Lundgren really is bigger than most of the bad guys that Oliver has faced, and he apparently won’t have superpowers or magic that Oliver could take away to turn the tide as he did with some of his past enemies.
It’s been a given since the announcement that Dolph Lundgren would appear on Arrow that his ginormous size would play a part in his role as Oliver’s enemy.
Size matters on a superhero show when the leading man doesn’t have any superpowers.
Marc Guggenheim’s reveal to EW that Kovar is smart as well as sizable goes a long way to explain why Anatoly has been so sure that Oliver’s odds against Kovar aren’t great.