Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow goes to the airport to pick up his girlfriend Dinah Lance aka Black Canary, but stumbles onto a plot to assassinate the visiting Princess Perdita of Vlatava.
Tropes in this short include:
- Accidental Pun:
- In traffic, Ollie snarls, "The arrow's green! C'mon!"
- When Perdita says "Every queen needs a consort." (referring to Black Canary), and Green Arrow says "She's right. Every Queen does." (referring to his own alter ego).
- Affably Evil: Merlyn (courtesy of Malcolm McDowell) is nothing short of polite, calmly accepting Green Arrow's challenge to an honorable Archer's Duel, despite the fact that he's trying to put an arrow into Perdita's heart.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Count Vertigo, but only because he's The Starscream. Averted with his intended victim.
- Always Someone Better: Having beaten the Green Arrow on eight previous occasions, Merlyn is confident enough to challenge him to an arrow duel. Oliver says he's been practising since then, and fortunately he's not lying—Merlyn is shocked to find the Green Arrow is good enough to cut his arrow in half in mid-flight!
- Backseat Changing Room: Implied. Green Arrow apologizes for being late while intervening in an assassination attempt on Perdita, princess or rather queen of Vlatava. He then quips, "But you try changing clothes in a hybrid!"
- Big Bad: Count Werner Vertigo, Perdita's Evil Uncle who wants to kill her and usurp the throne.
- Big Damn Heroes: Green Arrow when he shows up during the initial assassination attempt on Princess Perdita. Black Canary at the end, when she saves the pair from Count Vertigo.
- Brainy Brunette: Implied with Queen Perdita. She manage to make a medical bandage for Green Arrow after he gets injured with one of Merlyn's arrows.
- Broad Strokes: According to Greg Weisman, producer of Young Justice (2010) and writer of this short, a version of these events happened in YJ. The flashbacks in the comic mini-series Young Justice: Targets retell these events, with some minor differences.
- Bullet Dodge: On two occasions Oliver senses an incoming arrow from Merlyn and either pulls Perdita away from its path or blocks it.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Perdita turns out to have become the Queen of her nation and is only around 10 or 11.
- The Comically Serious: Perdita acts like she takes everything Green Arrow says literally.
- Curse Cut Short:Vertigo: Soon to be King Vertigo, once I've dispatched you and the little bi—Black Canary: Watch your mouth! *screamblast*
- Dark Is Not Evil: Dinah's main costume wear is black, but she's one of the good guys. Inverted with Merlyn.
- Evil Brit: Merlyn as voiced by Malcolm McDowell.
- Evil Counterpart: Merlyn is this to Green Arrow.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Count Veritgo, courtesy of his voice actor Steve Blum.
- Evil Uncle: Count Vertigo aims to gain the throne of his country, Vlatava, by killing Perdita, his niece.
- Expressive Mask: Green Arrow.
- Failed a Spot Check: After his fight on the baggage conveyor, Oliver fails to realise until he hits his head on it that he's about to fall into the chute to Baggage Claim.
- Foreshadowing:
- Oliver leaves a message for Dinah on her answering machine telling her to meet him in Baggage Claim. She must have played it in time, because that's where she turns up to save him and Perdita.
- Perdita wears a black dress over a light purple blouse. It is later revealed that she is in mourning for her father.
- Friend to All Children:
- Implied with Green Arrow's interaction with Perdita.
- Implied with Black Canary. See Curse Cut Short.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Perdita is seen wearing a purple blouse and hairband.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Green Arrow and Black Canary are the hero/heroine variety.
- Handicapped Badass: Merlyn shoots Green Arrow through the leg with one of his arrows, causing him to spend over half the short with a makeshift bandage, and lowered mobility. In spite of this, he does very well under the circumstances.
- Heartbroken Badass: An understated example, but Perdita only admits that her father had died the night before while she's applying a field dressing to Green Arrow's wound.Green Arrow: You're even braver than I thought.
- I'll Kill You!: A goon keeps shouting this while trying to crush Green Arrow's head with a wrench. Oliver objects, pointing out he's supposed to be killing Perdita (who objects in turn to this quip).
- In the Hood: Green Arrow has a hood as a part of his costume.
- Instant Costume Change: Averted, "...but you try changing clothes in a hybrid!"
- Little Miss Snarker: Perdita can still make good natured banter with Ollie during the deadly situation, which adds to her charm.Green Arrow (after narrowly dodging a taxiing airliner): That...dragon almost got us.
Perdita: You do realize that I am ten, and do not require a fairy-tale metaphor?
Green Arrow: Sorry, it's my first time rescuing royalty.
Perdita: It is quite a forgivable sin... Robin Hood. - Mythology Gag: The contacts on Ollie's phone include; Dinah (Dinah Lance/Black Canary), Bruce (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Clark (Clark Kent/Superman), Wally (Wally West/The Flash), Mort (Mort Wesinger, the creator of Green Arrow) and Diana (Wonder Woman).
- Nerves of Steel: Throughout the whole showcase, Perdita remains relatively calm and levelheaded. Presumably she was trained to keep her composure, despite being 10.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Perdita. Noticeable only because Vertigo does have a mild Eastern European accent, and because when Ariel Winter reprised the role for Young Justice (2010), Perdita suddenly gained one, too.
- Official Couple: Green Arrow and Black Canary. Ollie actually proposes to her at the end, and she accepts.
- Reimagining the Artifact: The segmented blunt looking object on the arrow seen in the picture right there? It's actually a reimagining of the boxing glove arrow. Namely in its purpose of giving Green Arrow a way to strike his enemies with a large amount of blunt force, yet not be fatal. In essence, the arrow equivalent of a rubber bullet.
- Royal Brat: Averted with Perdita. Throughout the entire short she was brave, calm, helpful, and serious.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Perdita keeps her head during the assassination attempt, and even applies a field bandage to Green Arrow when he's wounded by one of Merlyn's arrows.
- Save the Princess: Though no dragons are involved. Also, she's a queen. Which is precisely why the assassins are trying to murder her.
- Sealed with a Kiss: Ends with Oliver and Canary having a Big Damn Kiss after her Big Damn Heroes and Oliver's marriage proposal, with Perdita looking on in approval.
- Shipper on Deck: From Perdita's encouragement to Black Canary to say "yes" to Green Arrow's proposal, it appears that she ships the two.
- Shoot the Bullet: Green Arrow and Merlyn shoot simultaneous shots at each other. Green Arrow's arrow shatters Merlyn's, cuts his bowstring, slices his cheek and hits the wall behind him and releases a cloud of Knockout Gas.
- Shoot the Fuel Tank: Merlyn tries to kill Green Arrow by firing a flaming arrow into a fuel tanker, which explodes.
- Shown Their Work: The conveyor belt fight uses several real martial arts techniques, like boxing, kickboxing, and several forms of grappling. For example, Ollie attempts a textbook arm bar, and the mook counters by interlacing his fingers. When that doesn't work, he bites Ollie.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Green Arrow starts out fighting random Mooks, fights one who's almost Arrow's equal in a fistfight, then Merlyn (who can match him in archery), and is then completely blindsided by Count Vertigo (who cancels out his shooting skills with his powers and has to be taken out by Black Canary). Justified; the mooks are meant to take out Perdita with Merlyn as backup in case a masked hero intervenes. Vertigo only intervenes when it's clear his Evil Plan has gone arrow-shaped.
- Stealth Pun:
- Ollie drives a hybrid. As in, a green car.
- Ollie proposes to Dinah because "I can't live without you." (Black Canary having just saved his life).
- Trick Arrow: Arrows that disperse Knockout Gas and smokescreens, shatter glass, deploy a zipline or knock down mooks.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Black Canary's gives a full, sonic blast to Count Vertigo when he tries to kill her boyfriend (later fiance) and a child.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Princess Perdita is 10, dealing with her dad having been murdered, and forced to rely on a vigilante for protection during an assassination attempt. She handles it with remarkable aplomb, causing Green Arrow to remark on how brave she is.
- With This Ring: Since he's on his knees anyway after Canary's Big Damn Heroes, Oliver uses the opportunity to propose.
- Would Hurt a Child: Count Vertigo, Perdita's uncle, orchestrated the assassination attempt, because if she dies, then he will inherit the throne. Vertigo was even going to kill her, with his own hands, at the climax. He is stopped thanks to Black Canary.
