In Arrow Season 6, Oliver Queen struggled to prevent his secret identity from becoming public, but this is far from the first time that has happened. Though he ultimately announced he was the Green Arrow to the press, radically altering the course of the series, Oliver has been the subject of many close calls over the years -- about 10 major incidents, in fact. Let's break it down by season.

This article will split Oliver's "outings" (or near-outings) into two categories: malicious and benign. In the case of malicious outings, those that know Oliver's secret hope to use it against him in some way. For instance, they want to arrest him, blackmail him or otherwise harm him with that information. Further, this type of outing can be outside of his control and imparted to a party with unclear or bad intentions. On the other hand, benign outings are committed by Oliver himself or those who are trying to help him, and only then to his allies. Between Arrow's six seasons, we estimate Oliver has experienced 11 malicious outings and 15 benign ones, clocking in at 26 overall.

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Oliver had the toughest time keeping his identity secret in Season 1, which may indicate something of a learning curve. He first risked his alter ego when he was arrested on suspicion of being a vigilante in "An Innocent Man," the fourth episode of the season. Fortunately, he had John Diggle around to pose as the Hood during his prison-themed house party, which convinced Quentin Lance and the Star City Police Department of Oliver's innocence. That didn't stop Quentin from trying again in "Unfinished Business," the eighteenth episode, when he secured a warrant to search the basement of Oliver's nightclub Verdant -- which, at the time, served as the Hood's base of operations. (The warrant was issued on suspicion of drug dealing, though Quentin obviously hoped to find more than that.) Fortunately, Tommy Merlyn preemptively disguised the area without Oliver's knowledge, again proving Oliver's "innocence."

Though Oliver's confession to Helena "Huntress" Bertinelli started out benign, it quickly turned malicious. Oliver's secret life as the Hood became clear to Helena in the season's seventh episode "Muse of Fire," when the two were kidnapped by her father and they had to fight their way out. They connected romantically, so Oliver helped her on her path to becoming Huntress. However, their paths' diverged in the next episode "Vendetta," where Oliver prevented her from killing her father. Furious about his intervention, she told Oliver she would reveal his identity if he ever sought her out again, leaving him at her mercy for the time being. After another two conflicts with Team Arrow, she was arrested by Quentin in Season 2 and told Oliver he was right to stop her, thus keeping his secret.

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Then, of course, Malcolm Merlyn came along. In "Darkness on the Edge of Town," which took place soon after he was revealed to be the mastermind behind the Undertaking, he went toe-to-toe with Oliver. During their fight, Malcolm discovered that Oliver was the one underneath the Hood. Though Malcolm would occasionally act as an ally to Team Arrow, especially where Thea was concerned, he largely stirred up trouble for our heroes. Perhaps one of his worst acts occurred in Season 4, when he revealed the existence of Oliver's son William to Damien Darhk, who subsequently threatened the boy's life.

While Oliver flirted with malicious outings throughout Season 1, he also managed to develop quite a few partnerships. He had to reveal his identity in order to save Diggle's life in "Lone Gunmen"; in "The Odyssey," he turned to Felicity for help after he was shot by his mother Moira, outing himself in the process. To save Malcolm, Oliver revealed his secret to Tommy in "Dead to Rights," and Tommy kept this secret despite the conflict it caused between them.

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Season 2 was a little easier on Oliver, if only where outings are concerned. He only suffered two malicious incidents, which were contained to individuals rather than the public. For instance, in "Deathstroke," Slade Wilson came knocking on Laurel Lance's door to tell her Oliver was the Arrow; he did this more to hurt Laurel than to expose Oliver to the public. However, Laurel tried to pay it forward in "The Man Under the Hood," the next episode. She attempted to tell Quentin the truth, but he stopped her and told her not to tell anyone else.

Likewise, Season 2 brought a few more allies into Oliver's life -- including one that went on to get his very own show. "The Scientist" introduced Barry Allen, who discovered Oliver's secret identity after the vigilante suffered an injury and Felicity came to him for help. Barry, of course, went on to star in his own series: The Flash. Oliver also told Roy Harper the truth in "Tremors" in order to get the latter's help in order to destroy a prototype of Malcolm's earthquake device from the Undertaking. Finally, Moira revealed she had known about Oliver's secret since the Season 1 finale, though she didn't clue him in to this until "Seeing Red."

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Season 3 was a particularly hairy time for Oliver, and perhaps the closest he came to having his identity outed to the public prior to the Season 6 finale. Towards the end of the season, starting in "Public Enemy," Quentin issued a warrant for the Arrow's arrest. Shortly thereafter, Ra's al Ghul himself kidnapped Quentin and told him Oliver's secret. Subsequently, Quentin announced the news during a press conference and raided Verdant's basement, discovering the Arrow's base of operations in the process. This lead Oliver to turn himself in on the condition his teammates got immunity. Ultimately, Roy took his place, allowing Oliver to go free. Once in prison, Roy faked his death, then had to leave Star City to maintain both his and Oliver's cover.

Aside from Quentin, who eventually became a friend, Oliver brought another two people into the know in Season 3: his sister Thea and Ray Palmer. In "Canaries," Oliver took Malcolm's advice and told Thea the truth so she could help the team in the fight against Ra's; she immediately joined the cause. In "Suicidal Tendencies," Ray discovered Oliver's secret thanks to the facial scan technology in his Atom suit. In typical superhero fashion, the two engaged in a fight until Oliver was able to convince Ray of his innocence, and the two worked together up until Ray's alleged death in the Season 3 finale.

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In Season 4, Oliver caught something of a break, at least so far as the malicious outings. Nevertheless, Darhk kidnapped William in "Taken," forcing Oliver to confess his secret identity to William's mother Samantha Clayton. Her association with him would ultimately lead to her death at the hands of Prometheus in the Season 5 finale. On the other hand, Curtis Holt discovered Oliver's secret in "Beacon of Hope." After Palmer Tech was attacked by a villain named Brie Larvan, Curtis used his technological know-how to find the Arrow's bunker and offer his assistance, leading him to become a part of the team.

Oliver had some more close calls in Season 5. In "Penance," crime lord Tobias Church captured Rene Ramirez, aka Wild Dog, and tortured Green Arrow's secret identity out of him. Rene immediately confessed this in "Human Target," leading Oliver to stage a sting operation and capture Church. Though Church didn't have knowledge of Oliver's secret for very long, that doesn't mean he didn't try to use it for his own gain. Prometheus, having warned Church to stay away from Green Arrow, ambushed the crime lord's transport en route to prison. In an attempt to save his own life, Church told Prometheus that Oliver Queen was Green Arrow, only for Prometheus to kill him anyway.

In "Bratva," journalist Susan Collins realized Oliver was the Green Arrow through her investigative reporting and her budding romantic relationship with him. Her digging turned up that Oliver was in Russia during the time he claimed to be on Lian Yu; what's more, a hooded vigilante appeared in Russia during that time. It was unclear what she intended to do with that information at the time, but Thea and Felicity took no chances when they realized she knew in "The Sin-Eater." Felicity wiped Susan's evidence and discredited her, enraging both Oliver and Susan. Felicity ultimately restored Susan's reputation, leading Susan to forgive Oliver. However, Susan was subsequently kidnapped by Prometheus due to her connection to Oliver, leading Oliver to sever ties with her. Fortunately for Oliver, she chose to never release the information she had on him.

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Season 5 also saw Oliver welcome a few more members to Team Arrow. In "The Recruits," he revealed his secret identity to Rene, Rory "Ragman" Regan and Evelyn Sharpe, aka Artemis. Later, in "Second Chances," he recruited an undercover cop going by the name Tina Boland to the team; she later revealed her real name to be Dinah Drake and went on to become the new Black Canary. Ragman didn't stick around for very long and left the team after the effort of containing a nuclear blast depowered him in "Bratva." Evelyn eventually betrayed Team Arrow by siding with Prometheus in "Vigilante"; she worked with him up until "Lian Yu," where he left her to die when he detonated a series of bombs that destroyed the island. Despite a falling out midway through Season 6, Dinah and Rene continue to fight alongside Oliver.

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Oliver's woes continued right off the bat in the Season 6 premiere "Fallout," where someone leaked a photo of an unmasked Oliver Queen wearing the Green Arrow suit to the media. Though this would later be revealed as a fake, the incident launched an FBI investigation led by Agent Samanda Watson. This was the beginning of the end for Green Arrow's anonymity. He was publicly arrested in "Thanksgiving," but his trial was delayed until the season's 21st episode "Docket No. 11-19-41-73." Despite some theatrics on the part of Christopher "Human Target" Chance, Rene confessed that Oliver was indeed the Green Arrow and Dinah plead the fifth on the witness stand. Though they were strong-armed into giving these testimonies, this was particularly damning for Oliver.

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With few options left in his fight against Ricardo "The Dragon" Diaz, Oliver approached Watson in the season's penultimate episode "The Ties That Bind" to ask for her help. She agreed on two conditions: that he say the four words she wanted to hear and didn't resist arrest. Oliver agreed and confessed that he was the Green Arrow. Having gotten what she wanted, she helped Oliver put an end to Diaz's reign of terror, then arrested him once the fight was over.

As Oliver was led out of the Star City Police Department to be transferred to a Supermax prison, the media swarmed him and asked for a comment. At that, he looked straight into the camera and said, “I am the Green Arrow.” He then proceeded to give a short speech, where he confessed that he let other people take the fall for him. The finale ended as he stepped into his cell at Supermax and the doors closed behind him.

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Between Seasons 5 and 6, two of Oliver's primary antagonists revealed they knew his secret: Prometheus and Diaz. However, they never went into much detail about how they discovered Oliver's secret; it's a fact merely brushed aside. In Season 5's "Spectre of the Gun," Prometheus claimed he discovered Oliver's secret through his obsessive research. Diaz, on the other hand, never explains how he found out. In both cases, the villains used their knowledge to make Oliver's personal life a living hell without straightforwardly outing him to the public. Diaz, in particular, used his resources to drag out the revelation of Oliver's identity over the course of Season 6. They simply seemed to get more satisfaction out of this method; perhaps they simply enjoyed watching Oliver squirm in public, where he was unable to act on his vigilante instincts.

Heading into Season 7, Oliver won't have to worry about keeping his identity a secret any longer. As this article proves, he spent most of his vigilante life dodging those who wanted nothing more than to out him to the public. Oliver -- and Arrow fans -- can finally breathe a sigh of relief, resting easy this summer with the knowledge that the show can no longer rest on this tired storyline. Thanks to this particular moment, which has been a long time coming, Arrow can move in a fresh direction for Season 7.


Returning this fall to The CW, Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Echo Kellum as Mr. Terrific, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary and Katie Cassidy as Black Siren.