‘Arrow’ Boss Clears Up ‘Suicide Squad’ Character Embargo

Arrow fans have come to grips with the idea that certain DC heavy-hitters will likely never make the leap to The CW’s DC shows, but that divide became exceptionally confusing with the shuffling off of Suicide Squad characters in preparation for this summer’s film. Now, not only is a prominent Squad-mate headed back to Arrow, but producers explain how they might be able to feature the characters going forward.

You’re warned of Arrow spoilers through tonight’s “A Matter of Trust,” but according to IGN, the Stardust-ed hour will surprisingly feature the return of Michael Rowe’s Deadshot, a character previously killed off in Season 3. At the time, most presumed Deadshot and a number of other Suicide Squad-related exits had to do with Warner Bros. consolidating characters for the film, of which Arrow boss Marc Guggenheim said certain characters were now “off the table.”

Those boundaries appear to have eased, but according to Guggenheim, DC still gets veto power in each instance:

It’s always a case by case thing, so I never like talking about like, ‘Oh, this is what we can do going into the future.’ I don’t know what the future holds because I haven’t approached that case by case situation.

In this case, it was really simple. I went into the writer’s room, this was a pitch on the table, I shot an email off to Geoff Johns. I got a response back, and Deadshot’s in the episode!

The second season of The CW drama saw Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s Amanda Waller assembling a Suicide Squad that included Deadshot, Bronze Tiger and Shrapnel, with an unnamed Harley Quinn cameo that presaged Amy Gumenick’s Cupid joining the team in Season 3. It had seemed the announcement of a Suicide Squad movie forced Arrow to hand over its toys, killing off Deadshot and Amanda Waller, and banishing associated characters like Manu Bennett’s Deathstroke or Nick Tarabay’s Captain Boomerang to offscreen exile.

The divide got a little murky after that, as Season 4 still managed to include a brief return for Rila Fukushima’s Katana and a Deathstroke cameo, along with an uncostumed Deadshot in Flash Season 2, and now Deathstroke’s full return in Arrow‘’s 100th episode. It also emerged that Warner Bros. essentially had in mind to test the Suicide Squad’s movie viability with their Arrow appearance in the first place.

It remains to be seen if the full Suicide Squad will ever assemble again on the small screen, but what other DC characters might get a shot at both TV and movie counterparts?

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