Werner Zytle

"The Count may be dead, but his glorious narcotic lives on!"

- Werner Zytle to The Arrow

Werner Zytle is a crime boss who, after the death of Count Vertigo, took up his mantle and called himself Vertigo.

Working for the Church of Blood
Werner found his way in to St. Walker's Church, finding himself among a group of Church of Blood followers who were swarming The Arrow. During this kerfuffle, Zytle injected some of his own concoction of Vertigo, so when he got away he began to hallucinate. After this, he approached the second-in-command, Abel, claiming to be worth the man's time.

Entering the public
After the fall of The Count, Werner took over his organization, declaring himself leader (and also killing a thug that opposed him) after Vincent Steelgrave was sent off to prison. When The Arrow and John Diggle foiled one of his weapons shipments, Werner placed a tracker on him, and he and his men tracked Oliver to a Italian restaurant where he and Felicity Smoak were having dinner. He fired a rocket at it, but Oliver and Felicity survived and Oliver, as the Arrow, tracked Werner down. However, Werner injected The Arrow with his upgraded dose of Vertigo, which showed Oliver his greatest fear: himself. The two began to fight. When Oliver began to get distracted by his fear Werner used precision strikes targetting the eyes, throat and various pressure points to quickly incapacitate the more skilled Oliver. He then prepared to inject him with a lethal injection of Vertigo. Before he could kill The Arrow, however, Quentin Lance came to his aid, and distracted Zytle long enough for the Arrow to shoot him in the back, causing him to retreat. Later, that evening, in an attempt to kill his rival crime lords, Werner attempted to blow up Rockets Arena. However, he was confronted by The Arrow and his partner Roy. Werner threw a dart into Oliver to inject him again with Vertigo. Oliver and Zytle fought a second time, but this time, Oliver overcame the Vertigo induced fear and hold his own against Werner. Oliver avoided the stunning precision strikes of Werner and managed to knock him down. As Sara Lance showed up Werner attempted to throw a second lethal dart to Oliver, however Oliver tied him to the pole with a trick arrow. After his capture, Zytle warned Oliver that there would always be another to pick up the mantle of Count Vertigo.

Personality
Werner is a cunning and ruthless criminal who approached situations with a cold, business-like mindset. He wanted to gain power by killing the competition and threats like The Arrow. It seemed he was willing to do anything to take over the underworld. He killed a thug just to make a point. He later fired a rocket at a restaurant in an attempt to kill The Arrow. He seemed to not care about collateral damage as he was willing to blow up even an entire Arena full of people just to kill a few of his rival crime lords.

His wit was seen in his fight against the more skilled Oliver. He first drugged Oliver to get an advantage. As Oliver began to get distracted by the Vertigo, Werner repeatedly gouged his eyes, struck him in the throat and solar plexus to quickly injure and disable the more skilled Oliver.

According to Quentin Lance, Werner is also a complete nut-job.

Abilities

 * Skilled martial artist: Werner possesses advanced martial arts skills and is a master of pressure points, allowing him to hold his own against The Arrow. In his first confrontation he managed to overpower a drugged Oliver and nearly killed him. In the fight he used precise finger jabs to the eyes, throat and various presure points to quickly daze and incapacitate Oliver.
 * Chemistry Knowledge: Werner has showing high Chemistry Knowledge by taking Vertigo and adjusting it from Count Vertigo's formula to making it a hallucinogen.
 * Weapons proficiency: Werner showed the ability to toss a Vertigo-filled throwing dart with deadly precision, and nearly killed Quentin Lance with one of them. He also stabbed a mobster in the neck with a Vertigo dart in a dagger-like style.
 * Tactician: Werner was able to create straight forward and ruthless plans to take over the underworld by killing The Arrow and any rival crime lords. He managed to trace The Arrow and almost blew him up. After this he anticipated The Arrow comming for him. He succeeded in beating The Arrow and almost killed him. He was almost able to blow up the entire Rockets Arena.
 * Stealth: Werner was able to sneak up on Oliver and managed to stab him with a Vertigo-filled throwing dart before he was able to react.

Arrow: Season 2.5

 * "Haunted"

Trivia

 * Werner Zytle is based on the DC Universe villain of the same name. He uses the drug Vertigo to cause effects similar to those which his DC comic counterpart inflicts on his victims.
 * His fighting style seems to be similar to Chinese Leopard Kung Fu as he uses leopard punches to soft targets to cause massive damage and quickly disable his opponent.
 * He uses a first Vertigo-filled throwing dart to inject his opponent and make them suffer from fear. He then uses a second to create an overdose which quickly kills them.