Merlyn

45 years ago - Malcolm Merlyn is born, the only son of reclusive billionaire Arthur Merlyn.

41 years ago - 4-year-old Merlyn begins studying archery, learning from the best experts in the world.

29 years ago - 16-year-old Merlyn secretly kills his father, becoming the heir to his fortune, devoting himself to becoming the greatest archer in the world.

27 years ago - 18-year-old Merlyn takes his first contract kill, hiding his identity.

18 years ago - 27-year-old Merlyn first learns about the vigilante Green Arrow, believing him to be a pretender to the title "world's greatest archer".

16 years ago - 29-year-old Merlyn challenges Green Arrow to an archery contest. When Merlyn loses he frames Green Arrrow for murders he committed. Green Arrow is forced to go on the run until he can prove his innocence, exposing Merlyn as the killer. Merlyn loses everything and blames Green Arrow.

14 years ago - 31-year-old Merlyn is hired by William Tockman to kill China White while she is in custody of the police, attacking while she is being moved for extradition. Green Arrow tries to keep her safe, fleeing across the city, until Merlyn finally kills her and shoots him off a building, taking him out of comission for months and claiming the title "world's greatest archer".

13 years ago - 32-year-old Merlyn completes the trials to join the inner circle of the League of Assassins.

12 years ago - 33-year-old Merlyn is one of the assassins to take the job in Gotham from Carmine Falcone to kill Batman. Unsuccessful, he is punished by the League of Assassins for interacting with Batman without their approval.

10 years ago - 35-year-old Merlyn is chosen by the League of Assassins to lead an attempt on the life of young Queen Perdita Vladek of Vlatava as she returns to her country to assume the throne. They are thwarted by Green Arrow, who escorts her across Europe. Green Arrow defeats Merlyn in another ongoing archery battle, saving the Queen.

9 years ago - 36-year-old Merlyn kills Jacob Kane, an interpol investigator investigating weapon trafficking by the League of Assassins, to earn favor after his recent failures.

6 years ago - 39-year-old Merlyn learns Oliver Queen's secret identity. He traps executives of Queen Industries in their building, forcing Oliver to fight to keep them alive with the help of junior programmer Felicity Smoak, leading to a final confrontation on the roof of the building before Merlyn is finally captured. He is recruited by Amanda Waller for the Suicide Squad.

5 years ago - 40-year-old Merlyn escapes from the Suicide Squad when Rick Flagg is killed, losing his arm in the detonation of his armband. He returns to the League of Assassins. doing smaller jobs to earn his advanced prosthetic.

4 years ago - 41-year-old Merlyn helps train Damian Wayne.

2 years ago - 43-year-old Merlyn attempts to assassinate mayoral candidate Oliver Queen in Star City. He is stopped by Connor Hawke, who refuses to engage in an archery battle with Merlyn, instead beating him into submission.

now - 45-year-old Merlyn is tracked, caught, and interrogated by Kate Kane, forced to reveal everything he knows about the League of Assassins and handed over to interpol.

Merlyn seems like he was absolutely built as the prototypical arch-nemesis villain for Green Arrow: He's the negative reflection of the same powers and skills as the hero he's meant to oppose... and even has the same beard!

In practice, however... and despite him being played by the charisma supernova that is John Barrowman in the CW Arrow series... Merlyn actually has never really developed an incredibly complex narrative of his own. There was a lot of temptation to create one for him, but rather we wanted to really double down on the potential of what was already there.

Merlyn's Comic History

Merlyn actually didn't debut as a Green Arrow villain at all. His first appearance was in Justice League of America #94 from 1971, where the recently-introduced League of Assassisn sends Merlyn after the Justice League where he starts out by squaring off with the Atom and Superman, of all people. As the story goes on we're told in flashback about how Merlyn once, years ago, beat Green Arrow in an archery contest before dissapearing. The story ends with a stalemate between the two archers.

Suprisingly, this seems to be pretty much the crux of this character's whole story. While over time he's essentially become the most recognizeable specifically Green Arrow-related villain, he's primarily used as one of the most visible examples of the League of Assassins, always performing tasks on their behalf, or entirely motivated by an ongoing battle with Green Arrow to see who is the better Archer. It falls to us, then, to use those framing devices in a way that makes this character push to make Green Arrow a more interesting character.

Our Merlyn Story

Merlyn really does need to be Oliver Queen's most dedicated villain, but the actual canon story doesn't really give a strong foundation for WHY that's the case. They have an ongoing rivalry, and over time Merlyn has proven to be a dangerous thorn in Oliver's side, but other than the fact that they're competing for the tile of world's best archer, we never really get a truly believable explanation for the animosity between the two. This, then, was out main goal with this timeline.

It's structured around a constant return to their competition, where we imagine they keep meeting in lethal archery duels of ever-ratcheting stakes. Each time we tried to create a framing device outside of their rivalry, usually a person Green Arrow was trying to keep safe from Merlyn, and each time they devolve back into their contest. Sometimes Oliver wins, sometimes Merlyn wins, and each time it just fuels their hatred of each other. We also structured in his involvement with the League of Assassins, as this is a vital part of who Merlyn is and even gives him a vital role in the story of Batwoman, but it's all deliberately built around his rivalry with Oliver.

When he returns from escaping the Suicide Squad and discovers that Oliver is now mayor and there is a new Green Arrow, we love the idea that he would try to initiate the same sort of duel of egos with Connor, only to discover that the new hero of Star City isn't going to play those games.

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