Ricardo Diaz (Arrowverse)

"You made some moves, then I made some moves! Queen is under indictment now, his team is fractured in a million pieces and this city, this city... it's prime for a takeover! See, guys like you never understand these things. Why destroy a city when you can take it over?"

- Diaz as he betrays Cayden James. "I always wondered why nobody just does that, kill you straight! Turns out, it would be a waste of time! You're more dangerous as a martyr than you are as Green Arrow! But before that happens, there's a lot left of you that I want to break..."

- Diaz

Ricardo Diaz, known as the Dragon, is the main antagonist in the sixth season of Arrow. He is the Arrowverse's adaptation of the DC villain, Richard Dragon.

A powerful crime lord and drug dealer in Star City, Diaz is the one to supply John Diggle with a drug Diggle needs to combat the nerve damage in his hand. After Diaz' drug warehouse has been taken down by the Green Arrow and his team, Diaz is revealed to be an associate of Cayden James and that he plans to take over the city. However, following Cayden's arrest, Diaz reveals that he was one behind his son's murder, plotting to take over the entire city.

He is portrayed by Kirk Acevedo, who also portrayed Carver and Miguel Alvarez.

Past
Diaz has an extensive criminal record, having been a member of the street gang Scorpions. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole but his conviction was overturned due to a technicality.

Diaz eventually decided that Star City would be ripe for a takeover and started a series of manipulations in order to achieve his goal. He hired an assassin to murder the son of the hacktivist Cayden James, specifically ordering the man to use a bow and arrow to do the deed. Afterwards, Diaz killed the assassin himself and digiltally altered video footage of the murder to make it seem like the Green Arrow murdered James' son. He sent the footage to James who went mad in grief and decided to get vengeance on the Green Arrow. James rounded up a cabal of villains, Diaz included, and while James' plan was to destroy Star City - the city the Green Arrow loves so much - Diaz continued his manipulations, protected by the thuggish image the arrogant Cayden had of him.

Diaz used the chaos Cayden's group wrought in Star City to destabilize its government, specifically by forging another fake image and thus causing several people to believe that mayor Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow. Using the chaotic situation the city was in during James' attacks, Diaz gained control over the police captain, the district attourney, as well as several other city officials.

Stealing components
While stopping a heist on a warehouse of Cadmus Tech, Team Arrow realizes that the team they are encountering are no simple thieves, as they killed two security guards. While they ambush the robbers, their leader tosses a smoke grenade and vanishes. Back at the Arrowcave, Felicity deduces that the thieves were after the components of a military grade 3D printer, which could be used for creating weapons, drones or chemicals. Dinah, who is late for the meeting, informs the team that this fits the modus operandi of a new crime lord in Star City, who goes under the alias "Dragon".

It is soon revealed that John Diggle, who has been suffering from nerve damage since Prometheus' attack on Lian Yu, is buying drugs to keep his hand steady from none other than the Dragon's henchmen. Eventually, one of the dealers informs Diggle that if he wants more of the drug, he must take it up with the boss. Diggle asks for the dealer to make the introductions. Suddenly, the Dragon appears in the flesh, introducing himself to Diggle as Ricardo Diaz. After a brief smalltalk, Diaz orders his dealer to hook up Diggle with the drugs he requires, seemingly having taken a liking to Diggle.

The same night, Diaz' men perform another robbery, this time at PalmerTech. While loading their loot into a truck, they are attacked by Team Arrow but the SUV with the loot drives off. Diggle pursues the car and is able to stop it but suddenly, another car drives up. Diaz exits and fires at Diggle, who is too shocked to act. This allows Diaz to drive off safely, and the car with the stolen goods also escapes.

Diggle uses his knowledge of Diaz' operation to lead the team to Diaz' hideout. When the team attacks the men posted outside, Diaz hears the noise and realizes that the Green Arrow has found them. He orders his men to destroy everything inside the building so that it won't get confisciated. As team Arrow storms into the room, Diaz himself knocks over a vat of a flammable liquid and ignites it, setting fire to all his drugs, including the one Diggle uses against his nerve damage. Diaz then flees from the building.

Working with Cayden James
It is eventually revealed that Diaz, along with Anatoly Knyazev, Black Siren, Vigilante and Sheck, works with the master hacker Cayden James - united in their goal to take down the Green Arrow.

Together with Diaz, and Black Siren, Cayden arrives at the office of the Jerry Bertinelli, head of the Bertinelli crime family. Bertinelli states that the three don't look good and asks how they got past his men. Black Siren states that she "blew them a kiss" and Cayden states that Jerry is the last of his kind - the rest of the Bertinelli family is either imprisoned or dead. Jerry sarcastically asks whether Cayden is writing a book and Cayden then claims that he heard that sometimes, ships are on Bertinelli's list that never arrive at the docking station. Diaz completes the sentence, claiming that other times, ships appear at the docking station that are not on Bertinelli's list. Bertinelli claims that if the price is right, they can make some sort of deal. Cayden reveals that Jerry misunderstood them - they came to buy the port. Jerry states that the port is not for sale and orders them to leave but Black Siren blasts him into the wall of his office with one of her screams. Cayden then tells Bertinelli that he has 48 hours to reconsider, else they will be back. He also reveals that he knows Bertinelli has a daughter.

Oliver later confronts Cayden at a warehouse and seemingly has the upper hand. However, suddenly Anatoly Knyazev enters the room with several armed mercenaries. Through another door, Diaz arrives with even more henchmen and cuts free Black Siren, who had previously been defeated by Oliver. Vigilante turns up as well - meaning that Oliver is severely outnumbered. Unable to fight this many enemies, Oliver flees by using a rope arrow. The mercenaries fire after him but Cayden stops them, claiming that this is not the time or place for Oliver Queen to die. After Oliver has fled, Ricardo remarks that for a smart guy, letting Oliver go was a dumb move.

After Cayden has been tricked by Team Arrow into believing that Bertinelli has called a highly effective death squad to take him down, he sends Diaz to the warehouse where the squad is supposedly located. However, once Diaz shows up there with his mercenaries, resulting in a shootout, he realizes that there is no death squad and that he and his men are fighting Bertinelli's usual henchmen. While Diaz' men fight the Bertinellis, the Green Arrow shows up as well and takes town almost all of Diaz men. However, when he moves to fight Diaz himself Black Siren shows up as well and blasts him away. To help Oliver, Felicity sends in a T-Sphere drone which electrocutes and hurls Diaz away. Although Oliver can defeat Black Siren as well, Anatoly and Vigilante show up with reinforcements and attack Oliver. Due to explosives he planted earlier, Oliver is able to escape. Diaz regains consciousness soon after and rejoins the rest of his team who have captured Bertinelli. On Cayden's orders, Diaz executes Bertinelli with a shot to the head after the latter has agreed to leave the port to Cayden.

After an attack on a safezone has failed, Diaz, among every other member of Cayden's organization, is called to the wake of their fallen companion Sheck. After Vigilante has been revealed as the traitor responsible for Sheck's death, Cayden orders Diaz and Anatoly to torture him for information. After realizing that Vigilante's cover is blown, Team Arrow attacks the compound. Hearing the sounds of battle, Diaz mentions to Anatoly that it seems that Oliver has finally found them. Anatoly replies that it took him longer than expected. While the team is attacking, Anatoly and Diaz are tasked with transferring Cayden's thermobaric bomb to another facility. Together with Diaz' truck, several other trucks leave the compound as well so that Oliver will not know which truck holds the actual bomb.

Threatened by Cayden James
Having decided to launch the thermobaric bomb, Cayden heads back into his new makeshift lair where he meets with Anatoly and the remaining team. He tells them that Arclight is in full procedure and that it is now time for them to end their partnership. When Anatoly asks how they will get out of the city before it is destroyed, Cayden tells them that they will be air-lifted out of Star City before it is destroyed and that respective share in the blackmail money will be wired into offshore accounts after they all have successfully escaped the city. Furthermore, Cayden thanks each of them for helping him in his project - stressing the importance Arclight means to him. As the cabal disbands, a touched Cayden once more thanks all of them in helping him getting justice for his son.

While waiting for the extraction, Diaz deals with his frustration by ramming his knife into the table. Anatoly tries to calm him, claiming that Cayden would not let his friends die, but Diaz replies that he is not waiting to find out. Claiming that the extraction Cayden promised has not shown up yet, Diaz leaves the headquarter in order to find protection for himself. On his way south, he is engaged and apprehended by Wild Dog and Mr. Terrific. Alongside Black Siren and Anatoly, he is delivered to Cayden James who has received evidence that the video showing his son's murder was fabricated.

As the last to arrive, Diaz is led into the hall by Rene and Curtis. He directly speaks to Cayden, stating that his capturers told him that Cayden believes one of his former comrades killed his son. Cayden replies that he knows it and even when Anatoly is insulted that Cayden would trust people in masks over people he does business with and Diaz agrees with him, Cayden remains stubborn. He reveals that he does not trust people as much as data and he has ample evidence that one of his comrades betrayed him. He addresses all of the people in the room and slowly breaks down, claiming that none of them lost a son and knows what that is like. While he slowly dives into his pain and hate, he then manages to snap back and remind himself that he did not lost a son; his son was taken from him. Diaz interrupts him, claiming that Cayden's grief has caused him to lose his grip on reality, Cayden pulls out the detonator for the bomb and challengingy asks Diaz what if it has.

Suddenly, Black Siren realizes that her power-dampening collar is malfunctioning and uses the opportunity to unleash a sonic scream that blasts everybody off their feet. Realizing the chance the incident offers, Diaz flees from the main room and deeper into the theatre but is pursued by Diggle. Diggle manages to confront Diaz in the entrance of the theatre and after a brief struggle, manages to wrestle away Diaz' gun. However, when he gets back onto his feet he finds no sign of Diaz whatsoever - the Dragon has escaped into the city.

True Colors Revealed
Having successfully escaped, Diaz prepares to reveal his true nature to Cayden James. Using his influence over the corrupt police captain, Diaz arranges for the cameras inside the precinct to be turned off. He then enters the interrogation room where Cayden is being held, Gleefully, he sits down in the chair opposed to Cayden and tells his former comrade that while he expected this situation to play out in a lot of ways, he certainly did not expect it to go down like this.

Cayden sarcastically asks whether it would be foolish to assume that Diaz has come to rescue him and Diaz nods, mocking Cayden for always believing to be the smartest person in the room whereas it now turns out that he was not so smart after all. He then tells Cayden that he used Cayden's crusade against the Green Arrow to make moves on his own which have now resulted in Oliver Queen being under indictment, his team being fractured and the city in such a chaotic state that it is ripe for a takeover.

Diaz claims that while Cayden only wanted to destroy the city, Diaz' plan was to take it over all along. As reality sets in for Cayden, Diaz reveals that he is in charge of the police captain as well as other city officials. Diaz stands up and claims that Arclight was really helpful for him to thin the herd. He then steps behind Cayden and rams a knife into his neck. As Cayden suffocates on his own blood, Diaz admits to him that it was him who had Cayden's son killed. Despite Diaz' brazen murder of Cayden in the middle of the police precinct, the corrupt police chief informs Oliver that Cayden was killed by an inmate during his transfer to Iron Heights penitentiary. Accordingly, Team Arrow is still not aware that Diaz is the real mastermind behind the chaos in Star City.

When it is clear that the case against Oliver is about to be dropped, Diaz has Oliver's former sidekick, Roy Harper, kidnapped in order to blackmail him into testifying. After Team Arrow learns about this, they make it their primary goal to free Roy and to protect him. Although their initial attempt to free Roy is unsuccessful, the team realizes that the corrupt policemen that are torturing Roy are paid by the same company that manufactured the chemicals Diggle used to keep his hand steady - Diaz' company. From this, they deduce that Diaz is the person that has been playing them from the start. They also find out that Diaz murdered Cayden iin the middle of the SCPD.

Plans with Roy Harper
After killing Cayden, Diaz moves on according to his plan. Part of this is the invitation of several skilled fighters into his hideout, where he tests their strenght by fighting each of them. Although Diaz is able to overpower them all, he recruits those he deems worthy into his group. While Diaz' is honing his fighting skills in a training match against one of his recruits, a professional fighter, Anatoly - who is now working with Diaz despite knowing he killed Cayden - brings Black Siren to him. After Diaz has defeated his opponent, he acknowledges that the man is as skilled as he was advertised but informs the man that fighting for his life is different than fighting for trophies. Nonetheless, he hands the man a roll of cash and welcomes him to the team. The man, whose foot Diaz broke during the fight, stumbles away to the group of other fighters and Diaz reveals to Anatoly that he is building a kind of "family". He then speaks to the assembled men and tells them that family works together and has to trust each other. He explains that if this is the case, the family can thrive but adds that if even one member betrays the family - angrily pointing at Laurel - the family is done for. Furiously, he screams at his men to give them the room and everybody except Laurel leaves.

Angrily, he accuses Laurel of stealing all of the money Cayden extorted, even the shares of Diaz and Anatoly. Laurel answers that Diaz obviously took it all back so she cannot see the problem. She asks why Diaz wants to speak to her. Diaz replies that their business is not yet concluded and reveals to her that he is currently controlling everything just according to his plans. He states that he has working on this project for months and that Cayden - as well as Laurel - are only chess pieces for him. Laurel tells Diaz that she only wants to leave the city and wants to just live her life without having to look over her shoulder all the time. Threatingly, Diaz tells Laurel that he does not want her to worry about Dinah Drake, Oliver or any of these people and Black Siren acknowledges that she heard that Diaz had some plan to take control. Diaz is glad that Black Siren seems to be willing to work with him once more. Soon after, Roy is delivered to Diaz personally. After removing the hood from Roy's head, Diaz acknowledges Roy's strength and sarcasically asks him if he wants to join Diaz' team. Diaz then tells Roy that his friends in the SCPD informed him that Roy is not cooperating and seemingly has no intention to testify against Oliver. After Roy tells Diaz that he must be an idiot if he thinks Roy would do that, Diaz replies that one of them is. He claims that he thinks that physical torture is not the only thing that can cause pain and mentions the fact that Thea Queen came out of retirement in her attempt to save Roy. He rhetorically wonders why Thea would do that, eventually coming to the conclusion that she and Roy must be in love. Menacingly, Diaz then asks Roy who he has to bring the pain to, him or Thea.

After leaving Diaz' hideout, Black Siren immediately informs Oliver and his team about Roy's location, seemingly unwilling to play along with Diaz. Team Arrow immediately heads to the location. Although Felicity can hack the security system, this tips off Diaz who informs his men that three vigilantes just showed up. He tells his men to move Roy to another location and to welcome their enemies accordingly. Oliver and his team easily take down the henchmen and follow Diaz and the henchman who is carrying Roy. They confront them just as they are about to leave and aim their weapons at Diaz. Diaz states that it is always a welcome surprise when the mayor visits him but adds that is even more welcome when he leaves. When suddenly more of Diaz' henchmen show up, Diaz reminds them not to take any killshots, as he needs Oliver alive. He and the henchman slowly stroll out of the casino and to a van but after the henchman has dropped Roy into the van, Thea shows up and confronts the two. She shoots an arrow into Diaz' knee but Diaz retorts by hurling a throwing knife at her. Thea can dodge the knife and engage Diaz in hand-to-hand combat but is eventually overpowered by him. However, before DIaz can kill Thea, Oliver throws him off her. Both Thea and Oliver grab their bows and aim at Diaz but suddenly, police sirens can be heard. While they wait for the police to arrive, Diaz mocks Oliver, claiming that while not all of the policemen are on his payroll yet, even the ones who are not will not attack him but Oliver and Thea - due to the Anti-Vigilante-Bill. Realizing the truth of Diaz' words, Oliver orders Thea to drive off in the van with Roy. He states that he has Diaz but Diaz replies that they both know that this is not true; if he stays the police will arrest him and he cannot take Diaz with him. To avoid being captured, Oliver escapes with a rope arrow and leaves Diaz behind, who calmly waits for the police to arrive - knowing that they cannot touch him. Although it seems that Laurel really betrayed him, Diaz later sends her a text message and congratulates her on her good work, implying that it was all another set-up for Oliver.

Vertigo
After Dinah Drake has arrested Anatoly Knyazev, the corrupt District Attourney makes sure that he is released again. Later that day, Diaz and Anatoly confront one of the policemen who worked with Dinah and murder him in order to relay a message. Meanwhile, Team Arrow has realizes that Diaz is heavily involved in the Vertigo business inside the city and that this fact is kept quiet by the corrupt police chief Hill. Felicity estimates that with his Vertigo deals, Diaz makes at least one million dollars per day.

Diaz later meets with Laurel at the house of Quentin Lance where she is living for now. Although Laurel fears that Diaz wants fo put pressure on Lance to make her more compliant, but Diaz assures that this is not why he has come. He also comments on Laurel's attempt to impersonate Earth-1's Laurel and tells her that there is nothing wrong with her. He also comments that her attempt to make Quentin proud by trying to impersonate Laurel reminds him of his own attempts to make his own father pround before he died. Diaz states that these attempts are futile and, after handing her fast food he brought along, tells her that he likes what he sees in her.

After Armand and Hill have held a press conference claiming that by firing them, Oliver commited an impeachable offense, Diaz acknowledges that this was Laurel's plan and congratulates her for it. Laurel replies that Diaz was right - she will not change herself. Diaz, who just lost his Vertigo factory to a fire created by Oliver, then reveals to Laurel that he was managed to save one Vertigo phial and that he knows exactly how to use it. He then kisses Laurel passionately. Diaz later hands the phial to Oliver Queen's impeachment lawyer, another corrupt official, who secretly poisons Oliver with it.

As Oliver's impeachment trial gets closer, Team Arrow tries to find ways to prove that he did not fire Armand and Hill to protect himself, but that they were corrupt. However, handing in the evidence they have would basically confirm that Oliver is the Green Arrow. While Felicity searches for evidence, she finds out that the security cameras at the SCPD precinct go out every night for 45 minutes. This causes Team Arrow to believe that Diaz himself visits the precinct every night to monitor his minions. Eventually, the Vertigo infusion causes Oliver to believe that the only way to prove himself would be to attack Diaz while he is visiting the SCPD. However, the police is alerted that Oliver might attack the precinct and diaz himself is surrounded by a dozen armed policemen at all times. Although Oliver almost walks into the trap, Felicity Smoak is able to follow him and stop him from opening the door seperating him and her from Diaz and his armed force. While Felicity tries to talk to Oliver and convince him to fight the Vertigo, Diaz grows impatient since he believed that Oliver would burst into the room.

Eventually, Diaz decides to abandon the plan and order his policemen to head out and go after Oliver. However, Oliver has already left with Felicity and for once, one of Diaz' plans has not worked completely as planned. Nonetheless, Oliver is impeached from office since he had no evidence to show to the council.