'Arrow' Features an Oracle Easter Egg

Tonight's episode of Arrow marks John Diggle's debut as the Green Arrow, but it's not Diggle [...]

By Nicole Drum

arrow oracle easter egg
(Photo: The CW)

Tonight's episode of Arrow marks John Diggle's debut as the Green Arrow, but it's not Diggle embarking on a new adventure. Felicity and Curtis are working on their startup, complete with Oracle Easter egg.

Mild spoilers for tonight's Arrow episode, 'Next of Kin', below.

Team Arrow has some adjusting to do in tonight's episode. Diggle is in the field as Green Arrow but isn't fighting bad guys with the vigilante's signature archer style. Dinah still has concerns about Diggle's fitness for duty. Oliver still has the dual challenges of parenting William and dealing with an FBI agent who seems pretty out to get him. Even Felicity has her challenges, including sleeping, getting something to eat, and figuring out what to call her and Curtis' new tech startup.

With Felicity's food needs in mind, Oliver shows up at her apartment tonight with the Arrowverse's favorite Big Belly Burger and finds that she's set up office in her home. She has computers and other equipment spread out in the space as she tries to figure exactly what she should call her new business venture. Felicity asks Oliver what he thinks about "Bit By Bit" as a name as she writes it on a marker board. Of course, Oliver doesn't like it, but as the camera pulls back a bit it's not "Bit By Bit" what will catch most fan's eye. Instead, there's a name that's already been rejected crossed out on the board.

Felicity has "Oracle" written on the board and then crossed out. Yes, Oracle would be a bad choice of business name considering there is already a tech business named Oracle, but it's also a sly reference to the tech savvy Batman character, Barbara Gordon, that Felicity is very similar to.

In Batman's mythos, Barbara Gordon is the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon. She also suited up as Dick Grayson's partner, Batgirl. However, when the Joker shot her through her spinal cord in Batman: The Killing Joke, Barbara found herself wheelchair-bound and she eventually reinvents herself as a computer expert known as Oracle.

While Felicity isn't the daughter of a police commissioner, her crack computer skills have long drawn comparison to Barbara and when Felicity was paralyzed after being shot by Damien Darhk's Ghosts in Arrow's fourth season, fans thought for sure she'd take up the Oracle codename. However, Felicity ends up with some awesome tech that lets her walk again and takes the codename Overwatch instead.

Tonight's Oracle reference isn't the first time Arrow has made subtle teases about the Felicity/Oracle connection, however. When Oliver initially gave Felicity the Overwatch codename in season 4's "A.W.O.L." episode, he noted that he noted that the Oracle codename was already taken.

So, what will Felicity and Curtis name their new business venture, and could it end up being part of the bleak future seen in Legends of Tomorrow's 'Star City 2046' episode along with Connor Hawke's Green Arrow? Fans will just have to keep watching Arrow's sixth season to find out.

Arrow airs on Thursdays at 9/8c following Supernatural on The CW.

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