Green Arrow
Entry updated 4 November 2024. Tagged: Character, Comics.
DC Comics Superhero, created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp in 1941. He has no Superpowers, but his use of modestly innovative Weapons and equipment in battling criminals makes him, like Batman, of marginal sf interest, and of course he had some encounters with Aliens and Supervillains. (In one particularly strange adventure, Green Arrow travels to another Dimension and meets a giant alien who, after observing Earth, has decided to dress like Green Arrow and shoot his own arrows. He also had one singular adversary, the Pneumatic Man, who employed air as a weapon.) During his early decades, the character was a blatant imitation of Batman: like Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen was a wealthy playboy with a young ward, Roy Harper, who accompanied Green Arrow as Speedy in the manner of Robin; his headquarters was the Arrowcave, recalling the Batcave; instead of a Batmobile and Batplane, Green Arrow drove an Arrowcar and piloted an Arrowplane; and rather than being summoned by a Bat-Signal, Green Arrow was alerted to problems needing his attention by an Arrow Flare. However, while Batman only occasionally employed gimmicky Batarangs, Green Arrow regularly relied upon a number of trick arrows, including the Boxing Glove Arrow, which enabled him to punch evildoers from a distance; the Net Arrow, which dispensed a net to capture adversaries; and the Tear Gas Arrow to disable opponents. One story even showed him shooting an arrow equipped with a nuclear weapon, and in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (graph 1986) he disables Superman with a kryptonite arrow. He briefly had a female counterpart named Miss Arrowette, who like Batwoman joined the hero a few times, using feminine-themed trick arrows like the Powder Puff Arrow.
During the 1940s, Green Arrow and Speedy were members of the superhero team the Seven Soldiers of Victory, and despite his derivative nature, Green Arrow remained popular enough to endure as a supporting feature into the 1960s; he also made guest appearances in a few Superman adventures. After being initially excluded from the Justice League of America, he was quickly added to the roster, apparently in response to reader demand. While less frequently seen in subsequent Justice League stories, he underwent a significant transformation in the late 1960s: he was given a more stylish costume, he acquired a rakish moustache and goatee, and, no longer a rich man, he was refashioned as an irreverent and socially conscious character to contrast with his more conventional colleagues. In a series of stories, he teamed up with Green Lantern to educate him about the importance of addressing contemporary problems, and in Justice League stories, he came to function as a sarcastic foil to the straight-laced Hawkman. He also developed a romantic relationship with the superhero Black Canary, eventually marrying her, and he has continued to be featured in DC comics, though rarely in a leading role. Predictably, he has been reimagined by recent writers in various ways, retaining only skilful archery as his central attribute; among other striking developments, he was elected as the Mayor of Star City and, in the manner of many superheroes, once died before his inevitable return to life. He undoubtedly inspired the creation of another superhero archer, Marvel Comics's Hawkeye, a longstanding member of the Avengers in comics and films.
In other media, Green Arrow sometimes appeared in animated series and Videogames and, as a teenager, figured in the series Smallville (2001-2011). He then starred in the television series Arrow (2012-2020), initially known only as Arrow; the series introduced other DC superheroes and spawned additional series that became collectively known as the "Arrowverse". Despite his new prominence, however, there have apparently been no discussions about bringing Green Arrow to the silver screen. [GW]
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