Another street-level DC hero is coming to Arrow — and this time, he’s got television experience.
Christopher Chance, the super-bodyguard better known to fans as the Human Target, will make his way to Star City this season.
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This time around, the character — who is a master of disguise, and can appear to be just about anybody — will not have Mark Valley or Rick Springfield as his “true” face, but rather Jessica Jones and Once Upon A Time‘s Will Traval, KSite reports.
A Human Target TV series starring Valley ran for two seasons in 2010 and 2011 on FOX. The series was a fan favorite but was based only very loosely on the DC Comics character, with the disguise element almost completely omitted. The series also featured Jackie Earle Haley, who had played Rorschach in Watchmen, appearing in his second DC Entertainment property.
The idea behind Human Target is that Chance uses his chameleon-like skillset to essentially become the person he’s “protecting,” draw out potential attackers, and dispatch them, all while the actual target is hidden safely away.
It seems as though Diggle is off the table as Oliver Queen’s bodyguard, at least for now, because that’s just what Chance has apparently been hired to do, per the casting notice:
Wil Traval plays well-renowned DC Comics character Christopher Chance, a.k.a. “Human Target,” in Episode #505: a professional bodyguard and master of disguise who assumes the identities of those targeted by assassins. His latest client: Mayor Oliver Queen.
So it’s safe to assume that Traval might spend a chunk of his time looking surprisingly Stephen Amell-like.
Human Target was created in the ’70s by Len Wein (co-creator of Wolverine) and Carmine Infantino (co-creator of the Barry Allen Flash).
Traval will be the third actor to portray Christopher Chance in live action. Prior to the 2010 series, musician Rick Springfield appeared in a short-lived 1992 Human Target series, which did indeed utilize the “master of disguise” element.
Arrow returns to the airwaves on October 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Traval will premiere as Chance in the show’s fifth episode, which will presumably take place on November 1, unless there is a skip week before then.
