Dolph Lundgren joins Arrow as new villain

It looks as though ‘Arrow’ is getting a cool new villain.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the show’s executive producers have revealed that big screen martial arts legend Dolph Lundgren will be joining the show in a villainous role.

“In our flashbacks in Russia — we’re set in Russia this season — we are going to be bringing in Dolph Lundgren as one of our big bads,” said ‘Arrow’ executive producer Wendy Mericle.

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But who is he going to be playing?

“He is somebody we heard about in season 4,” said Mericle in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

And it turns out he’s playing the villainous Russian, Kovar.

“We are going to bring him in and he’s going to be this super big badass guy who works for the Russian government, and is not a friend of Oliver or the Bratva,” she explained. “It’s part of Oliver’s promise to Taiana at the end of season 4 and it’s going to be interesting because it’s going to get complicated and very messed up very fast.”

Who is Kovar? It looks as though he has quite a history in the comic books…

Leonid Konstantinovitch Kovar (also known as Red Star) is a Russian superhero and former member of the Teen Titans. Empowered by unknown alien energy, Red Star has superhuman strength, speed, invulnerability, and endurance… but it’s unclear whether or not he’ll exhibit these powers in ‘Arrow’.

Dolph Lundgren is best known as Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in ‘Rocky IV’.

But he’s also starred in numerous action flicks including the rather-cheesy ‘Masters of the Universe’ in 1987 as well as the comic book role of Frank Castle in the 1989 ‘The Punisher’. Lately, he’s seen great success as Gunner Jensen in the action series, ‘The Expendables’ and is set to reprise his role in ‘The Expendables 4’.

Still, I can’t help thinking that his addition to ‘Arrow’ is a stroke of genius.

He’s certainly no stranger to more villainous roles, as his ‘Rocky IV’ part saw him deliver the killing blow to series favourite, Apollo Creed… following up with the chilling statement that ‘if he dies, he dies’. Lundgren has even appeared as a Bond henchman in ‘A View to a Kill’.

But his appearance in ‘Arrow’ might just kick things up a notch.

After all, Oliver McQueen has already gone up against some pretty tough individuals… he has to be something really special if he’s going to intimidate the Arrow.

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Picture Credit: Universal, DC Entertainment

Are you looking forward to Arrow season 4? Do you think Dolph Lundgren will make a great villain? Leave your comments below… and follow Ryan Leston on Twitter, Facebook or my official Tumblr blog for more on the latest TV shows.