Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and they just revealed that Arrow episode 4 is titled the
Magician. They tweeted a copy of the title page at the start of filming this morning.
Marc Guggenheim included John Barrowman’s name in the tweet so the title “The Magician”
probably refers to Merlyn the Magician. But it could also be an easter egg for Zatanna.
Plus Guillermo Del Toro said he wanted to include Constantine from the tv show in his
Justice League Dark movie. So there’s a lot of new talk of integration.
This video is going to be an explanation of Merlyn the Magician as in Malcolm Merlyn.
Just because that’s what episode 4 is going to be about. Magician is one of his nicknames
and I’ll also do backstory for Zatanna, Constantine and Doctor Fate and how the show
might treat them if they ever ended up doing a crossover.
If this is the first time you’re finding me I do Arrow and DC videos every week. Be
sure to subscribe to get everything.
So Magic on Arrow isn’t going to happen just yet. I think it took Smallville 8 seasons
to get to it. The Magician title of Episode 4 refers to Merlyn Malcolm.
Malcolm Merlyn’s original name in the comics before he joined the League of Assassins was
Arthur King. Eventually he took the stage name Merlyn the Magician. In Oliver Queen’s
first few years as Green Arrow in Star City, Arthur challenged him to a public archery
contest. Arthur or Merlyn the Magician as he called himself lost and in a rage, disappeared
from public life.
Eventually he became an assassin and trained himself to perfection in case he ever crossed
path with Green Arrow again. He took on his Merlyn the Magician alias full time and left
his old name Arthur King behind.
Eventually he was recruited into the league of assassins and during his time there he
went on to tutor the Cassandra Cain batgirl.
This was before the new 52 reboot. After the reboot his real name was retconned to be Tommy
Merlyn and of course Arrow the show changed that a little so the character John Barrowman
plays on the show is an amalgamation of the old version of the character and the new version.
So what does them picking a title like “The Magician” say about the story. Mostly I
think it’s going to be John Barrowman’s grand re-introduction to starling city. They’ll
have to explain what he was doing while he was away the first time and then what he’s
been doing since he came back for Thea.
There’s no guarantee that Thea will be part of the episode, but since Willa Holland is
still a cast regular I’m guessing she’ll be around. Mostly it’s going to be about
Merlyn though.
He’s Oliver’s ultimate nemesis, like Grant Gustin’s Flash and Professor Zoom. Merlyn
is a little more ambiguous, but what if they gave him his own island arc. Not send Merlyn
to the island, I mean give him a flashback story that will be told over one or more episodes.
Oliver’s flashbacks serve a really important role. Yes they’re super cool, but they’re
meant to inform the plot in present day. Usually the flashbacks tease things that are central
to each episode.
Because episode 4 is titled The Magician, they could use a flashback to tee up Merlyn’s
grand plan for season 3. Remember in the comics, Oliver got one up on him in an archery contest
shaming him big time. So the show could twist that theme and do a flashback explaining where
Merlyn sulked off to in disgrace after season 1 and then in present day have him set up
a plot to get one up on Oliver in some big way.
Usually when the show picks a title that is straight of the Comic Book Page it uses something
major from an important comic book story.
Arrow doesn’t ever straight up copy the comics, they always change things a little.
But the episode regardless of references will be all about Merlyn and his new plan.
There’s also the meta thing going on where John Barrowman’s personality in real life
makes me think that Malcolm Merlyn in the episode is going to be really theatrical,
like a Stage Performer. For anyone who hasn’t seen him at a convention, John Barrowman is
way over the top in the best possible way.
If you remember him from Doctor Who or Torchwood when he got to do a little more singing and
dancing. That’s what I’m thinking of. Stephen Amell already said that he refused
to do a musical episode of Arrow. He was mostly joking, but all the same Malcolm Merlyn will
be flamboyant without being funny. Picture more of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki humor and
physicality. Something close to that.
As for what I think he was up to during the break. I mostly think he was training Thea
and laying the groundwork for a takeover plan. Something that would restore a lot of his
lost power. Remember, he lost his company just like Oliver lost his company. So Merlyn
and Oliver share a lot in common.
Thea is a little easier to predict. I have no idea what Merlyn’s plan is going to be
other than it will involve him taking advantage of a very distracted Oliver.
Willa Holland posted this picture to instagram recently. It’s just her working with a hardcore
trainer. In terms of persona or comic book characters, I would think she’d be closer
to Artemis. They’d just change Artemis’ backstory the way they changed Isobel Rochev
to make her Ravager. And if you needed more evidence, don’t forget
that Thea had archery trophies in her bedroom.
Her motivation is a little unclear, but I can’t wait to see her and Roy get a big
fight scene.
And when I mentioned Oliver being distracted, I was mostly referring to the new villains,
Count Vertigo and Ra’s Al Ghul occupying the biggest part of his head and his other
remainin brain cells being spent thinking about Felicity, Ray Palmer and everyone else.
It just seems like Merlyn would use that situation to take advantage of Oliver.
So now, just to explain Zatanna, Doctor Fate and magic inside the Arrow Verse. It doesn’t
exist right now. But the producers of the DC TV shows are all open to crossovers. So
until there’s a strong plan in place for Arrow and Constantine to start referencing
each other. Zatanna has a better chance of showing up inside a Constantine episode.
And based on the Doctor Fate teaser in the premiere. It seems like they’re not going
full on with big DC Superhero cameos just yet. They’ll probably follow the Arrow model.
Stick to core characters the first season and if it gets renewed. Use season 2 to bring
in more comic book characters. Zatanna would just be a really easy sell. Constantine already
sells the idea of magic and supernatural powers.
In case you missed it, Guillermo Del Toro still has the Justice League Dark script in
development and he said he’d totally make Constantine part of the team. That doesn’t
mean it’s going to happen, but think about this.
The tv shows and the movies won’t have any crossover, so consider them separate universes.
I think the chances are pretty good we could see a tv version of Justice League Dark before
they ever tried it as a movie. Plus via Arrow and The Flash they can do a modified Justice
Society.
That way they can stay away from the movie characters and still do the big team up.
They’re just getting started with The Flash so I don’t expect anything like that for
at least another season or two. But if they did it on Smallville, they can totally do
it again.
Let me know if you would rather see Justice League Dark done on tv first. And do you think
Arrow and The Flash will get to Justice Society before Zack Snyder and the movie people get
to Justice League?
I say yes to both. Justice League Dark on tv is a no brainer, Guillermo Del Toro always
seems like the busiest man on the planet and he’s developing Pacific Rim 2, so he might
not be able to participate if it happens. But the Justice League movie isn’t planned
till 2017. That’s almost season 6 of Arrow. I definitely think that Flash and Arrow can
get there first.
I’m planning on doing a video for my Favorite Justice League Dark stories and Justice Society.
Be sure to subscribe to get those. There has been some movie news recently. Mostly that
Lex Luthor is going to clone a kryptonian at the end of Batman vs Superman and synthesize
kryptonite. That’s just a rumor but I’ll do a video if it turns into something bigger.
In the meantime, click here to learn all about Marvel’s Inhumans Movie and click here to
learn about Wildcat Coming on Season 3 of Arrow.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow. High Fives!