Did 'Arrow' Just Introduce Tigress?

Tonight's episode of Arrow saw the introduction of the Thanatos Guild, a rogue group of the League of Assassins founded by Malcolm Merlyn before his death, and, in the process, may have made a nod to a classic DC supervillain.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of Arrow, "The Thanatos Guild", below.

In the episode, Thea (Willa Holland) is being hunted by the Thanatos Guild -- particularly its leader, Athena -- because as Malcom's (John Barrowman) daughter, Thea is the key to retrieving a mysterious ancient map. In order to get that map, Thea and Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) have to retrieve the cube it's contained in from where Athena is holding it, and to find that location, Nyssa takes Thea to meet a woman named Tigressa.

Outside of just being a cool name for a woman who apparently rejected and escaped the League, it could very well be a subtle nod to the DC Comics villain, Tigress. There have been three incarnations of Tigress in comics history -- the Zatara enemy who debuted in 1938, Paula Brooks in 1947, and Paula's daughter Artemis Crock in 1987. None of these characters really have ties to the League, but Tigress, specifically Artemis Crock, has ties to Green Arrow. The character prominently appeared in the Young Justice animated series, this time as a hero who joins the team after the departure of Green Arrow's original sidekick, Roy Harper.

It's worth noting that if Tigressa is a nod to the character Tigress, it wouldn't be the first time that Arrow made a nod to the character. When Evelyn Sharp (Madison McLaughlin) joins Team Arrow after having imitated Black Canary, she takes up the mantle Artemis. However, unlike the Artemis on Young Justice who is a hero, Evelyn's Artemis pretends to be a hero only to betray Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) to the villain Prometheus. Evelyn was defeated by Oliver and company during the Season Five finale and locked in a cage on Lian Yu. Her fate remains unknown.

Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.