One of the most devious traps to ever ensnare Superman was bested by Green Arrow. In a perfect world imagined by a Black Mercy, Oliver Queen defeated the fantasy by confronting his worst demons head-on.
The Man of Steel faced one of his most troubling encounters with a villain with the galactic warlord Mongul used the dreaded Black Mercy on Superman. By attaching to a host, the plant lulls its victim into a fantasy, showing them the life they secretly wish for. For Superman, the Black Mercy showed him a world where Krypton never exploded and his parents lived. “For The Man Who Has Everything” wasn’t just a lauded story, it gave a glimpse into the psychology of Superman and showed personal thoughts and feelings the hero doesn’t often express to others.
Green Arrow would empathize with the Man of Steel as he to knows what it’s like to be lost in the Mercy’s fantasy. In Green Lantern #8 by Geoff Johns and Carlos Pacheco, Oliver and Hal find themselves with perfect lives. Green Lantern lives in the glory days with his Corps and Oliver fights crime side-by-side with his son, Connor. As if life wasn’t good enough for the hero, Green Arrow and Connor Hawke speed to a hospital where Oliver’s wife, Sandra, is about to give birth to Queen’s next son. However, a painful realization hits Green Arrow and allows him to wake up from the dream world. Once clarity has returned to the hero, he pulls Hal out of his own fantasy to the Lantern’s dismay. Oliver informs him that because they shared a Black Mercy, Hal imagined a world for both of them. A world that erroneously portrayed Oliver as a better father than he actually is.
This is a painful thing for Oliver to admit, but it’s not exactly untrue. Green Arrow and his son haven’t had the best relationship with one another, largely due to Queen avoiding the responsibility of being a father. But that recognition of his failure helped Green Arrow conquer something that even vexed Superman when he was infamously trapped in the Black Mercy’s grip.
Superheroes are often thought to be infallible paragons of righteousness, and for some that might even be true. But many of them are just as flawed as anyone else and nowhere near perfect. Take Superman and Green Arrow. Clark is considered a pinnacle of virtue, while Oliver has more than his share of personal failings. But Green Arrow’s flaws ultimately helped him defeat the Black Mercy’s false reality. When Clark was trapped in his vision, he was the same ethical man he’s always been. But for Oliver, he was put on a path he knows he didn’t deserve. But interestingly enough, the moral failings that haunt Queen are what got him out of the fantasy reality. By being willing to face his demons head on, Green Arrow was able to defeat a trap that nearly took the life of Superman.
