Monday, September 19, 2011

26



Green Arrow

Origins - As a young child Oliver Queen idolized his hero Robin Hood and was said to be a natural archer, frequently practising with his bow and arrows. After the tragic death of his parents he was raised by his uncle and eventually inherited the family fortune and business. Queen grew into a rich thrill-seeking drunken playboy with no real sense of responsibility or direction in his life. While on his boat alone out on the ocean, his boat capsized and he was left stranded on Starfish Island where all he had with him was a bow he managed to save from the boat and used to keep him afloat. During this time spent without food or shelter Queen developed his skills as a hunter to survive and gained mastery over his bow. Realizing that he had found his destiny, he chose to use his abilities and resources as a crime-fighter. With a nickname coined by the press, he made it his mission to protect Star City. Green Arrow would go on to become a member of the Justice League of America and would be with them on and off for during several adventures. Green Arrow began developing a personal crisis about which of his identities was more important and doing more good, the crime-fighter or the politician. Part of him has only chosen to be a hero for the thrill and glory, but he realizes that he defines himself by his ability to control those instincts for the greater good. Queen begins to reevaluate his priorities, and learns to focus more on the everyday problems of regular people. In the ensuing year after losing his fortune, Ollie traveled the country with Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Having decided that years of reliance on trick arrows had made him weak, he returned to his basic roots as an archer and began using exclusively regular arrows again. Green Arrow relocated to Seattle with Black Canary where the two ran a business called Sherwood Florist. Oliver asked her to marry him but she turned him down saying the strength of their relationship was found in their being two separate individuals that could leave at any time. During Zero Hour Hal Jordan turns into the vengeful Parallax and attempts to destroy all of existence. Not fully believing that his friend was capable of doing this Ollie refused to join in the fight. After seeing the full brunt of Parallax's efforts, Oliver lands the decisive blow, killing Parallax as well as killing his good friend. Oliver soon meets a young man named Connor Hawke who idolizes him. Hal Jordan reappears again still alive, and wishes to rekindle their friendship although he is still clearly insane. He accidentally lets Oliver know that Connor is actually his son by an old girlfriend. Furious that the young man didn't tell him about their relation, Oliver has an argument with Connor and then leaves to be on his own again. A group of terrorists placed a bomb on a plane and attempted to have the bomb explode over Metropolis. Ollie was able to get his hand in the detonation chamber but his hand was removed the bomb would go off. Superman tried to help and told him the only way out was for him to rip off Green Arrows arm. Oliver refused to be a cripple and after the plane was flown a safe distance away he removed his hand and the bomb went off. Having been completely vaporized in the blast, there was no body. A small funeral gathering of his closest friends was held in Warriors. There was nothing to bury, so his son fired an arrow into the air and marked its landing as his final resting place, as in the legend of Robin Hood. Connor then decided to continue on his legacy filling in as Green Arrow. Hal Jordan used his godlike powers during the Final Night story line to bring his friend back from the dead. Oliver returned but he was an empty vessel with no soul and only some of his memories from when he was alive. It would seem Jordan was only able to give him the memories he himself had known Ollie would have had. Ollie's more experienced soul remained in a Heaven-like place for a time, until later when it was reunited with his body returning Green Arrow to his former self. In 2008, Oliver Queen is the newly elected mayor of Star City, continuing his fight on the streets and through the system. Soon after Oliver Queen renewed his romance with Black Canary Dinah Lance. Once again he asked her to marry him and after she realized he was willing to risk his own happiness to save a life, she accepted his proposal and the two were wed. After a villain named Prometheus destroys Star City, Green Arrow decided that it was time to take matters into his own hands and seeks Prometheus out himself. After finding him Oliver does not bring him to justice but kills him with an arrow to the head murdering him in cold blood. During Blackest Night Oliver is turned into one of the Black Lanterns as he was one of the DC heroes that had been brought back from the dead. Following his murder of Prometheus, Green Arrow begins to regret his crimes and turns himself in. His secret identity is revealed and everyone discovers that Mayor Oliver Queen is the vigilante that he spoke against as Mayor. Black Canary visits him in prison and returns her wedding ring, telling him their marriage is over. On trial, the jury finds him not guilty, but the judge overrules this and sentences him to a complete exile from Star City. During Brightest Day Deadman uses his new white power ring's connection to life energy and creates a massive forest in the ruins of Star City. Green Arrow now lives in this forest, helping his city wherever he can while staying underneath the radar.

Powers and Abilities - Oliver Queen's powers, if any, remain unknown. It has been rumored that Green Arrow may in fact be a meta-human. The Department of Extranormal Operations has a classified dossier on Queen, wherein they indicate such a possibility, but as of yet, this information has not been confirmed nor denied. He used to own and fly his own airplane called the Arrowplane. Oliver Queen is perhaps the finest archer ever known. He claims to be able to shoot 29 arrows per minute (he stated this himself when he corrected Black Canary for saying 26). He has a wide-variety of trick arrows, ranging from bola arrows to time-bomb arrows to his infamous boxing-glove arrow. In recent years he has used these arrows sparingly, preferring the time-tested simple arrow. Green Arrow has shown the ability to shoot an arrow down the barrel of a gun, pierce a drop of water as it leaves a tap, and shoot almost any part of the human body. He once shot two arrows down two different gun barrels while upside down, in mid-flip while somersaulting off a building. He is proficient in several forms of hand-to-hand combat including Judo, Kickboxing and Karate. Proclaimed as a martial arts master, he has shown the ability to take on seven people at once. He spent several months dedicated to making himself a better fighter and trained with many of the world's finest martial arts teachers and even went through training from Natas, the same person who trained Deathstroke. Ollie is also very proficient with a sword, though it is not his preferred weapon of choice. He has displayed on many occasions that he is an expert in acrobatics, and often uses this skill while evading enemy fire. His actual age is unknown it is assumed he is somewhere in his late 40's or early 50's but he could be as old as 90. Due to the fact that he had died and was brought back his body does not seem to have aged at the same rate as a normal human would have. Oliver Queen possesses the strength level of a man many years his junior, who engages in intensive regular exercise. Ollie is in peak physical condition. Ollie can at least lift up to twice his body weight enabling him to press nearly 400 lbs.

Weaknesses and Limitations - Queen has all of the normal weaknesses of most human males (will fail from oxygen deprivation, lack of food and sleep, etc.) though has obviously higher than average tolerances.


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