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Green Arrow, a DC Comics superhero, has appeared in media other than comic books since 1973, including animated shows, live-action productions, and video games.
| Adaptations of Green Arrow in other media | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Original source | Comics published by DC Comics |
| First appearance | More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941) |
| Films and television | |
| Television show(s) |
|
Animated
Filmation's Green Arrow series
In the 1960s, studio Filmation considered making a Green Arrow animated series following the success of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, but the plans were cancelled when CBS secured the animation rights to Batman in the wake of ABC's recent success with the Batman live action television series.[1][2]
Super Friends
Green Arrow appears in the Super Friends episode "Gulliver's Gigantic Goof", voiced by Norman Alden. This version is a member of the Justice League of America.
Justice League Unlimited
Green Arrow appears in Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Kin Shriner.[3] This version was recruited into the League after the Thanagarian invasion that occurred at the end of the previous series. He was initially reluctant to do so due to preferring to fight smaller-scale crimes, but accepted after helping defeat a nuclear monster in Asia. Additionally, he serves as a prominent voice of the team due to his strong left-wing political conviction and advocacy, which are key reasons why the Justice League insisted on recruiting him. Speedy also appears in the episode "Patriot Act", being summoned alongside Crimson Avenger to help stop Wade Eiling. While Green Arrow refers to Speedy as his "ex-sidekick", Speedy prefers the term "ex-partner".
The Batman
Green Arrow appears in The Batman, voiced by Chris Hardwick.[3] This version is motivated largely by a desire for revenge against Count Vertigo, a former employee who stole his technology and used it to strand him on a desert island. He is also prominent in the series finale, "Lost Heroes", which reveals his frustrations at being ignored in favor of the super-powered members of the League.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Green Arrow appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by James Arnold Taylor.[3] This version is a friendly rival of Batman. Merlin calls upon them in "Day of the Dark Knight!" to restore Camelot and bring King Arthur back to the throne; they succeed and are nearly knighted before they begin arguing, resulting in Merlin sending them back to their own time. There are also romantic rivalries as Green Arrow shows disgust at Batman's flirting with Catwoman and blames him for her escape; Green Arrow later makes efforts to gain Black Canary's affection despite her attraction to Batman. Additionally, Blue Bowman, an alternate universe version of Green Arrow who is a member of the Crime Syndicate, appears in the episode "Deep Cover for Batman!".
DC Showcase: Green Arrow
Green Arrow appears in a self-titled short, voiced by Neal McDonough.[4] In the short, Oliver Queen is picking up Dinah Lance at the Star City Airport, intending to propose to her. However, he is forced to fight Merlyn, the League of Assassins, and Count Vertigo before doing so.
Young Justice
Green Arrow appears as a member of the JLA in Young Justice, voiced by Alan Tudyk.[5] In the pilot episode "Independence Day", Green Arrow and Speedy are late to a sidekick induction ceremony at the Hall of Justice, and Speedy mistakenly believes he will not be made an official JLA member and angrily denounces Green Arrow. Green Arrow appears again in "Infiltrator" with new sidekick Artemis, who claims to be his niece. When the villainous Light takes control of the Justice League, Green Arrow and others try to hunt and kill their apprentices. Green Arrow returns in "Salvage" to confront Red Arrow over his obsession with finding the original Speedy. When Red Arrow succeeds, Speedy is angry with Green Arrow for giving up on him. In the third season, Outsiders, Green Arrow and other Justice League members leave the group to become vigilantes and fight metahuman trafficking, in response to the United Nations' restrictions on their actions. He also attended Superboy and Miss Martian's wedding in the series finale.
Mad
Green Arrow appears in the animated sketch comedy series Mad where he tries to appeal to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman about being called "Super Friends".[citation needed][relevant?]
DC Nation Shorts
Green Arrow appears in the DC Nation Shorts on Cartoon Network, voiced by Will Friedle.
Vixen
The Arrowverse incarnation of Green Arrow appears in Vixen, voiced by Stephen Amell.[6]
Justice League Action
Green Arrow appears in Justice League Action, voiced again by Chris Diamantopoulos.[3] This version is a member of the Justice League.
Freedom Fighters: The Ray
The Arrowverse incarnation of Green Arrow appears in Freedom Fighters: The Ray, voiced by Matthew Mercer.[3]
DC Super Hero Girls
Green Arrow appears in DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Eddie Perino.[3] This version is the onstage nemesis of Zatanna involved in theatre performances and a member of the Invincibros.
Batwheels
Green Arrow appears in Batwheels, voiced by MacLeod Andrews.[7]
Live-action
Smallville
Green Arrow/Oliver Queen made his live-action debut on The CW series Smallville, played by Justin Hartley. Oliver appears near the end of the Season 6 episode "Sneeze", arriving at Metropolis to investigate LuthorCorp. Lois Lane ended up briefly being his love interest before he departed in the episode "Justice". Oliver briefly reappeared twice in the following season's episodes "Siren" and "Veritas", before becoming a series regular from Season 8 onwards.
Smallville's version of Green Arrow possesses elements of Batman, being more of an anti-hero committing morally challenged acts to reach his goals (most notably blowing up Lex Luthor's medical transport) under the belief that the ends justify the means, but after a rough start becomes a trusted ally and close friend of Clark Kent. Smallville's Green Arrow retains his many unique arrows and demonstrates expert archery skill, along with the skilled use of a retractable crossbow. He makes extensive use of an adapted PSE Archery compound bow, shot using fingers rather than an archery tab or release aid, although his gauntlets serve as both a shooting glove and an armguard. He was also given a more modern costume that had special equipment designed by his corporation, Queen Industries. As in the comics, Oliver meets the female superhero Black Canary in Season 7, whom he recruits into his vigilante team, and it is hinted in the Season 9 episode "Absolute Justice" that the two have had a romantic relationship, and Mia Dearden refers to Black Canary as Oliver's "not quite ex-girlfriend", indicating they broke up at some point but still have unresolved feelings.[8]
Oliver returns as a regular ensemble cast in Season 8, where flashback sequences to his origin story marooned on a desert island were shown. After learning that Lionel Luthor murdered his parents, Oliver abandoned his heroic persona and only rethought his role as Green Arrow when helping Clark keep his identity secret. His battle with Lex Luthor concluded in "Requiem" when he became a majority shareholder of LuthorCorp, which effectively became a subsidiary of Queen Industries. However, he narrowly survived a bomb planted by a disgrunted ex-employee instigated by Lex, and Oliver uses another bomb to murder Lex. In the season finale Oliver and his team capture David Bloome, whose Doomsday persona separates and escapes, injuring the others. Clark eventually defeats Doomsday by burying him a mile underground, but Oliver's friend Jimmy Olsen was mortally wounded by Bloome, and the group leave Metropolis while feeling responsible for Olsen's death.
In Season 9, Oliver's life begins to fall apart, and following an argument with Clark he burns his Green Arrow costume. He reaches his lowest point in "Echo", when Queen Industries is on the edge of bankruptcy. Tess Mercer gets Oliver to raise shareholder confidence, but Oliver remained depressed enough to attempt suicide with a fake bomb left by an adversary. After talking with Clark, Oliver becomes fearful of following the same path as Lex. In the episode "Roulette", Chloe Sullivan recruits Victoria Sinclair to set up a ruse to help re-ignite Oliver's a heroic spirit, and he agrees to become the Green Arrow again. In the following episode "Crossfire", he offers to help train Mia Dearden. It is also hinted later that he and Chloe became lovers at the end of the episode "Warrior".
With his secret about to be revealed in the Seasons 10 episode "Supergirl", Oliver announced to the press that he was Green Arrow and became the public face of superhero vigilantes to mitigate the public backlash being created by the Darkness. Oliver is briefly corrupted by Darkseid but resists his influence long enough for Clark to cure him. He marries Chloe in the episode "Fortune", and it is suggested in the series finale that they later had a child together. The eighth issue of the show's comic book continuation Smallville Season Eleven written by executive story editor Bryan Q. Miller, confirms that the child is Oliver's son as Chloe announces her pregnancy to him.[9] After the Monitor crisis, he and Chloe named their newborn son "Jonathan" after Clark's late adoptive father,[10] and Oliver was recruited into the Department of Extranormal Operations by Steve Trevor.
During the sixth season of Smallville there was talk of spinning off the Green Arrow into his own series, but Justin Hartley refused to talk about the possibility of it because of his role on Smallville. The actor felt it his duty to respect what the show had accomplished in five seasons, and not "steal the spotlight" because there was "talk" of a spin-off after his two appearances. According to Hartley, "talking" was as far as the spin-off idea ever got.[11] Alfred Gough said that the Green Arrow spin-off would have introduced the idea of Oliver acting in more of a "Professor X" role, where he takes in people with superpowers who have no place to go and trains them.[12] The show's writer Steven S. DeKnight clarified that the series would have featured the introduction of new characters—such as Teen Titans and others from the DC Comics universe—as well as going into more depth for the background story of its primary characters, like Bart, Victor, and Arthur. As with the other potential series, this one never came to fruition.[13]
Arrowverse
The CW developed Green Arrow series with Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg producing. The series, Arrow, offers a fresh take on the character, and initially does not feature superpowers, as a way to take a realistic look at the characters in this universe. In addition to the character's experiences as the hero Green Arrow, the series also features flashbacks to Oliver's time on the island and the events that shaped him into the hero in the present.[14] Stephen Amell portrays Oliver Queen in the series.[15][16] It premiered in North America on October 10, 2012,[17] and has aired eight seasons.[18] Oliver Queen has made multiple appearances in the Arrow spin-offs The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl with Stephen Amell reprising the role.[19][20][21] Those series are set in a shared universe called the Arrowverse.
- In the second season of The Flash, the Earth-2 version of Robert Queen is the Arrow after his son Oliver Queen's death, similar to Batman's reversal in Flashpoint. By Arrow's eighth season, Adrian Chase takes up the mantle of the Hood and later became Green Arrow on Earth-2 after Oliver adjusted the name. In the crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Oliver choose his daughter Mia Smoak as the new Green Arrow in which she became in the episode "Green Arrow and the Canaries".
- A spin-off of Arrow was in development in 2019.[22] It was to be a female-led spin-off series, with Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy, and Juliana Harkavy as the leads, reprising their roles from Arrow. An episode of Arrow's final season was to serve as a backdoor pilot for the potential series.[23][24] The title is revealed to be Green Arrow and the Canaries.[25] No progress on the proposal was made[26][27] and in January 2021, The CW officially passed on the spin-off;[28] Guggenheim said this decision was made at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Guggenheim feeling the pandemic was the "deciding factor" in not moving forward with the series.[29] Having the series move to HBO Max was also reportedly "thoroughly explored", which was another contributing factor to the length of time it took to officially announce its cancellation.[30]
Stargirl
Green Arrow appears in a photograph in the Stargirl episode, "Brainwave", alongside the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
Animated
Cancelled Green Arrow film
Bruce Timm said that he would like to do a Green Arrow film.[31]
Justice League: The New Frontier
Green Arrow appears in Justice League: The New Frontier, resembling his Golden Age version.
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
An alternate-universe version of Green Arrow named Archer appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, voiced by Jim Meskimen.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Oliver Queen appears in the animated adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.[3]
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League
Green Arrow appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League, voiced by Phil Morris.[3]
Batman Unlimited
Green Arrow appears in the Batman Unlimited series of films, voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos.[3]
The Lego Batman Movie
Green Arrow makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in The Lego Batman Movie.
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
Green Arrow makes a cameo appearance in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
Tomorrowverse
Green Arrow appears in the Tomorrowverse, voiced by Jimmi Simpson:[32]
- Green Arrow makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the post-credits scene of Batman: The Long Halloween.
- Green Arrow appears in Green Lantern: Beware My Power.
- Green Arrow appears in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One.[33]
Injustice
Green Arrow appears in Injustice, voiced by Reid Scott.[34]
Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons
Green Arrow appears in Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, voiced by Tom Kenny.[3]
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham
An alternate universe version of Oliver Queen appears in Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, voiced by Christopher Gorham.[35] This version is a hunter who wields holy weaponry, and later gives them to Batman after being mortally wounded by Poison Ivy.
Live-action
Escape from Super Max
David S. Goyer and Justin Marks penned a script for a film starring Green Arrow originally called Super Max. In June 2008, the film was retitled Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max. The reported storyline stated that the hero, who was framed for a crime he did not commit, must escape a high-security prison filled with villains and rogue superheroes.
In an interview with MTV in 2008, Marks said:
It's a very, very awesome prison. I majored in architecture in college, and design is how I actually started in. For Super Max, designing that prison, it had to be the kind of thing that was a character in and of itself. We're in a world where instead of just trying to contain a guy who's really big, you're trying to contain a guy who can—in the case of Icicle—who can freeze things. What kind of a cell would a guy like that need in order to have his powers neutralized? So to escape from Super Max they have got to go through the most elaborate heist we've ever seen, involving superpowers. Because the prison itself kind of has superpowers![36]
Marks added that Black Canary would not be making an appearance in the film, and that it would include cameos from the Riddler, Lex Luthor, and the Joker.[36]
Elements of the script were adapted for the seventh season of Arrow, where Oliver Queen is locked in the Slabside Maximum Security Prison after being outed as the Green Arrow.
DC Extended Universe
Stephen Amell, who portrays the character on Arrow, said in 2013 that he was interested in portraying the character in the Justice League film.[37] However, DC has consistently denied any continuity between the cinematic universe and the TV universe, which began with Arrow.
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in Justice League Task Force.
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in Justice League Heroes, voiced by Ralph Garman.[3]
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame, voiced again by James Arnold Taylor.
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in DC Universe Online, voiced by David Jennison.[3]
- Green Arrow appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.
- Green Arrow appears in Infinite Crisis, voiced again by Alan Tudyk.
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Stephen Amell.[3]
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in Lego Dimensions, voiced again by Chris Hardwick.
- Green Arrow appears as a playable character in DC Legends.
- The comic book and Arrowverse incarnations of Green Arrow appear as playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains.
- The Arrowverse incarnation of Green Arrow appears as a skin in Fortnite Battle Royale.
Injustice series
Green Arrow is a playable character in the Injustice fighting games with Alan Tudyk reprising the voice role from Young Justice. If the character is wearing the downloadable Arrow skin, he is voiced by Stephen Amell.
In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Green Arrow is one of the Justice League members taken from the primary universe into an alternate world where Superman and his Regime rule over the planet. They are recruited by that world's Batman into the fight against the tyrannical Superman, whom Oliver discovers has killed his counterpart in this universe. In his playable chapter, Oliver assists Batman and the League in infiltrating the Batcave to retrieve a chunk of kryptonite by defeating the Regime versions Solomon Grundy, Killer Frost, Wonder Woman, and Black Adam. He later helps this world's Batman in rescuing the primary Batman from Stryker's Island, but is forced to battle the alternate Batman when he becomes possessed by Raven. Later, he fights the Regime Flash when the latter finds the Insurgency base to switch sides. After the Insurgency defeats the Regime with the assistance of the primary Superman, he wishes the Regime Flash the best of luck. In his single-player ending, Oliver visits the alternate Star City and finds an arrow-shaped memorial in the deceased Green Arrow's honor. He also mentors this universe's Roy Harper into becoming the city's new protector, Red Arrow.
The Green Arrow in Injustice 2 is from an alternate universe Doctor Fate took Black Canary to after she was defeated by Superman and near death. Just as Dinah lost her Oliver, this Oliver lost his version of Dinah, so Fate left her and her son Connor in this world for the two to find happiness. Five years later, they received news from Doctor Fate of Superman's defeat at the hands of his prime-Earth counterpart. When Dinah is brought home by Doctor Fate to help Batman in restoring Earth, the alternate Oliver joins in to honor his late-counterpart. In the story mode, the couple are sent with Harley Quinn to battle Gorilla Grodd's Society. During their time in Gorilla City, Fate warns them of a bigger threat coming to Earth and offers to take them back to Oliver's home world, but they refuse and defeat him in a fight. After the two defeat Gorilla Grodd, they are abducted by the threat Fate was talking about: Brainiac. They are later brainwashed by Grodd into battling Black Adam and Aquaman in Kahndaq, but are freed after Aquaman kills the Gorilla tyrant. In his single-player ending, Oliver returns to his universe to warn his planet about Brainiac, but arrives in the middle of Brainiac's assault. However, Brainiac was defeated by a multiverse Justice League consisting of variations of Earth-23 Superman, Red Son Batman, and Flashpoint Wonder Woman. He joins them as they go to other universes to combat the multiple versions of Brainiac.
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