Oliver Queen appears unable to stay down with yet another return after his heart-wrenching ending in the Arrowverse’s Arrow. In the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, Oliver Queen sacrificed himself to save his friends, before returning as the Spectre, and then sacrificing himself again to create Earth-Prime.
Following this, Oliver appeared to be gone for good, but, of course, during the final season of The Flash in 2023, Stephen Amell returned to reprise his role as the Green Arrow once more, offering Barry some pivotal advice in the afterlife. This felt like a necessary inclusion considering how central the character of Oliver Queen was to the entire Arrowverse.
However, three years on, it seems as though the character is returning once again, if not physically, with Stephen Amell taking the wheel, in a spiritual sense, as this version of the character goes on to influence a new generation of stories and continue the legacy that he established all the way back in 2012.
DC’s Absolute Green Arrow Borrows A Page From Arrow’s Playbook
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The Absolute Universe of DC Comics is quickly proving itself to be one of the most distinct and experimental interpretations of these age-old stories in a long time. With iconic heroes like Superman, Batman, and the Flash all getting a major refresh, and their stories being overhauled and altered, it seems like the whole DC Comics universe is getting a rebranding.
And on that note, with the latest additions of Absolute Green Arrow and Absolute Catwoman, yet more of these incredible characters are finding themselves introduced in an entirely new way. Except the Green Arrow story appears distinctly familiar thanks to what we saw earlier in the Arrowverse.
Specifically, the Absolute Green Arrow appears to be a masked vigilante who has set his sights on corrupt billionaires and leaders in his community, leaving a trail of blood and violence in his wake. This is remarkably similar to the character of Oliver Queen that we saw introduced in season 1 of Arrow, who, upon returning from Lian Yu, set out to bring the fat cats of Star City to justice.
How Arrow Season 1 Reshaped Oliver Queen
Slade and Oliver in Arrowa
As far as the original Green Arrow comics were concerned, Oliver Queen was a much more lighthearted and comical character than the version that is established in the Arrowverse. Yes, he was political, and he always advocated for causes he believed in, but he also used quips and puns frequently and came across as more mischievous than brutish.
Arrow took the character and largely reworked him to become something more akin to the original Batman. A dark avenger who stalked his prey in the dark and forced the corrupt to pay for their sins. In this way, the Arrowverse had a character that was similar to Batman, without infringing on the popular IP that was being built out across various feature film projects.
In a lot of ways, the original Green Arrow had a temperament more similar to Barry Allen of the Arrowverse than to the broody Oliver Queen. However, having this precedent established for this hero now provides a foundation for where the Absolute Universe is taking the character in the comics.
DC’s Absolute Universe Continues To Be Full Of Surprises
Absolute Superman powers up his heat vision in DC ComicsCustom image by Nicolas Ayala
One of the core ideas behind the Absolute Universe is taking familiar heroes and reinventing them in surprising ways. It doesn’t always require dramatic changes in every aspect of their lives, but often, the change is born out of only a few small nudges with the story to put these characters on very different paths by the time readers are introduced to them.
For instance, the Absolute Batman is a far more violent and ruthless figure than previous iterations, willing to kill, and resenting the elites of Gotham. This is further amplified because this version of Bruce Wayne is not wealthy, and his mother is alive. Ultimately, that makes his story unique and sets the character on a different trajectory.
Clark Kent in the Absolute Universe grew up without the influence of the tender and moral farmers, the Kents, instead being raised in an orphanage by horrible strangers. Without love and light in his youth, he is shaped into a different man, and with his powers stemming from the Red Sun Stone rather than the Yellow Sun, he has a different power set than the character most people are familiar with.
Clearly, the Absolute Universe is shaking things up dramatically for the first time in a long time, and it’s exciting to see how creatives are engaging with these vastly different versions of the heroes that have become such staples in pop culture. But to see how the Green Arrow’s story may actually overlap with the Arrowverse is equally intriguing.
Of course, there are likely to be other significant changes as these stories continue, but at least in terms of what has been teased so far, it’s significant that this version of the Green Arrow appears to have a nearly identical mission to his Arrowverse counterpart. And with that in mind, it’s exciting to see how this story diverges from the events of Arrow in the future.