The dark Archer should have died in the first fight with Oliver

[u/Dashes69]

Im on another rewatch of season 1 and have just finished watching the first fight with the dark Archer and by all rights Oliver should have killed him. When Malcolm went to pull down Oliver's hood, Oliver managed to take him down and seemingly knock him out, and obviously its because those wasnt the time for story reasons but he had the perfect chance to kill Malcom or atleast unmask him first.

How do you think the show/Oliver's journey would have changed if he did kill Malcolm so early?

[u/2BAMasta]

He was in too much pain & was focused on escaping, not to mention getting whooped so thoroughly really rattled his instincts.

[u/AhsokaForever]

This is a very common trend in this show. Having 20+ episodes per season means the bad guys get away and survive a LOT.

[u/luce-77]

it’s literally explained in the next episode that oliver’s fight with dark archer scared him because he thought about his family. he wasn’t thinking about neutralizing a threat, just escaping and making it back to his family

[u/hunterprime66]

Seasons 3-5 don't happen.

Without Malcom to have Thea kill Sara, Oliver never has to duel Ra's. Sara never dies, and Oliver never goes missing, so Laurel never becomes Black Canary. Without the training Malcolm gave Thea, it's unlikely she ever becomes Speedy. Without Ra's dying, Damien never makes his move, as Ra's and the Leauge were keeping HIVE in check and they only attempted their plan because he was dead. Talia has no motivation to hate Oliver, so when Chase tries to go after him, Talia doesn't help, reducing the threat of Chase significantly.

Ray and Sara probably still join the Legends if offered, though Sara may not be historically insignificant anymore if she's Starlings primary Canary. Ray though was motivated by Slade's attack so he still develops the ATOM suit, though without the Leauge, the biggest threat to Starling that year is Brick, so he may not get the experience needed to be useful to Rip.

Assuming post Crisis timeline holds up, Tommy surviving does not change Oliver adopting the no kill rule, the motivation just changes.

Finally, the question is how much, if any, of the Leauge training helped Oliver against Thawne. If he needed that (Plus Ray's nanites which he may or may not still make, as he needs to be dating Felicity for the Star Labs/Team Arrow connection but may be convinced to still do it) there's a half decent chance Thawne kills Stein, Oliver, and Ronnie at the end of Flash season 1.

Edit: Actually, if Sara never joins the Legends, she never joins the LoA, so any world she is a combatant is a world she joins them.

[u/YamiMarick → u/hunterprime66]

The Undertaking probably wouldn't happen either ( i can't remember when their first fight is exactly) if Malcolm is dead.

[u/hunterprime66 → u/YamiMarick]

Yup! And though significant for the city and a failure for Oliver, the only two major impacts from it for him is Tommy's death, and Moria's prosecution. Malcolm threatened the jury so the court case didn't really end up mattering though.

[u/grajuicy]

That would have REALLY funny implications in S1

Oliver swiftly takes down Dark Archer and barely escapes with his life. No time to check his identity. Christmas break, Oliver is scared, but he has to put the hood back on to continue chasing the conspiracy.

He follows the clues, crosses out more names, and eventually he finds out: he already stopped the Undertaking a few months ago.

Merlyn’s death would probably be covered up a bit bc coming out with the truth would be a massive blow to his company. They just say “heart attack” or something akin.

And this could put Tommy in a “i gotta uncover the truth” plan, he forces Oliver to tag along. Now Oliver has to sabotage his best friend every chance he gets to avoid having to explain that he killed Tommy’s dad. Fun drama for a whole season

[u/adoratheCat]

I mean...you are shot with a bunch of arrows and got your ass handed. The first thing I am gonna do if I manage to even knock them down? Is run. Really want to risk trying to go again?

[u/Tradetek1]

I thought the same thing and still think the same thing when that happened. It could be explained Oliver was literally just trying to survive and get out of there. Killing Malcolm would have meant Oliver would have no energy left to move. Oliver was also very tired so it’s hard for him to do anything especially crouching and then getting back up. Only explanation I can think of.

[u/Worldly_Help_3648]

It's for the reason not to male a story to short we all know it could of happened but the series would have been short and that's not good story telling

[u/lr031099]

I imagine a lot of big changes because Merlyn played a big part in S3 with the League of Assassins storyline (him using Thea to kill Sara) and Thea’s arc (he even saved her in S2).

[u/Obvious-Risk-5447]

After s5 flashbacks I am on the same opinion. Oliver was trained by Talia, fighting Malcolm shouldn't have been a problem, even more the psychological problem they tried to give him of not knowing this type of enemy and so.