Arrow
City of Heroes
TV Flash files “City of Heroes” as a desk essential hour — Arrow (2012–2020) on The CW, season 2, episode 1, aired 2013-10-09, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E01: listed hour 24 of 170 in the Arrow guide, first listed hour of season 2. It aired 2013-10-09 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Sacrifice” (S01E23). Next is “Identity” (S02E02).
Essential hour: “City of Heroes”. City of Heroes is a civic title: grounded grit still the pitch, the universe already staffing up.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Diggle and Felicity travel to Lian Yu in search of Oliver who left Starling City after The Undertaking. Convinced to return home, Oliver finds that things are in worse shape than he thought - Isabel Rochev is preparing a hostile takeover of Queen Consolidated, Thea refuses to visit Moira in jail, Roy is trying to fill the void left by the Arrow's absence, and Laurel is working with the District Attorney's office to take down the vigilante. Meanwhile, flashbacks to the island show Slade, Shado and Oliver in a desperate situation.
Viewer FAQ
Where does City of Heroes sit in the Arrow guide?
S02E01 is listed hour 24 of 170 — first listed hour of season 2, season 2 episode 1.
When did Arrow S02E01 air?
City of Heroes aired 2013-10-09 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need every Arrowverse show?
Arrow is the seed. It launched Flash, Legends, Supergirl crossovers. You can watch Oliver's run as street-level soap; the multiverse toybox arrives whether you clocked the spinoffs or not.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Oliver Queen comes back from the island in a hood and The CW builds an industrial complex around him. Grounded grit, Olicity wars, then multiverse toybox. Franchise seed: the show that made weekly superhero soap a decade-long strategy, crossovers as event television, and Stephen Amell's grimace a brand.
So about the Olicity wars: they were the second show, and the group chat never demobilized. (I said spoiler-free. The crossovers are the spoiler calendar.) Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg's CW series (2012–2020) sends Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen back from a nightmare island in a hood, saving a corrupt city, and then builds an industrial complex around the grimace. Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey's Diggle, Emily Bett Rickards's Felicity, Manu Bennett, Colton Haynes. Grounded grit evolves into…
Filed against
- Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Stephen Amell hooded up Arrow as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow — a CW industrial complex built around an island return, grounded grit, then multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as a decade-long strategy, crossovers as event television.…
- Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance
Katie Cassidy's Laurel Lance kept Arrow's hooded weekly soap from being a one-man island story — CW grit, then crossovers as event television, a franchise seed that treated superhero serial as decade-long strategy. We file her as 2010s…
- David Ramsey as John Diggle
David Ramsey’s John Diggle grounded Arrow as the island’s leftover conscience — Oliver Queen in a hood, The CW building an industrial complex, weekly superhero soap as a decade-long strategy. Olicity wars, then multiverse toybox. TV Flash…
- Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
Emily Bett Rickards made Felicity Smoak the Arrowverse's laptop-and-heart engine — Oliver Queen's hood, The CW's industrial complex, Olicity wars, then a multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as decade-long strategy. TV Flash files her…
- Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson
Manu Bennett put a sword through the origin as Slade Wilson on Arrow — Oliver Queen back from the island in a hood, The CW building an industrial complex, grounded grit then multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as a decade-long…
- Colton Haynes as Roy Harper
Colton Haynes played Roy Harper on Arrow — Oliver Queen back from the island in a hood, The CW building an industrial complex around grounded grit, Olicity wars, then a multiverse toybox. Weekly superhero soap as a decade-long strategy,…