ARROW Producer On BATMAN BEGINS Similarities; Liam Neeson WAS Approached For Ra's Al Ghul
Some fans noted the similarities between the Vertigo featured in last night's Arrow and the fear toxin created by Ra's al Ghul and the Scarecrow in Batman Begins. Are they linked? Marc Guggenheim addresses that and a new report reveals Liam Neeson was approached by The CW...
When Oliver Queen was facing off against the new Count Vertigo in last night's episode of Arrow, he received an unwanted dose of a very different version of the drug. Bringing out his worst fear, the similarities to Ra's al Ghul's hallucinogen from Batman Begins were easily spotted. Could it be that it's all connected? Could Ra's be working with Vertigo to try and do to Starling City what he failed to do in Gotham? Nope. "Total coincidence," says executive producer Marc Guggenheim in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "Its presence in [the premiere] was really designed to [show] that Oliver is struggling with the theme of identity. We certainly talked about that in the writers’ room,” he continues. “‘Are people going to think we’re doing the same thing as Batman Begins?’ But ultimately, for us, character and theme pretty much trump everything else and we were like, ‘No, we’re doing our own thing.'" Oh well. Talking of Batman Begins though, Watchtower of Babel News point to a Buzzfeed feature in which they reveal that Liam Neeson was approached to reprise the role of Ra's al Ghul in The CW. They quote network president Mark Pedowitz as saying they were "thrilled" to hear he was open to the idea, but "We never thought he would. We quickly went to him, just on the off-chance that he had the time to do it."