SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information about the current fourth season of ‘Arrow’ which may be considered SPOILERS so proceed with caution.
Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) may not have been killed in the midseason finale of ‘Arrow’ but after an attack by Damian Darhk’s men, she won’t walk away unscathed… or walk away at all. A new low quality Australian trailer for the show’s return has surfaced and teases Felicity’s fate. It appears that she WAS the person that Oliver and Barry were talking about while standing over a mysterious grave, but she isn’t the grave’s occupant. Instead, it looks like Felicity is looking at a long road to recovery after being shot and injured. That’s taking for granted that she actually does recover.
First, watch the trailer for Season Four, Episode 10, entitled ‘Blood Debts’:
The name Felicity Smoak was taken from a ‘Firestorm’ supporting character in the comics, but the depiction on ‘Arrow’ is mostly an original creation… except both Felicity and ‘The Flash”s Caitlin Snow borrow heavily from one of DC’s most popular characters– one that may technically be off-limits to these shows– Barbara Gordon.
Though Barbara began her comic book career as Batgirl, and has reclaimed that title, for decades she served as an arguably more vital role, Oracle the greatest computer hacker in the DC Universe, who lent her expertise to the various heroes, including Batman, the Justice League and the Birds of Prey. She assumed this role after her spine was severed by The Joker and she was forced to operate from a wheelchair, making her one of the most visible handicapped characters in comics.
As stated, Felicity’s role on ‘Arrow’ already strongly mirrors Oracle’s in the comics. Could they be borrowing another page from Oracle’s comic book journey and paralyzing Felicity? Maybe, maybe not.
Unfortunately, when asked about Felicity’s role in the upcoming 17th episode, entitled ‘Birds of Prey’, executive producer Marc Guggenheim seems to burst that bubble, saying:
“She plays a role, but not in the way you’re hoping. Hopefully we’ll get there–that occurred to us as well but we didn’t have an opportunity to do that in [Episode] 17.”
You may recall the Season Three episode “The Secret Origin Of Felicity Smoak’, but what you may not realize is that the episode was originally titled ‘Oracle’, but that was changed before it aired. It seems the character Oracle is at least on the producers’ minds. But once again, Barbara Gordon and her alter egos may be off limits.
Although ‘Arrow’ has borrowed heavily from Batman’s comics, perhaps Barbara is too major a character. Plus she was rumored to be part of TNT’s now-aborted ‘Titans’ series. And of course FOX’s ‘Gotham’ may have some impact on Barbara/Oracle’s availability.
Would you like to see Felicity as Oracle? Or at least something along those lines?
Source: ComicBook.com
