieres Wednesdays this fall on The CW.
After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his devoted mother Moira, much-beloved sister Thea, and best friend Tommy welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he's become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his former girlfriend, Laurel Lance. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly creates the persona of Arrow - a vigilante - to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. By day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless philanderer he used to be - flanked by his devoted chauffeur/bodyguard, John Diggle - while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to under cover of darkness. However, Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante operating in his city. Meanwhile, Oliver's own mother, Moira, knows much more about the deadly shipwreck than she has let on - and is more ruthless than he could ever imagine.
OK so swap out the cape and cowl for a hood and quiver and you get the gist. Arrow may be the closest thing we see to Batman on the small screen and more importantly, will set the stage for other heroes/teams to get their own shows. Their success will open the doors to a mountain of possibilities! Where Smallville had some very camp moments, went heavy on the mellowdrama and managed to keep Clark out of the red and blue tights for nearly the entire run, Arrow seems to be going for a more serious tone with the inevitable "I want to love you but the mission comes first" angle we are sure to get because..you know..CW! If they can resist the urge to go super cheesy (as Smallville often did) and stay very real-world-grounded if (or rather WHEN) they introduce other heroes & villains, I can't see how they can lose. They've already got the advantage of a world ready for more super hero hijinks and better still, one that has embraced a gruesome zombie nightmare TV show (Walking Dead, natch)! This (in my opinion) gives them free reign to get as gritty with he subject as they'd like. It's all going to come down to writing. All eyes will be on Arrow this fall.
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