Baron Reiter

"I grew up in a small village in Africa, a country whose named has changed a dozen times over the years. One day, bandits came to my village. They wanted water and gold and women. Once they left with them, the only thing remaining of my village was ash. My home and everyone I loved was wiped from the earth and I was helpless to stop it and I swore I would never feel helpless again."

- Baron Reiter to Oliver Queen and Taiana.

Baron Reiter is the leader of the secret operation run by Shadowspire on Lian Yu.

Biography
In 2005, Reiter was in Afghanistan, leading Shadowspire in operations against the Taliban while also leading his unscrupulous men, such as Lieutenant Joyner, in a quietly lucrative drug business. After Joyner successfully gained the assistance of Andy Diggle in this side operation, Reiter showed up in person to congratulate the two men on their profitable shared venture, and then showed the two of them what he had purchased with his cut: a map of an island he claimed had long been lost, and which possessed mystical powers.

Years later, in 2010, Reiter had set up an encampment on this island, which he referred to as "Purgatory". He and his ruthless men ran a drug-harvesting operation, using slave labour to grow, cultivate, and harvest the plants required to make a particularly potent drug called Slam. After Oliver Queen was captured by Shadowspire operatives while roaming the woods of Lian Yu, he was brought before Reiter, who recognized Oliver from his fame as a wealthy playboy and, being a man down, offered Oliver a job in his ranks, over the protests of his second-in-command, Conklin. He let him cut his hair and gave him a uniform.

After Conklin started to suspect Oliver Queen he came in to convince Reiter of his suspicions, but he was too busy interrogating John Constantine. Constantine is able to overpower Oliver and Conklin and took Queen hostage.

Later after Constantine had escaped Queen took to the chamber and Reiter used what Constantine had left behind to find writing on the wall that led them to the body of water on the island and sent Oliver and Conklin to take some workers and see what they could find. It was then that Oliver began to realize that Reiter was interested in something more mystical than just narcotics.

Later on, when Oliver was questioned for killing a prisoner by Baron and Conklin, Oliver maintained his cover by saying Conklin's been hostile to him since he found out the A.R.G.U.S device. Baron then seemingly used a mystical item capable of detecting lies and asked Oliver why he killed the prisoner, which he replied because he attacked him, which apparently showed he was telling the truth. He then asked Conklin did he order the prisoner to attack Oliver to which Conklin said no, but it showed he was lying. He then ordered Oliver to whip him as punishment.

Conklin brought Oliver and Taiana to Reiter, also showing him the maps that Oliver salvaged from the sunken Amazo ship. Reiter told Oliver that he was done trusting him and handed him over to Conklin to kill him, but Conklin instead wanted payback and severely whipped Oliver. Reiter stopped Conklin upon noticing the spell on Oliver's torso was glowing when the Orb of Horus was near him. Despite the pleas of Conklin that Oliver can't be trusted, Reiter spares Oliver and Taiana for now and imprisons them, informing Conklin that there is no part of his plans that require Conklin surviving.

Reiter tortured Oliver with electric shock in order to learn what the markings on his torso meant but Oliver refused to break and ultimately passed out and witnessed a hallucination in which Reiter and his men were killed by Shado, who then rescued Oliver. After Oliver woke up back in his cell with Taiana, Reiter glared at Oliver through his cell door before walking off.

Taiana, angry at Oliver for his confession that he killed Vlad, summoned Reiter and gave him the stone that Oliver had woken up from his hallucination with in hopes for a release. Reiter refused to do so and told her to watch after Oliver as if he was her own brother and care for him because if his health drops then he will kill Taiana too as Oliver is an important piece of his mission. Reiter later informed Oliver and Taiana that the stone was the last piece to his puzzle and they will dig at daybreak as the Heaven he seeks is below them.

Personality
Despite his villainous status, Baron does possess some nobility in him. One example being he "blessed" his slaves. Another being even though Oliver Queen appeared around the time two of his men died, he still gave Oliver the benefit of the doubt until Conklin gave conclusive evidence Oliver was in fact, a spy. Baron's desire for power and knowing more about the supernatural forces on Lian Yu stems from his helplessness to prevent his village from being invaded and destroyed by bandits.

Powers

 * Magic: In his quest to gain power, Reiter learned much about magic. He has a strong degree of knowledge in the occult, and is able to perform minor magic including lie detection. In making contact with an ancient idol, Reiter obtained similar abilities to Damien Darhk's. To manifest these abilities, he is required to kill people before the idol and sacrifice their life-force to it. For the magic to last, Reiter has to kill multiple people as a single sacrifice only lasts several few minutes before his powers disappear. Reiter theorized that the more people he offers to the idol, the more power he will gain, until ultimately becoming a "god". His eyes would briefly turn completely yellow when he used the power, as well as when his ability to use it seemingly expired. This power is revealed to be fueled by feeding off of the life and positive energy of others and finding strength in the negative aspects of its victims. As such, the idol and its user draw strength from death and fear, overwhelming their victim with their own inner darkness. However, the positive aspects of some victims could overwhelm the idols power through light magic. He possessed runes tattooed on his arm that glowed yellow and allowed him to use the idol without his mind deteriorating.
 * Accelerated healing factor: With his empowerment, Reiter was rendered seemingly unkillable, as demonstrated when several bullets were shot at him, from which he emerged barely fazed. By killing others, their life-force was given to Reiter, allowing him to heal if damaged when his power begins to run out.
 * Telekinesis: Reiter is able to grip, move, and generally exert great amounts of force on objects and people without physically touching them. He caused Taiana to fly through the air, incapacitating her, with a simple hand gesture. He did the same to Oliver, throwing him to the ground without touching him and pulling a machine gun out of his hands. With multiple kills, he was able to cause a plane several stories in the air flying away from Lian Yu to explode with a hand gesture.
 * Enhanced strength: Reiter gained considerable raw strength using the idol, and was able to effortlessly brush off Oliver's attacks and lift him into the air above his own head single-handedly.
 * Enhanced durability: While drawing power from the idol, Baron's resilience, stamina and endurance are enhanced to inhuman levels, to the point where most damage cannot slow down or weaken him at all when he has absorbed enough life.

Weaknesses

 * Light magic: Since Reiter feeds on dark magic in order for his powers to work, one who can manipulate light magic can overwhelm the idol as well as Reiter himself.
 * Time limitation: Since the idol's magic is fueled by the life-force of those he killed, the powers only last for a period of time as killing only a single person made his powers last but a few minutes. To which, Reiter is left powerless unless he sacrifices people to maintain his power.
 * Khushu Idol: Although this is the source of Reiter's powers, it can also lead to his downfall. If someone aware of magic has the power to destroy it, Reiter will remain a normal human.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: As a former soldier, Baron is in top physical condition.
 * Military training: Baron served in the army and received extensive military training.
 * Master tactician/Leader: As the leader of Shadowspire and former high-ranking soldier, Baron is capable leader and presumably great tactician.
 * Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Baron has displayed proficiency in hand-to-hand combat.
 * Occult knowledge:  In his quest to gain power, Baron learned much about magic, granting him a degree of knowledge in the occult. As such, he has great power over the Khushu Idol. The only reason he did not succumb to the addiction to death that it caused was due to magical runes on his arm that glowed yellow.

Equipment

 * Khushu Idol: After finding the mysteries of magic, he founded this idol, which Reiter uses for his powers.

Trivia

 * Reiter does not seem to use the incantation, "Kanjigar Septum Vohostrum", which Damien Darhk uses.

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Baron Blitzkrieg is a supervillain from Earth-2. Also, he is known as Reiter in the DC comics.