Top 10 characters the Arrowverse completely botched

7. Adrian Chase/Prometheus

I seem to be in the minority on this one. He started out well enough, emerging as Oliver Queen’s lawyer with more going on beneath the surface than meets the eye. Unfortunately, once he’s revealed as the season’s big bad, he turns into the poor man’s Professor Moriarty, specifically Andrew Scott’s Moriarty from Sherlock.

However, instead of striking a fine balance between dark comedy and suspense, this ridiculous turn is played completely straight, and Josh Segarra doesn’t pull it off nearly as well. His crooked smile and overtly sleezy delivery of every line is plain hammy, doing little to convey any depth or threat.

Season 5 aims to go back to gritty basics, deconstructing the ethics of the Green Arrow and the toll it takes on Oliver and his loved ones. As such, we’re supposed to believe that Chase can challenge our hero, both physically and psychologically. Well, he’s a pencil-neck, so it’s hard to believe that he could take down Stephen Amell under any circumstances. When it comes to the psychological aspect, it basically amounts to repeating the same phrases and surface-level observations over and over again in an effort to sound deep. This makes him little more than a self-righteous wimp.

Much of the disconnect comes from the fact that we don’t actually see the Green Arrow kill Adrian’s father. His whole scheme stems from his need for revenge, but we have no idea who his dad was or what relationship they had. It’s a contrived attempt to retroactively tie his story in with Oliver’s, but it doesn’t resonate at all.

Making this villain look even worse are the flashbacks this season, which deal with Oliver’s exploits in Russia and his attempts to bring down a crime lord played by Dolph Lundgren. Sure there’s not much to him, but he’s much more imposing than little Adrian.

These flashbacks also reveal that one of Oliver’s teachers was Talia al Ghul, daughter of international assassin leader Ra’s al Ghul. In retaliation for Oliver killing her father in Season 3, she trains Adrian to be the Green Arrow’s downfall. In short, she should have been the main villain.

Think about it. She has a personal connection with Oliver, which we actually see unfold. Given her skillset, it makes sense that she was a member of the League of Assassins. This alone would make her a physical match for Oliver since she would have presumably trained her entire life in the ways of stealth, misdirection, and lethality.

Most importantly, though, it would have been easier to identify with her motive because we’ve seen the Green Arrow kill her father. He earned Ra’s al Ghul’s trust, seemingly embraced his sacred ways, and struck him down. That type of betrayal, especially given the irony that Talia trained Oliver, could have easily laid the foundation for a compelling antagonist, and Lexa Doig demonstrates the charisma and intensity to pull it off.

When compared to what we could have gotten, a villain as forced and lackluster as Prometheus is pathetic.