Arrow: Who Is Prometheus?

In the final moments of tonight’s season premiere of Arrow on The CW, a Star City police officer meets a brutal end at the hands of a lightning-fast new villain who, hooded top to bottom, uses a bow and arrow, shuriken, and a sword to deal out some damage.

That villain — as revealed at Comic Con International: San Diego in July — is Prometheus, and he’s a bit of a mystery.

First off, let’s get this out of the way: Prometheus on Arrow is not the same one fans might be familiar with from the comics. Totally different, unrelated guy, both of whom draw their name from a Titan from Greek mythology.

(The same can be said for Charon, the character played by The Walking Dead‘s Chad Coleman on tonight’s episode. No relation to the DC Comics Charon.)

There are a number of popular theories out there as to just who this new Prometheus might be, and it seemed worth at least considering a few of them.

First off, here’s what we actually know about the character:

“He has a very personal grudge and axe to grind with Oliver and he’s going to come at him in a really interesting, sociopathic kind of way,” executive producer Wendy Mericle told IGN.

Producers have also said that Oliver had a hand in creating the villain.

So…some theories?

Some fans have speculated that, given the “full circle” mentality of closing out the flashbacks and linking up with the events of the first season, Prometheus could be somebody we haven’t seen since season one. Popular theories include Robert Queen (somehow back from the dead), Tommy Merlyn (ditto), or somebody with ties to one of the gangsters Oliver killed in season one when he was still using his father’s little black book as a murder checklist.

Of course, the notion of “coming at him in a really interesting, sociopathic kind of way” has led some people to believe that it’s more about Oliver than Green Arrow. That might gel with Robert or Tommy, but probably leaves most of the gangsters and thugs out.

That said, it’s distinctly possible that Prometheus could be attacking Oliver through Felicity, who was engaged to him very publicly and not that long ago. Could it be Detective Malone, Felicity’s boyfriend? We do see Prometheus and him introduced more or less back to back, and Prometheus does choose a police officer for hist first target. Perhaps that poor guy was just a target of opportunity!

Another popular theory — and a riff on something that’s been done before in the comics — is that Prometheus could be literally something Oliver created, in the form of his illegitimate son. So far we’ve only seen one of them on TV — and William is too young to fit the bill. Connor Hawke, Oliver’s son from the comics who would succeed him as Green Arrow, is the son of John Diggle in a possible future, as seen on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, so it’s likely not him. That said, Oliver has more than one illegitimate son, by more than one woman, in the comics.

The biggest issue might be the age of the characters: Oliver apparently grew up with Laurel and was essentially her lifelong love, but according to her gravestone, seen in this episode, she died at 31 years old. Could he really father somebody who could be that big by now? Probably not, although when you argue that point somebody will inevitably shout “Flashpoint!” back at you.

Speaking of which…do we really know what Diggle is up to, or where he is right now? It looks like he’s doing soemthing with the army, but maybe it’s him, somehow struggling to deal with his grief over killing his brother, or just plain changed by the events of Flashpoint.

We’ll hopefully find out soon. Arrow airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Wednesdays on The CW.