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| This arrow will shoot you, repeatedly. |
Oliver
Queen’s back story has some striking similarities to that of Batman. Like
Batman, he’s an orphan and a billionaire. He uses his corporation to secretly
fund his superhero deeds. And he even adopts the occasional orphan and raises
them as a next gen version of himself. Such Narcissism. But, I’m getting ahead
of myself. Queen’s hero career began after a business partner pushed him
overboard during a cruise in the South Sea. He survived Tarzan style, washing
up on an uncharted island. There, he made a crude bow and arrow for some
reason, the DC encyclopedia doesn’t mention him having archery talent before
being ship wrecked. He took down a drug-running operation on the island which was
run by future recurring nemesis China White. He gained his codename after being rescued
from the island. He was at a costume party dressed a Robin Hood, a robbery
happened during the event, and Queen saved the day in costume. Green Arrow was
then born. He's gone on to be one of the most prominent members of the Justice League, and has had a continuing on again, of again relationship with teammate Black Canary. And while I believe Queen Industries is back on top, I do know that Green Arrow spent several years slumming it after his company went under. It was either bankrupted or bought out, different sources give conflicting answers. Despite this, he's kept up the good fight.
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| This Arrow pulls an Ironman. Never all that smart to reveal the secret Id. |
Queen
has no superhuman powers that we know of. He has above average intelligence and
peak human physique. It’s been speculated that he has a “metagene.” (Basically
DC’s term for the X-gene that gives Marvel’s Mutant’s their amazing powers.) In
Queen’s case, the gene doesn’t give him any noticeably flashy powers, but enhanced strength
and agility. Again, this is speculation, he hasn’t been tested. The man has been shown benching a metric ton, so the evidence is definitely there. He specializes in Archery, but he's also proficient in a few forms of hand to hand combat. It's to be expected, every now and then someone get's too close to shoot an arrow at. He has a number
of trick arrows in his arsenal ranging from practical like a Taser-arrow, to
the just plain silly like his Boxing Glove arrow. Literally a boxing glove pops
out when the arrow head makes contact. Silly, right?
Green Arrow’s biggest off page part
comes in the form of the CW TV series Arrow, as mentioned above. He is
portrayed by Stephen Amell. They make a few changes to the storyline, such as
leaving his mother alive, killing his father in the shipwreck that stands him
on the island, and giving him a little sister. The first season focuses on
Oliver attempting to purge Star City, in this version called Starling City for
some reason, from a group of corrupt 1% percenters and uncover what they and
his own parents were a part of. Unlike other versions of Green Arrow, Oliver
has no qualm with killing people. At times it almost seems like he revels in
it. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.
He was also featured prominently in
the latter part of the Smallville TV series, portrayed by Justin Hartley. In
it, while being largely faithful to the comics, Oliver Queen is somewhat mixed
with Batman. He’s a little darker than normal, and he’s portrayed as Superman’s
closest friend. This is due in no small part to the fact that Smallville couldn’t
get the rights to Batman at the time. He was a recurring character in season six and seven, and became a series regular in season 8. He and Clark clash on a few topics of Superheroing, mostly on Oliver feeling that Clark wasn't doing enough as a hero in the early episodes, and then Clark feeling that Oliver took things too far when he took vengeance for his parents death. Interestingly, this version doesn't seem to have any romantic ties to usual lady friend Black Canary. They have a flirtatious relationship, Oliver even going so far as to say "those email's I had with Canary were strictly platonic," we he found out his emails were being monitored. For most of the show he's shown to have an on again, off again thing with Lois Lane, and later her cousin Chloe Sullivan. Which was a little weird to watch, not going to lie.
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| Bow and Arrow's are cool, but he could probably use a whole lot more than the ones in that quiver. |
He has minor roles in most DC
related Animated universe. He’s never a first draft pick, but he’s always seems
to be a second round pick. Did I say that right? Again, don’t know sports
metaphors that well. He has a bigger role in the TV series Young Justice, where
he is both the mentor of his original sidekick Speedy/Red Arrow and his second
sidekick Artemis. Like the other full-fledged heroes he’s a minor character,
mostly there to add flavor and serve as an explanation why the Arrow’s aren’t
in every episode. Where are Red Arrow and Artemis? They’re training with Green
Arrow? Of course!
I like Green Arrow because, despite
his similarities to Batman he does have a few things that make him unique. For
example, his first side kick Roy Harper aka Speedy (No I don’t know why this
isn’t Flash’s sidekick name) aka Red Arrow/Arsenal is the first comic book character to
battle drug addiction. Roy picked up the habit when he felt that Queen abandoned
him and spent years trying to kick the habit. He’s seen a little more of the
ugly side of life. Sure, Batman did that during his time around the world, but
unlike Batman, Arrow lost his fortune after starting his hero career. The
modern day metaphor for Robin Hood became real clear at this point. Sure, like
the other archer characters his entire gimmick is a little farfetched in terms
of its usefulness, but come on, shooting a guy with an arrow is so much cooler
than a gun.
It’s been stated that Green Arrow
may be part of the expanded DC-universe, when they finally get to him, but it
will be a separate character from Stephen Amell’s Arrow. It’ll be interesting to
see what elements of the character are shown in his cinematic debut. A few
years from now. Next time, Hawkeye.
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| Holy target, Bat-er Green Arrow. |
http://greenarrow.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Arrow_%28Stephen_Amell%29
http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/File:Oliver-Queen-AKA-Green-Arrow-smallville-3635807-760-1140-1-.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Arrow
http://hdwpapers.com/green_arrow_desktop_wallpaper_5-wallpapers.html
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