Ricardo Diaz


 * For the episode named after him, see The Dragon.
 * For the district attorney of National City from Earth-38, see Diaz.

"Vigilantes? No, they're--they're hypocrites. They think that they're upholding the law, but they're breaking the law. They're not heroes. They're criminals. The only difference between me and them is that I'm smart enough to realize that the only person worth looking out for is yourself."

- Ricardo Diaz

Ricardo Diaz (died March 4, 2019), also known as The Dragon, was a ruthless criminal mastermind and drug kingpin as well as one of Oliver Queen's greatest enemies and one of the most formidable hand-to-hand combatants of them all.

Once a lowly member of the Scorpions, Diaz was arrested but then set free on a technicality and he used the money he received to start his own criminal organization, as well as a convoluted plot to conquer the Star City underworld. He grew his drug enterprise as he manufactured an illegal drug akin to steroids derived from Vertigo and made himself a member of Cayden James' criminal cabal while unknowingly to Cayden James himself at the time having been the one that had his son Owen Post killed in order to manipulate him.

Following the disbandment of the cabal, Diaz murdered James and revealed his intentions to take over the city, making use of Cayden's resources to blackmail countless politicians, judges, and policemen both in the city and around the country, Earth-2 Laurel Lance and the Bratva led by Anatoly Knyazev, eventually becoming one of the four members of the massive criminal empire known as the Quadrant of which he subsequently became the leader after having two members killed.

Diaz ultimately met his downfall when Oliver Queen turned himself over to the FBI and exposed his secret identity to the public in exchange for their help in taking him down (as well as both Laurel and Anatoly betraying him for Team Arrow). Diaz suffered a debilitating loss; his criminal empire sustained severe damage, his influence over Star City was destroyed and he was forced into hiding with one of his few remaining allies, the Longbow Hunters.

After five months recovering in hiding, Diaz finally resurfaced with the Longbow Hunters with the intent of seeking revenge, on Oliver and his loved ones in particular. After a raid at the CDC, Diaz injected himself with a serum that gave him enhanced strength. After seemingly attempting to destroy Star City, he was apprehended and was to be traded for Oliver's freedom. However, Diaz instead launched a takeover of Slabside Maximum Security Prison, having been brought in purposefully in order to kill Oliver. Despite having the upper hand, Diaz ended up failing after another climactic showdown and he took the Oliver's position as Inmate 0713.

When an A.R.G.U.S. investigation into the terrorist Dante led to the Longbow Hunters, John Diggle and Lyla Michaels were forced to seek Diaz's aid. To ensure Diaz's cooperation, Diggle and Lyla activated the Ghost Initiative and implanted a bomb in Diaz's head not knowing that he knew a way to disable it. However, when he betrayed them and warned Dante, A.R.G.U.S. had him sent back to Slabside where he was engulfed in flames and burnt to death by Emiko Adachi for reasons unknown that may never be revealed as of her subsequent death.

Early life
"Think you're so tough 'cause you spent five years in hell? I was born in it."

- Ricardo Diaz to Oliver Queen

Ricardo was born in Starling City and had a tough childhood by spending his early years trying hard to make his father proud of him even if it meant pretending to be someone he wasn't, until the latter died and he was sent to Zandia Orphanage sometime before 1986.

While growing up at the orphanage, Diaz was forced to fight for every scrap of food he could get. He was often bullied and mentally scarred by an older boy named Jesse Federico. Jesse tortured him by burning his forearms and attempted to destroy the last picture that he had of his late father. Diaz reached into the flames of the burning bucket to get the picture back, resulting in extreme burns and blisters. Jesse made Diaz act as his "servant" and treated him like an animal, even going as far as to call him a "loser", something that went stuck by Diaz even into his adult life. In order to contain the anger and fear instilled into him during his childhood, Diaz named it the "Dragon", doing everything possible to "control it, so that it does not control him".

Growing up, he joined The Scorpions, an organized crime group operating in the Glades of Starling City, eventually becoming known under the alias "Dragon" and getting an impressive criminal record. However, at some point in his life, he started to operate on his own and became a powerful crime lord heading an illegal drug operation responsible for the production and sale of a steroid derived from Vertigo that increases combat efficiency and concentration, all while remaining off charts and covering up his tracks.

Setting up his plot
In 2013 he began planning his rise to power as a major crime lord. Four years later, in early 2017, Diaz hired Karl Iscove to kill Owen Post - the son of master hacktivist and Helix's leader Cayden James - while wearing an hooded costume in order to influence James and make him start a war with Green Arrow. Then, he killed Iscove to tie up loose ends and doctored a photo of Oliver Queen as Green Arrow; though it is unknown how he knew the Green Arrow's real identity.

Later in the year, Diaz leaked the photo to the FBI of Oliver Queen as the Green Arrow, thus placing the mayor under indictment, arousing controversy and suspicion towards him and limiting his work as a vigilante.

Over time, Diaz took over his former gang, The Scorpions, becoming their leader, however, at some point after that, he was arrested and sentenced to a life sentence without conditional release, but the charges against him were dropped by the Supreme Court because of some unspecified quibbles and he was then freed.

Sometime later, Diaz was able to get the new District attorney, Sam Armand, on his payroll by paying for his son's hospital bills.

Drug dealing
Less than a month after his release from prison, he sent his men to retrieve the components of a military-grade 3D printer but they were intercepted and defeated by Team Arrow. However Dragon appeared, setting off a smoke bomb and walked away before the heroes caught him. Sometime later, Diaz met John Diggle when he went directly to his steroid manufacturer, hoping to get an extra portion of drugs. After Diaz joked about Diggle's muscles, explained that he had to be careful because he did not yet have permission from the Food and Drug Administration. He then had one of his guys give Diggle what he needed before walking off.

Later that night, Dragon assisted his crew with stealing a 3D military printer, this time from the biological department of Palmer Technologies but as he stepped out of his car he was attacked again by vigilantes, but managed to shoot the Green Arrow before escaping, much to the latter's surprise. Shortly after, Diaz checked the progress in his laboratory when Team Arrow entered the building. Dragon, not wanting the product to fall into their hands, dropped a drum of petrol, lighting it on fire and burning all of his drugs, before escaping from the fire.

Working with Cayden James
He was later contacted by Cayden James to join his criminal cabal. Along with Sheck, Earth-2 Laurel Lance, Anatoly Knyazev, and Vincent Sobel. While they were watching via hidden camera the collapse of Team Arrow from their hideout, Dragon declared he was skeptical of how effective the group could be; however James assured him that there was more to come.

Later Diaz, along with James and Laurel, visited Jerry Bertinelli, asking him to rethink the matter of selling them the port - the last thing in Star City belonging to the Bertinelli crime family. When Bertinelli denied their demand, Dragon smiled in amusement as Black Siren blew Bertinelli a kiss that knocked him into wall. They then threatened to have his daughter killed if he refused and left.

While James and Black Siren were expecting Bertinelli's answer at their lair, the Green Arrow attacked them. However, after Dragon and the rest of the cabal appeared in front of him, the archer, not expecting that, was forced to escape in order to avoid a fight. When Cayden allowed him to escape, the crime lord questioned his decision. But Cayden assured that Green Arrow's death will come eventually.

A few hours later, at the moment of the transaction with Bertinelli, with whom the criminals met at the port, Green Arrow also appeared, collaborating with the Bertinelli crime family, but the combined efforts of Vigilante, Black Siren, the Bratva and Dragon's army were enough to fend them off. After the mishap, Bertinelli surrendered the ports to the cabal. On Cayden's orders, Dragon executed Bertenelli for collaborating with Green Arrow.

After Captain Frank Pike was killed in an elevator caused by Cayden, Diaz sent pictures to the new police captain Kimberly Hill of her family as leverage to get her to do whatever he said. Later, after Sheck was killed and the cabal started to suspect Vincent Sobel for murdering him, Diaz was present at a meeting to discuss it. James sent Dragon and Anatoly to see that the bomb was moved and, after Sobel is exposed as a traitor of the cabal, he assisted Anatoly in torturing him, but they did not obtain any results and are later forced to flee as both branches of Team Arrow attacked their lair.

Later, Diaz and the rest of the cabal were thanked by James for their contributions to his plan as he intended to activate the bomb late in the evening, so he officially ended cooperation with his allies, promising to transport them away from the city and transfer money to their bank accounts. However, after noticing the promised vehicle did not show up, Diaz departed on his own in order to not to be there when the detonation of the bomb occurred and suggested his former partners to do the same. While leaving, however, Wild Dog and Mister Terrific managed to blind-side him before he could react and Dragon was therefore swiftly captured and was then brought to James, who obtained new evidence that that either Diaz, Laurel and Anatoly killed his son.

Wild Dog, Terrific, and the captured crime lord rendezvoused with everyone else at where James had the bomb. There Diaz questioned why James would believe the vigilantes over his partners. When James declared that he only trusts facts and spouted on how none of them knows what's like to lose a son, Diaz took the opportunity to tell Cayden that his grief was making him crazy. As James pulled out his detonator and demanded the one who ordered the murder to come forward, Laurel confessed and started to insult the hacker in order to upset him. Knowing that she was lying, James slapped her, not realizing that the bomb activator interferes with the action of the collar blocking her powers, so she used her sonic scream in response, thus allowing herself and everyone else to escape. As he was leaving the building, Dragon was pursued by Spartan, but he managed to defeat the vigilante and flee.

Taking control
After Cayden James was arrested and went to the interrogation room at the SCPD headquarters, Diaz appeared to him saying that he'd used James to take over Star City explaining that "it's prime for the taking" and that James was narrow-minded to think he was controlling him. He also stated James doesn't understand that things should be taken over and not destroyed while revealing he he had Captain Hill on his payroll. He then murdered James while telling him that he was the one who had his son killed and calmly exited the building. He then had his corrupt cops cover up James' murder by making it look like he was killed by another inmate on his way to Iron Heights Prison.

Afterward, Diaz explained all of his plan to Anatoly, who eagerly decided to cooperate with the gangster, while arranging a meeting with the Laurel at his command. In the meanwhile, Dragon trained with new fighters who will power the ranks of his team. When he saw Laurel, he was very angry at her for having betrayed him and for trying to run away, but that he understood she was afraid of Dinah Drake, so Diaz reassured Laurel that he would be able to take care of her and started to talk about his plans, stating that she would like them.

After the policemen on his payroll abducted Roy Harper, Diaz himself tortured him in order to force him to testify against Oliver in court regarding his identity as Green Arrow; Roy, however, was adamant, so Diaz decided to threaten Thea Queen instead. Team Arrow soon arrived and Diaz was forced to change locations, taking Roy with him. On his way out, Green Arrow, Speedy, and Spartan caught up and demanded to let Roy go. Diaz calmly turned around and ordered his men to not inflect any kill shots on the archer before leaving with the captive Roy.

Loading Roy in a truck, Diaz was halted by Speedy. The two got into a fist fight where Dragon nearly killed her before Green Arrow stopped him. The two archers pointed their arrows at Diaz, but the crime lord remained calm as the police were arriving, and even the ones who weren't on his payroll found the anti-vigilante act to be right. Green Arrow ordered Speedy to drive off with Roy while he deals with Diaz. As she left, Diaz reminded him that he's powerless against, which forced him to escape a moment before the arrival of Dragon's crooked police officers. Diaz later texted Laurel, congratulating her on her performance tonight.

After Anatoly was arrested by a bunch of SCPD officers led by Lieutenant Dinah Drake while selling Vertigo for him, Diaz ordered Armand to have him released under the quibble that he was arrested without a warrant. Later that night, he waited for Officer Martin Hurst, one of the officers who did the arrest, next to his car and watched as Anatoly shot him out of revenge, stating that it would send a message to all of the officers who refuse to be under his payroll. The following night, Diaz visited Laurel at Quentin Lance's apartment and brought her a take-away dinner. Having seen she was studying her late counterpart's old schoolbooks, Diaz told her that she didn't have to do it as people like them "make the law" and that she don't need to change in order to "impress her old man" like he did when he was younger. Later, after former district attorney Sam Armand and former police captain Kimberly Hill accused mayor Oliver Queen of obstructing justice while he fired them both (actually because he discovered they were on Diaz's payroll), Laurel watched the news in Diaz's hideout alongside him. He complimented her for the idea and then showed the last champion of Vertigo after Team Arrow's raid to the core of his drug operation, which led Laurel to kiss him.

After Oliver was drugged via Vertigo by Kullens, a councilman on Diaz's payroll, a few hours before his meeting with the Council regarding his probable impeachment due to the accusation of Armand and Hill, he briefly hallucinated about Diaz who, after having stabbed Raisa and put a dagger in Oliver's abdomen, asked himself why nobody of his previous enemies ever thought to just kill him straight, then adding there are more things he intended to break in him.

That night, at 10:13, Diaz entered the SCPD station as he does every night in order to pay his policemen when the Hood entered the building ready to fight him. Diaz was eager for the Hood to attack him and his policemen, but he is stopped by Felicity Smoak, who managed to talk him down. Loosing patience, Diaz and his crooked cops went after them, but the two managed to escape the police station.

The following morning Laurel checked up on Diaz at the station in the captain's office while his men were cleaning, asking him why he didn't just kill Oliver. Diaz replied that he "is more dangerous as a martyr than as Green Arrow" Laurel asked what's next and Diaz says that their next move would be to spread the word that Star City is now "open for business" with Mayor Queen out of office.

Joining the Quadrant
About a week later Diaz and Laurel went to Blüdhaven in order to meet Eric Cartier, the son of an influential member of The Quadrant. While waiting outside Cartier's nightclub, Diaz told Laurel that if you want something truly special, you have to be patient. Cartier soon arrived and the three got started. Diaz proposed to Cartier to use Star City as a place to run the Quadrant's business in exchange of having a seat at the table of the organization. However, Cartier asked him to find Robert Baylor, an agent of his organization who was caught by the FBI, in order to show them if he can able to operate at their level. Diaz put on a smile and agreed. After the meeting, though, Diaz went to the club's bathroom and smashed a mirror in frustration, bruising his hand.

In less than a day Diaz found the man while discovering that he was working with the federals and, as Laurel had demonstrated to be skeptical about his excessive concessions to the Quadrant, he reminds her that once he has won a place in the organization, he will have an empire. After Diaz gave the information on Baylor to Cartier, however, he asked for both him and his "pretty little friend" to get him in order to interrogate him so they could find out what exactly he told the Justice Department. Diaz became angry that Cartier was wasting his time, but none the less, agreed, hoping to get a meeting with Cartier, Sr. Before leaving with Laurel, Cartier took note of Diaz's bruised hand and asked what happened. Diaz simply told him that he "got angry at someone."

Diaz and Laurel arrived at the FBI's safehouse, and while Laurel handled the feds at the front, Diaz went around back. Killing all the guards he came across, Dragon met up with Baylor and ordered him to move. He contacted Cartier for transportation. As the two walked out of the safehouse, Diaz didn't buy that Baylor kept quite. When Cartier's car arrived, both Diaz and Baylor were shot by Cartier's driver. Diaz survived thanks to a bulletproof vest.

Arriving back at Cartier's nightclub, Laurel questioned why they weren't heading back to Star City. Diaz told her it was to take what's his. He defeated all of Cartier's men alongside Laurel, then, later on, tortured Cartier while telling him of his childhood at the orphanage and asking him why he tried to kill him. After Cartier revealed that he and his father never talked about him to the Quadrant because he was "a nobody" and that they wanted to take Star City from his hands, Diaz beat Cartier to a pulp and ordered Cartier to take him to the place where the Quadrant meetings are held.

While they were driving to the place, Laurel asked Diaz if what happened with Jesse still tormented him and he confirmed it does, because he was right and he was "a loser"; when she tried to cheer him up by saying he wasn't one anymore, he told her about how he named his fear "The Dragon" and how for years it was everything he had but if he managed to become a member of The Quadrant he would get enough power to ensure it would not be used by anyone against him. Laurel paragoned him to Zoom because of the hate they held inside them, but Diaz claimed that he controls The Dragon, not the other way around.

When they arrived at the Quadrant's headquarters, Villa Centanni, Diaz and Laurel broke inside using Cartier as a human bomb and slaughtered dozens of their men with both their bare hands and several gunshots while making their way to the hall where the four leaders of the Quadrant met. Once again Diaz proposed to gave them Star City in exchange for a place in the organization and, as one of the members declared there are no free chairs at their table and Remy Cartier started taunting him, calling him a "street thug" and a "loser", immediately Diaz shot him in the head, thus ensuring him a free chair and getting him welcomed into the Quadrant.

Back at the Star City, Laurel asked why Diaz was still off, despite getting what he wanted. Diaz told her that there was one last thing he needed to do and went to Jesse's house and kidnapped him, bringing him on a rooftop over his city and, after having shown him the last fragment of his father's picture he had kept for over thirty-two years while ignoring Laurel's pleas not to do it, cruelly set him on fire while stating that he "is not a loser anymore". He then threw the picture in the fire and walked off.

Sometime after joining the Quadrant, Diaz bought an abandoned building in Star City to turn it into his "castle" as Laurel put it.

Ricardo Diaz vs Oliver Queen
After Jesse's murder, Laurel began to avoid meeting Diaz, until he summoned her personally while a tailor was making him a custom suit, in order to announce to her that the new mayor, Quentin, needed to be persuaded in respecting some "ground rules", and that she needed to set a meeting between them. Though reticent, Laurel did as ordered and took Quentin to their favorite Chinese restaurant, confessing that she was sorry as Diaz entered revealing the intimacy between them and telling him to sign a few documents to privately sell some municipal property before leaving with her.

After returning to his hiding place, it turned out that Anatoly brought Oliver Queen to him. The criminal began to kick the shod vigilante, mocking him, until Anatoly reminded to him that "every drop of blood he draws from a chained-up man is a sign of weakness, his weakness", which drove him to challenge him in a duel setting the rule that if he would win, Oliver would have left the city forever, and vice versa if Oliver would have be the winner. Thus, they went on to fight. Dragon was a serious challenge to Oliver, even overpowering and knocking him down for a while, but Oliver ultimately managed to overpower Dragon and began to hold his opponent in a headlock, ordering him to give up. Unexpectedly, the crime lord pulled out a knife and pierced the side of Oliver's abdomen, winning in a dishonest fight and stating that "life isn't fair". Then Diaz ordered Anatoly to lock Oliver in a cell.

A few hours later Laurel came to Diaz, who handed him the signed papers, but it turned out that these were not necessary for him and he took them away as he only wanted to know if he could manipulate Quentin. When Laurel asked what happened if Lance didn't sign, Diaz brutally stuck his knife in his desk and hinted that he would've killed Quentin if he didn't. Immediately after, Diaz ordered his men to bring out the beaten Oliver from his cell and has him arrested by revoking his parole and anticipating his trial at the following week, on May 3.

Oliver Queen's trial
As Oliver's trial began, Diaz summoned Laurel to him. He was disappointed that during a short interview with Bethany Snow she didn't tell the truth about who was hidden under Green Arrow's mask. When Laurel defended her actions by saying Diaz didn't tell her to do so, he told her that the jury would be calling her to testify. After Laurel argued that she couldn't fool a court room, Diaz brought up the behavior of the woman for several weeks. When Laurel didn't convince him that she was fine, Diaz unexpectedly choked Laurel, threatening her and saying that he expected her cooperation and a solid testimony in court. She nodded in fear and Diaz released her, saying he had to go to the courthouse.

Later, when Rene Ramirez testified, Diaz invaded the court taking his daughter with him and forcing him to prosecute against Oliver. Reluctantly, Rene told the court that Oliver was the Green Arrow while Diaz smiled at him and keeping his hands on her shoulders. After Rene's testimony, Diaz left the courtroom, giving Rene a nod of approval. Exiting the courthouse, Diaz was ambushed by Diggle and Dinah. Before the two could do anything, Diaz' corrupt cops arrived and surrounded them. Diaz let them go however, knowing he would have to testify if they had an "accident".

The crime lord's plan, however, didn't go as expected since Christopher Chance/Human Target broke into the courtroom disguised as Tommy Merlyn revealing he's the Green Arrow. Diaz ordered his dirty cops to bring Merlyn to him, but he escaped with the help of Diggle and Wild Dog. When Laurel went on the stand, Diaz remained confident that Laurel would do as she's told. Laurel, however, chose to testify that Tommy is the Green Arrow, betraying Diaz. Diaz witnessed this on the news and became furious.

To insure that Oliver would still be found guilty, Diaz paid of the jury. Unfortunately, Chance disguised himself as Judge C. McGarvey and acquitted Oliver. Therefore, that night, at the docks, Diaz ordered his men to bring him McGarvey. When McGarvey failed to convince Diaz that it wasn't him who freed Oliver, Diaz killed him for his incompetence. Laurel then appeared and confronted him at first managing to overpower the crime lord and his men but ultimately being subdued as Diaz used a power-dampening device to suppress her sonic scream, before to taking her captive telling her that his next plan would have been to kill Oliver and everyone he loves.

Open war with Team Arrow
Diaz ordered to kill all of Team Arrow, but his men failed. He also had his men destroy the Arrowcave. This caused a quarrel between him and Lydia Cassamento, who did not like Diaz's unplanned action. When the woman left the crime lord's office, Anatoly entered and suggested moving him to a safer place where it would be easier to defend. At first Diaz was confident they could handle the vigilantes, but eventually agreed with his right-hand.

On the way to the SCPD, the vigilantes attacked his truck and, as his men fought, Diaz tried to escape. However, he was caught by Mister Terrific, who as a result of the anger associated with Diaz hurting his boyfriend, began to beat him. The crime lord quickly took control and stabbed him in the stomach, but, before he managed to finish him off, seeing Green Arrow approaching him, he gave up the murder, grabbed the portable disk that fell out of his hand and fled to the SCPD station.

Arriving at the police station, he ordered his cops to kill Oliver Queen on site, then had the computer engineer, Crosby, check the completeness of the data on the pendrive and threatened his grandmother if he didn't succeed. Once he and Anatoly entered the captain's office and began to strangle him, accusing him of betrayal. The Russian, however, turned the suspicion away from him directing it to Cassamento.

Diaz checked up on Cosby, and just as he assured the crime lord his pendrive was secure, the data started transferring to another server. Parks came in and informed Diaz that Lyla Michaels, the director of A.R.G.U.S., was here. Diaz realized she was steeling the data and went to intercept her before she got away. Team Arrow soon arrived and amidst chaos, Dragon tried to kill Felicity before she got away thanks to Green Arrow's exploding arrow.

Diaz called Cassamento to the SCPD and accused her of betraying him. Cassamento denied this just as Cosby arrived and informed Diaz that he's tracked where Team Arrow was; the Outsider's hideout. Diaz declared they were going to war, only for Cassamento to argue against it. This resulted in Diaz stabbing her through the throat and brutally joke about how she had something "stuck in her throat". He then had Crosby get rid of Cassamento's body before he departed for the Outsider's base.

Dragon filled the base with gas and he entered the spot himself, wearing a mask. There he had the chance to kill Oliver and Felicity but, before he could, he was wounded by a bomb hidden in the stairwell that left a giant scar on the right side of his face. Despite his wounds, Diaz managed to escape and, later, met with Cyrus Broderick and Dragos Ibanescu at the police station, killing the latter for not wanting to cooperate and becoming the Quadrant's sole leader.

Downfall
When Oliver, along with the help of the now fully reestablished Team Arrow and the FBI took over the police, Diaz escaped, and later met with Anatoly, whom he suspected of treason. When Anatoly asked Diaz how he would fight back without his army, Dragon revealed he made an alliance with the Longbow Hunters. He then gave him the false coordinates of an hiding place, knowing that the Russian would give the information to Oliver.

Soon after, he called Mayor Lance, whom he ordered to remove the FBI from Star City, threatening to murder Laurel; the man did not agree, which upset the crime lord. After hanging up, Diaz mocked the captured Laurel by telling her that her "daddy" didn't love her like he did the real Laurel. Diaz then reminded how Laurel ended up in this situation; that it was her worry for Quentin that got her captured. When Laurel didn't respond, Diaz teased by calling her baby.

At the same time Team Arrow and the FBI moved on Diaz's supposed new hideout only to fall right into his trap. As part of the team entered the warehouse, they found out that it had been mined. If they tried to move, they would risk a building explosion. After calling Anatoly and telling him that he'll suffer for his betrayal, Ricardo fired remotely. But Overwatch's intervention helped the heroes avoid death. Immediately after that, the crime lord contacted the mayor again, whom agreed to meet him. When Quentin showed up, he revealed that the feds could target Diaz, forcing the man to take him with him to Laurel's hideout. The heroes immediately began tracking Quentin's pacemaker in order to find Diaz's new headquarter.

Bringing Quentin to Laurel, Diaz threatened to shoot her unless he ordered the FBI to leave Star City. Laurel begged Quentin not to give in, saying Diaz was bluffing. Counting down to five, Diaz fired his gun at Laurel, only for Quentin to take the shot in her place. Diaz tried to bargain with Laurel that if she gets her "dad" to meet his demands, he'll show Quentin mercy. Both refused and before the crime lord could kill Laurel, Team Arrow and the FBI busted into his hideout. Seeing Green Arrow, Diaz egged him on before fleeing.

Diaz escaped to the roof, where he expected transport. There, however, he was cornered by Green Arrow and the two engage in a brutal fight. Dragon, like their first fight, briefly dominated but was eventually overpowered and stabbed with an arrow by the vigilante. Dragon was not going down that easily, however, and defiantly tells Green Arrow to fully stop him, he will have to kill him. Laurel then unexpectedly appeared, who with a sonic scream, threw Dragon off of the building's roof and into the water. When Diaz hit the water, he broke every bone in his body, causing him to feel pain everyday afterwards.

After Diaz fled, Quentin died in the hospital from the bullet wound he inflected. However, his criminal organization suffered debilitating damage and any influence he had over Star City was completely destroyed, because Green Arrow, during the fight, had taken a list of his wages, removing corrupt policemen, judges, politicians and city officials from Star City. However, Diaz's defeat also had considerable consequences on his enemies, as in addition to Quentin's death, Oliver, honoring the deal he made with the FBI, confesses publicly to being Green Arrow and was sentenced to a life in prison. Diaz, still wounded, watched furiously the whole transmission as he was already angrily plotting his revenge against Oliver for proving he is ultimately nothing more than a loser to the entire world, particularly the criminal underworld.

Sometime after his downfall, Diaz reached out to the financial terrorist known as Dante who helped him pay his debt to the Longbow Hunters so they could continue to assist him in his vendetta against everyone responsible for his defeat. Diaz met Dante's underling Virgil and grew to fear Dante, believing anyone who betrayed or played him would suffer agonizing torture.

Return from hiding
After five months of hiding with the Longbow Hunters, Diaz hired some prison inmates through the Demon to keep Oliver occupied and give him the message saying that Diaz had found and killed Felicity and William. Diaz made it to Felicity's hideout, managing to bypass her security system, and happily referred to her by her alias "Erin". Pulling out a gun, Diaz told Felicity that he planned to let Oliver live in prison knowing he had killed Felicity. Diaz was temporarily distracted when Felicity told William to run. This allowed Felicity to splash coffee on Diaz and tackle him to the ground. A fight then ensued between the two, and Diaz easily overpowered Felicity and prepared to kill her, but had to flee when A.R.G.U.S. made it in time to save her.

Sometime after escaping A.R.G.U.S., Diaz had the Longbow Hunters break into an off-site facility of A.R.G.U.S. where they stole prototype B-24, a high densitable renewable battery able to power an entire town. Later, Dragon and two of the Longbow Hunters attempted to raid a train to steal an energy weapon that could be used combined with the B-24. When chased by Diggle, the crime lord attacked him with a flamethrower before getting into a fistfight with him. Although he was wounded by a knife-throw to the shoulder and Diggle had improved his skills, Dragon was able to nearly beat him but John was able to knock down Dragon long enough to retrieve the weapon and escape, leaving Diaz and the two hunters unable to do anything but watch his gateway.

Diaz and the Longbow Hunters later attempted a break in on CDC, a secure government facility to steal a bio-compound to heal Diaz's bones and enhance his strength. Being let in by his mole, Diaz started loading up the chemicals he needed. When Watson, Dinah and Rene tried to stop them, Diaz calmly ordered the two hunters that were with him to handle the three. After retrieving the chemicals he needed, Diaz shot certain chemical containers to cover their escape.

In his hideout, Diaz was mixing the chemical compounds together when the hunters that were with him reported that Honor was captured. Unfazed, Diaz finished the mixture and talked about the damage his body suffered after he hit the water and how he felt after being betrayed and losing everything he worked for. But he remained patient. He then ejected himself and said he transformed his pain into something else. Getting up, Diaz walked over to a wall and punched it. While the wall was damaged, Diaz's fist was unharmed. He then told them that it transformed into strength.

Keeping a promise
Intending to keep his promise to Anatoly for his betrayal, Diaz made his way to Moscow in Russia. Dragon used his newfound strength to easily kill all the Bratva. After killing all of Anatoly's men on a rooftop, Diaz held him near a ledge. When the recently escaped Honor walked up and asked if he got what he wanted, Diaz happily answered her question, saying he was going to keep his promise and sarcastically asked the frightened Anatoly if he was right.

Taking Anatoly back to Star City, Diaz duck taped him to a chair and tortured him. Diaz reminded him of the last time they spoke and how Anatoly betrayed their friendship. Anatoly claimed that Diaz has no friends. Diaz decided to point out that all of his friends are gone and that he picked the loosing side. Diaz picked up a blowtorch and told Anatoly that he's going to help him destroy Oliver Queen, before burning him. Once Diaz was through torturing Anatoly, he forced him to contact an old associate of his in the KGB, Pyotr Roslov, to purchase two of a weapon called BETAB-500 so he could destroy Star City. Having gotten what he wanted from Anatoly, Diaz and the Longbow Hunters took him to a munition's plant in Orchid Bay and put him in a crate with Honor's belt, finding the tracker that Felicity and Laurel planted in it, and a bomb to lure Team Arrow to their doom.

Diaz and the hunters took the BETAB-500s to trigger the explosion to destroy the city. After calling an extraction for them, Dragon got into a battle with Diggle. Diggle managed to disarm him of his flamethrower and his remote trigger, but was soon overpowered by the crime lord. Though Felicity and Curtis were able to stop the countdown, Diaz wasn't concerned. Before he could trigger the explosives manually, the new Green Arrow showed up and shot the trigger out of his hand. Diaz was shocked, believing the vigilante was Oliver Queen, before getting into a fight with the Green Arrow. While Dragon was distracted fighting the vigilante, Diggle managed to knock him out. The Longbow Hunters then fled, and Diaz was taken into custody.

Diaz was taken to the SCPD precinct and held in the interrogation room, handcuffed to the table. Felicity walked in and Diaz smugly commented that he liked her better with her pink hair. When Felicity listed all the things Diaz did that ruined her life, Diaz simply asked her what she was going to do in retaliation. In response, Felicity pointed a gun that Anatoly gave her at Diaz. Knowing Felicity didn't have the guts to kill him, Diaz egged her on to pull the trigger. Laurel then walked in and told her not to shoot. Diaz sarcastically teased Laurel by calling her "baby" saying that she missed him and watched the two ladies talk. Laurel revealed that she made a deal with the FBI that if they hand Diaz over, Oliver will be set free to help them in their case against the Dragon. Diaz, however, remained unfazed by this latest development.

One last shot at revenge
When hearing of Oliver's chance of freedom, Diaz saw this as his last shot of vengeance. In the transport van on route to Slabside Maximum Security Prison, Diaz paid off the officer guarding him to help him escape. Arriving at Slabside, the officer escorted Diaz out of the van, where two guards mocked him by asking if he knew Oliver was getting out. Diaz remained calm and revealed the officer escorting him was paid off. The officer the killed the two guards and his transport partner while Diaz remained where he was. Diaz then ordered the officer to bring him a change of cloths and to get rid of the bodies.

In his change of cloths, Diaz paid Oliver a visit. When the inmate arrived at visitation, he was horrified to see Diaz on the other side of the glass. Diaz smugly greeted Oliver and the two began their conversation. When Oliver tried to threaten Diaz, he reminded Oliver that there were innocent people that he could kill if he tries anything. Diaz went on to tell Oliver that he's going to kill him and wasn't concerned as he handled guards like the Slabside's growing up. He then pointed out how dehumanizing it is to be called a number and questions if Oliver ever considered that. When Oliver told Diaz that he was going to die instead of getting locked up, the Dragon remained confident in making Oliver suffer before his death. To push Oliver to the brink, Diaz then told the inmate that after he's down with him, he's going to kill Felicity and William. As he figured, Oliver started freaking out and trying to convince the guards that Diaz was here, to no avail. Diaz calmly walked out of visitation and headed to a restricted area of Slabside. He was halted by a Slabside SWAT officer, who he swiftly killed and took his uniform.

When the prison was put on lock-down after Oliver escaped his cell, Diaz made it to Slabside's outdoor gym, where he began comparing himself to the inmates. When a guard told him to be silent, Dragon slit his throat and killed the other guards present. He ordered the inmates, including Danny Brickwell and Derek Sampson, to stand up. He inspired the inmates to start a riot by talking about how the guards of Slabside treated them like animals and deserved to pay.

Diaz proceeded to the control room of the mess hall and took a guard hostage. He then had the Longbow Hunters scramble the signal from the outside as a "going away present". From the control room, Diaz saw Oliver and Ben Turner make it to the locker room. Diaz then contacted Oliver through the walky talkies and mocked his predictability. He revealed the captive guard and forced him to repeat Oliver's catchphrase, "You have failed this city". When Oliver demanded Diaz let the guard go, he slit his throat in retaliation. Diaz proceeded to release the remaining inmates and egged Oliver to come and face him.

While the inmates tortured the guards in the mess hall, Diaz remained in the control room watching the surveillance cameras. After a while, Diaz planted an explosive to the control room. He then compared Brick's downfall to his because of Oliver. At that moment, Oliver arrived and demanded that Diaz release the guards. He refused and suckered punch Oliver. The former vigilante recovered and told Diaz he's going to be spending the rest of his life here. Diaz refused; promising himself he was never going to die in prison. Turner then arrived and threw Oliver a pillow case with a soda can in it as a weapon. Diaz stood back as Oliver and Turner battled the inmates. When Oliver made it to the control room, Dragon set off the explosives, causing Slabside to be engulfed in flames. He then left the fallen inmates to their fates.

Imprisonment
Knowing Oliver would follow him, Diaz waited for him at the inmate's cells. When Oliver arrived, Dragon showed up out of nowhere and attacked Oliver with a knife. Oliver used the knife that Turner gave him, but was outmatched by Dragon's enhanced strength. He threw Oliver to the first floor and stabbed him in the shoulder with Turner's knife. He then proceeded to beat Oliver until they reached his cell. The crime lord kicked Oliver into his cell and commented on Oliver's stubbornness. He compared his stubbornness to Felicity's and revealed that she attempted to murder him in cold blood, much to Oliver's denial. Diaz then ripped Oliver's picture of Felicity and William in half. Providing Oliver with time to recover, Diaz was caught off guard and stabbed by Oliver with Turner's knife. Oliver headbutted the weaken Diaz and watched as he fell to the ground. Oliver walked out of the cell and closed it behind him, leaving Diaz to pass out.

Diaz recovered from his injuries and was became Inmate 0713. While incarcerated, he was interviewed by M. Pedowitz on his view of vigilantism for her documentary film Emerald Archer: The Hood and the Rise of Vigilantism. Diaz voiced his view that vigilantes were hypocrites for thinking they're the law despite breaking it and for that, they're criminals rather then heroes. He then explained the difference between him and them was that he was intelligent enough to only look out for himself and no one else. Having what Pedowitz wanted, she and her crew left Diaz in his cell.

A week after Diaz's arrest and Oliver's release, during Diggle's and Lyla's investigation of one of Dante's painting, they found out the Longbow Hunters were connected to the investigation. That required them to work with the Dragon. The couple entered Diaz's cell where Lyla mocked his imprisonment. When Diaz demanded to know why they were here, Diggle took a breath and asked him for his aide.

Joining the Ghost Initiative
Diaz was taken into A.R.G.U.S. custody. and for the next three days, was questioned about his connection to Dante and how he helped pay his debt to the Longbow Hunters. But, Diaz stone walled. On the third day, Diaz was in the interrogation room and was questioned by Lyla. Diaz made a comment about his accommodations in A.R.G.U.S. compared to Slabside, but still refused to give them anything. Knowing that Diggle was watching on the other side of the one way mirror, Diaz sarcastically greeted him as "Johnny Boy". Despite being threatened to be sent back to Slabside, Diaz still refused to give them any information and demanded his lawyer. Lyla reminded him that he was A.R.G.U.S. property and that no one knew he was their prisoner, but Diaz was done talking, leaving Lyla and Diggle with nothing.

Diaz was later approached by Diggle, but remained calm. the former crime lord was confident that Diggle wouldn't break him and made fun of Lyla and Diggle's "Good Cop. Bad Cop" game. Diggle, however, offered him a deal. Curious, Diaz questioned it and was surprised to hear that Diggle was offering him his freedom in exchange for his information on Dante. Diggle was called back by Deputy Director Bell and left Diaz to consider his offer.

Diaz agreed to their deal, but was less enthusiastic about the bomb they neglected to mention being put in his head to make him the newest recruit for the Ghost Initiative. As the bomb was being implanted, Diaz commented about the bomb being their fail-safe in case Diaz stepped out of line. Lyla agreed and warned if he stepped out of the line they would kill him. Unfazed, Diaz warned Lyla that if the bomb failed, he would come for her first before falling unconscious.

Diaz was soon joined by China White, Joe Wilson, and Carrie Cutter into the Ghost Initiative. Unknown to Diaz, Curtis had implanted a virtual simulation into the explosive program of his chip after he was sedated to get information on Dante. In this simulation, Diaz and the other "recruits" waited in the A.R.G.U.S. infirmary when Diaz was reunited with "Curtis". Diaz referred to him as Mister Terrific and talked about their last meeting. He then turned his comrades and asked them if Curtis felt nervous to them. Curtis ignored them and put the criminals asleep to insure that their chips work as he would have to turn the chips off. Unfortunately, the serum Diaz took to increase his strength made him immune to the drugs. He broke out of his restraints, killed a guard and forced Curtis to wake the others up. Diaz and the others then took Curtis hostage and attempted to escape.

Running into A.R.G.U.S. agents, Diaz reminded his new "friends" that A.R.G.U.S. needed them alive. Dragon then pushed Curtis aside and started fighting the agents with the others until he saw his chance to flee, leaving the others as a distraction. Diaz made it to an A.R.G.U.S. vehicle before he was confronted by Curtis. The two engaged in a brief fight until Dragon got the upper hand and snapped Curtis's neck to "finish the job". He then left in the A.R.G.U.S. vehicle.

After fleeing A.R.G.U.S., Diaz contacted Dante and warned him that A.R.G.U.S. was after him. To his surprise, he heard Curtis's voice. He stopped the vehicle and was soon pulled out of the simulation. Diaz found himself strapped to a chair and demanded to know what had happened. Curtis revealed to him that he "owned his ass" by placing him in a simulation to give up Dante. After Diaz promised to kill Curtis, he demanded to be let go. But Curtis assured him that he was safer here, then out there when Dante finds out that he sold him out. Curtis then left the embarrassed Diaz strapped to the chair and sarcastically thanked him for his "cooperation".

Return to Slabside and death
During a mission with the Ghost Initiative to catch Dante, Diaz decided to go rogue, warning Dante that it was a trap, while then attempting to kill the A.R.G.U.S. agents present. After being subdued by Oliver and Felicity, who'd joined A.R.G.U.S. in the mission, Ricardo was sent back to Slabside. Later, while he was in solitary confinement, gasoline was pumped into his cell through the sprinkler system, and Emiko Adachi threw a lighter into the cell through a small window in the door to execute him for unknown reasons despite him having saved Dante. Although Diaz with his enhanced reflexes managed to react fast enough to catch the lighter in midair, he still became engulfed in flames, and was later found burned to death.

Rewritten reality
In the first rewritten reality created by Dr. John Deegan, after he was given the Book of Destiny that could rewrite reality by Mar Novu, where Oliver Queen was The Flash and Barry Allen was the Green Arrow, Diaz was still a crime lord and locked up at Slabside. However, one of his weapon cashes was being fought over by the Bratva and Bertinellis in the Glades.

In the second rewritten reality created by Deegan, Diaz, Malcolm Merlyn, and Joe Wilson became police officers for the Central City police department. They found Oliver and Barry, who are known as the criminal duo the Trigger Twins in this reality, in a alleyway and demanded they get on the ground. Officer Diaz went to cuff them, taking pleasure in finally taking down Oliver Queen. However, before he could pull out his cuffs, Oliver disarmed him and shot at officers Merlyn and Wilson, forcing them to take cover. Oliver then knocked Diaz out with his gun and he and Barry escaped.

Legacy
After Dinah Drake was appointed as the new captain of the SCPD, she struggled to win back the people's trust after Diaz corrupted half the department. When Oliver Queen and the rest of Team Arrow were deputized by the SCPD, they were forced to follow police protocol since City Hall were weary after Diaz's corruption.

Ultimately, Diaz is responsible for the future corruption of Oliver's legacy and Star City as a whole, as his determination and quest for vengeance against Oliver and all he held dear scared Felicity into creating the Archer program in a futile attempt at safety. This program would go on to be abused by terrorists to control the city and its people by 2040, as well as spreading propaganda that vigilantes were evil and essentially becoming a police state.

Also, Diaz could be considered responsible for Oliver's death and the coming events of the Crisis as a whole, for it was his product in the first rewritten reality during Elseworlds that kept Barry Allen/Green Arrow occupied and unable to reach out to the Flash sooner. If the heroes had moved faster, they likely would've been able to stop John Deegan from getting to the Book of Destiny a second time and stopping the Monitor's chaotic challenge.

Personality
"I was afraid of Jesse for so long that all I had was my fear. So I... I named that fear... the Dragon."
 * -|Early life=

- Ricardo Diaz

Growing up, Ricardo Diaz tried his hardest to be something he wasn't to please his father before he passed away. It only got worse, as in an abusive orphanage, Diaz channeled all the pain, anger, and fear that he endured, he compartmentalized it into a boogeyman that he dubbed the "Dragon". Due to his treatment by his childhood bully, Jesse Federico, who considered Ricardo a "loser", caused Diaz to aspire to become someone important and powerful, which he took the alias of the "Dragon" the moniker of his childhood fears to control it.

"Man like you, has no friends."
 * -|Adult life=

- Anatoly Knyazev to Ricardo Diaz

As an adult, Diaz became a crime lord with ambitions to effectively rule Star City, he often presents himself as an eerily calm, level-headed, patient and speaks with (seemingly) no emotion behind his words almost never raising the tone of his voice, however, underneath that façade, Diaz was an extremely violent man as he displayed no qualms about murdering Cayden James' son, Owen Post and later Cayden himself, Diaz also displayed signs of being a cruel and sadistic individual, as seen during his interaction with Martin Hurst, Roy Harper, Anatoly Knyazev, Laurel Lance, Jesse Federico and Oliver Queen.

While originally portraying himself as a brainless thug to his enemies and allies alike, Diaz was actually an extremely intelligent person with his skills in lying and manipulation bordering a machiavellian personality, Diaz was successful in predicting the tactics of Cayden and his criminal cabal, completely fooling them and successfully pursuing his own agenda, Diaz is also an extraordinarily patient person, valuing it as one of life's greatest virtue and notes how it takes a great deal of patience to gain something extraordinary. Despite his intellect, he is not above being smug and boastful to others, as he did with Cayden before killing him.

Diaz seems to value the concept of "family" viewing the members of his organization as such and was deeply angered when someone "goes against the family", whenever Diaz even begins to doubt someone's loyalty, he was immediately hostile, sadistic, and ruthlessly violent to reassert his authority and to immediately intimidate those under his suspicions, even, Laurel Lance, who he demonstrated to be affectionate and even intimate with, violently choked her when he began doubting her loyalty, after Laurel testified in favor to protect Oliver, thereby betraying Diaz in favor of Team Arrow and ruining his plan that he spent months preparing, he was furiously enraged and later took Laurel hostage.

Similarly, to Anatoly, who Diaz figured out began acting as a mole for Team Arrow, he promises to make Anatoly's death a slow and painful one going so far as to threaten him Russian to do so; a promise that he later try to fulfill,  according to Laurel, Diaz terrifies her more than Hunter Zolomon ever did, because she believes "he was not even human inside", unlike Hunter who was actually capable of loving someone; albeit in a very twisted and deranged manner. For all his talk about family, Diaz actually did not care about anyone but himself as Laurel (correctly) reaffirms this to the Silencer that the only person he was loyal to was himself.

A possible trait that Diaz acquired from his traumatic upbringing was that due to struggling so much to gain so little food at all, Diaz came to (genuinely) care about good eating habits as she considers food something that shouldn't be taken for granted; as he scolded Martin Hurst for his tastes in junk food and bring dinner for himself and Laurel, Diaz also had a sort of contorted warrior-like philosophy, stating that "fighting for trophies was different than fighting for life" proving that he cares little for competitions in compared to life challenges. Diaz seems to hold some level of respect for the members of his organization that train and fight with him, granting them money and positions in his organization depending on the skills that they demonstrated to him.

Due to his psychotic nature or experiencing first-hand how unjust life was, Diaz lacks any personal sense of honor; as he pointlessly hurt a chained Oliver and shamelessly won his bare handed fight against Oliver by using a switch blade to best him thus earning the personal disgust of Anatoly for his dishonorable tactics, Diaz also personally despises those who were born with money and privilege such as Eric Cartier and Oliver, as he had to fight for everything in his life. He (arrogantly) considered his painful experiences superior to Oliver's, stating that while Oliver spent 5 years in hell, Diaz was born into it.

Due to Diaz being treated as a loser as a child, he had a profound amount of rage for anyone who treats him as such, he was (openly) upset when Eric Cartier talked to him as a superior lashing out by punching a glass mirror, when Eric later revealed that Diaz proposal to the Quadrant was never learned by the organization due to Remy Cartier, believing Diaz was nothing; Diaz brutally beat him and then used him to kill his father, Remy, he was also very vindictive as he had profound ability to feel and act out on personal grudges often turning them into lengthy vendettas to those who he feels have personally wronged or humiliated him. To his childhood tormentor, Jessie, he patiently waited for at least 32 years before cruelly burning Jessie alive.

While initially seeing Oliver as an obstacle that he had to remove to fully secure his control over Star City, like Jessie, however, Diaz began to personally despise Oliver after the latter with the FBI's aid successfully defeated him in combat, brought down his organization and publicly humiliated Diaz, forcing him into hiding. Afterwards, he wanted to kill Oliver but not before making him suffer for the way Diaz perceives Oliver made him suffer; which he had done by threatening and later attempting to kill Oliver's wife and son, Felicity Smoak and William Clayton respectively.

Since childhood, Diaz had always been a dramatically failing pretender; for example, he tried very hard to make his father proud of him even if it meant pretending to be someone he wasn't, which never worked, after becoming a crime lord, the life he had, which was filled with nothing but bitterness and rage, made him so determined to finally win that he tried to take over Star City, to prove to the entire criminal underworld that he was a winner, only to once again suffer a far more debilitating failure, as his downfall at the hands of Oliver had instead proven to them that he was nothing more than a loser.

After his plan to imprison Oliver failed, Diaz lost his very notable patient nature and began to become increasingly unstable, cruel, erratic and reckless in his actions to the point of carelessness; as he try to kill Oliver, Team Arrow and everyone that they cared about, he personally executed judge C. McGarvey, who presided over Oliver's trial who tried to convince Diaz that is was another man (Christopher Chance) who freed Oliver, during his downfall, Diaz also became more power hunger desiring full leadership of the Quadrant for himself, after Anatoly successfully placed Ricardo's treacherous suspicions on Lydia Cassamento; he killed her for her (apparent) betrayal and as his first step to gain control of the Quadrant. He eventually succeeded when he immediately decided to kill Dragos Ibanescu but spared Cyrus Broderick after he accepted his leadership.

Despite his intelligent and calculating traits, Diaz was extremely arrogant to the point of being delusional, which prevents him from (truly) learning from his mistakes, as it was one of the contributors to his downfall; as Diaz believes fear and cruelty were enough to get people to do what he wants as his reputation as a crime lord made a woman killed her lover then occur Diaz's wrath, however, people such as Laurel and Anatoly can overcome his intimidation, seeing him for exactly what he was; a petty vindictive psychopath, he also never changes his tactics, as Diaz continued to use fear and extortion, using Laurel as a hostage to get mayor Quentin Lance to force the FBI out of Star City, however, Laurel's taunts and Quentin's care for her ultimately caused Diaz to once again lose control of himself, shooting Quentin thereby losing his leverage maintain his power in Star City. After (initially) defeating Oliver in Slabside by using dirty tactics, instead of finishing him off, Diaz took the time to taunt him about how much Felicity had changed because of him, which allowed Oliver to recover and turn the tide on the crime lord.

In a rewritten reality created by John Deegan, thanks to the Book of Destiny that could rewrite reality itself, Ricardo became a police officer for the Central City police department, in this reality, Diaz seemed to be a dedicated officer for the CCPD and was eager to bring criminals, like the Trigger Twins (Oliver Queen and Barry Allen) to justice. He seems to still despise Oliver with a passion in this reality, as he was more pleased to be arresting him then he was Barry.
 * -|Rewritten reality=

Powers
"I'm a lot stronger now."

- Ricardo Diaz to Oliver Queen


 * Enhanced strength: After injecting himself with some sort of a bio-molecular enhancer (possibly similar to the one developed by Eobard Thawne), Diaz was now stronger than a normal human; being able to put a huge dent into a concrete wall with a light punch, lift a full-grown man with ease, rip large electric cables out of a wall with his bare-hands and sent a man flying into his cell with one kick. Despite this, Diaz was still defeated in his confrontation against both the new Green Arrow and John Diggle simultaneously, even though he was physically stronger than the two combatants. Oliver Queen also managed to overcome his artificially enhanced strength and defeat him after a lengthy duel by using a shiv and the materials in his cell. In Curtis Holt's virtual reality, he was strong enough to break Curtis' neck by twisting it against an A.R.G.U.S. agent's nightstick.
 * Enhanced drug resistance (presumed) : According to Diaz, after using enhancer chemicals to empower himself, drugs work differently on him. He implied to Curtis Holt that using drugs on him is generally a bad idea due to unforeseen side-effects. However, it turned out that most of Diaz's experience after being injected with sleep drugs was part of a virtual reality devised by Curtis, thus it was uncertain whether he (truly) had additional drug-related powers.

Abilities
"Hey. I don't want the basic cut. Leave a little room for the guns. And, don't forget, the muscles are getting bigger."

- Ricardo Diaz to a Quadrant tailor

"Fighting for trophies is a lot different than fighting for your life."
 * Peak of human physical condition: Diaz is in incredible physical form which he maintains through extensive training, with his physical power ranking as among the deadliest among the many foes Oliver Queen has ever faced. He has extremely fast reflexes and great strength, able to swiftly incapacitate a much larger foe with ease and push grown men through a door, as well as immense resilience and durability. He was only annoyed by Felicity's attacks and effortlessly overpowered her soon. His physical capacities allowed him to instantly pin down Laurel Lance and Anatoly Knyazev despite their own physical condition with ease, overpower the extremely strong John Diggle and quickly defeat Thea Queen even with an arrow in his leg, sustaining no injuries from any of their blows. Diaz has even been able to match and nearly overwhelm Oliver in combat twice, managing to knock him down, toss him to a wall with enough force to crack it, cause him to bleed with each of his attacks and dislocate his shoulder, only barely losing in the end and remaining mostly unfazed by the beatings Oliver put on him. He is durable and resilient enough to withstand being shot by a machine gun to the chest unfazed when wearing a bulletproof vest, sustain only minor injuries from being blown back by a nearby explosive and even survive being blasted of a building by Laurel Lance's sonic scream and into a body of water despite having already been subjected to an extensive beating from Oliver, with Oliver finding the possibility of Diaz dying by the fall to be very little. He also survived being mortally stabbed in the chest with a shiv. His conditioning also lets him recover from most injuries very quickly, though not super-humanly.
 * Master acrobat: Diaz has great free-running skills and could drop from a height of several feet without injuring himself. He is capable of scaling buildings, and running from rooftop to rooftop with ease as well to fluidly dodge and attack from different directions without losing balance.
 * Honed senses: Diaz has sharp hearing and sight, as well as keen skills of perception. He is able to pick up an incoming danger and react extremely quickly. Diaz was able to hear several guards sneaking up behind him and could determine exactly where they were standing and how many of them there were.

- Diaz to one of his henchmen following their combat training

"Diaz: Patience. It's one of the most important virtues a person can have Black Siren: Meaning? Diaz: If you think short-term, you're gonna drift moment to moment. You want something big, something truly remarkable? You gotta think long-term."
 * Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Diaz was a combatant and martial artist of terrifyingly tremendous, almost unrivaled skill. His fighting style seems to consist of Boxing, Panantukan, Judo, Jiujitsu, Karate, Taekwondo, Capoeira, Muay Thai, Kali, and Krav Maga. He swiftly broke out of Curtis Holt's hold and quickly overpower and stabbed him. He swiftly defeated Thea Queen even though he had already been shot by an arrow and she was wielding her bow while he was unarmed. He instantly disarmed John Diggle of his gun and started to gain the upper hand, eventually managing to overpower him and flee. He later dueled Diggle on equal footing and briefly gained the upper hand again despite having been stabbed in the shoulder by a knife and Diggle having displayed improved skills, with Diggle struggling to force him back long enough to escape. He had even been one of the few to ever be able to take on Oliver Queen on equal footing (who had been trained by Ra's al Ghul himself) and came close to defeating him as Diaz was capable of blocking much of Oliver's strikes and landing his own; he was able to push the vigilante back and either knock him down or restrain him in both their altercations before Oliver finally turned the tides. During his prison brawl with Oliver, Diaz maintained the upper hand due to him by using dirty tactics, while Oliver was not in full shape to fight back at the time.  He was able to take on both the new Green Arrow and Diggle simultaneously, before eventually being defeated. He was able to fight Joe Wilson and Chien Na Wei at the same time during a (potentially lethal) sparring match. Diaz was also one of the most deadliest combatants in the entire multiverse.
 * Expert marksman: As a crime lord, Diaz was highly trained in the use of many types of firearms. He was able to systematically take out a team of FBI agents in a firefight.
 * Master knife wielder: Diaz was very skilled in the use of knives as he carries one with him and has used one to kill Cayden James. He threw one at Thea Queen with pin-point accuracy, and despite being restrained by Oliver, was able to stab Oliver's stomach with a knife. During his latest fight with Oliver, Diaz could wield a knife and slice him a few times before being disarmed.

- Ricardo Diaz and Laurel Lance

"I've known a lot of bad men, and they've been filled with anger and with hate. But not Diaz. He's not filled with anger inside because he's not even human inside. I watched him burn a man alive over a childhood grudge. If I cross him... what is he gonna do to me?"
 * Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Leader: Diaz is an extraordinarily intelligent man, which is perhaps his most formidable trait. He was capable of completely outsmarting not only Laurel Lance and Anatoly Knyazev, despite their own great intellects, but he even managed to entirely outsmart the extremely intelligent Cayden James into believing he was a true ally while in actuality he had only joined his cabal to use James as a means for him to take over Star City, by letting James "thin the herd" for him, making it easier for him to take over. Extremely adept at many fields of science, particularly chemistry and biochemistry, Diaz proved capable of manufacturing drugs of formidable amounts of complexity and power, such as the one used to stabilize the tremors of John Diggle's hand. Diaz is also an exceptional strategist, as during the time he worked alone, he was able to spread his drugs effectively while remaining off-charts and covering his tracks completely. The most prominent display of Diaz's outstanding strategical mastery was how he was able to devise a highly sophisticated and effective plan to take over Star City starting by having a doctored video of Karl Iscove to make it seem like Green Arrow was the one that killed Owen Post as well as leak a doctored picture of Oliver Queen as Green Arrow to the public and the FBI in order to make the public suspect Oliver and James to try to get revenge for his son, entirely fooling James and giving Oliver great trouble in finding out the truth. Diaz is an extremely skilled investigator. He is among the very few who has managed to somehow deduce that Oliver is Green Arrow, he was also able to find out that Roy Harper's death was faked and managed to track him down. Diaz is also always fully prepared for most situations that would put him in a disadvantage like when he wore a bulletproof vest in case Eric Cartier tried to have him killed which he almost did. Diaz is highly skilled in planting and detonating explosives, planting great amounts of explosives in the false location he gave Anatoly and rigging them to explode and destroy the whole building if anyone even moved a bit. Even Felicity Smoak was not able to effectively stop it, despite this, she was still able to delay the explosions from going off long enough for Rene Ramirez and the FBI to escape the blast. Diaz is also an extremely competent and experienced leader, managing to take over the Scorpions and effectively lead it in secret, and later upon taking full control over the massive criminal organization the Quadrant, effectively lead it single-handedly to the point of overwhelming the efforts of Team Arrow and A.R.G.U.S. respectively, backing Oliver so much into the corner that he was forced to resort to call upon the FBI in order to fight against Diaz's army. While Diaz did not go down without a fight, he was too late to do anything to prevent his inevitable defeat.
 * Master of deception/Manipulator: Diaz is an exceptional liar; he was able to fool Cayden James for months, as well as the other members of the cabal, including Anatoly Knyazev and Laurel Lance, however, it should be noted that Cayden, Anatoly and Laurel's suspicions were directed at Vincent Sobel; due to the latter's history as an undercover cop. Diaz is also an exceptional manipulator, as he was able to manipulate Cayden, predict every move he made and use it to his advantage such as being able to find out Team Arrow's identities and use them against Cayden. When he found out Anatoly had betrayed him, he was able to fool Anatoly into believing he did not know and used it to his advantage in order to lead Team Arrow and the FBI into a trap.
 * Expert interrogator/Torturer: Diaz is an effective interrogator and torturer. He is capable of inflicting a lot of physical pain into a target without killing them and is even capable of using mind games to worsen the discomfort. However, Diaz was unable to break Roy Harper (due his incredible indomitable will) as he tried to get him to testify against Oliver Queen in court (regarding the latter's identity as Green Arrow) even when Diaz threatened to torture Thea right in front of him, Roy still refused to betray Oliver.
 * Multilingual: Being of Spanish descendant, Diaz speaks that language fluently, in addition to English and Russian.

- Laurel Lance
 * Intimidation: Diaz was deeply feared by most people because of what he was capable of and his associates would rather die than betray him. Even a meta-human as powerful as Laurel Lance was (initially) afraid of him, but she later overcame her fear of Diaz. However, despite all of his fearsome aura, should someone with sufficient bravery know what he truly was, a loser who wants to prove that he was a winner instead, then Diaz will be unable to intimidate them, as seen by how Anatoly Knyazev, having known what a coward he truly was, did not display any signs of fear for Diaz's threat of a slow and painful death. After Oliver's victory over him, with the fact that Diaz is nothing more than a loser being revealed to the whole world, it seems that while still feared enough by his subordinates to make sure they are still loyal, but the majority, if not the entire criminal underworld had lost all fear of him.
 * Stealth/Infiltration: Diaz is very elusive. He can sneak in and out of most guarded buildings without being detected and quickly disappear from sight even in broad daylight. He was also able to sneak out of Anatoly's van without the latter hearing or noticing him.
 * Indomitable will/High tolerance for pain: Diaz is a very driven and determined individual, as well as virtually fearless in the face of death and danger and has a considerable tolerance for pain, being able to easily pull an arrow out of his leg and still overpower Thea Queen. . He was stabbed with an arrow in the shoulder by Green Arrow during their second fight, but pulled it out like it was nothing, and when Diggle threw a knife into his shoulder, he pulled it out without flinching. He was barely affected when Lyla Michaels ordered an explosive implant in the back of his head.

Weaknesses

 * Mental instability: Although Diaz's savagery had made him feared by both his allies and most of his enemies, it had also proven to be his greatest weakness; as he had become increasingly arrogant, erratic, cruel, unstable, paranoid and delusional, openly displaying his psychopathy and true cowardice, evidenced by the fact he beat up on Oliver pointlessly while he was chained and later unhesitatingly cheated to win even though it revealed to his men that he was truly just a self-serving coward. He also openly tried to eliminate Team Arrow and the Outsiders respectively (after his plan to put Oliver Queen in prison failed) but he also underestimated their capabilities. Even Anatoly Knyazev and Laurel Lance respectively turned against Diaz for different reasons; Anatoly turned against Diaz after realizing that he was nothing more than a cowardly sociopath who lacks any form of honor and will destroy Star City if he gains full control over it, well Laurel turned against him after realizing that the latter is nothing more than an irredeemable monster who had no humanity left in him. In the end, his arrogance and ego led to his downfall; as he had believed that Oliver had no means left to save Star City and was not able to anticipate that Oliver Queen/Green Arrow would willingly turn himself over to the FBI in exchange for their help in taking down Diaz. Although Diaz tried desperately to stop it, he was too late to do anything significant to prevent his defeat and his criminal empire sustained considerable damage, his influence over Star City was completely destroyed, as he was forced into hiding and to add even greater damage, he had humiliated himself in the process.
 * Lack of empathy: Despite all of his intellect, Diaz was unable to understand or calculate the possibility of other individuals' emotions, particularly their morals, causing them to refuse to do his bidding, as he completely believed that even if they wanted to stop working for him, their fear towards Diaz would be more than enough to cause them to still follow his orders, which had proven to not always be the case. This was seen after he threatened Laurel Lance to testify against Oliver Queen in court (regarding his identity as Green Arrow) he believed that it would be sufficient to keep her from siding with Oliver in court, only to find out the hard way he was wrong, as Laurel's growing attachment to Oliver eventually made her instead state to the entire court that Tommy Merlyn is Green Arrow, not Oliver, completely ruining Diaz's months prepared plan, much to his rage. Later when he threatened Quentin Lance, stating that he will shoot Laurel if he doesn't tell the FBI to leave Star City, he didn't expect that Quentin would not abide to his wishes and instead he literally took a bullet for his surrogate daughter, hence causing his plans to completely backfire, as with Quentin dead, he no longer could remove the FBI from Star City, which led to his downfall as the FBI had arrived and he was no longer able to resort to having the mayor force the FBI to leave the city. As Diaz believed that fear was enough to control his enemies, unable to anticipate their morality; Diaz's lack of empathy was proven to be one of his greatest weaknesses; much like Clifford DeVoe's.

Former equipment

 * Guns/Firearms: Diaz primarily makes use of a pistol, wielding it quite effectively. He also is proficient in using a sub-machine gun.
 * Knives: Diaz carries knives with him and plays with them in a manner to calm his nerves. He has been known to carry combat knives, throwing knives, and switchblades. Though he primarily make use of a combat knife with a dragon's head on the handle. He used one to kill Cayden James.
 * Hand-held flamethrower: Diaz attacked John Diggle with a hand-held flamethrower similar to Mick Rory's during the train heist and during his bombing attempt. Diaz lost the flamethrower when he was taken into SCPD custody.
 * Metal link chain: Diaz has used a metal link chain to battle John Diggle.
 * Smoke grenade: Diaz used a smoke grenade to escape Team Arrow when stealing a military grade 3D printer.
 * Bulletproof vest: Diaz wore a bulletproof vest during an assassination attempt on his life by Eric Cartier.
 * Sonic dampening device: Diaz used this device to neutralize Laurel Lance's sonic scream, when she tried to kill him.
 * Gas mask: Diaz wore a gas mask when attacking the Helix bunker.
 * The Quadrant ring: Each of the the Quadrant's leaders wear a squared ring with four dots at the corners in order to identify themselves.

Arrow
{{Scroll|

Season 7
}}

Trivia

 * Diaz sports tattoos of dragons around both sides his neck, his left shoulder and his back a reference to the look of his comic book counterpart, Richard Dragon, after The New 52.
 * Diaz is the 14th character in the Arrowverse to have an episode named after him in a civilian sense in some way, after Sara Lance, Felicity Smoak, Harrison Wells, Oliver Queen, Alex Danvers, Zari Tomaz, Harry Wells, Iris West, Winn Schott, Ava Sharpe, Nora West-Allen, Gary Green and Nate Heywood.
 * The first time Team Arrow encounters him his face is hidden in the shadow and he throws a smoke bomb. This seems to symbolize his current place hidden in the background and creating confusion while manipulating events.
 * Diaz seem to genuinely care for good eating habits and alimentation in general, scolding officer Martin Hurst for eating junk food and bringing dinner to Earth-2 Laurel Lance.
 * As Diaz himself subsequently revealed, he suffered hunger as a kid and was often forced to fight for getting a meal. This likely made him to grow to consider food as something that must not be so easily treated due to how difficult it was for him to get it in his orphanage.
 * Diaz choosing the name "Dragon" for his internal hatred and fear, and later for himself, as well as his tendency to set things and people on fire, could have been caused by the tortures inflicted to him by Jesse Federico, who burned his forearms and attempted to destroy the only picture he had of his late father forcing him to reach into the flames of the burning bucket to get it back, resulting in extreme burns and blisters that made his arm scarred and scaled (like a dragon's skin) for weeks.
 * Diaz had an affinity for fire to match his persona. In his debut appearance he tossed a lighter into a spilled chemical to destroy the evidence and kill the workers at the drug warehouse, he killed Jesse Federico similarly by covering him in kerosene and tossing a lighter into it, and he made use of a flamethrower several times against Diggle after his initial downfall. Ironically, Emiko killed him by dousing him in gasoline and tossing him a lighter


 * Ricardo Diaz has similarities to the late villains Malcolm Merlyn, Ra's al Ghul, Damien Darhk, Adrian Chase, and the still living former villain Slade Wilson (who was under the influence of the Mirakuru at the time);
 * Like Malcolm, he was intelligent, manipulative, and calculating. Both had a list of important figures in Star City over which they held leverage, which ultimately led to their undoing when said lists fell into Oliver Queen's hands.
 * Like Ra's, he commands an army of people who are absolutely loyal to him, who would die before betraying him. He also has allied with the Longbow Hunters, a group of the world's deadliest warriors that Ra's' men feared. This trait is the same as Ra's being the leader of the League of Assassins, who are also a group of the world's deadliest warriors feared everywhere.
 * Like Damien, he controls a large underground criminal empire (such as Damien's H.I.V.E.) with reaches beyond a city through taking control of the Quadrant.
 * Like Adrian, Diaz was mentally unstable and considered a psychopath by even other criminals such as Anatoly Knyazev.
 * Like Slade (then under the influence of the Mirakuru) he was extremely arrogant and overconfident to the point of underestimating his opponents, particularly Oliver. Also, Diaz and Slade are the only villains on Arrow who have never performed archery. In exchange they are incredibly dangerous physical combatants and some of the very few to match Oliver in skill.
 * Ricardo Diaz is the first main antagonist in the Arrowverse not to have been defeated in the season where he'd first appeared as a major enemy, returning as the antagonist for season 7 as a series regular.
 * Diaz thought for his entire life that he was a loser due to Jesse Federico's bullying.
 * Ironically enough, Diaz is perhaps the most formidable and successful main antagonist of Arrow thus far, as he proved too much for Oliver alone and forced him to resort to sacrificing his freedom to defeat him. Even then, Diaz was the only main antagonist in the whole Arrowverse that wasn't truly defeated at the end of the season and continued as big bad in Season 7, as stated above. However, his spectacular defeat made Diaz extremely vengeful for the same reason as his vendetta towards Jesse but to a much greater degree, as while Jesse only made him a loser to the orphanage he was raised in, Diaz's initial defeat at the hands of Oliver took down almost everythng he had spent his life working towards.
 * Despite losing his empire and power over Star City, Diaz's original goal of incarcerating Oliver was accomplished, though it wasn't achieved by him and it wasn't his goal anymore since he decided to kill Oliver and Team Arrow.
 * Ricardo Diaz is one of the main antagonists of the Arrowverse to be still alive after the season, in which he was the main antagonist. The others are Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson and Hunter Zolomon.
 * As of and, Hunter Zolomon is killed by Killer Frost and Malcolm Merlyn is killed by a landmine on Lian Yu.
 * Diaz is finally killed by Emiko Adachi in.

Behind the scenes

 * In the comics, Ricardo Diaz is a crime lord and martial artist based out of Seattle, as well as a founder of the Longbow Hunters. The shared multiverse's iteration's nickname is a reference to the pre-New 52 version of the character, Richard Dragon.
 * Diaz is the first main antagonist in the shared multiverse to be presented as a secondary antagonist as he appears in ​ as a drug dealer and enemy of the week for Team Arrow, later being revealed to be a member of Cayden James' criminal cabal in ​​​​​ and the real puppet master behind everything happening in Star City since the beginning of the season in ​​​. The second would be Selena.
 * Diaz is the second main antagonist in the shared multiverse to avoid capture or death after his respective season ended, the first being Malcolm Merlyn. However, unlike Malcolm, who was presumed deceased by the characters and audience, Diaz was known to be alive at the end of his respected season.
 * Diaz is the fourth main antagonist to be responsible for the death of a main character; following Malcolm Merlyn (Tommy Merlyn), Slade Wilson (Moira Queen), and Damien Darhk (Laurel Lance). although Malcolm killing his son was indirect and unintentional.
 * Diaz is technically the first main antagonist to be responsible for the deaths of two main characters as he killed a virtual reality simulation of Curtis Holt in ​​​​​​.
 * He is the fourth main antagonist to be credited as a main character followed by Slade Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn, and Adrian Chase.
 * Diaz being a police officer in a rewritten reality may be a reference to the actor, Kirk Acevedo, who previously played a police detective on Prime Suspect and Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit.
 * His death might be a reference to popular HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones. In the show there is a saying: "A fire cannot kill a dragon" which is ironically how Diaz died in Slabside.
 * There was a character in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City whith the same name and other similarities to Ricardo Diaz. Both are ruthless drug kingpins that were ultimately brougnt down due to their greed. However, this is likely a coincidence as these traits are common in villains, particularly those with the Hispanic drug lord stereotype. Ricardo Diaz is also a very common, typical Hispanic name.