There’s One DC Hero James Gunn Needs to Completely Reboot

Oliver “Green Arrow” Queen is hardly an unknown live action merchandise, as Stephen Amell portrayed the character on Arrow from 2012 to 2020. It’s great because Arrow proved Green Arrow’s potential as a live-action protagonist. and the show’s success even paved the way for the sprawling CW Arrow Universe. Thus, Oliver is well known even among people who are not familiar with comics.

Which brings us to the bad news. Oliver Queen from Arrow is a far cry from the Emerald Archer from the source material. The Green Arrow comic can and will be deadly serious when it needs to be and isn’t afraid of black ops to reach the goal line. However, he also appreciates the witty and brash side of costumed adventurers when he can. He tends to resemble Robin Hood, sporting a superbly groomed beard and domino mask, and gleefully copes with his lack of superpowers with a set of special arrows and sheer craftsmanship. Think of Marvel’s Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner in the MCU), but with a much more pompous personality.

The Green Arrow also comes with a whole bunch of luggage. While he’s definitely a nice guy, he can be smug, blunt, and downright inept at times. He also has a tendency to clash with traditional heroes for a variety of reasons which include (but are not limited to) his anti-authoritarian and liberal views and his disinterest in being a conventional hero. This this is the version to be adapted by James Gunn.

Of course, the Amell version ends up with a mask and beard, but he remains a rather serious and straightforward Dark Knight-esque character throughout the series. Since this is the predominant real-time portrayal of the character, introducing a more complex, comic-book-accurate version of Green Arrow into the DCEU could be a challenge. But hey, if anyone can pull this off, it’s probably the guy who can turn a talking tree and a grumpy space raccoon into box office hits.