Arrow Showrunner: Vertigo Is Inspired By Batman Begins Villain

Just yesterday, upcoming Arrow villain Seth Gabel was telling reporters that Count Vertigo, the DC Comics supervillain from whom his character is derived, was adapted to the small screen in such a way that it reminded him of Scarecrow from Batman Begins. Now, series co-creator Andrew Kreisberg has told SciFiNow that the character was modeled after Ra's Al Ghul, the other villain from the same film. "Count Vertigo, I would say after Merlyn, is probably his most well known villain," Kreisberg said. "The comic book version of him, the Count Werner von Vertigo… when your last name is Vertigo of course you're going to grow up to be a supervillain who uses vertigo as a weapon. That concept just doesn't exist in our world, and we've never been shy about saying that we've taken all of our cues from Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and how he took somebody like Ra's al Ghul, played by Liam Neeson, who was immortal in the comics and presented a realistic take on how he could be immortal, by having a frontman who could be killed and allowing him to survive. "We thought of Count Vertigo sort of the same way, with Seth Gabel from Fringe and Dirty Sexy Money who's terrifyingly awesome in the part. First of all, how he gets the nickname 'the Count' is kind of fun and spooky, but also how he is able to create this vertigo effect without using certain superpowered means. And that's what's fun for us. "There's some characters who for the most part have transitioned literally from the comics to the show – like Deadshot, who despite his costume is still the world's greatest assassin – and Deathstroke, and China White, but Count Vertigo is our first real, complete overhaul. We're really excited about it." Of course, there's an argument to be made that they've overhauled characters like Dinah Lance and Eddie Fyers to an extent, as well, but apparently until you see them in costume and see the direction the team wants to go with their super-identities, it's a different discussion. Arrow returns January 16, in an episode that sees Oliver Queen taking on Firefly.