Arrow: Who is Chase?

In the closing moments of last week's episode of Arrow came a surprising revelation: Chase, the DJ at Verdant, is in fact an agent of the League of Assassins, reporting back to Maseo about Thea's activities.

There are a lot of questions raised by this, particularly since we don't know exactly how loyal to Ra's al Ghul Maseo is following his decision to save Oliver's life in the midseason premiere.

The biggest question, though? Who is this guy? Is he somebody fans would recognize from the comics?

And we've got some crackpot theories (and some less crack-potty ones suggested by our readers) to tide you over until he makes his move...!

Chase Lawler

Just going with the first name "Chase," there's really only one guy who fits the mold: Chase Lawler, one of the several characters to go by the name Manhunter.

Other Manhunters from the comics include former Starling City District Attorney Kate Spencer and Diggle's old A.R.G.U.S. buddy Mark Shaw, who appeared earlier this season.

Spencer was killed in last year's season finale, but a number of her characteristics as Manhunter reverberate through the show as Laurel Lance is also a distict attorney who fights both crime and a broken justice system using somebody else's gear that she took without permission.

In the comics, Chase Lawler was introduced post-Zero Hour and was one of the brainwashed assassin Manhunters -- the other being Shaw, who eventually murdered Lawler. During his life, though, Lawler was a musician who believed his abilities came from a connection to a spiritual "Wild Huntsman." Ultimately it turned out he was just brainwashed, the same as Shaw, and had created the Huntsman as a dissociatives personality not unlike Shaw's archenemy Dumas, whose identity Shaw had slipped into when he murdered Lawler.

Creepy League of Assassins disc jockey Chase? Meet Chase Lawler, former Manhunter, aspiring musician and creepy assassin.

Grant Wilson

Here's a solid candidate, if only becuase of the many associations he has with characters from the show. Grant Wilson is the son of Slade "Deathstroke" Wilson, and had a short, tragic life before being resurrected by Brother Blood.

Resurrection on this show, of course has been a recurring theme and while Brother Blood didn't have the ability (and isn't a threat at the moment), it's not inconceivable that a similar plotline couldn't play out with Deathstroke and the League of Assassins using a Lazarus Pit on him.

He's also got ties not only to Deathstroke, obviously, but to H.I.V.E., the organization which in Arrow formerly employed Deadshot and murdered Diggle's brother. There have been recent promises that H.I.V.E. will be explored this season, which could give them an opportunity to introduce Grant.

In the comics, he grew up idolizing Deathstroke but didn't know until later in life that Slade was his father. In the comics, after blaming the Teen Titans for ruining his relationship, he asked H.I.V.E. to manipulate his genes to be like Deathstroke's, and became Ravager, so he could get revenge. Ultimately the serum was imperfect, and the powers were unstable and slowly deteriorating his mind and body. He died, further pushing Slade into madness.

Thanks to reader Chuckie for this suggestion!

Jericho

Joseph Wilson, another son of Slade "Deathstroke" Wilson, lived a tragic life. Seems to be more or less par for the course for people who hang around Deathstroke, actually.

A longtime member of the Teen Titans who ultimately betrayed them and turned evil after being possessed by minions of Trigon, Jericho is probably the least likely candidate on this list. Not only is he a metahuman -- something that Arrow tends to shy away from -- but he's got very little in common with Jericho and there's little to suggest that he could appear here other than a connection to Deathstroke.

Meanwhile, there's a Titans TV series in development right now and it's difficult to imagine that Jericho wouldn't be earmarked for that if he were ever going to transition to live-action TV.

Anyway, I'm not sure about the personality, but he certainly has the lovely golden locks for it.

Dusan al Ghul

Dusan al Ghul is the son of Ra's al Ghul, who was rejected by his father because of the fact that Dusan was born an albino. He was never able to earn Ra's' affection until later in life, when he helped Ra's try to hijack the young body of Damian Wayne.

When thwarted, Dusan offers himself up to be possessed by Ra's, sparing Damian's life and surrendering his own in the process; Ra's later laments how little time he spent with his son, who turned out to be the only truly loyal one of his children.

While the whole body-swapping thing is unlikely to come up, the albinism as a reason for being rejected is unlikely in the show, and Damian is obviously a no-go area for Arrow, it wouldn't be entirely shocking to discover that Chase is actually Dusan and that while Ra's won't take his calls, he's taking initiative to act on his father's behalf and working through Maseo to do so. Maseo, given that his son apparently met with tragedy, would likely be sympathetic to such a plight.