Five Predictions for 'Arrow' Season 4: Spoilers, Rumors on Oliver Queen, Deaths, Green Lantern

The Season 4 premiere of Arrow is less than two weeks away, which is a comforting thought after the agonizingly long summer hiatus. We've got five predictions for the upcoming season, which looks full of promise thus far.

Oliver Queen is set to become the Green Arrow and return to his home town of Star City, and it looks like there are plenty of adventures in store for our hero. So without further ado, let's run through five of the expectations we have for Season 4. Please note these are just our opinions and what we think will happen. These are NOT spoilers or confirmed facts, though we will incorporate what we know from news reports and rumors.

Finally, bear in mind these are in no particular order.

1) Damien Darhk will not be the main villain of Season 4.

Traditionally, Arrow does not introduce its Big Bad for the season until around Episode 9, which is typically the midseason finale right before the holiday hiatus. In Season 1, Oliver got his backside handed to him by the Dark Archer aka Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), which set up the conflict for the remainder of the season. In Season 2, Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke (Manu Bennett) arrived in Starling City with the promise to destory Oliver's life. And in Season 3, Oliver dueled with Ra's al Ghul on top of a mountain in the stellar episode "The Climb."

So it's odd that Arrow has shown its hand so early on in the process this year. The official description for the Season 4 premiere, "Green Arrow," revealed that Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) has been operating in Star City for several months and that we will see the leader of H.I.V.E. in the debut episode. Moreover, the show actually made Darhk a relatively significant portion of the Season 3 finale, as Oliver and crew tried to use him as bait to draw out Ra's al Ghul, who had a connection to him.

I believe this early reveal is actually misdirection. We're meant to think Darhk is the Big Bad for Season 4, but another, more dangerous villain will rise up midway through the season.

2) A main character will die.

Damn you, Stephen Amell. You beautiful, wonderful man.

The actor posted the photo below on his Facebook page recently with the caption "Game-changing scenes are fun." Just look at him and Grant Gustin standing there smiling at us, knowing things that we don't.

Now call me a pessimist, but that looks an awful lot like a funeral scene. The Arrow and The Flash dressed in full suits in an outdoor setting? Yeah, someone died.

But who could it be? It has to be someone important enough to warrant a crossover appearance, and it has to be someone Oliver and Barry know well, which means it's likely someone from the Arrow crew. And, sadly, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) fits the mold all too well. Oliver is obviously closely connected to her, and Barry has history with her. Could this be the end of our beloved IT girl?

3) Oliver will wind up in Russia in the flashbacks.

Arrow has always demonstrated a trait that few shows do nowadays: patience. The writers love to mention a plot point briefly and then return to it seasons later. You may recall that Oliver mentioned at one point that he was a member of the Russian mob.

We know the flashbacks in Season 4 will start out in Coast City, but I'm expecting them to move to Russia, possibly as early as the midseason premiere. We know he has a friend named Anatoly waiting for him there, so that's our entry point.

4) Oliver will start to crack some jokes.

This is in keeping with the perceived tonal shift in Season 4. Oliver Queen is moving from The Arrow and Starling City to the Green Arrow and Star City, so it's clear he's starting to draw some more inspiration from his comic book counterpart. So it's reasonable to expect that he will start to loosen up a bit and throw a few one-liners out there. This show isn't suddenly going to become a light-hearted comedy, but Ollie has shown flashes of humor before ("There's a decent chance you and Palmer are related," he quipped to Felicity last year.), so why not build on that?

5) The Green Lantern will appear.

I don't care what executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. The Green Lantern is showing up at some point in Season 4 of Arrow. Whether it's Hal Jordan, or whether Diggle (David Ramsey) winds up actually becoming John Stewart, it is going to happen this year. Why? Call it a hunch.

What are your predictions for Season 4 of Arrow? Do you agree or disagree with ours? Let us know in the comments section below.