Arrow: Who is Prometheus?

Tonight’s Arrow was filled with action, guest appearances (courtesy of the all-lady villain gang of Cupid, China White, and Liza Warner), and some surprising plot developments. But one thing that was not seen, however, was the season’s big bad, Prometheus.

After the Green Arrow was targeted by the police for the death of Billy Malone, Oliver believed that Prometheus was the one who alerted the SCPD in the first place, due to Billy’s coroner report coming from the same city that Prometheus’ mom (who Oliver visited early in the episode) lives in. Oliver proceeded to go to great lengths to assure that the Green Arrow was innocent… only for an anonymous source to report this cover up to the media.

Considering the fact that Prometheus’ actions are creating an even bigger Domino effect on Arrow – and the fact that we haven’t theorized about his identity in a while – we’re going to explore a few of the leading theories as to who could be hiding under that mysterious hood.

Oliver’s Son

This is a theory we’ve previously touched on in our Fan Fridays segment, and it’s still not entirely impossible.

It has been said time and time again that Prometheus is truly a “creation” of Oliver, and there’s a very chance that could be taken literally. While Oliver obviously already has one illegitimate son, as was covered in Season 4, William is far too young to fit the bill. And while Connor Hawke – previously seen taking up the Green Arrow mantle in an alternate future timeline on last season of Legends of Tomorrow – is Oliver’s son in the comics, he was changed to be the son of John Diggle.

But there is a very small chance that Prometheus could be Oliver’s son from the future. With the Legends currently hopping through time and The Flash causing some changes of their own this season with Flashpoint, Prometheus could be a product of either of those things.

However, this doesn’t explain the current situation with Prometheus’ parents, with Oliver tracking down the villain’s mother in tonight’s episode. But stranger things have certainly happened on these shows, making this a still plausible – but highly unlikely – theory. 

Roy Harper

This theory was suggested as early as November of last year, and we covered it in our Fan Fridays segment as well. 

The theory is that Oliver’s protégé, Roy Harper, could actually be behind Prometheus’ mask.

Roy has only been seen sparingly since his departure from the show in season three (after Colton Haynes left the show due to personal issues). Haynes went on to appear in the second season of Fox’s Scream Queens, which finished airing in December, making his schedule clear to return to Arrow.

While Roy’s past alliance with Team Arrow and his seemingly happy exit from the team, both in season three and season four, it initially seems unlikely that Roy would be the maniacal villain. But, as we discussed when we initially presented this theory, Roy’s return could also incorporate elements from one of Arrow’s sister shows.

As was seen throughout the first part of The Flash’s third season, the creation of the Flashpoint timeline, and the subsequent changes to the timeline that resulted when Barry tried to reset things, had effects on previously innocent citizens of Central City. Many of the villains Team Flash faced in those episodes were people who had powers or evil identities in the Flashpoint timeline, which were now being reflected in their present selves.

So could this have happened to Roy? It certainly would be an interesting twist, and one that would not only include the show’s theme of ‘legacy’ – given Oliver’s past mentoring of Roy – but would bring Roy’s past love interest, Thea, further back into the ongoings of Team Arrow.

Talia al Ghul

This theory has only recently started to gain traction, after Talia first appeared in Arrow’s flashbacks a few episodes ago. It has been established that, because Prometheus knows some of the complex fighting moves that Oliver learned from Talia, that the vigilante was somehow also trained by her. And Arrow executive producer Wendy Mericle previously stated that Talia will be a “crucial part” in helping Oliver solve the Prometheus mystery.

But, could Prometheus actually be Talia herself?

Aside from the aforementioned similarities in fighting style, Prometheus’ suit does bear a few similarities to the one Talia has worn in recent flashbacks. This could also be explained away as Prometheus taking after her wardrobe after being trained with her, but it just as easily could be modifications made by Talia herself.

As far as the voice and the apparent backstory, these could easily be methods used by Talia to mislead and distract Team Arrow. When her father was the show’s big bad in season three, he certainly used his resources to their fullest extent to manipulate the events in Oliver’s life, so it’s not unlikely that Talia would do the same. And as far as the voice, Talia could easily be wearing some sort of modulator to mislead the team as well.

If this theory were true, it would provide an interesting link between the flashbacks and the present day, and tie right into the notion of ‘legacy’ that is running through the season.

Robert Queen

As we’ve stated, Prometheus has been established as someone directly caused by Oliver’s actions, to an extent where he almost seems more interested in Oliver Queen’s demise than he is in the Green Arrow’s. Taking that into consideration, what would be a more heartbreaking twist than having Prometheus be Oliver’s own father.

Obviously, this would involve some time manipulation as well, as Oliver clearly saw his father commit suicide in Arrow’s very first episode. But elements of the theories we’ve discussed – particularly Flashpoint and Flash’s general use of the multiverse – could factor in here.

It was established in last season of The Flash that Robert Queen was actually the Earth-2 Green Arrow, because Oliver had died instead of him when the Gambit sunk. This means that there is at least one version of Robert Queen that is capable of Prometheus’ skills.

While that particular version of Robert wouldn’t exactly work in this scenario – his version of his son has been dead for almost ten years now, making his antimocity towards the current Earth-1 Oliver a little unwarranted. But again, Flash didn’t provide us with a look at what Star City was like in the Flashpoint universe, making anything still possible at this point.

And if it were to be true, this theory would put a profound twist on the theme of legacy – one that would make Oliver question his initial vendetta that led him to be the Green Arrow in the first place.

Adrian Chase

Now I know what you’re thinking – Adrian Chase is already assumed to be the other masked character on the show, Vigilante. While that does align with his comic book origin, Arrow is often one to stray away from those origins with a desire to keep the show unpredictable (regardless of the response those decisions sometimes receive from fans).

And if anything, Chase could be Prometheus simply because of how little we know about him. The Star City DA has very little established backstory on the show, aside from having a wife. And given the hinted element of Prometheus being the now-adult son – one of the men on ‘the list’ that Oliver kills in season one – he certainly is the right age for it. And Chase seems to have similar motivations to the villain, particularly the desire to achieve justice at any cost.

This also rings true given the events of tonight’s episode, when we saw Oliver’s conversation with Chase, in which he tried to clear the Green Arrow of Billy’s murder, suddenly become headline news. While it’s entirely possible that Prometheus could have acquired that information in some other way, such as bugging City Hall, there is a chance that Chase could have a few secrets up his sleeve.

Quentin Lance

This was been one of the longest-running theories about Prometheus’ origin, and there’s equally an argument for or against it at this point.

This theory has been toyed with throughout the season, particularly in ‘So It Begins.’ In the episode, Team Arrow faced off against Prometheus, and Artemis cut a gash in the villain’s arm. At the very end of the episode, Lance woke up from a drunken stupor and found a cut in his arm as well.

While this was easily brushed off by some as a misdirect, there is a chance that the show wanted it to have the opposite effect, to make you realize that the villain has been among the team all along. This tactic has been used to a certain degree throughout The Flash as well, particularly with Harrison Wells being Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash and Jay Garrick being Hunter Zolomon/Zoom.

Aside from that, there is some narrative reasoning behind assuming that Lance is the masked archer. The main one is simply that Lance knows a lot of the information that Prometheus also knows, particularly about the Legends of Tomorrow and their Waverider.

And from a more personal standpoint, Lance’s emotional journey over the course of the show has brought him an absurd amount of heartbreak, particularly after the death of Laurel last season. It’s possible that that, and Lance’s regret about teaming up with Damian Darhk, could have been enough to make Lance reach his breaking point.

Plus, Lance has always had some level of antimosity towards Oliver, as early as when Oliver and Laurel dated in high school. These decades of pent-up frustration would be enough to justify his crusade against Oliver Queen himself.

The main case against Lance being Prometheus would be the established elements of Prometheus’ backstory, including the mere fact of his training. With Lance seemingly being constrained to Star City for most of the events of the show – including flashbacks – it seems unlikely that he would be able to train under Talia al Ghul without someone in his circle noticing.

Tommy Merlyn

This last theory also remains one of the most prominent ones since the show’s first introduction of Prometheus.

When it was established that the villain’s arc would stretch as far back as season one, fans instantly turned to Tommy Merlyn, Oliver’s best friend who tragically met his demise at the end of the first season. While his death was shown onscreen, making skeptics believe he can’t possibly be Prometheus, as we’ve established, Flashpoint, time travel, or even an earlier use of the Lazarus Pit could easily come into play here.

It’s uncertain what exactly this version of Tommy’s vendetta would be against Oliver, and whether or not he would have the memories of dying. But Prometheus’ knowledge of Oliver’s personal life, and subsequent weaknesses, help make the case that he could be Tommy. In particular, his plot of using Laurel’s Earth-2 counterpart, Black Siren, to infiltrate Team Arrow hints at that heavily, given the Oliver/Laurel/Tommy love triangle in season one.

And becoming a hooded supervillain would certainly run in Tommy’s family, given the fact that his dad, Malcolm Merlyn, has suited up as the Dark Archer throughout the course of the show. 

The main case against Tommy being Prometheus is the established elements of the villain’s backstory, particularly his parents. But this could easily be contributed to a change from Flashpoint or time travel – possibly that Tommy was adopted as a child after Merlyn lost his wife.

And of course, there’s the fact that Collin Donnell is currently starring in NBC’s Chicago Med, but it’s not entirely impossible for him to hop over to Arrow for a few episodes.