Oliver Queen is more than just a millionaire businessman and a hooded vigilante stalking the streets of Starling City. He’s also very much a ladies man, and in the first two seasons of Arrow he managed to get romantically entangled with an impressive number of women, both in the present day and in his island flashbacks.
Fan interest in Oliver Queen’s love life has led to quite a lot of cheerleading for “Olicity” – a portmanteau used to describe the developing relationship between Oliver and his fast-talking, socially awkward tech specialist Felicity Smoak. The full-length trailer for Arrow season 3 hinted at Olicity fans’ dreams coming true with a scene of Oliver asking Felicity out to dinner, and now a new promo shows the two of them getting even closer as they lean in for a kiss.
There’s more to the promo than just smooching. Oliver’s little sister Thea “Speedy” Queen is shown engaging in what looks like combat training, Black Canary gets back into action and even Lauren Lance has a go at some violence (admittedly upon someone in a hospital bed). Arrow season 3 bad guys Malcolm Merlyn and the new Count Vertigo (played by Peter Stormare) are also briefly glimpsed, and there are a whole lot of new characters to be expected on the show soon.
Oliver’s relationship with Felicity could lead to an interesting love triangle whenArrow season 3 crosses over with the first season of spinoff series The Flash – first with Felicity paying a visit to Barry Allen in Central City, then in a pair of two-hour crossover episodes on each show. There were certainly hints of a spark between Felicity and Barry during his introduction in Arrow season 2, so could he be a rival for Oliver’s affections?
On top of that, of course, are all the usual problems that come with having a secret superhero identity. Oliver, like many other famous comic book legends, hasn’t exactly had the best luck in his relationships so far and getting too close to any one person is a good way to make them a target for his enemies. Don’t be too surprised if he ends up deciding to stay just friends with Felicity “for her own good.”
Arrow returns to the CW on Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 @8pm.
