Athena (Arrowverse)

Athena is a villain in the sixth season of Arrow, appearing in the sixteenth episode.

Athena is the leader of the Thanatos Guild and intends to find a hidden Lazarus Pit Malcolm initially intended to find for himself. However, in order to do so, Athena needs Thea Queen, which puts her at odds with Team Arrow.

She is portrayed by Kyra Zagorsky.

Past
Athena was a member of the League of Assassins but defected and joined Malcolm Merlyn instead. Currently, Athena is the former second-in-command of the Thanatos Guild, having succeeded the rule of the guild's leader after the death of its leader, Merlyn.

Locating the Heir
After her agents have located the heir of Ra's al Ghul, Thea Queen, Athena rallies her league. However, she reveals to her followers that while Malcolm prepared for their ascension, he also made sure that the journey could not commence without his own blood. While she talks, Athena recognizes one of her masked followers as Nyssa al Ghul and orders her to step forward. Both women draw their swords but Nyssa reveals that she also brought plastic explosives. With her bomb, Nyssa brings down the Guild's hideout - although all of Athena's followers survive - and flees with the knowledge about Malcolm's heritance.

Since Athena believes Thea to be in possession of a map that leads to some ancient power - a Lazarus Pit - she sends out her guild to capture Thea. However, Nyssa interferes, saves Thea from Athena's scouts and tells her about Athena's plans for her. This leads to Nyssa, Thea and Team Arrow to head out to find the map and the power before Athena can find it. They find a map hidden inside a encrypted cypher cube but before they can open it or flee, Althena and members of her guild show up. She promises Thea that she will be merciful and let the rest live if Thea hands over the cube, but the team decides to fight instead. While Thea and Roy flee with the cube, Athena engages Nyssa and defeats her, claiming that Nyssa had the same stance during battle since she was eight years old. Athena then goes after Thea and Roy, defeating both and once more offering Thea to come with them. However, Thea activates one of the traps that Merlyn built into his hideout, killing three of Athena's followers and wounding her as well. Thea and the rest of the team use the opportunity to flee.

To draw out Thea and the box, Athena and her guild head to the city's gas plant and cut off the city's gas supply. Once Thea arrives, Athena reveals to her that the map alone is meaningless - they also need Thea's blood. Thea attacks her and during the swordfight between the two, Athena claims that Malcolm spoke of Thea in the past and was always ashamed of her weakness. Athena knocks down Thea but Thea then raises the map, prompting Athena to come closer to grab it. When Athena comes closer, Thea stabs her in the stomach and Athena seemingly dies but when Thea turns around again, her body is left. Nyssa then comes to her side, claiming that Athena is hard to kill.