Arrow The Calm (2012– ) Online
With crime in Starling City at an all-time low thanks to the Arrow and his team, Oliver thinks he can finally balance being both the Arrow and Oliver Queen and asks Felicity out on a date. However, when a new villain emerges, who has claimed the name Vertigo from the recently deceased Count, Oliver is caught off-guard and someone close to him is hurt. Oliver and a newly suited up Roy take on the Count. Laurel joins Arrow's inner circle and Felicity gets a part-time job at a tech store to make ends meet. Also, Oliver fights to regain his company, Queen Consolidated, but comes up against a very worthy adversary.
| Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
 | Stephen Amell | - | Oliver Queen / The Arrow |
 | Katie Cassidy | - | Laurel Lance |
 | David Ramsey | - | John Diggle |
 | Willa Holland | - | Thea Queen (credit only) |
 | Emily Bett Rickards | - | Felicity Smoak |
 | Colton Haynes | - | Roy Harper |
 | John Barrowman | - | Malcolm Merlyn (credit only) |
 | Paul Blackthorne | - | Quentin Lance |
 | Grant Gustin | - | Barry Allen |
 | Brandon Routh | - | Ray Palmer |
 | Caity Lotz | - | Sara Lance / The Canary |
 | Audrey Marie Anderson | - | Lyla Michaels |
 | Cynthia Addai-Robinson | - | Amanda Waller |
 | Karl Yune | - | Maseo Yamashiro |
 | Rila Fukushima | - | Tatsu Yamashiro |
The tune Count Vertigo whistles is "In the Hall of the Mountain King", a piece composed by Edvard Grieg for the play Peer Gynt. The scene this particular piece belongs to happens in one of the titular character's hallucinations brought on by getting intoxicated, making this a fitting song for Count Vertigo, who deals in hallucinogenic drugs.
After Oliver speaks with Felicity in the hospital, he receives a call from Barry Allen who tells him he "just woke up" and needs advice. This ties in to a scene in The Flash: Pilot (2014) where Barry runs to Starling City and meets with Arrow.
A Ferris Air banner is above the ring in the boxing scene. Carol Ferris is the girlfriend of Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan was a test pilot for Ferris Air when he became the Green Lantern.
This version of Vertigo is similar to the drug used by the Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins (2005). In that film, Bruce Wayne had to overcome his greatest fears with Ra's al Ghul's fear toxin.
Brandon Routh who plays Ray Palmer in Arrow Season 3 starred as Superman in Superman Returns (2006). Arrow and Superman are both franchises of DC Comics.
During the boxing scene, one of the fighters support teams is wearing Wildcat robes. Wildcat was a boxer turned superhero for DC beginning in the 1940s, becoming one of DC's first non-metahuman or alien heroes.
In flashbacks, Oliver checks his e-mail where a mini-calendar can be seen to the side, being that the flashback is 5 years before the main story (2009) although no month is given, August is the only month in 2009 with 31 days, beginning on Saturday as seen on the calendar.
Ray Palmer has previously been played by John Kassir in the 1997 failed pilot turned tv movie, Justice League of America.
Rila Fukushima (Tatsu Yamashiro) previously appeared in the Marvel Comics X-Men film The Wolverine (2013) as Yukio.
Ray Palmer (The Atom) pitches a re-naming of Starling City to Star City. This is the name in the comic books of the fictional city where The Arrow lives and works.
This is the live action small screen debut of the character Ray Palmer. His only other appearance outside of the comic books is as an animated character in Justice League (2001).
Tatsu Yamashiro is the secret identity of the DC hero Katana, who was a member of the Outsiders. She carries a sword, called the Soultaker, which is inhabited by her slain husband Maseo.
At some point during the series Nyssa Al Ghul and Sara Lance became lovers. Nyssa would never hurt Sara. She became her Guardian after they met and they had remained friends up until Sara died. When Sara tried to kill herself in Arrow: Heir to the Demon (2014), Nyssa nearly lost it, which proves that Nyssa was 100% devoted to Sara.
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