Sword of the Atom

Brandon Routh has said he wanted to bring the classic Atom tale Sword of the Atom to the screen, but he understands that aliens and space ship sets would be difficult for the CW’s small budget. Still, it looks as if “Lost Souls” kind of told the story: Atom is miniaturized against his will, separated from his powers, and eventually reaches out to friends who help him to restore himself to his normal size. That’s pretty much what happened on this week’s episode. This might be Arrowverse’s way of telling Sword of the Atom.

Kord Industries

This week’s mention of Kord and Kord Industries was by no means the first name drop but it was the first time team Arrow paid the company a visit. We’ve seen too many Kord logos, name-drops, and even a mention that they’ve increased their security technology not to see Ted Kord, Kord Industries’ founder and CEO, at some point.

Okay, Arrow has said that Kord won’t make an appearance but they’ve said that about other characters and things change. DC has plans for a Booster Gold movie with Blue Beetle guest-starring, but the word is that the flick will feature Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle, not Ted Kord. Could we see Ted Kord’s Blue Beetle on Arrow? Blue Beetle was the original character Arrow had in mind before transitioning to Ray Palmer’s Atom.

Spartan

Felicity gave Diggle the codename Spartan so she could talk to him while Curtis listened. Spartan is an interesting choice of codename and one I never considered for Diggle. DC bought out Jim Lee’s share of Image comics and with it WildC.A.T.S., and there’s a character in WildC.A.T.S. named Spartan. The comic book Spartan has next to nothing in common with Diggle but that was a conspicuous name drop by Felicity, so I wonder if Arrow plans to work the comic book Spartan into the show. That would take Arrow into a bizarre direction as the comic book Spartan is an alien who tries to pass for a human.

Taiana

Taiana, a character introduced in Green Arrow: Year One, was a minor character, but she functions in the same way on Arrow as she did in the comic. She worked under China White as a slave for the island’s drug trade. This one isn’t much of a secret—we’ve seen Taiana on Arrow for many weeks now—but “Lost Souls” was the first time we hear her name.

Iron Deficiency

After Ray resizes, he’s told his only medical concern comes from an “iron deficiency.” We see what you did there, Arrow. The A.T.O.M. suit was criticized by fans for being too similar to Iron Man’s.

Spectre

This was another joke but Ray delivered it this time. When he hears that HIVE is a secretive group of criminals who go by an ominous acronym, Ray likens them to James Bond’s SPECTRE and just a mere few days after SPECTRE hit theaters last week.

Coincidentally, DC comics has its own Spectre and his human alter-ego guest-starred on NBC’s Constantine, who in turn guest-starred on Arrow last week. Hmm. Maybe it isn’t that much of a coincidence.

If you missed our Arrow review for “Lost Souls,” here’s a link. Thanks for reading.