The cast of the fourth season of Arrow just got a little bigger. British actor Jimmy Akingbola has been cast as Baron Reiter, also known as Baron Blitzkrieg, for the fourth season of Arrow, via THR. The character will be a recurring role for the season.

In the comics, Blitzkrieg first appeared in WORLD'S FINEST #246. Throughout the years, Blitzkrieg fought Wonder Woman and the All Star Squadron and had his face deformed with a vial of acid. The character is primarily known for his connection to Hitler and working in concentration camps during the World War II. Don't expect to see any of that in Arrow.

Arrow's version of Reiter will be an adversary for Oliver Queen and will appear in flashbacks. This is one of the many new characters announced for the season. Neal McDonough was cast as Damien Darhk, Alexander Calvert was cast as Anarky, and Echo Kellum was cast as Mister Terrific. This sounds like it's going to be a packed season.

Arrow returns to the CW on October 7 at 8/7C.

They made a Nazi black??? Lol, take THAT racism.

@the_stegman: Yes, I was wondering that myself. How does that work? Guess he's a Neo-Nazi here.

Prob gonna be a leader of a terrorist organization

ironic

@master_thief: twenty bucks says it's The Black Panthers

I just finished writing a blog about this a few minutes ago.

the only Green Arrow villain i know that hasn't been on the show yet is Red Dart

The all change whtie guy for Black is going a little to far.

I don't think he'll be a Nazi at all in the show. Probably will just have the name with a different backstory. Cause I don't see how it would work otherwise, lol.

This

This is comic books, why not black Nazis.

I would love to see Captain America (either Steve or Sam) fight black Nazis

Nazi party must be really desperate for new members....because this is really weird.

Maybe he is going to be in white face.

Nazi's had an outcry for more athleticism within the ranks. So clearly...

I thought he was a Wonder Woman villain. At this point her villains are getting more screen time than she is.

@atheistknowledge: AHAHAHA I laughed pretty hard at that

@master_thief: Probably or just another mercenary/crime boss like what they did with Vertigo and Deathstroke, though in Deathstroke's defense, he was a mercenary for a long time.

You know I love Arrow and always try to defend it against the haters and nitpickers, but days like today they really make my job hard.

Was frank miller behind this?

To be fair, though, Vertigo is a crime boss too. It's just his die job between being a Count.

What makes you say that?

Dude...I saw the guy, then I saw the Swastika and I was like "Wait, what?"

@mark_stephen: Blitzkrieg is a JSA villain. You might be thinking of Red Panzer.

Yeah, I mean, I doubt they'll make him a Nazi, not sure how they'd explain that one "I've never seen a mirror...why do you ask?" :P

I am surprised they haven't brought them, they are the go to bad guy for most characters although they may be trying to avoid them since so many movies and tv shows rely on them as an easy explanation. The Nazis show up in The Strain, Captain America and even are connected to Hydra, Hydra is basically just a different version of the Nazis for the Avengers so I don't blame them for changing a character like that, especially if he isn't a pivotal character the story relies on. It's not like they made Jon Stewart (Green Lantern of Earth), a thin white guy with acne or something.

I am still not entirely enthusiastic about that Supergirl show though, it looks pretty bad.

so...'yo Hitler, my brutha?'

@master_thief said:

I was thinking the same thing.

Lol. Upolz pod stol...

What's the point of using the name of an existing DC character is the backstory is going to be completely changed? I guess they have the naming rights, but still...just make a new character.

Wow, almost every casting for season 4 seems to be off.

Not that casting for Arrow has ever made sense...but really? They change the name, and they change about the only thing about the character that anyone would even identify that character by, why even bother using this character at all? It was bad enough when Marvel started adding diversity to Hydra.

He will probably be changed because their story wont have Nazi stuff in it. He will probably be a terrorist like the way Hydra is portrayed now in the films. They keep mentioning they aren't Nazis just power hungry.

I saw this, and i instantly thought if this.

Well it's the easiest way to modernize a villain, if they were something like a nazi or something fairly irregular to the average person (like Count Vertigo not actually being a Count), then they change into either a crime lord or a mercenary/soldier of fortune.

I mean, numerous enemies of Green Arrow, Batman and other non-powered vigilantes are or were mercenaries before they met said vigilantes; Deadshot, Commodo, Deathstroke.

Meh. Besides Sara returning this season doesn't seem to be shaping up all that well

Okay, normally the race swap doesn't bother me but Baron Blitzkrieg is a Nazi, an actual Nazi, how the hell is that gonna work? I can't even think of a better metaphor.

Don't know much about the character, nor care. As for him being faithful to the comics, eh, don't care. I've come to not care much about adaptations of characters in other forms. DC changes it's own characters in the comics more than enough to justify it in TV and movies.

Came here for the comments, I'm very satisfied

Oh come on...

A black nazi??

I have no clue who this guy (Baron Blitzkrieg) is, read his bio, and now I'm wondering how they are going to get a black flying Nazi with laser eyes on Arrow?

I'm still waiting for Arrow to make Oliver more left wing.

i read in article he won't be a Nazi just a villain for the Flashbacks and for Arrow.

Even the name "Baron Reiter" doesn't make much sense for a black guy (or for anybody who is not german) if it is not an alias. And even a German would probably not use the title Baron.

And if it is an alias why not using Blitzkrieg?

Actual Nazis from the WWII era don't make much sense in modern setting even without race swap, but they still appear in comics.

Nazi's? C'mon…. They couldn't come up with something else? I could care less about the race issue though it does seem silly. It would be awesome (but admittedly ridiculous) if they kept true to the original costume.

A black nazi? Clayton Bigsby? Is that you???

First a gay superhero, now a nazi villain. Hmm...Interesting.

@baba3231: LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!