Arrow Season 3 ended with quite a cliffhanger with its mid-season finale last year, but it will return for its mid-season premiere on Wednesday, January 21st on the CW. There is a lot still in store for Arrow, including development of the Atom and finally, the Black Canary.
In case you missed the prior episode "The Climb", it ended with Green Arrow/Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) in mortal combat with Ra's al Ghul (Matthew Nable), the big villain of this season who usually fights with Batman in the comics and movies like Batman Begins. Sadly, it appears that Queen was the loser of the fight, but a trailer of episode 10 "Left Behind" shows Queen's body on a snowy cliff.
So is Oliver alive? In episode 10 of Season 3, it would appear that Oliver's friend John Diggle (David Ramsey) is going to be protecting the city as the Emerald Archer is out. Futon Critic states that many will begin believing that the worst has happened to Queen, including Roy Harper. The International Business Times states that Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) will still hope for her partner's return, and then Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) will pay her a surprise vist. There will also be some focus on Ray Palmer (aka the Atom from DC comics, played by Brandon Routh) and Laurel Lance (possibly Black Canary from DC comics, played by Katie Cassidy).
In case you are not aware, Enstarz reports there is a possibility of a spin-off show of Ray Palmer, focusing on his life as the Atom. The Atom is a hero whose power is to shrink to microscopic size, and it is possible to draw similarities between him and Marvel's Ant-Man, coming to movie form later this year. Considering the success of The Flash, The CW might be working with DC comics to build their ever-increasing DC heroes television universe, perhaps bringing in more heroes from their comic-book creations spanning several decades.
All rumors seem to point to Laurel Lance taking up the mantle of Black Canary, possibly in this episode 10. Those who are not familiar with Black Canary should know that she is a popular heroine from the DC Universe and was Green Arrow's love interest. Green Arrow and Black Canary were even married until DC rebooted their universe, changing old storylines for newer ones. Bringing Black Canary into the show will take it in many different directions.
As for what is in store for the rest of Arrow Season 3, International Business times states that there could be another crossover with Arrow and The Flash, and it will be "bigger and better". Both programs have already been renewed for another season in 2015-2016. Perhaps they can do a crossover with the Atom, making a triple-part crossover of some kind.
With DC continuing to expand their TV universe, it still is not known how well it will mix once they start doing their movie universe with such projects as the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, or the Suicide Squad film. The films appear to be ripped pages from Marvel's playbook with its cinematic universe, but the TV prospect is a definite way of getting more content from DC comics out there to mainstream audiences.
