'Arrow' [Kelly Hu, Mike Rowe]

[Dr Mordrid]

Wednesday, October 10th at 8:00 PM ET/PT on the CW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk_ji5Yu_Mg

[UtwigMU]

What is the reason that lately all these vigilante movies are becoming popular in USA?

To me it appears that people collectively are really feeling the crunch and they wish for some deux ex machina solution.

[Dr Mordrid]

It's not "lately" but a major part of our culture, good times and bad. It has zero to do with economics, other than events like the Avengers film closing in on $1.5B worldwide and much of that was overseas & not the USA.

These 'vigilante' style characters have been very popular here since the pulp novel The Curse of Capistrano - Zorro, a major precursor of Batman - was published in 1919. They've permeated our media since, ranging from film noir private detectives to masked crusaders dating back to the 1930's. Pulp novels begat comic books, newspaper comic serials & graphic novels, and they've been in radio, movies, and TV from their inceptions. Arrow is of course Green Arrow, who first appeared in comics in 1941.

Going back to the 1960's animated 'vigilantes' in the form of comic superheros and non-powered avengers like Green Arrow have been standard cartoon fare on kids TV, and since the 1990's they've been pretty dark. A great example is Batman Beyond, which is about Bruce Wayne's successor Terry McGinnis.

This current run is just the latest incarnation, though modern film tech makes them much more realistic and popcorn worthy.

[Dr Mordrid]

This is really looking like a dark version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCq2Rcm_lQ

[Dr Mordrid]

Also, the lovely Kelly Hu has been cast as heroin cartel leader Chien Na-Wei (aka: China White.)

http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/172047-arrows-deadshot-has-been-cast

Yesterday, we reported to you that Deadshot is set to appear in The CW's upcoming DC show Arrow. The character will appear in the third episode titled "Lone Gunman" and now we've got word (via TV Guide) that Michael Rowe (Not Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe) will be playing the character.

When talking to Green Arrow TV about the character, producer Marc Guggenheim took the time to let the fans know he is in good hands.

"In the same way that the pilot is a more grounded and realistic take on the material, our Deadshot is a more grounded and realistic take on the character than the fully costumed and masked super-villain that you see in the comics. You’ll definitely see the red eye piece, which is the most distinctive, iconic feature of that character, and I will say that with no slam to Smallville intended, it’s a much more faithful version of Deadshot than the Deadshot that was in Smallville."

The series stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Colin Donnell as Tommy, Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, with Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance.

Arrow premieres Wednesday, October 10th at 8 PM ET/PT.