Akingbola (Sons of Liberty) will play Baron Reiter, otherwise known as Baron Blitzkrieg, the leader of the nefarious group Shadowspire in the comics. The character, known on the show as Baron Reiter, will be portrayed by British actor, Jimmy Akingbola. The outlet notes that Akingbola will have a recurring role in the fourth season as Oliver’s rival and we’ll be prominently featured in the flashbacks of the new season.
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“We wanted a really great villain for Oliver in the flashbacks”, Guggenheim tells EW. “As it turns out, our best actor was African-American”.
“We took the name Baron Reiter without any intention of turning him into Baron Blitzkrieg”. For those that aren’t aware of who he is, Baron Blitzkrieg was a blind German Nazi officer who was blinded and experimented on, being given superhuman strength, invulnerability, and ability to fly. Oliver will be getting a new suit more similar to his comic book counterpart, though “the show isn’t going to suddenly to become a comedy”, EP Andrew Kreisberg said at Comic-Con.
“It’s all good. We were surprised because we mistakenly assumed that everyone was on the same page as we were, but why would they be?” After appearing in multiple productions, Akingbola moved into the realm of television and appeared on the BBC series The Crouches playing the role of Dennis Dutton. “What happens there and how he comes to cross with Reiter, that we need to keep secret because it would spoil a pretty big twist in episode 401”.
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“Arrow” is set to return for its fourth season on the 7th of October and you can check out a short promo for the new season below.
