Batwoman boss and David Ramsey tease Diggle's role in Luke's Batwing 'destiny'

John Diggle is back in the Arrowverse and his first stop is Gotham City.

After directing the seventh episode of Superman & Lois' first season, David Ramsey's CW homecoming continues Sunday on Batwoman, which will mark his first on-screen appearance as Arrow's Diggle since early 2020. However, this isn't a glorified cameo. Diggle's trip to Batwoman's besieged hometown will play a pivotal role in one of the second season's most important storylines.

"He comes into one of our characters' lives at a really instrumental period in their life, and gives some advice that changes the course of somebody's life completely," Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries told EW in December 2020.

As of yesterday, we now know that character is Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), who will finally suit up as the DC Comics hero Batwing later this season. But, the Bat-team's resident tech genius has to clear some emotional hurdles before he throws on the superhero's iconic armor.

In Sunday's installment, titled "Rebirth," Luke is still reeling from the trauma he endured when he got shot by a corrupt cop, traveled to limbo, and chose to die instead of returning to the land of living, only for Ryan (Javicia Leslie) and Mary (Nicole Kang) to revive him with the Desert Rose. In other words, he's not in a great place mentally when he crosses paths with Diggle, who was last seen holding a shining green object in Arrow's series finale and is in Gotham to see a doctor about his nagging headaches. Luke's encounter with the traveling A.R.G.U.S. agent may be just the thing he needs to help turn things around.

"He really helps a major character take their next step into their own destiny of becoming a full-fledged superhero," Ramsey told EW in May, before Batwing's introduction was announced. "Diggle has always been the person who can really tap into the humanity of our major characters. That was really what he did for [Arrow's] Oliver Queen [Stephen Amell]. If you remember, the first time we saw Oliver, he was a killer. He met John Diggle and really tapped into his humanity, and it went further when he met Felicity Smoak [Emily Bett Rickards]. So that talent of really being able to tap into one's humanity is really part of the superhero power of John Diggle, and that's what he brings to Kelly Olsen on Supergirl, and that's what he brings to Batwoman."

From Dries' perspective, "it seemed like only somebody like Diggle would have that point of view, perspective, and wisdom" that Luke would need to take this major step toward putting on the cowl.

According to Johnson, longtime Arrowverse fans won't be disappointed by Diggle's return. "You're gonna love him in the show," Johnson told fans during an Instagram Live with EW last Sunday. At the time, he wasn't sure if he was allowed to talk about the above storyline, so he simply teased, "If we did have a scene together, it was awesome and I loved working with him."

Batwoman airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on The CW.

Related content:

• Luke Fox (finally!) becomes Batwing in Batwoman official first look photos
• Batwoman star Camrus Johnson teases the aftermath of Luke's 'dark, unexpected' choice
• Arrowverse's David Ramsey talks Diggle's 'cosmic' destiny and directing Superman & Lois