Although no official case was formed against him, he was denoted as a "person of interest" by A.R.G.U.S. and illegally imprisoned in a black site facility. James's Helix allies, led by Alena, eventually rescued him with help from Felicity Smoak. His time in custody caused him to go insane, and he developed a plan to wipe out the world's internet, recruiting Black Siren to his side and clashing with Team Arrow, as well as his former allies Alena and Felicity. Believing Oliver Queen was responsible for the death of his son, the master hacker committed a series of attacks throughout Star City, wanting to avenge his son's death and formed his own cabal to do so.
Publication Information
- Arrow : Cayden James
- Version : The Arrow Series
- Multiverse : Earth One
- Known As : Master Hacktivists
- Type :
- Formerly Leader of Helix
- Formerly Leader of Criminal Cabal
- Formerly Cyber-criminal
- Relative :
- Owen Post : Son
- Unnamed : Ex-wife
- Gender : Male
- Origin : Earth One
- Season : Arrow
- First Appeareance : Arrow Season 2 Episod 19 : Dangerous Liaisons
- Last Appeareance :
- Number of Appeareance :
- Potrayer : Michael Emerson
- Main View : Full Episod
It was later proven to him that Oliver was not responsible for Owen's death, and James was subsequently taken into custody. Shortly thereafter, he was killed by the true mastermind behind his son's death; James's former associate Ricardo Diaz.
Founding Helix and A.R.G.U.S. imprisonment
At some point, Cayden James founded Helix, an organization uniting hackers that pursued political activism. Considered by A.R.G.U.S. to be 20 times more dangerous than Snowden as a security risk, James was captured by the organization when he was supposedly trying to hack an A.R.G.U.S. transponder. Although his crime was not proven in court, Amanda Waller illegally gave the order to keep him imprisoned as a "person of interest". James was moved to a black site prison, which was eventually located by his Helix allies in 2017.
Dangerous plans
While in Corto Maltese, James received a package which contained a USB which revealed that his son was killed by the Green Arrow, this caused him to make plans to have vengeance on the Green Arrow who he soon discovered was Oliver Queen. This change of attitude made Alena think that it was the aftereffects of prison not knowing it was really due to the death of his son. He developed a plan to destroy the world's internet as a whole, even worse than the Calculator's plan. Seeking out allies for his scheme, he observed the battle on Lian Yu and saved the life of Laurel Lance/Black Siren, adding her group's strength to the power of Helix.
Attacks on Star City
James initiated his plan and caused many accidents throughout Star City killing many people including Captain Frank Pike. James then visited Oliver Queen at City Hall and told him that unless he pays $10 million every night, there would be more incidents. When Oliver confronted him about this James revealed the events that led to his son's death stating that he was killed by a stray arrow from Oliver a year ago, unknown to James at that time Oliver was at Hub City recruiting Dinah Drake, meaning someone framed Oliver for the death of James's son. After Oliver released a public announcement revealing that the incidents were caused by Cayden James, James sent Sheck and Vigilante to attack one of the safe houses that Oliver had created to protect the people of Star City, unfortunately for James, this fails and leads to the death of Sheck.
Death
After Cayden James announces that he is about to detonate the bomb at midnight, Team Arrow finally gives video evidence with help from the Flash that Green Arrow didn't kill Owen but someone else did. He recognizes that one of his former Cabal members had doctored the video. He makes Team Arrow find his former allies and brings them to him with the threat of the bomb. The presence of William caused James to remember his own son causing him to be vulnerable allowing Green Arrow to subdue him. In prison, he advises Oliver to be a better father and asks him to visit his son's grave which he accepts.
Legacy
The public believes that James was killed by an inmate doing his transfer to Iron Heights Prison, however, Felicity Smoak eventually discovered that he never actually made it to Iron Heights, as he was actually killed in the interrogation room by Ricardo Diaz and it was covered up by the police, after realizing there are several members of the Star City Police Department under Ricardo's payroll; Felicity reports her discovery to Team Arrow and the Outsiders respectively, as Dinah Drake and Quentin Lance are working together to find out how many police officers are under Diaz's payroll, in order to remove the corruption from Star City Police Department and regain control of it.
Abilities
- Computer specialist / Master computer hacker : James was a highly skilled computer hacker, so much that he was able to hack an A.R.G.U.S. transponder. His abilities made him a "person of interest" for A.R.G.U.S. and a security risk considered 20 times more dangerous than Snowden. As soon as he was freed from captivity, he managed to immediately figure out the code for the program that Felicity needed, something neither she nor Alena could figure out on their own. According to Alena, he was the best hacker on Earth One so far that no one has ever heard of him, hence making James one of the best computer hackers and one of the most intelligent individuals in the multiverse.
- Genius-level intellect / Master tactician / Leader : James not only created and ran Helix as a powerful organization but also inspired loyalty into hackers under his cause, so much that they staged a massively dangerous operation to rescue him from a heavily guarded government facility.[1] During his attacks on Star City, James staged plans that would cause misdirection for Team Arrow such as pretending to blow up a stadium full of people when he really wanted to make the public witness vigilantes attacking his men under police uniforms.
- Prototype T-Sphere : James used the Prototype T-Sphere that Black Siren stole from the Arrowcave against Oliver Queen.
