Characters / Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)

Green Arrow Main Character Index
Title Character
Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)
Supporting Cast
Black Canary | Speedy
Rogues Gallery
Cheshire

Oliver Jonas "Ollie" Queen

Green Arrow's pre-reboot design

^{Click here to see Green Arrow's early design}

^{Click here to see Green Arrow's New 52 design}

^{Click here to see Green Arrow's Rebirth design}

Debut: More Fun Comics (Vol 1) #7

"I've failed this city. I've left it alone and left the people I should be protecting exposed. I'm never going to let that happen again."

Oliver Queen is the heir of a billionaire dynasty, the Queens. Living a life of luxury, he grew up with a natural interest in archery. He idolized the famous folk hero Robin Hood and became a natural archer, becoming mildly traumatized the first time he accidentally killed an animal. His only friends growing up was Tommy Merlyn, son of business mogul Malcolm Merlyn, and Lex Luthor. Tragically, his parents would die being eaten by lions on a safari. Through his adolesence, Oliver would grow up to become a rash, drunken rich playboy. During his college years, he'd have a brief hook-up with a woman name Sandra Hawke.

Everything went awry during a boating trip in the Pacific Ocean. Partying alongside his friend Tommy, an accident occurred on the boat and Oliver washed ashore on a remote island. Having nothing but his wits and his archery skill, Oliver become a hardened survivor upon the island. He found his purpose: to become a vigilante and fight crime, becoming the Green Arrow.

Nothing much happened after that, except maybe a road trip, his adoptive son getting an addiction, breaking up with his girlfriend, getting forced to kill his best friend, finding out he had a biological son, dying to save Metropolis from a bomb, getting revived by said best friend he had killed, adopting a blonde girl, marrying Black Canary, and then losing his entire family.

He may also have gotten aged down at some point but we're not too sure.

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Oliver Queen provides the following tropes:

A-H

• Action Dad: Father of his successor Connor Hawke, the two have fought together on occasion.
• Action Politician: During One Year Later, he became the mayor of Star City to help the city through a crisis. And while he stopped being Green Arrow, he was still a Badass Normal and would still use the government resources to personally lead a local SWAT team to fight crime.
• Action Survivor: His origin story has him being trapped on an island while he was an Idle Rich. The details tend to vary, but most of the skills that he uses as Green Arrow were self-taught in there as he struggled to survive with only a bow and arrow.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: In his Golden Age origin, he was an archaeologist and expert on Native American cultures, who gained his skills as a tracker and archer through studying the ancient techniques utilized by Native hunters.
• Affectionate Nickname: He's referred to as "Ollie" by the people who are close to him.
• Age Lift: Post-Crisis, Green Arrow was aged up nearly 20 years into his 40s. The New 52 aged him down back to his 20s.
• Annoying Arrows: The meta reason that Oliver created his Trick Arrows is to avoid this trope, most famously his boxing glove arrows. Some of the Darker and Edgier incarnations do actually show the gruesome injuries an arrow can cause... or be utterly useless because the person Oliver is fighting has some kind of Super-Toughness that just lets then shrug off his normal arrows.
• Aesop Amnesia: In the New 52, Oliver learns that he needs to rely on his team and can't fight crime alone at least four separate times, and he always forgets the lesson by the next issue.
• Aloof Archer: Green Arrow is famous for being a Super Hero who uses a bow to fight villains and is considered one of the greatest Master Archers in the DC Universe. Some of his Darker and Edgier stories have him adopt a more cold and ruthless persona that is associated with archers.
• Anti-Hero: He's a Super Hero who works as The Cowl and is not afraid to go against the law if it means he can help people. He's also often depicted as being something of a black ops agent for the Justice League, doing the dirty jobs that they're not allowed to do.
• Anti-Role Model: In regards to parenting, he serves as this to Roy. Part of the reason why Roy is such a good and devoted father to Lian, and why he tends to get along so well with younger heroes like Damage, Impulse, and Rose Wilson, is because he tends to do the opposite of what Ollie would've done in the same situation when he took in Roy as his ward.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: While Oliver doesn't necessarily believe that killing is a passage into manhood, he certainly believes that the moment he stopped being a spoiled socialite with no direction in life happened after he took his first human life.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: He becomes the Mayor of Star City in the One Year Later storyline, and uses his authority to personally lead a SWAT team.
• Back from the Dead: He ended up dying during a Heroic Sacrifice to save Metropolis from eco-terrorists, but ended up being resurrected in the Quiver story arc, with Hal Jordan, as Parallax, using the last of his powers to resurrect his old friend, before he perished.
• Badass Normal: He doesn't have powers. He's just good with the bow and has lots and lots of Trick Arrows.
• Bash Brothers: He gets paired often with Hal Jordan, being once of DC's most iconic hero duos with their Vitriolic Best Buds relationship. The fact they're both Green Color Characters is just a bonus.
• Battle Couple: He and Black Canary form one of the most well-known Super Hero couples in the medium and have often shared the same book, most famously the one simply called Green Arrow/Black Canary, where they fought crime side by side. Though their relationship has been a turbulent affair due to his many faults.
• Beardness Protection Program: In Mike Grell's run on Green Arrow, he shaves his iconic beard and gets a haircut while he's on the run.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: His relationship with Black Canary often involves them trading barks and arguments, which often end up with them in bed.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even in depictions where he's more of a charming rogue, he can still become incredibly ruthless when his opponents cross a line. Famously he went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Prometheus for having killed Lian Harper, which ended with many villains dead.
• Blackmail: In the New 52, he became part of the new JLA assembled by Amanda Waller. Wasn't originally on the team, but he found out that Catwoman's a member and promised not to tell if he becomes a member.
• Bourgeois Bohemian: His liberal views can often contrast with him being an extremely wealthy man, and Depending on the Writer it can even make him look like a Hypocrite, depending on how rich and powerful he is, and how sincere and thoughtful his politics are. This is Lampshaded in issue #1 of Green Arrow (Rebirth) when Ollie takes Dinah back to his place and she's baffled to see how well off he is.
  Dinah: You call yourself a social justice warrior, but look at this apartment. Look at this life!
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Judd Winick had Oliver spend the year following Infinite Crisis training to become a swordsman as well as (obviously) an archer. Robin Hood was explicitly named as the inspiration for this.
• Came Back Wrong: He ended up being The Soulless for a while after being brought Back from the Dead by Parallax, but he eventually got his soul back.
• The Casanova: He was a famous womanizing in his Millionaire Playboy days, but how much this trait still persists after his Character Development can vary Depending on the Writer. He's often still The Charmer and a Chivalrous Pervert. Most of the time he still has a steadfast devotion to his Love Interest Black Canary, but some controversial storylines had him cheating on her.
• Characterization Marches On: He was originally and for a long time after his introduction mild-mannered and apolitical - essentially a better adjusted equivalent to Batman, at a time when even Batman was more prone to smiling than his current incarnation. His left-wing politics and spikier personality generally only became part of his character in the late Sixties, nearly three decades after the character's introduction.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He manages to have near-superhuman archery skills who shoot arrows in a physically impossible manner because he was stranded on an island for several years, where the only food he could find was the island's population of extremely agile animals.
• Chick Magnet: He's a Hunk who has no problem getting attention from women, even when he's not being characterized as The Casanova. This got him in trouble once when a woman he saved actually ended up falling for him and she became so fixated on him she become an insane Stalker with a Crush and turned into the villainess Cupid, who would go on to try to kill Black Canary so she could have Oliver for herself.
• Clark Kenting: Ollie's beard style is not quite unique, but rare enough so that anyone who cared could make the connection as his mask covers very little of his face. A few stories suggest that his Secret Identity is something of an Open Secret and that he mostly relies on Implausible Deniability to avoid legal trouble. Amusingly Ollie gave up on even bothering to wear his domino mask for quite some time because of this. Quite a few heroes and villains have easily recognized him:
  • Mia Lampshaded his poor disguise when she began working with him by walking up to him in his civilian identity and pointing out that he was obviously Green Arrow.
  • In one case a police officer that'd been working with Green Arrow showed up at Oliver Queen's house, and when asked how he found out his identity, said that he didn't realize it was supposed to be a secret.
  • In the Mike Grell run, the CIA is able to figure out who he is because of this. Shado and The Seattle Police Department did not even realize he was attempting to hide his identity.
• Color Character: Green Arrow. He's also sometimes called the "Emerald" Archer.
• Color-Coded Eyes: As is appropriate for someone called Green Arrow and a green color motif, he also has green eyes, which he has passed on, somewhat improbably, to both of his sons, including the adopted one. The sexy-connotations certainly apply as well, just ask Black Canary or one of his other love interests.
• Color Motifs: Most of his clothing and equipment are colored green, and he's heavily associated with the color in general.
• Comic-Book Time: There's no telling what Oliver's actual physical age is at this point or how long he's been Green Arrow. Between a Retcon which set Connor Hawke's birth as being just after Ollie became Green Arrow (Connor had previously been the result of a relationship Ollie had in college), Ollie's being reborn into a younger body in Green Arrow: Quiver and his latest origin story seeming to abandon Ollie's hippie background, it's impossible to get a fix. Following Flashpoint his age is given as 25-26, and by Wally West's claim that everyone had ten years of their lives taken away, would imply that Ollie prior to Flashpoint was 35.
• Cool Car: The "Arrowcar" that was similar to Batman's "Batmobile". The Arrow-Car was introduced during the time when Green Arrow comics mostly followed a similar formula as Batman (sans the depth and tragedy). However, it was in use for many years and there were several versions of it, all with various upgrades and re-designs. After Oliver lost his fortune, the Arrow-Car became too expensive to keep and he decided to destroy it.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He frequently has a possessive attitude towards Black Canary and is paranoid about any men getting close to her, much to her annoyance.
• The Conscience: Sometimes plays this role to the Justice League, often being the first one to speak out when they act too authoritarian and reminds them they're supposed to be a force of good for the people, and not to control their lives.
• Crimefighting with Cash: Per Oliver Queen's Post-Crisis origin, as presented in Green Arrow: The Wonder Year, Ollie's original motivations for fighting crime basically came down to "Because I'm Bored and Because I Can". He later found more noble motivations, though. And in the most recent retellings of his origins (such as Green Arrow: Year One and his New 52 incarnation) he always had a noble heart and a desire to help people.
• The Cowl: Darker and Edgier stories usually have him operating as this type of Super Hero, being a Vigilante Man who is hell-bent on cleaning up the corrupt Star City by using terror tactics against villains and criminals.
• Darker and Edgier: Outside of comics, during the last decade, Green Arrow has gone from a Kid-Appeal Character, arguably The Heart and Chivalrous Pervert at worst, to the more iffy Vigilante Man who ended up killing Lex Luthor, to now a Deconstruction of sorts of Ollie's usual MO, modeled after the Mike Grell take from the comics.
• Death Is Cheap: In the Quiver story arc Oliver comes Back from the Dead after being resurrected by Hal Jordan, as Parallax, before Hal's own death. Queen later meets Hal on a trip to the after-life, although Jordan has since taken on the role of The Spectre. When later mentioning to Batman of Jordan's involvement, Batman replied, "It seems none of our former allies know how to stay dead."
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Oliver Queen deconstructs the Nominal Hero. Oliver was a spoiled rich kid who was stranded on an island and forced to learn how to survive by himself. Eventually, his experience changed him, and Oliver decided to use his skills for good as a superhero, Green Arrow. However, despite being genuine in doing good as a hero, Oliver is also a very selfish man, and you can also argue that despite being a hero, he isn't a very good person himself, showing that his experience on the island hasn't completely broken him of his selfish habits. As a result of his selfishness and thoughtlessness, Oliver's personal and professional lives are a wreck because of his behavior and actions. Oliver is constantly cheating on his longtime girlfriend, Black Canary (Dinah Lance), neglecting his sidekick and ward Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow I (Roy Harper), abandoning his biological son Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke) at birth, and lying to Connor that he did not know he was his son when they met and Connor became his sidekick. Oliver also, at times, doesn't have a great relationship with his superhero colleagues because of his smug tendencies and boorish behavior. Eventually, Oliver realized how harmful his behavior was to his loved ones and colleagues and eventually started cleaning up his act; he stopped cheating on his girlfriend and worked to be a better boyfriend to Black Canary, who eventually believed he had changed and married him. Oliver worked to be a better father figure to Roy and Connor, who eventually reconnected and forgave him. He also worked on being a better superhero and building a better relationship with his friends and colleagues. But things went crashing down in the "Cry for Justice" & "Rise and Fall" storylines, where Oliver murders Prometheus for destroying Star City and causing the death of his adopted granddaughter, Lian Harper. His family washes their hands off him, with his wife returning her wedding ring and declaring their marriage over and Roy and Connor telling him they are through with him. It's implied that Oliver killing Prometheus is the last straw for his family, and his mistreatment of them is the main reason they leave him. This ultimately shows that being a superhero for selfish reasons and not being a good person will ultimately destroy the hero's personal life, and the hero needs to work on being both a better person and a better hero so he can have a good social life or else the hero selfish actions will catch up to him. Oliver himself accepted that his selfish actions destroyed his relationship with his family and believes they’re better off without him. He decides to work on being a better person and a better hero all by himself as he works as a solo hero in Star City.
• Defector from Paradise: The titular character was resurrected without a soul, as well as any memories of his past during his more cynical years. He seemed to get along fine without it and his soul rested peacefully in Heaven. However, his lack of a soul made him a gateway for possession by powerful demons, which would be a very bad thing for the entire world. He eventually convinced his soul (still in Heaven at the time) to come back to his body to save his son from being killed by demonic conjurers.
• Depending on the Artist: Whether he wears a hat or a hood.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • How much of a womanizer he is, how unpleasant he is (on a sliding scale from "bit of a tool, but otherwise okay" to "world-class asshole"), and whether or not he's the sort of man to abandon his illegitimate child.
  • His Official Couple relationship with Dinah Lance/Black Canary. Either they are one of the most loving, passionate Battle Couples in The DCU who have had a few bumps but worked through it, or they are a toxic and mutually abusive mess who treat each other horribly. It happens frequently enough that shippers have to ignore significant portions of their history together.
• Domino Mask: His preferred method of identity concealment.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Infamously, the villainess Shado shot him with an arrow and while he was delirious with fever from a medication, ended up raping him while he apparently thought he was having sex with Black Canary the whole time (which Shado was aware of since he kept saying Dinah's name). This eventually even led to her becoming pregnant and having a Child by Rape, Robert, as the result of the rape. Over the years, different writers on Green Arrow comics have subsequently taken different positions about whether the sex was consensual or not. Some, (in particular Judd Winick) referred to the event as an example of Oliver cheating on Dinah, with Dinah herself being unsympathetic to Oliver due to him "responding" to Shado. Later, another writer had Dinah take the opposite stance while discussing marrying Oliver with Oracle, as when Oracle brought up Shado, Dinah angrily rejected the notion that he was to blame and outright said Shado raped him.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: He was originally clean-shaven and sported a simpler, far less detailed costume. His iconic design and goatee were not introduced until The '70s, when he adopted a radically new look in the pages of Justice League of America.
• Expressive Mask: His Irisless Domino Mask can move depending on what he's doing with his eyes.
• Expy:
  • Obviously, he's a Super Hero version of Robin Hood, with the archery skills, green color scheme, Riches to Rags backstory, womanizing and Chivalrous Pervert personalities and champions to the lower classes. Most specifically, his creator Mort Weisinger was first inspired by another Robin Hood expy, The Green Archer from a series of books and films by Edgar Wallace.
  • In a rare case of evolving into another Expy, Green Arrow and Speedy were transformed into archery-themed versions of Batman and Robin in The Silver Age after starting out as an Adventurer Archaeologist and Boy Adventurer respectively in The Golden Age. Several of Oliver's traits were explicitly borrowed from Bruce Wayne/Batman, such as a both being Millionaire Playboy with tragic backstories that developed their superhero skills via training and use their money to fight crime. They also both have: Kid Sidekicks (Roy Harper/Speedy and Dick Grayson/Robin), a Thememobile (the Arrowcar and the Batmobile) and a secret Elaborate Underground Base (Arrowcave and the Batcave). Decades of Divergent Character Evolution (and teen sidekicks becoming standard for a DC hero) have turned Loliver from straight-up "Batman but with arrows!" to his own person but he was very much the same character once.
• Failure Hero: In the New 52, Ollie can't seem to do anything right. He tries his best, but the few issues he's ever able to solve are usually issues that he caused to begin with due to his incompetence or general stupidity. Most notably, blindly signing off on Aaron Zimm's Panopticon drones ends up causing the deaths of dozens of innocent people simply because he literally didn't bother to read what he was signing.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Depending on the Writer, Ollie doesn't have a great reputation among the superhero community due to his smug tendencies and boorish behavior. At his worst moments, he could mainly snag the help of his closest friend Hal Jordan strictly because Jordan did a lot worse during his universe-ending stint as Parallax.
• Freudian Excuse: In one retcon, Oliver was shown to have suffered Parental Neglect as a child. As an adult he became a stereotypical bored rich man who spent most of his time avoiding responsibility. After losing all his money he lost the one thing that made him happy, and tried to compensate for it by gaining the love of the masses as a hero for the poor and downtrodden of society. When in reality, he just wants to be loved, but even when he has friends and a family, and he doesn't know how to genuinely hold on to them and gradually drives them away with his jerkass attitude. He doesn't care about social ills, he wants to play the hero so people will love him. He wants love, but he's not very good at returning it in healthy ways.
• Gentleman Adventurer: He started out this way. When he then lost his fortune, he suffered an identity crisis over whether he'd been superheroing out of a legitimate desire to do good, or just for fun. He thereafter became a much more passionate and socially-conscious do-gooder.
• The Gimmick: Being a Master Archer Super Hero with Trick Arrows and Robin Hood comparisons.
• Good Is Not Nice: Deconstruction. While Oliver is ultimately a force for good, he has never been particularly nice about it. On his best days, he's rude, arrogant, and is always convinced that his idea is better. On most days, he's a sanctimonious, elitist Jerk with a Heart of Gold. At his worst, he's a complete asshole. Oliver's personal and professional lives are a wreck because of his behavior and actions. His relationship with his friends, family and the superhero community is strained, with him constantly cheating on his long time girlfriend Black Canary (Dinah Lance), neglecting his sidekick and ward Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow I (Roy Harper), abandoning his biological son Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke) at birth and lying to Connor that he did not know he was his son when they met and Connor became his sidekick. While Oliver generally tries and usually manages to do the right thing, there are times were even his teammates at the Justice League barely tolerate him. While he made a genuine effort to be a better boyfriend and husband to his girlfriend/wife Dinah, and reconnect with Roy and Connor while being a better father to them, and was able to repair his relationship with them and become a better superhero, things went crashing down in the Cry for Justice & Rise and Fall storylines where Oliver murders Prometheus for destroying Star City and causing the death of his adopted granddaughter Lian Harper. His family washes their hands of him, with his wife returning her wedding ring and declaring their marriage over and Roy and Connor telling him they are through with him. It's implied that Oliver killing Prometheus is the last straw for his family and his mistreatment of them was the main cause of them leaving him. Oliver accepted that his behavior drove his family away and decided to work on himself to be a better hero and person as he protected Star City by himself.
• Guile Hero: Being just a Badass Normal. He often uses his archery skills in creative ways in order to defeat his most dangerous opponents. He even created most of the Trick Arrows that he uses all by himself.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted in the Battle Couple dynamic he has with his Love Interest Black Canary, as she is a close-combat Action Girl to contrast to his specialty with archery.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's a blonde who's famous for his charming personality and his dedication to help the poor and innocent.
• Handicapped Badass: Oliver Queen's appearance in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns story—he may be old, and without an arm, but he can still shoot arrows just fine.
• Hands-Off Parenting:
  • This is what he amounted to when he took in Roy Harper. While they spent plenty of time fighting bad guys together, out of costume Ollie had barely any presence in Roy's life and was pretty oblivious to what was going on with him, including the crippling sense of abandonment and loneliness building up inside Roy that led to his heroin addiction.
  • Ollie is also this in "Hard-Traveling Heroes", much to the ire of his son Connor.
• Handsome Lech: He has a history of being a philanderer, which was especially problematic when he was in a relationship with Black Canary.
• Headbutting Heroes: Ollie, a liberal, often had heated rivalry with fellow colleagues who had more conservative views, such as Barry Allen, Hawkman and even Superman. But most famously he has this relationship with his Vitriolic Best Buds Hal Jordan/Green Lantern since The Bronze Age of Comic Books. While Oliver was a rebellious, radical Vigilante Man who believes in sticking it to the man and helping people even if he has to go against the law, which contrasts with Hal who was a straight-laced, by-the-book Space Police who has great faith that the system will always be there to help anyone in need. There was even an entire story arc that explored their relationship, the "Hard-Travelling Heroes" arc, where the two heroes paired on a Road Trip Plot across America and find out what happened to the "American dream."
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Being a Vigilante Man, Green Arrow is not always a beloved public figure in Star City.
• Hero with an F in Good: At his worst, he's this. He'll eventually do the right thing (operative word being "eventually"), but not without lots of self-aggrandizing gloating, probably fucking one of his side pieces behind Dinah's back, probably making a bunch of promises to his allies that he drops the ball on delivering, definitely making a bunch of promises to Roy and/or Connor that he drops the ball on delivering, and generally just being a massive douche. Ollie may definitely be one of the good guys, but he is most certainly not a good guy himself.
• Holier Than Thou: He's rather infamous for his arrogance, preachiness and self-righteousness when talking about his political views to others which often led to Headbutting Heroes scenarios with his colleagues and co-workers.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Oliver started out this way before he evolved beyond being a Batman Expy.
• Hunk: He is very handsome and has a muscular body and broad shoulders.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Those quivers of his sure hold a lot more arrows than it looks.
• Hypocrite: Ollie has a history of not practicing what he preaches and condemning people for things he himself had done if he hasn't done worse. Case in point, he spent most of the first issue of The Flash (Infinite Frontier) trying to force Wally West to quit being the Flash after the events of Heroes in Crisis and while he's unaware that Roy was among those who came back after Dark Nights: Death Metal, this still ignores that one: Wally wasn't in control of himself with the cover-up (Thawne screwed with his mind), two: Ollie had a history of Hands-Off Parenting and Roy was only in Sanctuary due to Ollie's crappy parenting, and three: Ollie himself has killed people — and unlike Wally, Ollie often did it on purpose. Barry calls him out on this. To make matters worse, the arc in question sees Wally was ultimately revealed to be innocent in the deaths themselves; the true killer was Savitar, who attempted to hijack the Speed Force, so not only was Ollie being a hypocrite, he was revealed to be blaming an innocent man.

I-Z

• Identical Stranger: Travis Morgan, the lead character of The Warlord, looks like a white-haired version of Ollie. In fact, during Warlord creator Mike Grell's tenure as writer of Green Arrow, he wrote an issue where Travis ends up in Seattle during one of his trips out of Skartaris and ends up having to team up with Ollie and Dinah after being accosted by several criminals mistaking him for Ollie after a crime boss put a bounty on Ollie's head.
• Idle Rich: Used to just be a Millionaire Playboy before he got stuck in a deserted island and was forced to become an Action Survivor, which changed his entire worldview. Oliver still invokes this to hide his activities as Green Arrow and maintain his Secret Identity.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He's a self-trained Super Hero whose gimmick is being a Master Archer. Oliver himself has boasted that he never misses, and he has been shown to make some impossible shots such as hitting targets without directly looking at them, hitting a drop of water coming out of a faucet or being able to hit on target even while in midair or off balance. If it looks like he missed then it's likely a case of him pulling an Exactly What I Aimed At. They have, at times, been depicted as so implausibly good, some people theorize that they actually have psychokinesis and are simply using it to show off by making it look like they're the world's greatest archers. The fact that the artists and writers of their titles usually don't do very much research into how archers actually even hold their bows drives it home for a lot of people.
• In the Blood: The New 52 adds this element to Oliver's backstory in regards to his Master Archer skills, revealing his family comes from a long line of archers, and is descended from the Arrow Clan.
• In the Hood: He wore a hood as part of his Super Hero costume during the Mike Grell series The Longbow Hunters and the following Green Arrow monthly series (1980s and 1990s run). Black Canary designed it for him so he wouldn't catch a chill in Seattle's rainy clime. Since he had abandoned his trick and gadget arrows for broadheads instead, it was a better fit for a darker and grittier Green Arrow than the old "Robin Hood" hat from the Golden Age. Initially he still wore his Domino Mask underneath the hood, but after enough people explain that they already know who he is, he gives up the mask and wears only the hood. Depending on the Artist, it still hid the face—it was the beard that defeated the whole purpose of it all.
• Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery: The Domino Mask he usually wears completely covers his eyes.
• Jerkass: Ollie has had his moments which range in the many, from being a self-important moralist, to a morally ambiguous Anti-Hero to an outright douchebag throughout his career.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his snarky attitude and general smugness, few would dispute that Oliver Queen's heart is in the right place regardless of where his head might be stuck.
• Just Like Robin Hood: He does this Depending on the Writer. Of course, Green Arrow also helps the poor through things like governmental power (he's been mayor of his Adventure Town) or business (anti-Big Business multi-millionaire fighter. Irony) and of course fighting crime.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Used as part of a training upgrade to (temporarily) defeat Deathstroke. Ultimately it was rejected by many fans, who could accept a Just Like Robin Hood hero using a sword... just not a Katana.
• Ladykiller in Love: He's incredibly devoted to Black Canary, despite his past as The Casanova and his Chivalrous Pervert persona.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Deconstruction. During the Cry for Justice & Rise and Fall storyline where Green Arrow I (Oliver Queen) murders Prometheus for destroying Star City and causing the death of his adopted granddaughter Lian Harper. During Oliver's capture and trial, his family washes their hands of him, with his wife Black Canary (Dinah Lance) returning her wedding ring and declaring their marriage over. His adopted son Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow I (Roy Harper) and biological son Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke) tell him they are through with him. It is implied that Oliver killing Prometheus is the last straw, with Oliver constantly cheating on Dinah, his neglect of Roy, and his abandonment of Connor and lying that he did not know he was his son was the main cause of them leaving Oliver. However, before that storyline Oliver Queen works hard to repair his relationships with them, and they had forgiven him before. It is also implied that they had been traumatized by the events of the story, Star City being destroyed for Dinah, the lost of his daughter for Roy, Connor being in a coma and losing and regaining his memories, and with the resentment, they have for Oliver despite forgiving him, they all lash out at Oliver.
• Lethal Chef:
  • "Ollie's Stupendous Chili Recipe" is intolerably spicy for even Superman. Even with his vaunted willpower Hal Jordan (one of Ollie's best friends) couldn't finish it. On the bright side, The Flash was able to adapt it into a weapon for fighting Captain Cold. However, Batman is able to eat it with a smile on his face and just go, "Hrm... it could use more crackers."
  • The Flash (Infinite Frontier) reveals Ollie is equally bad at making coffee.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: After a Heroic Sacrifice to thwart an eco-terrorist attack on Metropolis left his arm stuck in a bomb, he refused to allow Superman to amputate his arm, because he couldn't live with himself if could never use a bow again, so he ended up dying... for a while.
• Long-Lost Relative: In the New 52 volume, he discovers that he has a younger Japanese half-sister named Emiko.
• Lost at Sea: He was shipwrecked and stranded on a Deserted Island for a significant amount of time in his backstory.
• Love Makes You Stupid: He is very prone to making dumb decisions when loved ones are involved.
• Made of Iron: Ollie is just a Badass Normal has survived getting diced up by super-assassin Deathstroke, hit with an RPG, and battered around by superpowered opponents like Hawkman.
• Man of the City: He is this to his hometown of Star City, both as a crimefighter and a crusader for social reform. One arc even had him successfully running for Mayor in order to help the city rebuild after a major supervillain attack.
• The Masochism Tango: While his relationship with Dinah Lance/Black Canary often has a Slap-Slap-Kiss dynamic, it has been interpreted as this Depending on the Writer, with her having problems with her relationship with Oliver. Oliver, despite wanting to make things right, keeps doing and saying the wrong things. At times, you wonder why they are even still together.
• Master Archer: He is most definitely the The DCU's best archer, and has trained many younger characters to follow in his footsteps. His first origin story was that of an archaeologist who studied Native American fighting techniques before it was retconned into getting stranded on a deserted island and teaching himself archery to survive. The end result is a nigh-superhuman ability at shooting arrows that strikes fear in the hearts of supervillains and allows him to keep up with his superpowered peers.
• Master Swordsman: After Infinite Crisis Oliver started to train with swords and became quite skilled with it and has even shown to be able to deflect arrows directed at him with his sword.
• Millionaire Playboy: Oliver Queen, for much of his history. When his fortune was stolen from him in the 1970s, it fully completed his shift to the liberal man of the people. He's regained money lately, but as the head of a number of charities.
• Mistaken for Cheating: At one point, when Dinah is teaming up with Ray Terrill (The Ray), Oliver gets jealous and accuses her of cradle robbing, especially since Ray seems to have a crush on her. Dinah responds by kissing Ollie...and then when Ray leaves, punching him.
• Mistaken for Superpowered: A few characters have even speculated In-Universe that his Improbable Aiming Skills might be a metahuman ability that activated when he got stranded on the deserted island, but he's actually just a Badass Normal who developed his Master Archer skills via training.
• Money Dumb: Depending on the Writer, due to being a Millionaire Playboy for most of his life, he's portrayed as being very bad with finance and spends way outside his means during stories where he goes from Riches to Rags.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's often depicted as a handsome man with a Hunk physique and has gotten his fair share of Shirtless Scenes over many continuities. In Green Arrow (Rebirth), Ollie's good looks are perhaps emphasized more here than they've ever been. Otto Schmidt, a pinup artist, especially draws Ollie in this way.
• Multishot: Par for the course for a Master Archer, he can shoot multiple arrows at once, and with deadly accuracy.
• My Greatest Failure: Modern stories tend to depict his handling of Roy's drug addiction as this. While, at the time, he handled it very badly, he himself didn't think so. Modern stories depict him as feeling guilty about his bad parenting of Roy driving him to drugs, as well as his failure to manage it as a big regret of his.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ollie's New 52 backstory has this, too. He was holding a party on a Queen Industries oil rig that was taken hostage by a mad bomber. He first picked up the bow and arrow in an effort to take the guy out without risking anyone's death... and ended up setting off his explosives, killing nearly everyone else on the rig (including his girlfriend) and getting blown out to sea by the blast, where he washed up on the familiar desert island.
• Noble Shoplifter: In City Walls, although the city is without power and looting is rampant, Green Arrow insists that his people leave payment whenever they take food or weapons from a store.
• Non-Idle Rich: Oliver comes from a rich family and used to be a Millionaire Playboy, but after his origins story, he began to dedicate himself and his money towards crime-fighting.
• Non-Powered Costumed Hero: He's a Super Hero who wears a Robin Hood-themed green costume and is a Badass Normal that fights crime with just a bow. The closest thing he has to supernatural powers are his Trick Arrows.
• Not Wearing Tights: During the Mike Grell run, he rarely used his Super Hero uniform.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: He sometimes had had to use his teeth to draw back his bowstring, mainly if he has one arm immobilized.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He sometimes still acts as a Millionaire Playboy in his civilian persona in order to hide the fact he's actually a Super Hero with a Secret Identity.
• Official Couple: With Black Canary. While they're often on a Relationship Revolving Door, they're have still always been each other's only Love Interest that was treated as a serious relationship.
• One-Man Army: Courtesy of his extremely high-level skills in ranged and melee combat, Oliver is capable of fighting off large numbers of people singlehandedly.
• One-Note Cook: Ollie makes a mean bowl of chili.
• Papa Wolf: While he might have had many issues as a parental figure, he's still incredibly protective of his children. The man walked out of Paradise to save his son's life.
• Parental Abandonment: During his time as a Millionaire Playboy, he impregnated Sandra Hawke but was dismissive of her, thinking she was only a Gold Digger that was pulling a Baby Trap on him, forcing Sandra to raise the young Connor until she also eventually left him to be raised at the Ashram Monastery. Oliver would come to regret his decision when he met his estranged son, years later.
• Parental Neglect:
  • Depending on the Writer, he has been a distant father figure to his biological son Connor Hawke and to his Kid Sidekick Roy Harper, whom he's supposed to be a Parental Substitute for. According to Brad Meltzer, he was present at Connor's birth but ducked out on actually having to raise him and he stopped being there for Roy for a month, which led to his infamous drug habit. In Fall Of The Green Arrow, both of them turn him away when he asks for their help, calling him out on his selfish behavior toward them.
  • Flashbacks in the Third Volume of Ollie's book implied that Ollie and his mother were similarly ignored by his father, despite being taken care of financially.
• Parental Substitute: To his sidekicks, Roy and Mia.
• Perma-Stubble: In the New 52 he goes for this look instead, thereby bypassing the Clark Kenting problem of his Secret Identity.
• Protectorate: His hometown of Star City is the place he's sworn to protect, and even uses his influence as Oliver Queen to try to make it a better place. He even got into politics once and got elected mayor.
• Really Gets Around: Oliver Queen has a mostly undeserved reputation for having trouble keeping his arrow in his quiver. While it is true that Oliver was every bit the player Bruce Wayne pretends to be before becoming a superhero, he was characterized as being downright devout and at times downright possessive regarding then-girlfriend Black Canary throughout the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics. His characterization as a womanizer didn't begin until shortly after his death in the mid-1990s and he never cheated on Black Canary until Judd Winick started writing the character.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During the Cry for Justice & Rise and Fall storyline, where Green Arrow I (Oliver Queen) murders Prometheus for destroying Star City and causing the death of his adopted granddaughter Lian Harper, both his wife Black Canary (Dinah Lance) and adopted son Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow I (Roy Harper) cut ties with Oliver, both telling him they're done with him.
  • In Green Arrow #32, Dinah calls him out for all the problems he caused and driving her away:
  Dinah Lance: Stop. I said Stop. Ollie, I didn't come here for any answers or explanations. And I certainly didn't come for any more of your apologies. You've always found a way to put things between us. Now, this glass is making it literally true.
  Oliver Queen: What are you talking about?
  Dinah Lance: I'm talking about you, Ollie. The way you always managed to find some way to mess it all up.
  Oliver Queen: That's crazy.
  Dinah Lance: It goes back to our days in Seattle. We were perfectly happy— so you started talking about getting married and having a family. You let me feel guilty for not wanting to have children. Then ashamed for not being able to. But the truth is—you never wanted to be a father. You ran out on Connor the day he was born. When that whore of an assassin Shado told you about your other son, Robert, you didn't seem interested there either. Face it, Ollie. Lying about this was just another wedge to drive me away.
  Oliver Queen: It wasn't like that, Dinah. I... I killed somebody. Don't you realize that? I murdered Prometheus. I crossed a line, and I can never take it back.
  Dinah Lance: Please. You crossed that line a long time ago, Ollie. It's old hat. But I know something you can take back.
  [Dinah put down her wedding ring.]
  Oliver Queen: Dinah no.
  Dinah Lance: I can't. Out on the streets, I never give up. I never quit. But I can't fight this— not anymore. Deep down, you always wanted to be alone. Congratulations, Ollie. You win.
  [Dinah leaves and Oliver looks at her wedding ring.]
  • In Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #2, Roy calls Oliver out on being a bad father to him:
  Roy Harper: Are you friggin' kidding me? You're in jail—big deal. Look at me, Ollie. Look at Me! I lost my arm. Prometheus maimed me, but none of it even registers because she's gone. Lian's dead My… My… …My little girl.
  Oliver Queen: I know, Roy. I'm so sorry. I'd do anything to bring her back anything. I tried to make it right— make him pay. But killing Prometheus didn't change a thing.
  Roy Harper: Maybe for you. But it would have changed everything for me. Getting back at Prometheus was the only thing I had left anymore. He took my arm. He took Lian. But you took my revenge from me, Ollie. What now? You tell me. What am I supposed to do now?
  Oliver Queen: The same thing we always have— you keep going. It's all we can do. I might be behind bars, but that doesn't mean I won't be here for you.
  Roy Harper: Seriously? You're here for me? Ollie, you've never been there for me. Maybe when it was convenient for you, but never when it really mattered. It's the same with me as it is with Connor, or even Mia for that matter. You're no father— you just like to pretend you are from time to time. And that's why you'll never understand what I'm going though right now. You don't know what it's like to be a father— to really be a father.
  Oliver Queen: Roy, listen—
  Roy Harper: Listen? To what? You can't help me Ollie. You can't even help yourself.
• Red Baron: The Emerald Archer.
• Red Boxing Gloves: (In)famously uses these as part of his Trick Arrow arsenal.
• Ret-Canon: The success of Arrow has led to several aspects of the show being introduced to his character:
  • The idea that Oliver was stranded on the island for years, and that the island, far from being deserted, was the site of a conspiracy that Oliver gets involved with.
  • Oliver's parents, Moira and Robert Queen, who were never particularly important in the comics, become more important, following on from their portrayals on the show. In particular, the latter is significantly involved in Green Arrow's origin, much like on the show.
• Ret-Gone: The Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy "never existed" in the new Earth history post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. This has caused some problems for the Seven Soldiers of Victory continuity when it's referenced — until the Stargirl Spring Break Special restored them to the team's history via saying Ollie and Roy were sent back in time during a battle with the Clock King.
• Riches to Rags: Happens to him in the first arc of Green Arrow (Rebirth), where his fortune is stolen by a conspiracy of slavers, ruthless business executives , and bankers. For elaborate reasons Ollie ends up destroying his fortune instead of reclaiming it. He does reclaim it at the end of the run
• Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Started off as, at best, a "limousine liberal" until writer Dennis O'Neil introduced a storyline in which Oliver Queen lost his fortune. A few nights on the street dealing with the social services net from the bottom radically altered Green Arrow's politics, leading to him becoming an outspoken champion of the poor and oppressed, as a cross between Robin Hood and Abbie Hoffman.
• Rocket Punch: The most infamous of his Trick Arrow is the boxing glove arrows, which basically function like a rocket punch. It mostly exists to prevent Annoying Arrows and for Rule of Funny.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He's a Vigilante Man who doesn't like rules or laws get in the way of him helping people.
• Secret Identity: He has gone back and forth on whether or not he has one or doesn't have one. It's hinted in in some continuities that his secret identity isn't really all that secret and most people are just polite enough to not bring it up. The goatee probably doesn't help.
  • Originally, he had one until about mid-way through the Mike Grell run, when he was outed by the United States government after being framed for espionage. After sacrificing himself to save the city of Metropolis, he was given a full-page obituary on the front page of The Daily Planet, which identified Oliver Queen as Green Arrow. This was used as proof of Oliver's death in Green Arrow: Quiver, when Batman was trying to prove to the clone Ollie that he was/had been dead.
  • After Judd Winick took over the series post-Green Arrow: Quiver, Oliver Queen suddenly had a secret identity again. No explanation was given for why Oliver Queen suddenly showed up in Star City again at the same time the original Green Arrow returned and nobody - except for Mia Dearden - made the connection.
  • Oliver's secret identity was outed AGAIN, following Cry For Justice, just before he was put on trial for the murder of Prometheus.
  • As of September 2011, he has a secret identity. AGAIN.
• Sex God: His relationship with Dinah Lance / Black Canary has been a tumultuous one, with many of his flaws often driving Dinah nuts, but one thing she never complains about is bedroom prowess, as Oliver has consistently been portrayed as a satisfying and selfless lover. To the point it's a Running Gag that he gets her to release loud sonic orgasms and she once quipped that him talking is her least favorite use for his mouth. DC writer Creator/Kevin Smith once joked that "Oliver Queen just knows how to make the ladies quiver. Especially when he hits the bullseye."
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: As a modern-day Robin Hood, Green Arrow is frequently depicted as believing this. In the Green Arrow (Rebirth) books, the fact that The Ninth Circle abducts homeless people and sells them off to the highest bidder angers Green Arrow far more than their attempts to kill him and frame his secret identity for murder.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: His costume is generally sleeveless, though he has arm guards and gauntlets.
• The Soulless: When he was first brought Back from the Dead by Parallax, he resurrected without a soul, as well as any memories of his past during his Darker and Edgier years. He seemed to get along fine without it (the lack of memories made him cheerier, if anything), but his lack of a soul made him very vulnerable to Demonic Possession, which would be a very bad thing for the whole world. He eventually convinced his soul (still in Heaven at the time) to come back to his body.
• Smug Straight Edge: Oliver had a very negative view of drug dealers and users, and like many other Badass Normal, thought himself better than they were for staying straight. Then his Kid Sidekick Speedy started doing Heroin. The ensuing confrontation went... badly and Oliver more or less abandoned Roy, who had to get help from other people. Later a Retcon in the Green Arrow: Year One mini-series gave Oliver some motivation for this attitude, other than misdirected anger at himself for neglecting his sidekick - he had been injured while defending the enslaved population of a tropical island turned drug-farm and the only painkiller available to the woman who treated his wounds was heroin. Ollie just barely survived the withdrawal, which left him wondering how anyone could willingly subject themselves to such an experience.
• Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Oliver is of the Rich Kid Turned Social Activist variety and tends to use his money to try to help Star City.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Oliver Queen is one of the most famous archer Super Heroes and a Trope Codifier to many things associated with them, suck as the Trick Arrows.
• Straw Character: Depending on the Writer, he's a pure Straw Liberal, constantly getting on everyone else's case for making compromises and not doing more to help those around the world stuck in dire circumstances while often failing to practice what he preaches.
• Superheroes Stay Single: He and his Official Love Interest Black Canary tried to avert this when they tried to get married but the Mike Grell era signaled the end of their relationship. Their 2007 marriage proved to be unpopular and was quickly ended by the events of Justice League: Cry for Justice. They've been on a Relationship Revolving Door ever since.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: Oliver barely aged a day since The '70s, despite Roy Harper and Connor Hawke both obviously growing up and visibly aging, with Roy even having a kid of his own.
• Taught by Experience: In some versions of Green Arrow's origin, he develops his incredible archery as a result of being stranded on a desert island and having to learn how to use a bow in order to survive.
• Thememobile: The Arrowcar, a customized car with a light arrow motif that he used in some of his earlier and goofiest stories.
• Thicker Than Water: In the original storyline where Connor Hawke was revealed to be Oliver Queen's long-lost son, Oliver didn't take the news well since Connor had concealed the fact from him and the only reason Ollie found out was that a Parallax-possessed Hal Jordan accidentally mentioned the fact. Granting that Ollie's paranoia was somewhat-justified (he was a wanted man at the time), and Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't, but Ollie's desire to abandon his son was treated like a grievous flaw.
• Thou Shall Not Kill:
  • Ollie was originally very against killing and it's why he uses so many trick arrows, like the infamous boxing glove arrow, instead of actual arrows. During the O'Neil/Adams run, Ollie accidentally killed someone because his aim was thrown off by an injury. He gave up the superhero life and went to a monastery until Green Lantern and others convinced him to return. He famously made an exception for Prometheus after the latter attacked Star City with a Kill Sat and killed thousands, including his granddaughter Lian Harper.
  • Averted during Mike Grell's run, where Green Arrow began using lethal force regularly after killing a man who was torturing Black Canary. The series flip-flopped on how he felt about killing, sometimes doing it casually and other times feeling remorseful about it. Once his series ended, the events and characterization have been ignored.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • His time on the island graduated him from a Millionaire Playboy to a Badass Normal Master Archer with Improbable Aiming Skills.
  • After the events of One Year Later, he felt his close combat skills were subpar and took lessons in martial arts and sword-fighting, which started Green Arrows' depictions of him with a Bow and Sword in Accord.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Ollie really, really likes chili, which is apparently due to his mother making it for him often as a child. He famously has a chili recipe that he loves but most other characters find it far too spicy.
• Trick Arrow: The Trope Maker. Oliver has a wide variety of specialized arrows that he designed and created himself (or with his company's money). They range from EMP, explosives, poisoned, flash grenades, grappling, glue, ice and more. He can develop incredibly specific arrows to fight specific individuals, such as a Kryptonite arrow for Kryptonians.
• *Twang* Hello: A frequent method of greeting for Oliver Queen.
• Vigilante Man: Oliver usually has little faith in the system, so as Green Arrow he works outside the law in order to combat crime and injustice.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • With Hal Jordan/Green Lantern since when they teamed up in a series of socially relevant stories in which the "by-the-book" Hal and "plays by his own rules" Ollie deal with issues like racism, political corruption, pollution, and overpopulation.
  • He and Hawkman have a famously Headbutting Heroes relationship, but once when they both been brought back to life, meet up at the Justice Society brownstone. Everyone else feared a fight will break out, only to find the two laughing hysterically over Batman impersonations and admitting that they missed each other.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Oliver is boisterous and loud while Connor is stoic and aloof.
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: He uses his money in order to fund his activities as Green Arrow, such as his many Trick Arrows or his "Arrowcar".

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