'Arrow' Season 8's Earth-2: Adrian Chase was class fun in 'Hood' and we are unlikely to see more of him

We always knew that 'Arrow' Season 8 would introduce at least a few alternate versions of the Green Arrow but we definitely didn't imagine that on some worlds the Emerald Archer is not even Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) but one of his worst enemies instead. Season 8's first episode revealed that on Earth-2, Oliver's place has been taken by none other than Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra).

On Earth-1, Adrian was the villainous serial killer who called himself Prometheus but on the parallel world of Earth-2, his career took a decidedly more heroic turn. Fighting alongside Laurel Lance/Black Canary (Katie Cassidy Rodgers), Adrian protects Starling City using the name Oliver used in Season 1, the Hood. 

We don't get much of a backstory on Earth-2 Adrian but he initially comes off as a bit dumb, rushing head-first into battle without stopping to figure out the truth. Then again, Oliver wasn't too different in Season 1 either so maybe all Green Arrows start out as hard-headed vigilantes. 

The episode does give us some fun moments with him like the scene where Oliver and Adrian, both dressed in their super-suits, fight it out over a bunch of bodies and when Oliver calls Adrian a show-off when the latter is working out on a salmon ladder, recreating Oliver's iconic training scene from the show's pilot.

Eventually, Adrian did prove to be much smarter than Oliver gave him credit for, correctly deducing that Oliver and John Diggle (David Ramsey) are from a different universe. Plus, he name-drops Bruce Wayne and hints that he may have worked alongside the Batman at some point, which is an achievement even Oliver doesn't have under his belt. 

In the end, Oliver accepted that Adrian was a hero and a good one at that. He even recommended that his counterpart change his name from "The Hood" to "Green Arrow" as Oliver did on Earth-1.

Unfortunately, Adrian was presumably killed along with the rest of Starling City's inhabitants when an anti-matter wave crashed into their universe, erasing it from existence. It's a tragic loss, not least because that's one less hero Oliver can call on to fight in the coming 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', but at least he was fun while he lasted. 

'Arrow' Season 8 Episode 2 'Welcome to Hong Kong' will air on the CW October 22.