Genesis (event)

"Ladies and gentlemen and recently deceased, it is time to begin the final phase of Genesis."

- Damien Darhk to the leaders of H.I.V.E.

Genesis was a partially successful project laid down by Damien Darhk and the other members of the organization known as H.I.V.E. to rid the Earth of humanity, allowing to the organization and its few chosen people, hidden in the "Ark" of Tevat Noah, to start life anew after the apocalypse. The plan was a major obstacle to the Green Arrow and Team Arrow. The day Havenrock was stricken with the nuclear missile has become known as "Genesis Day".

History
For his plan's success, Damien Darhk required to expand H.I.V.E.'s reach even further, clashing with the interests of Oliver Queen, defender of Star City. Among the things Darhk he needed was control over Star City (where one of the nexus points connected to magic was located), the creation of a viable underground bunker with breathable air (in form of Tevat Noah and its oxygen-providing fields of corn), and finally the instrument which would allow him to bring nuclear annihilation to the planet (Rubicon protocol).

The project was divided into certain "phases", all of which were presumably connected to Star City and Oliver Queen, as well as the preparation of the "Ark" of Tevat Noah to be able to support human life. For example, the "fourth phase" of the project involved an attack on Queen and Felicity Smoak's limousine, which left Oliver's fiance partially paralyzed. This led to a chain of events that caused Oliver Queen to drop out of the race for the mayor, allowing Ruvé Adams, Damien Darhk's wife, to win the contemporary Star City elections, promising the citizens to "make Star City great again". The final phase included the settlement of Tevat Noah, as well as the acquisition of means to bring nuclear devastation upon the unsuspecting world. Using his dark powers, Darhk ripped the subdermal implant containing the Rubicon protocol from under A.R.G.U.S. director Lyla Michaels's skin and brought it back to his organization. H.I.V.E.'s own scientists managed to reprogram Rubicon, so that instead of deactivating nuclear weapons, it would launch them on different targets across the world, including the metropolis of Monument Point and its suburb, Havenrock, located in Virginia, United States.

Although Noah Kuttler and Felicity Smoak managed to prevent most of the damage that Genesis was supposed to unleash upon the world, they were unsuccessful in deactivating a single Russian nuclear missile, which ended up destroying the town of Havenrock. Although the world was saved from global nuclear destruction, the deaths of tens of thousands victims in Havenrock empowered Damien Darhk, who, safe in the nexus cave located under Star City, absorbed the dark energy released by all those deaths, increasing his magic potential.

Darhk subsequently enlisted the services of Cooper Seldon to regain control of Rubicon. However, with the aid of Curtis Holt, Felicity and Noah managed to thwart Cooper's cyber attack.

At the same time, Lonnie Machin, infiltrated the Genesis bunker to get revenge on Darhk, holding Ruve and her daughter Nora hostage to force him out of hiding. In the subsequent fight with Machin, the dwarf-star alloy power source is ruptured, causing a chain reaction that would destroy the habitat. Team Arrow, Nora, Machin and presumably most of the inhabitants managed to vacate the shelter, but Ruve was not, driving Darhk to insanity.

With his grand plan in tatters, Darhk stole back the laptop containing the Rubicon program to purposely bring about the nuclear apocalypse. He set up Cooper in an abandoned warehouse to monitor the nukes, having lodged a bullet in his spine with magic to ensure his cooperation. Felicity, Thea, Malcolm and Curtis managed to locate him. Felicity managed to convince Cooper to rebel against Darhk, which resulted in his death. She and Curtis then redirected all the nukes into space. At the same time, Green Arrow's final showdown with Darhk ends with him killing H.I.V.E.'s leader.

Though Genesis ended mostly in failure it's success in destroying Havenrock drove Rory Regan, the sole survivor of the town's destruction, to seek revenge on AmerTek C.E.O. Janet Carroll as her company built the missile that hit the town. However Rory was talked out of his revenge by Oliver and instead joined Team Arrow but Felicity was overwhelmed with guilt for being indirectly responsible for the deaths of everyone Rory knew. After Rory learned this he was understandably discouraged to help the team but realized it was ultimatley Darhk's fault that his family died, and he and Felicity made amends.

The event apparently had enough historical impact that by the late 26th century Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash would learn of Genesis Day, and used this information to extort a version of Damien Darhk from 1987 into aiding him in his time ventures.

Trivia

 * The crates at H.I.V.E.'s base noticed by Oliver Queen were labelled "G6:5". This is a reference H.I.V.E. left to the eponymical Book of Genesis of the Bible, as the passage Genesis 6:5 reads: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The verse explains God's reasoning for the destruction of humanity with the flood, except for Noah's family, safe on the Ark; just like H.I.V.E.'s "flood" was a global nuclear annihilation, that would only leave their chosen people alive in the Ark.

Behind the scenes

 * The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and the Christian Old Testament. One of the central themes of its narrative is this: God creates the world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the flood. God spares Noah, his family, and a remnant of all the world's animals from the flood, allowing them to rebuild life after the end of the world. H.I.V.E.'s plan is similar, with nuclear annihilation playing the role of the "flood", and an underground facility the role of the "Ark".