Rebound Ray

This phrase refers to characters who are brought into a show in order to be a foil, in more ways than one, for the lead female or lead male that is part of a popular couple ship. This tactic is used prolong the torture of shippers and slow down the progress of the ideal pairing on a television show. This catch phrase was developed from the angst of Olicity shippers. Olicity shippers are a group of legion shippers within the Arrow tv show (made up of men and women, young and old) on CW that supports the pairing of Oliver Queen (Arrow) and Felicity Smoak (tech genius extraordinaire & VP of Palmer Technologies). In episode 3x15 entitled, Nanda Parbat, the beloved Felicity Smoak who was pushed away and rejected by the lead character Oliver Queen (although he has said he loved her 3 time, each was met with a rejection) ends up doing the disgusted deed (sex) with Mr. Ray Palmer (The Atom) of Palmer technologies. Although arguably Oliver has expressed his feelings verbally, Felicity has reciprocated his feelings in actions and demands. After the airing of the episode, TPTB, or in this case Marc Guggenheim, implies heavily that she will eventually move on from Ray Palmer (hopefully sooner than later and thankfully). i.e., Ray Palmer will forever be known as...Rebound Ray