Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League – Green Arrow #1.DC Comics’ Dark Crisis event seems to have brought back the original Green Arrow, whose final fate following the creation of the Post-Flashpoint DC Universe in 2011 has never been explained. This comes as something of a surprise, despite the nature of reality in the DC Universe being in a state of flux because of the Dark Crisis creating and merging various DC Comics’ alt realities. It makes sense, however, given the story’s theme of true love conquering all, and Green Arrow’s status as a romantic hero by any definition of the word “romantic.“
The action of Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League – Green Arrow #1 by Stephanie Phillips, Clayton Henry and Marcel Maiolo is split between two of these new alternate realities. One world, created as a prison for Black Canary, is an urban dystopia where Dinah Lance is a nightclub owner, closer in background to Barb Wire than Black Canary. The other world, apparently fashioned to contain Green Arrow, is a medieval setting ruled over by a wicked king, where Green Arrow is Robin Hood, fighting the good fight with a band of merry men. The tale of their meeting after their worlds became joined by a seemingly magic portal is related by a mysterious minstrel, whose identity is concealed by a dark hooded cloak, even as he sings about how this story is a love story and how “…true love is the only constant…”
The Original Green Arrow’s Life Was A Mess Before Flashpoint
The Arrow Family was in dire straits following 2009’s Justice League: Cry for Justice miniseries, which ended with Oliver Queen killing the villain Prometheus. As a result of this, Black Canary ended her marriage to Green Arrow, and Connor Hawke, the second Green Arrow, abandoned the legacy of the father he once idolized. Green Arrow’s first sidekick, Roy Harper, became a supervillain after losing an arm and his daughter, Lian. Finally, Green Arrow was forsaken by the superhero community and banished from his hometown of Star City. While Roy Harper’s story would later be resolved in the Convergence: Titans miniseries and Lian Harper resurrected, the pre-Flashpoint Green Arrow has yet to be given a similar chance at redemption.
It is unclear if DC Comics intends to permanently bring back the original Oliver Queen after Dark Crisis, but it would not be the first time such a thing happened. The original Superman and Lois Lane replaced their New 52 counterparts in the Rebirth era, and the Wally West version of Flash returned after years in limbo. In any case, Green Arrow fans are sure to be pleased by the suggestion in Dark Crisis that the original Oliver Queen somehow found happiness and reunited with his Black Canary in spite of his sins.
