Roy Harper Will Become Arsenal For Season 3 Of Arrow

The surprises continue for The CW’s Arrow.  We’ve all been waiting for the arc from the day we met Roy Harper (Colton Haynes).  Season one hinted at his sidekick prospects with much protest from Oliver Queen.  In season two, unable to deter Roy’s drive to become a vigilante, Oliver allows him to be a spy who doesn’t intervene.  Eventually, in the season finale, Roy dons the famous red mask and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Emerald Archer.  Today, via Entertainment Weekly, we get our first look at Roy’s new superhero identity — Arsenal.

Gone are his red hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers.  We now have a battle-ready sidekick adorned with a sleek outfit inspired by the man and mentor who saved his life.  I have to admit that it looks as though Arsenal’s costume is of a much better quality than Oliver’s which begs the question: will we be seeing an upgraded costume for Green Arrow?

In the comics, Roy Harper, like all famous characters, has had a complicated fictional biography due to retcons and parallel universes.  But in all histories, he started out as Green Arrow’s sidekick — Speedy.  One of the most famous incarnations of Roy was in the critically acclaimed animated series Young Justice.  In this version, Roy started out as Speedy.  Without giving away crucial spoilers for people who haven’t seen the show, I’ll just be broad and say his superhero evolution quickly jumped to Red Arrow and then to Arsenal.

Season 3 of Arrow will premiere on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 at 8:00PM EST on The CW.