Arrow: Is Felicity Smoak on the Path to Becoming Oracle?

It’s been long enough since the Arrow mid-season finale that it’s no longer a spoiler to discuss what happened at the end of it. After Oliver Queen finally popped the question to Felicity Smoak, the two of them were riding in a limo when men under the command of Damien Darhk ambushed the car. It was riddled with gunfire, and the episode ended with Felicity’s fate very much up in the air.

She could be dead, of course, but most fans don’t expect that to be the case. Instead, she’ll likely end up needing some time to recover from what are sure to be serious injuries. Felicity will still be able to provide her unparalleled tech skills from the Arrow Lair, which has led Cinema Blend to suggest that maybe she’ll become Oracle during the second half of Season 4.

In the comics, Oracle was the code name of original Batgirl Barbara Gordon after she was shot by the Joker (in the classic Batman graphic novel The Killing Joke) and confined by a wheelchair. Determined to find another way to continue to aid in the fight against evil, Gordon doubled down on her hacking talents, providing Batman and the DC superhero community as a whole with tech support and communication.

Obviously, Felicity could fill the exact same role on Arrow, and with multiple references to the various members of Team Arrow needing code names this season — witness John Diggle being called Spartan, at least during the team’s internal communications — it would make sense for her to get a new moniker in the upcoming episodes.

What’s even more intriguing in this case is that the producers and writers of Arrow have at least considered this move before. The Season 3 episode that gave us a look at Felicity’s past was originally going to be titled “Oracle” before being changed to “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak.”

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Could it have been altered with this development in mind? It’s entirely possible. Again, all of this is assuming Ms. Smoak doesn’t die from the injuries she received in the attack, but we expect her to pull through. Her short term fate will likely be revealed on Wednesday, January 20 when Arrow returns from its winter hiatus.