Looking over the slate of upcoming DC movies and upcoming DC TV shows, there are already many well-known superheroes who are officially set to appear in the soon-to-launch DC Universe, including Superman, Batman, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Booster Gold and Swamp Thing. But there are a handful of heavy-hitters who haven’t been announced to appear in this new shared continuity just yet, including Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow. That said, when DC Studios co-head James Gunn was asked if the DCU’s Green Arrow would be “comic accurate,” he gave a response that made me chuckle.
This exchange happened on Threads, where a fan brought up that while one can “assume” Green Arrow will appear in the DC Universe, they were wondering how faithful he would be to the source material, noting that Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen from Arrow was “basically Batman, not GA.” Gunn answered, “I suppose it depends on what you mean by “comic accurate,” and then shared two images of Green Arrow-related comic book panels.
The first came from the Golden Age of Comics, where the Emerald Archer was driving around in his uncomfortably phallic-looking Arrowplane racer. The second comes from a Scooby-Doo comic book where Green Arrow is shooting at the Mystery Inc. gang and naming off rogues gallery members Merlyn the Archer, Count Vertigo and Clock King, the latter of whom Green Lantern mocks. Of all the comic book panels James Gunn could have shared without any context, I find it hilarious that he picked these ones, and can see where he’s coming from that not everything from the comics needs to be depicted in live-action.
Actually, I’ll push back on that a little bit. While I definitely have no interest in seeing an Arrowplane/Arrowcar in the DC Universe, or at least one that looks like it did in the 1940s, I don’t mind seeing villains like Merlyn, Vertigo and Clock King depicted in live-action. The trick is to not make them too goofy, but also not stray too far from how they’re depicted in the comics, which the Arrow TV series was certainly guilty of doing with those latter two baddies. There’s a balance to be found, but if Green Arrow does end up playing a prominent role in the DCU, then let him fight some of his own baddies rather than just pit him against another hero’s foes.
More importantly than that, though, I agree with the person who wrote to James Gunn that Arrow’s Oliver Queen was more like Batman, at least in those first couple seasons, though that softened over time. When it comes to the DCU, Oliver Queen should have his left wing, man of the people-type personality that’s been a mainstay of the character since the late 1960s thanks to writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams. You’ll still have him shoot the trick arrows, but better to depict him in a more optimistic, but politically-motivated light rather than as a brooding vigilante.
If/when it’s announced who will play Green Arrow in the DC Universe and where we’ll first see him, we’ll pass that information along. Until then, Creature Commandos will kick off the DCU next month for those who have a Max subscription, and then Superman will follow July 11 on the 2025 movies schedule.
