It’s been clear from the beginning that the Dark Knight has had a big influence on the framework of Arrow. The dark, gritty version of Oliver Queen’s quest to save Star City has often reflected Bruce Wayne’s relationship with his beloved Gotham. We recently visited Arrow’s Vancouver set and got up close and personal with the Green Arrow himself, Stephen Amell, who told us all about Batman‘s influence on the world of Arrow and why he (yes, he) introduced Bruce into Arrow canon earlier this year.

The Batman parallels aren’t just a coincidence spotted by enthusiastic fans but actually a conscious choice by the Arrow team, inspired by a very particular version of Gotham’s protector. “I’ve always thought that our iteration of Oliver Queen and the way that we built this character, obviously, has so many similarities to Bruce Wayne and Batman,” Amell said. “So much of the inspiration for the early parts of our show was taken from Nolan’s Batman.”

As for that internet-breaking Bruce Wayne name drop, it turns out that that was all down to Amell. “The original version of that script, which came out right before Comic-Con, it was just Oliver referencing a famous name,” he said. “I looked at it and I thought to myself, ‘This is a cool opportunity.’ I spoke with Greg Berlanti about it, and Greg said, ‘You know, I think it would behoove you to just go directly to Geoff Johns and just simply ask. You’ll probably have better luck than I would.'”

But it wasn’t until the DC Comics party at San Diego Comic-Con that he finally got to proposition the right people. “Geoff and I were supposed to meet and chat quickly,” Amell said. “I couldn’t track him down, and the next thing that I knew I ended up in a four-way conversation with Peter Roth, Diane Nelson, and Kevin Tsujihara, all at the same time. I was like, ‘Guys, I have an idea! It’ll cost you nothing. I think it’d be really fun. It opens the door to a lot of possibilities.”

As for the moment the magic happened, Amell was nervous but took the leap. As we all know, it worked out. “So anyway, I have this holy trinity of DC and Warner Bros TV and Warner Bros overall in front of me, and I pitched this idea,” Amell said. “I’ve got all my follow-up points, and Kevin Tsujihara just goes, ‘Yeah, sure.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He said, ‘Yeah, that sounds fun. Do that.’ So we did it! I didn’t actually believe it would make it until I actually saw it in the locked cut.”

Of course, there still remains the question of how exactly Batman will come into play in the Green Arrow’s world. “I’ve always thought Bruce Wayne would be an interesting ally on the show and an even more interesting villain to Oliver, which doesn’t mean that he’s the villain,” Amell said. “It just means that they don’t like each other.”

Are you stoked at the prospect of the Arrowverse welcoming Bruce Wayne to the fold? Can you imagine the two hooded heroes beating each other up in the streets of Star City? Are you just mind-blown that it was the Green Arrow himself who came up with that ultimate easter egg? Let us know in the comments!

Images: The CW, DC Comics, Warner Bros.

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