Malcolm Merlyn is a wealthy businessman, the former CEO of Merlyn Global Group, a prominent figure in Starling City, and an acquaintance of the Queen family, as well as the first season's main antagonist and a minor antagonist of the second season. He was also the husband of the late Rebecca Merlyn, the father of the late Tommy Merlyn and Thea Queen, the former best friend of the late Robert Queen, and a former friend and lover of Moira Queen.
In "Year's End", it was discovered that he had taken up somewhat of an anti-Arrow persona, the Dark Archer. Malcolm planned The Undertaking, an earthquake caused by a device to avenge the death of his wife with the destruction of the Glades, and while his plan to level the Glades was partly successful, he was ultimately defeated by The Hood and was believed to be killed.
In "State v. Queen", Malcolm reveals himself to Moira, being very much alive and the reason she was acquitted of all charges. Malcolm is currently in hiding from Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, having betrayed their code with his Undertaking.
In "Year's End", it was discovered that he had taken up somewhat of an anti-Arrow persona, the Dark Archer. Malcolm planned The Undertaking, an earthquake caused by a device to avenge the death of his wife with the destruction of the Glades, and while his plan to level the Glades was partly successful, he was ultimately defeated by The Hood and was believed to be killed.
In "State v. Queen", Malcolm reveals himself to Moira, being very much alive and the reason she was acquitted of all charges. Malcolm is currently in hiding from Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, having betrayed their code with his Undertaking.
BIOGRAPHY
Earlier Life
Malcolm Merlyn is the husband of Rebecca and father of Tommy but in 1993 his wife was murdered in the Glades section of Starling City. Earlier Rebecca tried to call Malcolm for help but he was busy and turned his phone off, unaware of the nature of Rebecca's call until two SCPD officers told him that same night what happened which sent Malcolm into a state of depression. After the death of his wife Malcolm began a brief affair with Moira Queen, who consequently gave birth to Thea. As he felt bad for betraying his wife's memory, he left Starling City and Tommy for two years and visited Nanda Parbat. While there, he trained under the mentorship of a man named Ra's al Ghul the leader of the League of Assassins, and was trained by league member Al-Owal. After training and serving with them he was released from the league by Ra's and became the first person to ever be released. He then gathered with various people including his best friend Robert Queen and Frank Chen to rebuild the Glades and free it of crime.
Malcolm Merlyn is the husband of Rebecca and father of Tommy but in 1993 his wife was murdered in the Glades section of Starling City. Earlier Rebecca tried to call Malcolm for help but he was busy and turned his phone off, unaware of the nature of Rebecca's call until two SCPD officers told him that same night what happened which sent Malcolm into a state of depression. After the death of his wife Malcolm began a brief affair with Moira Queen, who consequently gave birth to Thea. As he felt bad for betraying his wife's memory, he left Starling City and Tommy for two years and visited Nanda Parbat. While there, he trained under the mentorship of a man named Ra's al Ghul the leader of the League of Assassins, and was trained by league member Al-Owal. After training and serving with them he was released from the league by Ra's and became the first person to ever be released. He then gathered with various people including his best friend Robert Queen and Frank Chen to rebuild the Glades and free it of crime.
PERSONALITY
Before his wife's death Malcolm was a much kinder man who loved his wife and son very dearly and was a devoted buisnessman and humanitarian to save Starling just like his Rebecca. After his wife's death, he shut his son out and went away for two years. He returned as an apathetic, calculating, and ruthless man. He believed what he was doing was right and is for the greater good, and will do anything, regardless of the number of lives he ruins and will kill anyone who gets in his way to see his goals fulfilled, which makes him somewhat of a sociopath. He truly believed in the righteousness of his cause, projecting this in his acceptance speech for "humanitarian of the year." He also truly loved his wife, still wearing his wedding ring so many years after her death. Having slept with Moira Queen some time after, Malcolm felt so guilty he fled the country; eventually going to Nanda Parbat.
Malcolm is a charismatic person, able to project his own beliefs and self righteousness into his words. His acceptance speech for the humanitarian of the year award was so compelling it even managed to catch the attention of China White.Malcolm seemed to have a slight ego as Robert Queen said that Malcolm had "something of a God-complex" and had a hostage read out that he will kill them if The Arrow "doesn't surrender to his authority". He blames all the people living in the Glades for his wife's death, not just the person who killed his wife, but also the ones who walked past his wife while she was dying which unfortunatly results in his own son's death. Malcolm also has no remorse using people for his personal gain and then killing them once they became loose ends to keep them from going public with information he wouldn't otherwise want to be public information.
Despite his insanity, ruthlessness, and cold heart personality he still loves his son dearly and wants what's best for him but has a rather cold way of showing it which often leads to Tommy pushing Malcolm away, such as cutting off his trust fund to "jolt him into adulthood". In Season 2 he is deeply upset about causing the death of his son making him desperate to have a relationship with Thea.
Malcolm is a charismatic person, able to project his own beliefs and self righteousness into his words. His acceptance speech for the humanitarian of the year award was so compelling it even managed to catch the attention of China White.Malcolm seemed to have a slight ego as Robert Queen said that Malcolm had "something of a God-complex" and had a hostage read out that he will kill them if The Arrow "doesn't surrender to his authority". He blames all the people living in the Glades for his wife's death, not just the person who killed his wife, but also the ones who walked past his wife while she was dying which unfortunatly results in his own son's death. Malcolm also has no remorse using people for his personal gain and then killing them once they became loose ends to keep them from going public with information he wouldn't otherwise want to be public information.
Despite his insanity, ruthlessness, and cold heart personality he still loves his son dearly and wants what's best for him but has a rather cold way of showing it which often leads to Tommy pushing Malcolm away, such as cutting off his trust fund to "jolt him into adulthood". In Season 2 he is deeply upset about causing the death of his son making him desperate to have a relationship with Thea.
ABILITIES
- Peak of human physical condition: In all three of his confrontations with Oliver, Malcolm has demonstrated to be quite a match if not a superior fighter. In their first confrontation, Malcolm was strong enough to severely injure Oliver and was able to break three of Oliver's ribs by kicking him in the abdomen repeatedly. He has also demonstrated sufficiently high enough strength to break Oliver's bow in half with a single strike and knead a steel beam with a single kick. His reflexes allowed him to catch an arrow shot at him by Oliver during their second confrontation (a feat only the highly skilled Billy Wintergreen, Slade Wilson, Al-Owal, and the formidable Helena Bertinelli have demonstrated). He was also shown himself to be able to dodge an arrow and fire one directly after Oliver tried to shoot him in their first confrontation. Despite defeating him on two occasions, Malcolm claims that due to his youth, Oliver is faster than he is.
- Master archer: As the Dark Archer, Malcolm proved himself as an expert archer with astounding archery skills, a feat acknowledged by Oliver seeing how tightly grouped the arrows shot to Adam's body were. He was successfully able to catch Oliver off guard and wound him. Because of this, Malcolm's archery skills can be considered equivalent if not superior to Oliver's. He uses a customized compound bow as opposed to Oliver, who uses a customized recurve bow.
- Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Malcolm has shown to be a highly skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant. He was able to incapacitate two Chinese Triad members (disarmed one and kill the other with his own gun). Malcolm was able to best Oliver in hand to hand combat once, even knocking him out after a brutal fight in their second encounter. In a third encounter he was able to fight both John and Oliver at the same time. Based on what has been shown, his style seems to be a mix of martial arts similar to Oliver's, but with a more grounded focus on close combat. It should be noted that in the situations where he had bested or almost bested Oliver in combat always take place in tight quarters, suggested he was a superior fighter in terms of technique. This is possibly due to training for almost 20 years.
- Skilled tactician/Genius-level intellect/Great business acumen: In his daily life, Malcolm was the CEO of Merlyn Global Group, overseeing its daily activities and ensuring its success as a multi-billionaire corporation. Malcolm has proven himself to be remarkably clever when it comes to devising plans and battle strategies, He even managed to catch Oliver off guard on at least 2 occasions and was almost able to kill him. One of Malcolm's plans involves the deaths of thousands of people living in the Glades, However, after he found out Oliver is The Arrow, and that he knew about The Undertaking and the Markov Device, he accelerated his plan to level the Glades that same night. As a fail-safe for his master plan (and in an attempt to maximize devastation upon the area) he had a second device placed in the east sector of the Glades, devoted to leveling this sector. After being injured in his final confrontation with The Arrow, he faked his own death and left for three months.
- Master swordsman: Malcolm might be trained and particularly skilled with swords. In "Muse of Fire", Malcolm was shown fencing with experience, also in "Trust but Verify", Malcolm's secret room where he keeps his Dark Archer equipment was shown to house several racks of swords of various kinds. Furthermore, In "Sacrifice", he was able to easily dispatch 3 heavily armed police officers using a scimitar.