Shout Out / Arrow

• John Diggle is named after Andy Diggle, a Green Arrow writer. Later, Andy Diggle is established as the name of John's brother.
• A crooked judge named Grell is a nod to Mike Grell, an acclaimed writer/artist of the Green Arrow comics.
• One woman wronged by Adam Hunt, Danielle DiDio is a nod to DC Comics co-publisher, Dan DiDio, another is named for science fiction writer Nancy Kress.
• Episode 2 has Victor and Emily Nocenti, who are named after comic writer Ann Nocenti.
• One of the places Deadshot has done assassinations is Corto Maltese, a fictional island that plays an important role in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Corto Maltese is also an acclaimed comic books series by Hugo Pratt, making this a shout out to a shout out.
• Deadshot has his hideout at a motel called Bates Motel.
• In Vendetta, crime boss Frank Bertinelli says there has been A Death in the Family
• A meeting takes place at "Faquet-Lemaitre" Consulting, a reference to set designer Dominique Faquet-Lemaitre.
• On the island, Oliver partners with the Australian agent Slade Wilson, resulting in:
  Oliver: I'm trapped on an island and my only friend is named Wilson.
• A very fast blink-and-you'll-miss-it in episode 13 "Betrayal". When Cyrus captures The Hood (for all of 3 seconds), he quips, "Lose the bow, Merida." The humor of which is probably completely lost on Oliver since he wasn't around for the movie.
• The family of bank robbers who escape their robberies via a hole in the ground, and force to dress in their outfits in order to confuse the police as to which one are the robbers is one to Inside Man, which used similar tactics, albeit the hole in the ground was for a different purpose.
• As a bit of fanservice for Michael Emerson fans, In the episode "We Fall" when Cayden James enters as Oliver's 10 AM, he introduces himself as "Ben Gale." Real subtle, Arrow. Reeeaaal subtle.
• In Unfinished Business, the Count, insane from an overdose of the drug Vertigo, is rambling a line from the movie Vertigo.
• The Undertaking contains a shot during one of Oliver's rampages that is almost certainly an homage to the infamous hallway sequence in Oldboy (2003).
  • It's more likely based on the hallway fight in The Raid which was in turn inspired by Oldboy. The final bit of the fight with the Hood smashing someone's head against a wall light, then against the wall twice more, is identical to how Rama dispatches one adversary.
• In "Sacrifice", Malcolm Merlyn is disabled by catching an explosive arrow and having it explode in his face, like Loki in The Avengers (2012).
• William Tockman, the "Clock King", is reinvented in "Time of Death". Dispensing with the silly costumes he's worn in the past, this incarnation sports round glasses, a leather jacket, and a shirt buttoned up to his neck. This, in conjunction with his background as a terminally-ill scientist Anti-Villain, gives him more than a passing resemblance to Walter White.
• The Clock King also quotes War and Peace at a mook who nearly messed up their previous heist.
• Slade's modern Deathstroke costume◊ evokes a strong hint of Jason.
• When being taken out of his cell, Shrapnel quotes Chekov about corporal punishment.
• "Three Ghosts", aired just before Christmas, is a Shout-Out to A Christmas Carol, as Oliver hallucinates the titular ghosts throughout the episode: Shado is "Past", and the horrors of his time at the island; Slade is Present, representing his current crisis of confidence and the Big Bad of the season, as revealed at the episode's end, while Tommy is "Future", and the hope for Oliver that he can, in fact, become a hero.
• "Legacies" name-drops Keystone City and Coast City, the home towns of The Flash and Green Lantern respectively.
• In the first episode of the second season, "City of Heroes", the Chinese pilot of the plane Diggle and Felicity are on is played by Stephen Chang. He is also credited with voicing a Chinese pilot in the game City of Heroes.
• Episode 17 of season two,called "Birds of Prey",has a machine shop located at Gail Street and Simone
• In Corto Maltese, it's revealed that Thea took the identity of Mia, the character she's based on.
• Felicity's assistant is named Gerry Conway, after the comic writer best known for killing Gwen Stacy at Marvel, not to mention being the creator of Firestorm, one-half of which eventually becomes Felicity's comic counterpart's stepson.
• In the episode "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak", Cooper's shirt features Starro in the same pose as the famous Justice League cover. Felicity's Goth Girl look in college seems to be based off Death from The Sandman, complete with ankh necklace.
• Towards the end of "The Brave and the Bold," Oliver says that "Digger Harkness is now cellmates with one Slade Wilson." Making Ashur and Crixus cellmates is not a good idea.
• Not only does the ATOM suit look and act suspiciously like Iron Man, but it turns out to have a weak point/power source on the hip, where emergency battery packs used to be in older comic versions of the suit.
• Quentin exclaims, "well if it isn't the Wonder Twins!" in S 1 E 20.
• How Damien Darhk stops the arrows from piercing him is similar to Neo raising his hand to halt the bullets from The Matrix.
• When Ray Palmer visit's Felicity's apartment in "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak", he says, "Nice place you've got here, lots of space." If that sounds familiar, it's because in Batman (1989), both Bruce Wayne and the Joker say those exact words when they drop in on Vicki Vale.
• In Lost Souls, when Felicity and Curtis are about to parachute into where Ray is being held hostage, Felicity yells 'Alright Spartan, let's go!', which is a clear reference to the Halo franchise.
• A flashback in The Candidate has Oliver dealing poorly with a criminal and Amanda Walker approaching him. Asking how she found him, she responds "The world is too small for someone like Oliver Queen to disappear", much like how Bruce Wayne was told in ''Batman Begins'
• In "Restoration," when Malcolm Merlyn is discussing the possibility of resurrecting Sara Lance, he tells them, "What you're asking has only been done in ages past – and then only in legends." This is a near-direct quote from the Vulcan high priestess in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, on the prospect of resurrecting Spock.
• In Season 4's episode "A.W.O.L." Oliver tells a wheelchair bound Felicity that it was time for her to get a codename. He gave her the name Overwatch, which is a villain from the Earth2 comic, but the original name he wanted to give her? Oracle
• In "Legends of Yesterday" Thea says ""Superheroes in a farmhouse? I think I saw this in a movie once."
• For most of Season 4 Episode 15 Taken, the characters have to steal a small statue of power. This resulted in a fast-running character grabbing the 'idol' and running, hilarious already, but the scene is shot in a way much like several live-action Temple Run clips.
• Oliver's Flashback Arc bears more than a passing resemblance to that of Jason Brody in Far Cry 3:
  • Both men are young, wealthy idiots, stranded on a tropical island with little-to-no survival skills.
  • They both can use a bow.
  • Their arcs begin with the death of a close relative, and each man's relationship with their girlfriend is strained when they arrive.
  • Both are reluctant warriors to begin with, but soon find themselves adept fighters who revel in the bloodshed and risk losing themselves to the darkness within.
  • Initially, they learn to fight purely as a means to survive, but let themselves get involved in the larger conflicts on the island beyond what's needed to achieve their original aim.
  • Their respective islands are plagued by mercenaries, which they infiltrate. They're then outed by the Big Bad who reveals they knew all along.
  • Lian Yu and Rook Island are both Crapsack Weirdness Magnets, with histories involving the Japanese Imperial Army and the Chinese. They also have magical elements (though Rook Island's are less explicit).
  • Beyond these more obvious parallels, there are some character similarities, too:
    • One of their mentors had a close relationship with The Dragon to a Big Bad (Citra, sister to Vaas, who was Hoyt's dragon, and Slade, former partner of Billy, Fyers' dragon). The relationship with this mentor sours.
    • The alluring, powerful woman who encourages each man to become a better fighter and forms a romantic relationship with him end up dead as a result of a choice he makes (depending on which ending you pick in the game).