Arrow Producer Talks DC Villains -- Including China White and Deadshot -- and Whether Batman Could Appear

While DC and Warner Bros. look to begin expanding the DC Universe in film beginning with next summer’s The Man of Steel, it’s on television where we’ll get our next DC live-action adventures, following the release of The Dark Knight Rises, with the debut of Arrow this fall on The CW.

I recently spoke to one of Arrow’s executive producers, Marc Guggenheim, about the show introducing other familiar faces from DC to interact with Oliver Queen, including villains China White (played by Kelly Hu) and Deadshot (played by Michael Rowe). Guggenheim spoke about these characters, plus the possibility of Oliver teaming up with other DC heroes – including the Dark Knight himself.

For the entirety of Smallville’s run, that show’s producers were forbidden from using Bruce Wayne, particularly after Chris Nolan began his Batman films – Rumor has it that Nolan’s influence played a role in squashing the proposed Robin-centric “The Graysons” series CW was planning a couple years back, as he didn’t want any conflicting live-action portrayal of Batman characters. But with Nolan’s time with Batman done, does that change things for the Arrow producers?

IGN TV: We’ve heard some exciting reveals lately, including that Kelly Hu will be playing China White in the second episode.

Marc Guggenheim: First of all, we’re incredibly lucky to get Kelly because she’s obviously someone who’s got incredible comic book cred because of X2. Also, we write the characters and the scripts first, and then we think about casting. You have your pie-in-the-sky ideas, and the first pie-in-the-sky idea for China White was Kelly. To actually get her is a huge stroke of luck. She’s phenomenal. She shot her fight scenes with Stephen Amell. I seriously doubt I’m spoiling anything by saying that, yes, Arrow and China White fight.

IGN: We would hope!

Guggenheim: We would hope. The fight sequences are really spectacular. They were shot beautifully. She can keep up with the choreography. Our stunt guys and the director really beat the crap out of her, and she is such a pro - and her presence on screen.. The white hair is also so stark and cool and exciting. I think people are going to be blown away by her.

IGN: Will it be similar to the portrayal we know from Green Arrow: Year One in the comics?

Guggenheim: Yes. As with everything, we’re using the comics as a jumping-off point. I’d say that, all things considered, it’s very, very faithful. She doesn’t wear the white jumpsuit, just because that doesn’t photograph great. We felt like with the white hair, that was enough. Beyond that, it’s pretty much the character as I think you’d expect -- maybe even with greater martial arts skills than you could necessarily show off in a comic book.

IGN: Will she be a recurring presence on the show?

Guggenheim: That’s our hope. We’re sort of at Kelly’s mercy at that point, but our hope is to bring her back, for sure. She’s a joy to work with, and she totally embodies the character. She just has a camera presence that you just can’t beat.

IGN: We’ve also heard that Deadshot will be in the third episode. Can you talk about his portrayal?

Guggenheim: I’m super excited about Deadshot, actually, because he’s one of the characters I grew up reading. It’s a good example of taking a character from the comics that sort of has a very flamboyant costume and look, and reinterpreting it for our show in a way that’s more grounded and real-world. And yet, I think you’ll at Deadshot and go, “Okay, I see where they’re drawing inspiration from.” We also establish that he never misses. We’re setting him up as an antagonist for Arrow in episode three. I think it sends a very clear message that we’re not fooling around.

IGN: You’re very quickly delving into these notable villains from the comics. Might Oliver also get some allies from the comics in the not too distant future?

Guggenheim: I would say, “Probably.” One of the things we want to do is roll the show out at the right pace. For the most part, I think we’ve taken the philosophy that things are happening sooner rather than later. I always feel like every time we get the note from the network, “Is this happening too soon?,” I feel like we’re on the right track. I know as a viewer myself, I’m impatient. I want to see stuff. We’re not going to make the audience wait to see characters, plot twists, revelations. I think running out of great characters and great moments is a quality problem to have, and I just want to have them.

IGN: I have to ask the question that will likely plague you for the run of this show, just like it plagued the Smallville showrunners: Bruce Wayne… Is he off limits, or could you use him at some point?

Guggenheim: Oh, my hope is that we can use him at some point. I think that plagued the Smallville showrunners more than it plagues us because, obviously, the Dark Knight Trilogy is over. They’re not available to us yet. My hope is that they’ll be available to us at some point. That would be awesome. No question, that would be absolutely awesome. But I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade.

IGN: Do you think the mainstream, TV/movie audience is getting more savvy with the idea that comic book audiences have been comfortable with for a long time, which is seeing multiple versions of the same character? Because you guys are doing Green Arrow just a couple years after Smallville and Deadshot was on Smallville, and I don’t think people are going to freak out.

Guggenheim: I think so, too. Look at The Amazing Spider-Man. That was five years after the last Spider-Man movie. Audiences have become incredibly savvy about almost every aspect of our business. I think we actually make the mistake when we underestimate what an audience can handle. We never make a mistake when we overestimate it. I think they can totally handle it. Also, our hope is that we’ll get not just Smallville’s audience, but people who didn’t see Smallville. Smallville was certainly more comic book-y than Arrow is. So it’s a big tent. Certainly, Smallville audiences are savvy enough to know, “Okay, our Deadshot’s different than their Deadshot.” Hopefully they’re savvy enough so that one day, I really want to have Justin Hartley on the show in a cameo, and everyone will hopefully laugh and we come up with a clever enough cameo.

IGN: That’s actually a nice thing they’ve done in multiple iterations of Superman, including Smallville, is have the previous actors show up.

Guggenheim: Yeah, absolutely! I love that stuff. As an audience member, that was my favorite thing. Even little things like Dirk Benedict reacting the Cylon in the A-Team or Adam West voicing a character in the Batman animated TV show. Stuff like that is fun, and it’s part of why I think we all enjoy these types of stories. You can have these meta-critical jokes that you can’t do with other types of genres.

[Note: A minor spoiler for the Arrow pilot follows]

IGN: Lastly, as far as Oliver himself, we see in the pilot that he has a list of people he’s going after. Week to week, how much will that list be the focus versus the other threats that come into his world – perhaps by him just being a presence in the city?

Guggenheim: That’s a great question. I think you’ll certainly get an answer to that by episode three. The show is not going to be, “Okay, who’s the bad guy of the week? Let’s just go down the list.” As early as episode three, we start playing around with that paradigm. That said, the first time Oliver decides to go and solve a crime or solve a problem that is completely unrelated to the list, that’s a big moment in his evolution as a hero. It’s the moment when his mission goes from taking revenge to actually doing good. Part of the beauty of a show where it’s his first year as a superhero is watching those evolutions and transitions take place. That’s part of the fun of Season 1.

Arrow premieres Wednesday, October 10th on The CW.