Arrow Season Finale: Easter Eggs and DC Comics References In "Unthinkable"

Tonight's Arrow finale features a massive, complex battle that pitted Team Arrow (with Roy Harper and Canary) and the League of Assassins (with Nyssa Raatko, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul) against Deathstroke and his Mirakuru army. It was, as you'd expect, fairly chock full of DC Comics references and Easter eggs...and that's before you even consider the one-minute promo for The Flash that aired during one of the commercial breaks. We'll start just by running down the familiar DC Universe faces who appear in this episode but who aren't series regulars:

• Amanda Waller - Director of A.R.G.U.S. She's the baddest of DC's many intelligence-community directors, having established the Suicide Squad -- a group of supervillains forced into labor for her organization. She's been played on screen by Angela Bassett, Pamela Grier and CCH Pounder.
• Lyla Michaels - In the comics, she's Harbinger, introduced in "Crisis on Infinite Earths." On TV, she doesn't have super powers, but she is the ex-wife of John Diggle, an A.R.G.U.S. agent and...well...pregnant.
• Floyd Lawton/Deadshot - A member of the Suicide Squad and probably Arrow's most recurring villain who isn't a season-long baddie like Brother Blood or Deathstroke
• The League of Assassins - The group of assassins trained in Nanda Parbat by Ra's al Ghul, who come in this episode as backup.
• Nyssa Raatko - The daughter of Ra's al Ghul and his right hand in the League of Assassins. In the Arrowverse, she's also the former (and future?) lover of Sara Lance/Black Canary.
• Anatoli Knyazev - That crazy Russian guy in the Japanese sub on Lian Yu? Yeah, he's the KGBeast in the comics.

And...what else did we spot? Check it out below, and chime in in the comments for anything you think we missed!

Meltzer Ave Many of the streets in Starling City are named for creators with a connection to Green Arrow, including this one. Named after best-selling author and Mystery Writers of America president Brad Meltzer. Meltzer, of course, wrote Identity Crisis, a story in which the rivalry between Green Arrow and Deathstroke gave the TV show one of its more recognizable scenes of this season. Giordano Tunnel Another name-drop -- this time of veteran inker and longtime DC Comics editor, the late Dick Giordano. Green Arrow isn't one of his most famous gigs, but he did plenty of them...and his influence on the DC publishing line was felt for years. Arsenal masks up Roy Harper takes on the mask that will ultimately serve him as Arsenal tonight.

Easy Company The group of soldiers that A.R.G.U.S. sent to secure the tunnel (who were slain by the Mirakuru Army) were named after Easy Company, the group of World War II soldiers led by Sgt. Rock. Their leader, named Gomez, doesn't appear to be a specific DC reference but one never knows. Theresa Gomez is the name of a woman seen occasionally in Vigilante from Marv Wolfman, who is the writer who popularized Deathstroke the Terminator. It's also the name of one of The CW's PR people who works on Arrow. 52 minutes out from target Oh, yeah, and the drone at the time when they're reaching out to Sgt. Gomez and Easy Company? It was 52 minutes out from target. As in, DC's 52 event miniseries and The New 52 publishing initiative.ni the pilot -- the moment that Oliver had often told people was where she died. Sara's latest watery grave When the torpedo breaks up the Amazo and separates Oliver from Sara, the shot of her being carried away by the rushing water as the boat breaks up is almost identical to the one "Sara was only the first" Slade's "last words" on the island before taking an arrow to the eye and "dying" are a threat to kill Oliver's mother, which he finally did earlier this season.

Bolo arrow The nonlethal "bolo" arrow is a frequently-used one in the comics (or at least used to be), and seeing one of Oliver's trick arrows come into play at a key moment in this episode certainly makes it feel like the idea that this season was about transitioning him from The Vigilante to Green Arrow is a journey that is nearing its conclusion. Where they're headed with Thea It seems likely that we'll see Thea's archery trophies, her nickname as Speedy and her League of Assassins father all come together to have an impact in Season Three. Will she train to become the anti-Arrow, as her name (Thea Dearden Queen, named after Mia Dearden, the comics's Speedy) suggests? "You're in Purgatory." Get it? Because that's what Lian Yu's name means! Amanda Waller meets Oliver We've been wondering for a while now just how they got to know each other. Apparently, the answer came today. So...what will it mean for next year's flashbacks? The jacket fits Sara gives Laurel the Black Canary jacket, possibly foreshadowing that she'll become Black Canary like in the comics. A.R.G.U.S. Supermax A long-in-development film script for Green Arrow, titled "Super Max," dealt with his wrongful conviction and subsequent prison escape attempts in a Super Max prison filled with villains he had put away. Doing that as a first film would have been a very weird choice.