Oliver Queen

Oliver Queen: 1972 - 1994
Oliver Queen was fortunate to be born into the powerful Queen family of Star City where he spent his youth in private schools and enjoying extracurricular activities like lacrosse, archery, rowing, and fencing. Oliver was a naturally gifted athlete and excelled at any physical activity, especially those requiring eye-to-hand coordination. Oliver would often join his father on exotic hunting trips around the world. It was during one such safari that tragedy struck the Queen family, when Robert and Moira Queen, Oliver’s parents, were mauled by a lion which Oliver had failed to kill due to his gun jamming. When the lion turned its attention to Oliver’s infant sister, Thea, Oliver managed to kill the lion using his father’s bow.

Back home, Thea was taken in by relatives while Oliver began preparing to inherit the reins of his father’s company, Queen Consolidated. After graduating high school, Oliver was given control of the family fortune and began to earn his reputation as a playboy and thrill-seeker, often throwing lavish parties aboard this yacht, “The Queen’s Gambit”. During his twenty-first birthday party aboard the yacht, Oliver became a victim of the League of Assassins. Ra's al Ghul had dispatched his assassins to infiltrate the ranks of Oliver’s crew and guests, and after poisoning Oliver, they murdered the uninitiated persons aboard the ship and scuttle the vessel to cover up the abduction of Oliver Queen.

The assassins brought Oliver to an uncharted island training camp. Ra’s al Ghul indented to train Oliver Queen to be a secondary heir in same manner of Bruce Wayne, but Oliver had an allergic reaction to the poison used during his abduction, forcing the League to use a Lazarus Pit to prevent his death. Upon recovery, Oliver’s eyes turned green (a prophetic trait he shared with Ra’s al Ghul), earning him the nickname “Akhdir” or “The Green” which made him of interest to Ra’s al Ghul’s occult-minded daughter, Nyssa al Ghul, who chose Oliver over the more capable Bruce Wayne. Upon completion of his training, Oliver Queen became an assassin in service of the League of Assassins, taking on the name “Al Sah-himM”, or “The Arrow”.

Green Arrow: 1994 - Present
Wedded to Nyssa al Ghul, Oliver Queen was in direct competition to Bruce Wayne to inherit Ra’s al Ghul title. Their rivalry pushed both of them and while Bruce excelled at most things, he could never best Oliver’s natural affinity with archery, hunting, and fencing. Eventually, the two became close friends and would often be on assignments together. When Oliver’s hedonism and carefree nature led Ra’s al Ghul to name Bruce Wayne as heir, Oliver held no grudge and was happy to enjoy the luxuries of his position among the Assassins’ elite. Though neither Bruce or Oliver discuss the reasons for their leaving the League, I have learned that Oliver fathered two children during his time in the League; one of which was not with Nyssa, so that may have led to Oliver’s choice to flee from the League, in fear of being given the “Matt Hagen” treatment by Ra’s al Ghul.

Returning to Star City, Oliver orchestrated a cover story for his five year absence, claiming he had been shipwrecked aboard a deserted island. For a time, Oliver lived the life of a playboy back from the dead and reunited with his sister, Thea. Eventually, Oliver’s paranoia that the League would retaliate led him to hire a security team, led by an ex-especial forces operative, John Diggle. Oliver and John became best friends and when news reports came in from Gotham City about a vigilante, Oliver recognized the work of his old friend Bruce. Oliver decided to follow Bruce’s example. With the help of Diggle, Oliver crafted the alter-ego as the Green Arrow. Taking cues from Batman, Oliver also crafted an Arrow-Cave, Arrowmobile, and even took in a ward to serve as a sidekick [see “Arsenal”]. Over time, Team Arrow grew to include a poor man’s Oracle (a hacker named Felicity Smoak) and a parade of other runaway sidekicks.

Eventually, Oliver met the love of his life [see “Black Canary”], helped found the Justice League, and even was elected mayor of Star City for a term. Following a sting in public office, Oliver decided to sell his family’s company to Wayne Enterprises and use the money to fund his war on crime full-time. Oh, and he changed the name of his “Arrow-Cave” to “the Quiver”, Yay!”

UPDATE

Oliver Queen proposed again to Dinah July 5th 2017.

Abilities

 * Acrobatics: Oliver Queen has displayed on many occasions that he is an expert in acrobatics, and often uses this skill while evading enemy fire.


 * Archery: Oliver Queen is perhaps the finest archer ever known. Something of an idiot savant when it comes to the bow and arrow. He claims to be able to shoot 29 arrows per minute (I still need to fact check this as he stated this himself when he was correcting 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 gimmick 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; although he aims only to wound and not kill when he shoots. He once shot two arrows down two different gun barrels while upside down, in mid-flip while somersaulting off a building (I need to fact check that, too). In ideal conditions, Oliver's archery is more accurate than Deadshot's use of guns. For this reason, Batman has secretly been testing Oliver's DNA for years to assess the possibility of a meta-gene. All tests have come back inconclusive apparently. Possible that his Lazarus bath gave him preternatural archery skills?


 * Aviation: He used to own and fly his own airplane called the Arrowplane. He still has some skill in flying different types of planes.


 * Cooking: Oliver's chili is one of the hottest foods on the planet. I'm pretty sure it can be classified as a chemical weapon.


 * Firearms: Although not his preferred weapon, Oliver is very skilled in the use of firearms. He has displayed great accuracy with handguns and machine guns. Even Slade Wilson has complimented Oliver's skill with firearms.


 * Hunting and Survival: Archery is by far Oliver's preferred method of hunting, however, the ability to hunt comes from years of training, patience, and survival. He is proficient enough in hunting to pursue a cougar without it ever noticing. Oliver is perhaps the best conventional tracker in the Justice League.


 * Martial Arts: He is proficient in several forms of hand-to-hand combat including Judo, Escrima, Kickboxing and Karate. Proclaimed as a martial arts master, he has shown the ability to take on seven people at once. This training was from his years in the League of Assassins.


 * Peak Human Condition: Two words: salmon ladder.


 * Politics: Ollie ran for office and became the mayor of Star City for a significant amount of time. He has since resigned from being the mayor and has continued to lean on political issues from time to time. He is a true social justice warrior and a far-left liberal.


 * Swordsmanship: Ollie is also very proficient with a sword, though it is not his preferred weapon of choice. Bruce claims that Oliver can easily defeat him if the two were to duel with blades.


 * Throwing: Oliver is a master marksman and possesses great aim with projectile objects such as darts, in addition to his skill in archery. He loves to hustle people at the bars he frequents, always using the money they lose to him to buy them a drink and listen to their woes.


 * Weaponry: Oliver is proficient in the use of an array of weaponry, including archery, sticks, and various bladed weapons. As a trained assassin and former elite member of the League of Assassins, there isn't a weapon that Oliver has yet to master.


 * Strength level: Due to extensive archery training, Ollie's arm strength is superior to that of the average man. He once broke free from a metal chain over a course of a few hours.

Paraphernalia

 * Custom Bow: In his Quiver (the base), Oliver has a rack of over three dozen compound bows customized to his precision standards.


 * Quiver: Oliver's quiver (the item on his back) is a state-of-the-art quiver designed to not spill his arrows when performing acrobatic maneuvers. It also has an arrowhead-changing mechanism that can add gimmick features to standard arrows. His standard quiver holds thirty arrows. He often keeps spare arrows on his Arrow Bike and has a number of other locations stowed throughout Star City and other major cities for stocking up for missions.


 * Transportation: In his Quiver, Oliver has an Arrowboat, an Arrowcar, an Arrow Rod, and an Arrowjet; but he has retired most of these due to maintenance costs and the constant comparison to Batman by the public who sees him using these vehicles. He mostly gets around with a JL Javelin or on an Arrow Bike.
 * Trick Arrows: These are a collection of specialised arrows. Among them are: boxing glove arrow, c4 arrow, c4 in a boxing glove arrow.

Trivia

 * Ollie's base is the Quiver (he's actually on his third one, with one being too compromised and the other destroyed during the Undertaking) and then he has Bunkers, Safehouses, and Armories scattered over Star City and other major cities he journeys to often, just so that he doesn't have to travel far to reload on arrows or travel around with his costume and gear on and/or near him.
 * Ollie's central Quiver is located in the subbasement of an industrial warehouse owned by Wayne Enterprises (Bruce gave him the property so that if it's compromised, the cover story could be that Batman, Inc. also funds the Green Arrow) that was built over an old underground train station that Star City was adopting in the 80s as public transit but quickly phased out due to lack of public interest. Ollver and company use those tunnels to access the Quiver from different locales a good distance from the Quiver itself and if an entrance is compromised, they can just blow that tunnel, rather than the whole base immediately becoming useless.
 * Oliver wasn't aware that the LoA was responsible for his ship sinking before joining them. He assumed he got drunk and the ship crashed... possibly due to his own behavior. He didn't know people died until he returned to Star City, which is part of the reason he became a hero: to atone for the lives lost at his expense.
 * It is hinted that Oliver and Bruce left the League of Assassins after they refused to kill Lucius Fox, and a young Tatsu Yamashiro help them scape.
 * It is also implied that after the League faked the death of Roy Harper and framed Prometheus of it, Oliver hunted Prometheus down and killed him. Afterwards he became an alcoholic.
 * Ollie's blood type is AB-, the same as his both of his ex-wives: Nyssa al Ghul and Dinah Lance.
 * Ollie's left arm can sometimes cause him pain due to an old injury as an assassin. In training with Merlyn, he once took an arrow to his left side, chipping his bone which never healed properly.
 * Oliver Queen quit drinking from 2003 to 2008. The aftermath of learning of Roy's supposed death caused him to relapse.
 * Oliver's marriage to Dinah Lance fell apart when Oliver was seduced by Dinah's sister, Sara, acting under the orders of Nyssa al Ghul. Though Dinah knows this was not Ollie's fault as he had been drugged, she still needed some space. The two have reconciled and continued to date. Why they haven't gotten married again is anyone's guess.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Oliver Queen
 * Character Gallery: Oliver Queen