Which Is Your Favorite David Ramsey 2021 Arrowverse Appearance So Far? (POLL)
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for all Arrowverse episodes in 2021 through Superman & Lois Season 1 Episode 12 “Through the Valley of Death.”]
Arrow may have ended in January 2020, but fortunately, fans haven’t had to say goodbye to all of its characters just yet. David Ramsey, who played John Diggle/Spartan, has popped up on four Arrowverse shows in 2021 so far (with a fifth appearance coming on Supergirl in September) and directed a few episodes.
Last we saw Diggle in the Arrow series finale, he came across a glowing green box (presumably a Green Lantern Corps tease). “He’s hearing voices and having terrible headaches,” Ramsey told TV Insider in May. The voices are debilitating and they become louder and louder and louder. We eventually hear what the voices are saying to him. And the assumption is that it’s coming from part of the consequence of rejecting this cosmic offer.”
With his latest guest spot coming in the July 13 episode of Superman & Lois, we’re taking a look at what’s happened and asking you to choose your favorite appearance of his (so far) in the poll below.
Batwoman
In “Rebirth,” Diggle came across Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson) following his near-death experience at the hand of a corrupt Crow. He understood what it’s like to have questions after losing your father, he told the not-yet Batwing. (Luke suited up in the finale.) “You’ll see your father soon enough,” Diggle assured him. “What changes with time is what you get to tell him you did while you were on Earth.” In the meantime, “use” the anger, he continued. “You carry the torch for the great Fox family. You stand for justice. You’re going to need anger to win that fight.”
We did get a tease of what’s going on with Diggle, as he grabbed his head in pain, admitting he had “some fogginess, dizziness” and “something’s not right.” Luke brought up the world-renowned neurology department at Gotham General, and Diggle shared he already had an appointment.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
In “Stressed Western,” Ramsey didn’t play Diggle but Bass Reeves in Fist City, where countless outlaws passed through. However, due to the alien problem, Bass was a wanted man, not the hero (the first Black deputy marshal west of the Mississippi) he was known as. The Legends, of course, fix things.
Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), who worked with Diggle on Team Arrow, did ask “Dig?” upon seeing him. “Yes, ma’am, I definitely do dig,” he said in response before introducing himself.
The Flash
In “P.O.W.,” Diggle — “a.k.a. Spartan, a.k.a. Oliver Queen’s right-hand man, a.k.a. the heart and soul of Team Arrow,” as Chester (Brandon McKnight) put it — came to the aid of Team Flash in the Godspeed war with an entropy trap from Cisco (Carlos Valdes). He volunteered to bring it because “you’re fighting a war, Barry. I know something about that.”
He also encouraged Barry (Grant Gustin) to run to the future to check on his daughter Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy). “You know, better than anyone, what could happen if I did,” the speedster pointed out. (Barry created Flashpoint in the past and erased Diggle’s daughter.) “I’ve lived a long life here on this Earth. I’ve been a spy, a vigilante, a soldier,” Diggle said. “Hell, I’ve even been the Green Arrow. The most important job I’ve ever had is as a dad. There’s not a bullet I wouldn’t take, there’s not a timeline I wouldn’t risk changing if it meant protecting my family.”
Diggle’s headaches continued, and though he insisted he was fine, Cecile (Danielle Nicolet), with her meta ability, could feel what he did. “That was a hell of a lot more than a headache. I felt something…huge — no, more like, infinite,” she told him.
“There’s something I’ve been putting off for far too long, and today it nearly got me killed,” Diggle admitted to Barry, with a flashback to the Arrow series finale. “Now, I have to deal with it… I know I can’t put this off any longer.”
Superman & Lois
After Diggle ran into Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch), both learned her dad General Lane (Dylan Walsh) had enlisted ARGUS to make tech that could kill Superman (Tyler Hoechlin). The general hadn’t told Diggle what it was because he knew he wouldn’t have delivered it if he knew.
“Doppelgangers, other worlds, glowing boxes, losing the people I love, I’m done with that life,” Diggle told him. He argued that Superman is the best they have and encouraged Lane to exhaust every option to save the life of a hero.