Cayden James

"I was hurt, truly! Not the betrayal so much as the naïveté of someone I thought had potential. I'm sorry, Miss Smoak... I'm afraid you're whats known as collateral damage! Horrible waste of talent..."

- Cayden James reveals himself

Cayden James is a villain in Arrow, appearing in the fifth season and returning as one of the main villains in the sixth season.

James is the leader of the hacktivist organization Helix. After being freed from A.R.G.U.S. captivity at a black site facility, James starts going rogue and allies himself with Black Siren.

He is portrayed by Michael Emerson.

Past
Cayden James is a skilled hacker and founder of the organization Helix, in which he united hackers for political activism. Helix was an immensely successful group and obained a large data bank of delicate files on many important and influential people.

Eventually, A.R.G.U.S. showed interest in Cayden James. Considering him to be twenty times more dangerous than Edward Snowden, should he start to leak information, A.R.G.U.S. captured him and imprisoned him at a black site without a trial. He was kept imprisoned as a "person of interest" under order of Amanda Waller.

Freed by Helix
Helix eventually managed to locate the black site where James was being imprisoned. As that point, one of the Helix members - Alena - also had contacts to Team Arrow member Felicity Smoak and recruited her to assist in the attempt to free Cayden. Although Team Arrow tried to prevent it, they were tricked by Helix and Helix managed to infiltrate the prison area and locate Cayden James. After obtaining James and escaping with him, Helix cut off ties with Felicity, considering her ties to Team Arrow a liability.

It is revealed that his imprisonment strongly changed Cayden James and turned him into a bitter and cynical villain. Having learned about the battle on Lian Yu, James headed there with a helicopter. He arrived on the island and found it in ruins. However, he found a wounded Black Siren and saved her from the island, marking the start of a criminal partnership between the two.