'Arrow': Who Are the Longbow Hunters?

Arrow's season six finale is tonight and while The CW series' stars and show runner have teased an [...]

Arrow's season six finale is tonight and while The CW series' stars and show runner have teased an episode with twists, turns, and high emotional stakes there is one thing we know for sure. The finale is going to name drop the Longbow Hunters.

Showrunner Marc Guggenheim told TV Line that the villain team would make their appearance -- at least in name -- during "Life Sentence". But who are the Longbow Hunters? Here's what you need to know.

While there is a classic Green Arrow story arc called "The Longbow Hunters," what Arrow will be referring to tonight is a team of supervillains who debuted Green Arrow (Vol. 5) #31 from July 2014 in the storyline "The Outsiders War, Book 6: Spoils of War". The volume was part of DC's New 52 era. Created by Jeff Lemire, the Longbow Hunters was assembled by Richard Dragon -- that would be Ricardo Diaz's comic book counterpart -- and was comprised of Count Vertigo, Brick, Red Dart, and Killer Moth.

Arrow appeared to be teasing elements leading up to the introduction of the Longbow Hunters earlier this season. During "The Devil's Greatest Trick," the show revealed that Cayden James (Michael Emerson) wasn't the real villain and revealed Diaz (Kirks Acevedo) to be the big bad with major plans to take over Star City. At the time, we speculated that Diaz's plans could be leading to Arrow adapting a story in comics where Diaz is bent killing the Green Arrow as it was the Green Arrow (who in a surprise turn was Diggle at the time) who killed Dragon's father. In the comics version, the Longbow Hunters come after Green Arrow after Diaz places a $30 million bounty on the hero's head. Green Arrow is able to defeat the three villains -- Brick, Killer Moth, and Red Dart -- with help and is then reunited with Diggle after Diaz attempts to kill Dig by throwing him out a window. As it doesn't end up being the most effective way of killing Diggle, he and Green Arrow are able to fight and eventually defeat Diaz.

While Arrow didn't quite adapt that story the way we thought it would after "The Devil's Greatest Trick," with Longbow Hunters coming into play tonight it could still be where the show goes, maybe not tonight, but as part of what is coming in season seven. Guggenheim was very clear that the villains would have a presence next season, likening their reference tonight to one of Arrow's most memorable villains: Damien Darhk.

"I will say that the reference to the Longbow Hunters is us planting a flag, much the same way we referenced Damien Darhk in the Season 3 finale, Guggenheim explained. "We would be [not nice people] to name-drop the Longbow Hunters and not see them in Season 7."

Arrow airs Thursday nights at 9/8c on The CW. The Season 6 finale, "Life Sentence", airs tonight.

Are you excited that the Longbow Hunters are coming to Arrow? Sound off in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @lifeinpolaroid for all things Arrow (and Arrowverse!)

3comments