Actor Neal McDonough has been cast in the upcoming fourth season of The CW’s Arrow, taking on the role of abundantly-H’d criminal mastermind Damien Darhk. Darhk was previously mentioned on the show as an old friend and rival of the villainous Ra’s Al Ghul, and has been described as a “mysterious and sophisticated villain” who “will prove to be one of the Arrow’s greatest challenges,” easily thwarting the hero’s efforts to spellcheck documents containing his name.
McDonough, whose past credits include roles on Band Of Brothers, Justified, and USA’s Suits, is no stranger to comic-book work. The actor currently has a recurring role as bowler-hatted military man Dum Dum Dugan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has actually played Arrow hero Oliver Queen himself, albeit in an animated role. McDonough lent his voice to the Robin Hood-inspired character—who wasn’t too cool at the time to run around with the word “Green” in his superhero nom de guerre—for a series of videos that were collected as the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, an animated anthology released by Warner Bros. in 2010.
But now, McDonough will be putting down his cartoon bow and switching over to the Darhk side, playing a character who originally appeared as a Titans villain back in 1999. The DC Comics Database wiki describes Darhk as “baby-faced” and “a wi-fi fiend,” an amazing phrase that suggests he menaces heroes by setting up hotspot networks with passive-aggressive names like “GreenLanternIsAPoseur” or “CyborgNeedsToTurnHisMusicDownWhilePeopleAreTryingToSleep.” It’s unclear what, if any, elements of the character will survive the transition to television, or if the show’s writers just stumbled over the name “Damien Darhk” and realized it was simply too metal not to use.