Longtime Arrowverse fans will remember that during the latter half of the first crossover between Arrow and The Flash in late 2014, Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen and Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen teamed up to battle George “Digger” Darkness, a.k.a. Captain Boomerang, a former ASIS agent and member of A.R.G.U.S.’s Suicide Squad played by Spartacus and Stargirl’s Nick E. Tarabay. Harkness resurfaced at the end of Arrow Season 5, and word’s come in that Captain Boomerang will be causing trouble in The Flash Season 9. However, this time around, it’s a different individual going by that supervillain moniker.
Richard Harmon, arguably best known for playing John Murphy in fellow CW series The 100, has been tapped to recur as the Owen Mercer incarnation of Captain Boomerang in The Flash’s final season. According to the description provided to Deadline, Harmon’s Owen has “recently been released from Iron Heights with a chip on his shoulder. But the twinkle in his eye disguises a dangerous and violent threat to Central City.” Harmon’s other major credits include The Killing, Continuum, Bates Motel and Van Helsing.
Owen Mercer was introduced in the pages of 2004’s Identity Crisis #3 as the son of Digger Darkness, although I doubt that familial connection with be retained on The Flash given that Richard Harmon and Nick E. Taraby aren’t that far apart age-wise. Owen took over his father’s spot on The Rogues supervillain team as the new Captain Boomerang, and like Digger, he was part of the Suicide Squad for a brief period. Owen was eventually killed by a Black Lantern version of Digger during the Blackest Night event, and following the original Captain Boomerang’s resurrection and the New 52 reboot, Owen hasn’t been seen in the comics since.
Nick E. Tarabay’s Digger Harkness died in the Arrow Season 5 finale, so it’s unclear if in the post-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” continuity, Richard Harmon’s Owen Mercer had any kind of relationship with the late mercenary or if he simply took the Captain Boomerang identity because it was no longer being used and fit nicely with his own set of lethal skills with those unique projectiles. In any case, Owen Mercer is now the second villain confirmed to appear in The Flash Season 9, as we’ll also be reuniting with Sendhil Ramamurthy’s Ramsay Rosso, a.k.a. Bloodwork, who hasn’t appeared since Season 6. While Season 9’s main antagonist still hasn’t been revealed, following Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne’s epic battle in the Season 8 finale, a mysterious blue crystal was shown in a laboratory in 2049, perhaps teasing that Cobalt Blue will fill this role.
The Flash’s final run of 13 episodes will begin on The CW sometime in early 2023, but for now, you look through our 2022 TV schedule to learn what’s left to premiere this year, or take a look at the other upcoming DC TV shows.
