@stahlflamme: I mean Slade does have a bullet-timing feat, as in moving after the bullet left the chamber, and as far as I'm aware Matt does not. If I'm just unaware of a feat he does have that's a different story, but if not Slade has the objectively better speed feat.
Literally none of what I said was a "fanboy rant", I brought up three distinct combat feats. Slade slaughtering the camp, in which he did utilize explosives, tactics, and guns, but also frequently used H2H combat (or at least blades which are very close). Then I brought up two different times that Slade without Mirakuru took down Oliver, both of which were with relative ease. Given the large majority would generally put Oliver above Matt, this has great applicability to this matchup. I could also bring up instances such as taking down Roy and numerous Argus Agents to further support Slade's ability, but his feats against Oliver are his best ones. The only reason Slade lost at all in Season 3 was because he was blindsided by Thea's combat ability, as he thought she was still the same girl he met back in Season 2. He was never actually trumped in combat.
The reason Slade's actor was angry with the character's direction had very little to do with his combat ability. It was more he felt like Slade should be used in a meaningful way to the season and as the major adversary to Oliver. He didn't like that Slade was used as a one-off villain and a plot device for Thea' development controlled by Malcolm Merlyn. He thought Slade's motivations should be more complex, which I agree with. He really wasn't nerfed in terms of combat, and even if he was that wouldn't be a reason to leave, though a disagreement in character motivation could be.
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