Malcolm Merlyn

Malcolm Merlyn was a wealthy businessman and prominent figure in Starling City, and an acquaintance of the Queen family, as well as the first season's main antagonist. He was the husband of the late Rebecca Merlyn, and the father of the late Tommy Merlyn. He was the CEO of Merlyn Global Group, before his death. Later in "Year's End", it's discovered that he has taken up somewhat of an anti-Green Arrow persona, the "Dark Archer". However, it has been hinted that Malcolm's role as the Archer dates back to before Oliver's return. It has also been hinted that the Dark Archer persona has ties to The Undertaking.

his plan to level the Glades was partly successful, and he was ultimately defeated by Oliver Queen/Green Arrow.

Malcolm was a member of the Merlyn family.

Earlier life
After the death of his wife in around 1993, Malcolm visited Nanda Parbat. While there, he trained under the mentorship of a man, and is implied to have learned his fighting skills from the man in question.

In late 2007, Malcolm met with a number of associates, among them Robert Queen and Frank Chen. He discussed his plan to level the Glades, with a particular device. Later, when Robert questioned him as to whether it was a good idea or not, Malcolm revealed his wife's horrible death whilst in the Glades.

Season 1
In An Innocent Man Malcolm Merlyn met with Moira Queen to discuss Green Arrow. He expressed that he was uneasy about him. At first Moira expected this was because he had a large amount of wealth, but he replied that it was because green arrow was targeting "The List".

In Damaged Malcolm later invited Moira to talk with him upon short notice. They discuss whether Oliver might actually be Green Arrow, and he holds up his end of the argument that he strongly believes that Oliver is. After this, he sent a man to kill Oliver based on his assumption. After the chaos cleared, Moira went to consult with him. Moira threatened to ruin his life if he ever tried to hurt the Queen family again.

In Muse of Fire When Moira was almost shot, she earned a concussion, and so had to stay in bed for several days. Malcolm visited her during this time, much to her distaste. He offered her friendship as they previously had, but she was hesitant. Later, his son Tommy came asking why his father cancelled his credit card while the elder was practicing fencing. His father replied that he had permanently cut Tommy off from his trust fund and the family.

In Year's End Malcolm decided to take action, as Walter was getting very close to discovering the truth about "the List", and in turn the Undertaking. Moira tried to reassure him that she could get Walter off the scent, but Malcolm did not believe her, He also asked if they should send their "associate", the Dark Archer, to take out Walter. Following this, as the Dark Archer, Malcolm gathered a number of hostages and lured green arrow out. As Oliver arrived and freed the hostages, Merlyn attacked, and tried to discover his foe's true identity. He failed when Oliver stabbed him with a knife. Both managed to escape, and Malcolm decided to kidnap Walter so that Moira would cooperate.

In Burned

In Trust but Verify Malcolm invited his son and Laurel to have dinner with him. At dinner, Malcolm quite openly mentioned to Laurel how his wife was killed, though not before trying to getting Tommy to sign over his mother's clinic, so it could be shut down.

In Betrayal

In Dead to Rights at an awards ceremony which he attended with his, albeit reluctant, son, Malcolm was given an award for his philanthropy and charitable nature to making Starling City better. As he was giving his speech, the lights were turned off by the Chinese Triad. Malcolm quickly exited and found Tommy, and the two made it up to his office. Malcolm explained to Tommy about his safe room, and proceeded to open the door to it. However, before he could admit to his son his alter ego of the Dark Archer, Malcolm was shot from afar by "Deadshot", who had been assigned to his assassination. Before Malcolm died, Arrow arrived and was able to convince Tommy to give his father a blood transfusion, in order to rid his body of curare poison laced in the bullet. He woke up in a hospital bed some time later. Moira Queen visited, and Malcolm asked her to find his would-be killer, who was hired, unknowingly to him, by Moira.

In Salvation Moira later gave evidence to Malcolm that showed it was Frank Chen who ordered the assassination attempt, and he came to kill Frank as Moira met with him.

In Unfinished Business After quitting his job at Verdant, Tommy visited his father at Merlyn Global Group and asked for a job.

In Home Invasion

In Darkness on the Edge of Town Malcolm visited the Unidac Industries building and eliminated Dr. Markov and his team, before destroying the labs in which they were working. He sped off in his car following this. The following day, Malcolm ran in to Oliver in his company's building, while Oliver's team attempted to hack the system. Later, when Malcolm realized that Felicity Smoak has hacked into his system, he removed the device and had it hidden. When John found the empty container, he relayed this information to Oliver, who was in the process of confronting Malcolm. Oliver attempted to shoot Malcolm with an arrow, but Malcolm caught the arrow right with precision in front of his face. The two of them engaged in hand-to-hand combat, Malcolm ultimately coming out the victor, knocking Oliver out. He lifted Oliver's hood, and were shocked to discover green arrow's identity.

In Sacrifice Malcolm had Oliver tied up before he could regain consciousness. Oliver was awoken, and Malcolm explained to him why he had done what he had before leaving, awaiting the destruction of the Glades. Later in the day when Moira went public with her story, Malcolm confessed everything to Tommy, after which Tommy turned on him, Malcolm killed the cops that were sent to arrest, and knocked out Tommy as this happened, After this he waited, geared up, in his saferoom, Oliver and John soon found him. Malcolm fought them both simultaneously, despite being on the losing end, He threw a throwing knife at John and managed to escape to the roof, Oliver and Malcolm squared off on the roof, shooting arrows at each other, before engaging in hand-to-hand combat, He managed to get Oliver in a chokehold, telling him that he would soon be joined by his mother and sister in death, Oliver managed to stab Malcolm through the chest with one of Malcolm's arrows, by stabbing himself threw his shoulder, Oliver rose from the ground, and after receiving confirmation from Felicity that the device was disarmed, told Malcolm that his plan had failed, Injured, Malcolm revealed he had a second device stationed in the Glades, Believing he had won, Malcolm fell on his side and lost consciousness, presumably dying.

Personality
It was unknown what his personality was like before his wife's death, it can be assumed that he was probably once a good person, kinder and caring as well. After his wife's death, he shuts his son out and went away for 2 years, possibly to concoct his plan and to train in martial arts. Now he was cold, apathetic, calculating ruthless, arrogant, underestimate's his enemies, Thinks he is cleverer than everyone else, and was slightly a fool. He seems to believe what he was doing was right and was for the greater good, and will do anything, regardless of the number of lives he ruins and will kill anyone who gets in his way, to see his goals fulfilled, witch made him a psychopath. He also seems to have somewhat of an ego, choosing not to let the public blame Green Arrow for the murders he committed and announcing himself as a different person, possibly to lure Green Arrow out. He has a hostage read out that he will kill them if Green Arrow "doesn't surrender to his authority." When asked what he want by luring Green Arrow out by Green Arrow himself, he simply answers that he "wanted to know who is the better archer", he also blames all the people living in the glades for his wife's death, not just the person who killed his wife, also the ones who walked past his wife, well she was dying, and didn't try to help her.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: In all three of his confrontations with Oliver, Malcolm demonstrated and that although he was not as fast as Oliver but he was stronger Than Oliver in their first two encounters. During their first confrontation, Malcolm was strong enough to severely injure Oliver and was able to break three of Oliver's ribs by kicking him in the abdomen repeatedly, however it should be noted that Oliver was badly injured by Malcolm's arrows, and couldn't fight back properly yet he did manage to injure Malcolm's leg with a knife before knocking Malcolm out cold with a single punch and escaping, Alongside being physically powerful enough to snap Oliver's bow in half with a single punch, Malcolm is also swift enough to catch an arrow shot at him by Oliver during their second confrontation (a feat only the highly skilled Billy Wintergreen and formidable Helena Bertinelli have demonstrated), He was also shown himself to be able to dodge an arrow and fire one directly after Oliver tried to shoot him in their first confrontation, In their third confrontation, Malcolm was skilled enough to take on both Oliver and John, however, he was ultimately defeated by Oliver during their final confrontation. It should be noted that in his first two confrontations with Oliver and then with Oliver and John, the fighting took place in closed spaces and in all three of these confrontations Malcolm managed to overwhelm his enemies. However in his final confrontation with Oliver Queen on the rooftop of the Building of Merlyn Global Group, a very open spaced, Malcolm was completely defeated by Oliver. It would seem that in closed spaces Malcolm has a advantage, given his superior experience to Oliver, allowing him to use closed spaces to his advantage, in other words he has a disadvantage in open spaces, also Oliver became stronger than Malcolm, when he finally knows, what he is fighting for.
 * Master archer: As the Dark Archer, Malcolm proved himself as an expert archer with astounding archery skills, a fact acknowledged by Oliver seeing how tightly grouped the arrows shot to Adam's body are. He was successfully able to wound Oliver, under the guise of Green Arrow, with three arrows accompanied by incredible accuracy. Because of this, Malcolm's archery skills can be considered equivalent, if not superior, to Oliver's, however It should be noted that he caught Oliver off guard, and he was only able to successfully wound Oliver, with three of his arrows, because Oliver's back was turned, and he did it in a cowardly way.
 * Master martial artist: Malcolm has shown to be a highly skilled martial artist, He was able to fight two Chinese Triad members, disarm one and kill the man with his own gun, Even more impressively, he was able to defeat Oliver in hand to hand combat once, knocking him out after a brutal fight in their second encounter, In a third encounter he is able to fight both John and Oliver at the same time, however Malcolm would have most certainly been defeated by both Oliver and John, if he had not severly injure John with a throwing knive, because he cannot fight again's two opponents, at the same time, for long periods, in his final encounter with Oliver, on the rooftop of the building of Merlyn global group, Oliver easily overpowered and overwhelmed him, Malcolm didn't land a single blow on Oliver, but he did finally manages to grab Oliver, from behind well his back was turned, in a cowardly way, slowly choking him to death, but Oliver stabbed himself with one of Malcolm's arrows through his own shoulder, through Malcolm's chest, then Malcolm gets hit in the face by Oliver immediately after he stabs them both, being defeated by Oliver.
 * Skilled tactician: Malcolm has proven himself to be remarkably clever when it comes to devising plans and battle strategies, He even managed to catch Oliver off guard on at least two occasions and was almost able to defeat him, One of Malcolm's plans involves the deaths of thousands of people living in the Glades, however after he found out Oliver is Green Arrow, and that he knows about The Undertaking, and the Markov Device, he accelerated his plan to level the glades tonight, knowing that Oliver and his team would be able to find and deactivate the first markov device, he had the second markov device placed in the east sector of the glades, possibly due to the fact that he was in a hurry, Malcolm miscalculated the fact that the earthquake caused by the second markov device, would be contained in the east sector of the glades, and his plan to level the entire glades failed, and only level the east sector of the glades, possibly he cannot think everything through, or calculate everything when he is in a hurry.
 * Master swordsman: Malcolm might be trained and particularly skilled with swords. In "Muse of Fire", Malcolm was shown fencing with experience, also in, Malcolm's secret room where he keeps his Dark Archer equipment was shown to house several racks of swords of various kinds. Furthermore, in , he was able to kill two armed policemen with his sword, in his own office, which had the secret room.

Equipment

 * Customized compound bow : and Customized hunting arrows: Malcolm as The Dark Archer, uses as his signature weapon of choice a customized compound bow and arrows, which he creates and designs himself, to kill anyone who gets in his way, or threatens the undertaking. The arrows he uses have arrow heads with three "teflon-coated titanium blades" on each arrow, with the blades serrated for spliting bones, and the shaft itself is made of "specialized polymer stronger than typical carbon fiber". As such, it is safe to assume that the arrows he uses are deadlier than those used by Arrow.
 * Quiver: An arrow container strapped to Malcolm's back. He uses it to carry his arrows as his villain alter-ego, The Dark Archer.
 * Throwing knives: When fight Oliver and John Malcolm utilised in double bladed throwing knives, using one to severly injure John.
 * Swords: Malcolm first used a scimitar to kill two police officers. During his third fight with Oliver, Malcolm was shown using a scimitar against Oliver, though he was very quickly disarmed by Oliver.
 * Dark Archer uniform: the dark archer uniform is the uniform that was worn by Malcolm as his villain alter-ego The Dark Archer, to hide his identity from the people of starling city, and to kill anyone who gets in his way, or threatens the undertaking.
 * Voice Changer: Malcolm uses this device to change his voice regardless of who he spoke to as The Dark Archer. This could be for thr purposes of intimidation as he changes his voice to a deep, low growl.

Appearances
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Comics
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 * Arrow #5
 * Arrow #23

Trivia
. They are also the same arrows used by Justin Hartley's version of Green Arrow in Smallville, the most notable feature includes the custom-made titanium arrowheads.
 * In "Year's End", after Oliver claimed that the vigilante needed a new nickname other than "the hood", Malcolm suggested the name "Green Arrow", a clear reference to the vigilante's original DC Comics name. However, Oliver disliked the name, stating that it was lame.
 * In the Green Arrow comics, the Dark Archer is fully known as "Merlyn the Dark Archer", with "Dark Archer" just being a title, and a member of the League of Assassins. It is unknown if his affiliation to the League is pursued or continued in the TV series or if the League will actually have an appearance in the show. However the plan to kill thousands and purify the Glades draws parallels with Ra's plan to purify the world by killing billions of people. Malcolm's reference to 'a man' who trained him could be an allusion to Ra's.
 * Malcolm uses a compound bow while Oliver uses a recurve bow.
 * The black arrows used by the Dark Archer may be a reference to the Golden Age Green Arrow villain,=Merlyn=
 * Alongside Billy Wintergreen and Helena Bertinelli, Malcolm Merlyn was one of the only three characters in season 1 shown to be swift enough to catch an arrow in midair.
 * It was revealed in the end of "Dead to Rights", Malcolm spent two years in Nanda Parbat when Oliver was around 8, where he received mentorship from another individual. Most likely that's where Malcolm learned archery and how to fight. This would explain why he was able to almost best Oliver in their first fight and best him in their second fight as it would mean he recieved his training long before him therefore he has at least 20 years of experience on him.
 * Malcolm Merlyn was the seventh person to discover Oliver Queen's secret identity, Green Arrow. He discovered this in "Darkness on the Edge of Town". However, it is also said that his exact number is unknown counting Dr. Webb's accomplices.
 * Oliver stabbed himself to stab Malcom therfore Malcom may still be alive.