For all you ‘Arrow’ fans left hanging at the end of the mid-season finale, rejoice! Here’s some news to tide you over until ‘Arrow’ returns from the dead…err, hiatus. It has been reported that actor Marc Singer (best known for his role in 3 ‘Beastmaster’ films) will be joining the show around the 14th episode of season 3, playing the role of General Matthew Shrieve, who in the comics was the leader of a little group know as the Creature Commandos.

Who are the Creature Commandos you might ask? First seen in the 1980’s as part of a series called ‘Weird War Tales,’ the original Creature Commandos consisted of a human named Matthew Shrieve, a werewolf named Warren Griffith, a vampire named Vincent Velcro, Frankenstein’s monster who was called Elliot ‘Lucky’ Taylor, and a Gorgon named Myrna Rhodes. (for anyone like me who is unsure of what a Gorgan is, it is basically a Medusa type creature with hair that comes alive as venomous snakes and could turn people into stone by looking at them). The original team fought during WWII, though eventually they made their way into the modern DC timeline, and a version of them continued into the New 52 DC reboot.

The interesting thing is with how supernatural and powers heavy the Creature Commandos team is, and with the introduction of Matthew Shrieve onto ‘Arrow,’ that basically opens the door for the rest of the “monster” team. Granted, based on the mid-season finale (SPOILER ALERT) they will have to be introducing some more fantastic elements to the world of ‘Arrow’ in order to bring Oliver Queen back from the dead, but throwing in vampires and werewolves seems like a rather large leap into the fantastic to follow that up with. Of course, there have been reports of the Executive Producer of the show, Marc Guggenheim, recently having a change of heart about his original decision to ground the show and avoid the crazier elements of the DC universe, so perhaps this is the first sign of that change.

Regardless, I know I’m excited to see where ‘Arrow’ will go with these characters, and have faith that everything will be integrated well into the continuing universe that ‘Arrow’ and ‘The Flash’ are creating. Looking forward to seeing the show come back in January!

Source: ComicBookResources.com