The CW’s Batwoman TV series is now raring to go, following Ruby Rose’s introduction as Kate Kane in last fall’s “Elseworlds” crossover. We know that the show will be set in a Gotham City without its Dark Knight savior, leaving Batwoman to pick up the slack, but we still don’t know what villains we can expect to see in the next Arrowverse show. A stray reference on this week’s episode of Arrow, however, may have opened the door for one major Bat-mythos foe to appear.
Episode 7×13 “Star City Slayer” saw Dinah Drake catching up with her old CCPD boss, Captain Singh. Feeling down about her vigilante activities as Black Canary coming out in the open, Singh gives her a pick-me-up by reminding her how she infiltrated the crime gang of a mob boss named Blockbuster and ultimately prevented a gang war in Bludhaven.
Those who read the source material will know that there’ve been a few to wear the title of Blockbuster in the world of DC Comics, but Arrow‘s presumably referencing the second – Roland Desmond. Desmond has a complicated story, involving experimental steroids, becoming a metahuman and making a deal with the demon Neron, but essentially, he’s a super-strong supervillain with a genius-level intellect. Blockbuster is also most recognizable to fans as an arch-enemy of Nightwing.
Due to this, it’s possible that Titans could lay claim to the character, but it sounds like the DC Universe show is setting its sights a little higher, so Batwoman could be free to tackle the foe instead. Establishing that the Arrowverse version was locked up by Central City cops should make it easy to establish his origins, too – just have him be affected by the particle accelerator explosion in his jail cell.
The big bad of Batwoman season 1 is set to be Alice (AKA Red Alice), as played by Rachel Skarsten, described as a Joker-like agent of chaos who’s determined to “undermine Gotham’s sense of security.” It sounds like Kate will already have her hands full for the debut run of her show, then, but Blockbuster could make a great potential antagonist for season 2.