‘Arrow’: Who Is Shadow Thief?

Arrow returned tonight after a brief hiatus, delivering to fans the long-promised and eagerly-awaited Birds of Prey-inspired episode centered around the ladies of Arrow along with guest star Caity Lotz (White Canary) as they attempt to stop Laurel/Black Siren from heading back into her villain dark side. And that might be tricky, with Laurel teaming up with an old acquaintance, one with an interesting comic book history — the Shadow Thief.

Possible spoilers for tonight’s episode of Arrow, “Lost Canary” below.

Tonight’s episode opens with Laurel showing up looking for the Shadow Thief, a criminal it is soon revealed she knows through Ricardo Diaz. Played by Carmel Amit, the character is pretty willing to team up with Laurel once again, the pair poised to go on a crime spree around Star City. For fans of DC Comics, a female version of the Shadow Thief may be a bit surprising, but not entirely unheard of in comics.

In comics, the name Shadow Thief is used by three different supervillains. The first version created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert and first appearing in The Brave and the Bold #36 from 1961 was named Carl Sands. A career criminal who was conducting shadow projection experiments in jail, Sands is trying to make his shadows work for rather than against him as it was his shadow that got him caught in the first place. He also ends up coming into contact with an alien exploring who gives him something called the Dimensionmeter and gloves that let him hold things in shadow form. The second Shadow Thief is Carl Hammer, a man who pays a large sum of money to have a special Shadow suit made that allows him to become invisible in shadows. This version of the Shadow Thief appears one and only time in comics — Vigilante #14.

The version that Arrow is basing their version on is Aviva Metula. First appearing in The New 52 rebooted continuity, Metula is a former agent of Mossad who wears a suit of armor — called the Shadow Skin — that gives her powers such as intangibility, flight, limited shapeshifting, and teleportation. Aviva is also a trained martial artist thanks to her time with Mossad. It’s those skills that Arrow appears to be playing up as Shadow Thief is working out when Laurel goes to see her.

It will be interesting to see just how Arrow‘s take on Shadow Thief plays out — especially with Felicity determined to save Laurel from herself in tonight’s episode. How determined? White Canary comes to play so it’s canaries against canary tonight.

Arrow airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.