There he met Oliver Queen and formed a close friendship with him that lasted for almost a decade until the moment their respective roles as a vigilante and a gangster drived them in a battle; resulting in a huge falling out between the two which led Anatoly into joining Cayden James's criminal cabal and, after the group disbanded, Ricardo Diaz's criminal organization. In 1986, as a child, Anatoly Knyazev worked as a lookout for Solntsevskaya Bratva. As the time-traveling Sara Lance entered the locker room of the banya and engaged in a fight with members of Russian Bratva, Anatoly almost immediately ran from the room. At some point in his life, Anatoly became an operative of the KGB, secret service of the Soviet Union. According to Knyazev himself, it "taught him many things", particularly information on the workings of landmines. Eventually Anatoly raised to the Bratva ranks until he became a captain.
Publication Information
- Arrow : Anatoly Knyazev
- Multiverse : Earth One
- Version : Arrow Series
- Known As :
- Type :
- Relative :
- Affiliation : KGB
- Gender : Male
- Origin : Russia
- Season : Arrow
- First Appeareance : Arrow Season 1 Episod 12 : Vertigo (Mentioned)
- Last Appeareance :
- Number of Appeareance :
- Potrayer :
- Main View : Full Episod
Prisoner on the Amazo
Under unknown circumstances Anatoly was captured by Anthony Ivo around 2007, made prisoner on the Amazo and taken on Lian Yu. During this time Anatoly was forced to undergo their "trial" by digging out a bullet in his torso and stitching it up. Some time after this, he met Oliver Queen, and was quick to get along with. After Oliver escaped, he promised Anatoly he'd come back for the others. Later, right when Ivo was about to gouge out Anatoly's eye, Oliver set off an explosion on the beach that distracted Ivo, so he never did actually remove Anatoly's eye, instead he took measures sending his men to the beach to capture Oliver, Slade, and Sara.
In Krasnoyarsk
Anatoly and Oliver are later reunited in Russia, where the latter intended to hunt and kill government strongman and part-time crime boss Konstantin Kovar, a brutal ruler of Krasnoyarsk. Anatoly, who oversaw the Krasnoyarsk division of Bratva at that time, recognized Oliver, saved him from death and, in return for what he did for him on Lian Yu, offered to help him become a full-time member of the Solntsevskaya Bratva, a membership he needed for his mission.
Moving to Moscow
Eventually, Anatoly moved to Moscow and, in 2013, he met again with Oliver to help him find information regarding the whereabouts of Lyla Michaels. They found out she broke into a "gulag" prison known as Koshmar, but evidently had trouble breaking back out. He later helped them break Lyla Michaels, John Diggle, and Floyd Lawton out. Sometime after that, Anatoly heard that Oliver asked for a favor from Alexi Leonov, but when Alexi asked for a favor in return, Oliver pointed a gun on his head. He also heard that because of this favor, Alexi got killed. Anatoly got angry on Oliver for breaking the Bratva's sacred rules and realized that he shouldn't welcome Oliver as a Bratva member anymore.
Dissent among the ranks
In 2017, Oliver decided to come to Russia to stop general J.G. Walker from selling a nuclear device to a group of separatists form Markovia. Due to Anatoly being his only friend in Russia, Oliver tried to contact him, but Anatoly didn't respond, probably because of what happened with Alexi. Oliver came to Russia anyway, and as Anatoly met him at the airport, he punched Oliver in the face saying that he should never have come back. Anatoly reminded Oliver that he once disobeyed the orders of Alexi Leonov, and told him that in doing so, he broke the sacred rules and was no longer welcome.
Severing ties
Roughly two months later, Anatoly was called to Star City by Oliver. They met in the Arrowcave, where Oliver told him that he needed the Bratva to kill Adrian Chase/Prometheus. Oliver admitted that the hood couldn't contain his monster. Anatoly was pleased that Oliver finally saw himself clearly and had remembered his Bratva oath. He insisted on a two-part payment to complete the deal, two sets of pharmaceutical drugs from factories throughout the city, and Oliver agreed. While stealing diabetes drugs, Knyazev and his men were interrupted by Diggle, Dinah, Curtis Holt, and Rene Ramirez. Anatoly told John that they were there with Oliver's blessing.
Exile
Due to his friendship with Oliver, Anatoly was seen as "weak" to the rest of the Bratva and thus exiled from Russia until he prove the contrary. So he and a group of his men came back to Star City and kidnapped a group of Markovian delegates, demanding ransom. After Oliver and his team freed three of his hostages, Anatoly escapes with one, injecting him with a deadly toxin and demanding a ransom for the second time in order to spare the man's life. After Team Arrow detects the toxin and Oliver injects the hostage with the antidote, Anatoly kills the man due to not having received his money, then he was confronted by his former friend over his change of attitude.
Working with Cayden James
Soon after Anatoly allied with Cayden James, Laurel Lance/Black Siren, Vincent Sobel/Vigilante and Ricardo Diaz/Dragon, watching alongside them as Team Arrow implode from the hidden camera that Laurel had planted in the Arrowcave during her initial attack. Some days later, after Oliver tracks Cayden James and Black Siren into they're lair, Anatoly and the Bratva, along with Diaz's men at the Vigilante intervened taking him by surprise and forcing him to leave. As the next night Jerry Bertinelli and Green Arrow set a trap for Cayden's criminal cabal, attracting them to the port, Anatoly fights the Emerald Archer togather with his allies until he managed to set an explosion and use it to escape.
Partnership with The Dragon
After he discovered Diaz killed Cayden James, Anatoly choose to ally with him as the only things that matter for him are money and revenge on Oliver, no matter who can provide them; so he arranged a meeting between Diaz and the escaped Black Siren, then he tried to take Roy Harper away when Team Arrow came to their hideout in order to rescue him, but failed and barely managed to flee.
Abilities
- Peak of human physical condition : Anatoly is in top physical condition for a man of his age; he has fast reflexes, a remarkable durability and is strong enough to swiftly incapacitate or even break the neck of a much larger foe with ease, as well as fight multiple opponents at the same time. His conditioning also lets him recover from most injuries very quickly, though not superhumanly.
- Honed senses : Anatoly has sharp hearing and sight, as well as keen skills of perception.[12] He is able to pick up an incoming danger and react extremely quickly.
- High-level intellect / Master tactician / Leader : As the leader of the Solntsevskaya Bratva, Anatoly is a capable tactician and leader being able to organize criminal activities all while remaining off charts and covering up his tracks. Anatoly can also be very deceptive, effectively helping Oliver with his cover story about the five years he spent away from Starling City.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant / Martial artist : Although he prefers to use weapons, Anatoly is an incredible close-range combatant/martial artist, able to compete against dangerous combatants and easily disarm or kill armed men with his bare hands. Anatoly has proven to be capable of defeating Mr. Terrific and Wild Dog at the same time relatively with ease.
- Expert interrogator / Torturer : During his time with the KGB, Anatoly became an effective interrogator and torturer. He is capable of inflict much physical pain into a target without killing them and is even capable of using mind games to worsen the discomfort.
- Expert marksman / Firearms : As a former member of the Russian navy and KGB, Anatoly is skilled in the use of firearms.
- Indomitable will / High pain tolerance : Anatoly has an extremely high tolerance for pain, presumably due to his time in the KGB. He is shown to be quite resistant to tortures and has proven to know how to dislocate his own thumbs to free himself from restraints.
- Expert survivalist : Anatoly has great survival skills, as he was able to survive in the wild on Lian Yu. His skills and willpower allowed him to survive near-death experiences. He is also an master escape artist, able to free himself from various confinements.
- Explosives expert : Due to the fact that he once worked for the KGB, Anatoly is an expert in explosives. He knows how Russian and Japanese bombs work, Anatoly was also able to disarm a Japanese land mine on Lian Yu, something that Slade Wilson and John Diggle are unable to do. He tried to teach some of his skills to Oliver Queen, during his stay in Russia.
- Multilingualism : As a native Russian, Anatoly speaks that language fluently, in addition to English.
- Network : As the leader of Solntsevskaya Bratva and a former agent of KGB, Anatoly has established many connections who provides him aid for various natures.
- Pistol : Anatoly is very proficient in using guns. He kept one holstered under his jacket to use it in case of emergencies.
- Dual handguns : Anatoly used two pistols as weapons to kill Gregor's men. He is shown as a skilled gunman, shooting two pistols with ease.
