Arrow Producers Discuss Bringing DC Supervillains Shrapnel, Deathstroke to the Show

In the "Producer's Preview" of Arrow's midseason premiere "Blast Radius," executive producers Andrew Kreisberg and XXX talk about bringing another familiar DC Universe name--this time the villain called Shrapnel--to the small screen. In the comics, of course, he's a hideously warped humanoid made up of twisted metal...and as much as some fans would like to see Arrow make the jump, they haven't quite committed to that level of supervillain yet. "In the Arrowverse, he's sort of a Ted Kaczynski/Unabomber type who's targeted Starling City," Kreisberg said. More than that, though, he's worried about things going on in the island flashbacks, where Slade Wilson's identity as Deathstroke the Terminator is beginning to take shape. Cut between shots of Slade seemingly losing his mind and targeting Oliver with his rage, Kreisberg explained that the villain comic book fans expected is, indeed, coming. "A lot came out in these first nine episodes of Arrow this season," he added. "We discovered that Slade Wilson is still alive and in the present and is secretly pulling the strings behind Brother Blood. Slade, we know, has been injected with the Mirakuru serum, and since we know he's the big bad in the present day, we can imagine this is the beginning of the end of things on the island. Coming up at the end of the year, we'll get to see Deathstroke 2.0 as the Arrow faces off against his former friend." Arrow returns from its holiday hiatus with a new episode on Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.