Watch: First Look at 'Arrow' Season 3, Ray Palmer

Warner Bros. TV has released the Comic-Con trailer shown to the 'Arrow' panel audience earlier this weekend. Among other season 3 highlights, this preview finally shows Brandon Routh as 'Ray Palmer' aka the 'Atom' as he bids for Queen Consolidated and the announcement of the season's big villian...Ra's al Ghul. 'Arrow' returns to The CW October 8.

Although Brandon wasn't in attendance, great things were said about him at Comic-Con:

"[Routh] is funny, I found myself in our first scene together, he's giving this big speech and I found myself giggling. As Oliver I was pissed but in my head I was giggling a little bit. He's great, super professional and it's an element to the show we haven't had before. It keeps everything fresh." - Stephen Amell to hitfix.

Any new info on Arrow’s Ray Palmer would be appreciated! –Rida
Hmm, I do like to be appreciated. Playing the Arrow newcomer, onetime Superman Brandon Routh is (like onetime Lois Lane Teri Hatcher) “spectacular,” EP Marc Guggenheim tells TVLine. “He has exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations. And what’s fun about the way Brandon interacts with everyone is we wanted someone who would offer a bit of what Grant Gustin did — someone who’s a little more on Felicity’s end of the spectrum in terms of color, and at the same time is very different from Grant. And Brandon, he’s just this change agent that shakes up everybody.” That said, a guy’s gotta have his secrets. “You’re going to see that there’s a lot going on with him,” Guggenheim hints. “He’s not what he initially appears to be.” - TVLine

"Brandon has been just an absolute joy to work with so far. Professional. Funny. He's like a sponge right now. And it's great." - Stephen Amell to DigitalSpy

Brandon Routh is joining the cast as Ray Palmer, which gives Felicity a "tennis partner" because, from a dialogue perspective, she "lives in a different world from everyone else." "We couldn’t have been more thrilled" with Brandon Routh, the EP shared. "We're trying to write a little bit of a Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn kind of relationship." - Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim to Examiner