'Arrow': Does the Promo for "Star City Slayer" Tease Onomatopoeia?

Team Arrow may have survived the vigilante-hunting threat of Chimera in tonight's "Emerald Archer", but next week's Arrow will see the heroes face an honest-to-goodness serial killer -- and thanks to the promo for next week's episode, it's a killer that has us wondering if Onomatopoeia is on his way to the series.

In the promo, which you can check out above, audiences are presented with the fundamentals of the episode: a serial killer is coming after them and things get downright spooky. However, if you pay close attention to the teaser, you'll notice that there is a peculiar focus on the way things sound as opposed to the action itself. The sound of the typewriter, the striking of a piano key, creaking floors, and even the sound of shears attempting to slice through something all have a heightened, deliberate feel.

But why is the sound of things so important? In comics Onomatopoeia and sound is a thing. Created by Kevin Smith and Phil Hester, the villain is not just a killer, but one that gets his name from the fact that he imitates the noises and sounds around him. A prime example of this is on the cover of Green Arrow #13 in which he breaks on of Oliver's arrows only uttering the word "snap" as he does so. It's a character that fans have long wanted to see come to Arrow and it almost happened early in the series -- except comments Smith made about how difficult it would be to bring the character to television changed then-executive producer Andrew Kreisberg's mind.

"He's a very cool new villain to add to our rogue's gallery," Kreisberg said back in 2013. "Originally, we were going to try to do Onomatopoeia, a villain from Kevin Smith's run, but Kevin apparently said in an interview that there was no way to bring that character to television and film -- and after a while we agreed with him!"

Instead, the show substituted Mr. Blank, an "innocuous assassin, somebody who has strength and power but is just sort of there in the background. That's how we came up with the name, because he's not really anything or anyone." However, Smith later told Den of Geek that he had solved the issue and now had a plan for how Onomatopoeia could appear.

"Yeah, I've figured out a way to do it that is kinda bad-ass and also connects to comics more or less," Smith said. "So instead of just doing the actual sound – which to me, in the real world, would be like the dude from Police Academy making noises with his mouth – he'll just have little cards. Business cards that have typewritten words of whatever the f***. So instead of him saying 'blam', you'd find this card on your desk and turn around and 'blam', he'd shoot you and stuff like that. Which I think is a little more chilly, you know, for doing it in live action."

That typewritten cards bit is worth noting. If you go back to the promo for next week, the mysterious serial killer appears to be using typewritten cards to menace his victims. Coincidence? Perhaps, but we'll just have to tune in next week to see.

You can check out the synopsis for "Star City Slayer" below.

THE TEAM IS TARGETED

Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) are disappointed after they learn that William (guest star Jack Moore) is hiding something from them. Wanting to focus on his family, Oliver steps back from his Green Arrow duties and lets the team take over tracking down a serial killer.

However, when the team becomes targets for the killer, things take a bloody turn.

Gregory Smith directed the episode written by Beth Schwartz & Jill Blankenship.

Do you think that we will finally get to see Onomatopoeia on Arrow? Let us know in the comments below.

Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW. "Star City Slayer" will air on February 11th.