As Long as DC Has Batman, It Doesn’t Need Green Arrow

Green Arrow is one of those heroes who is way more important than he seems. Green Arrow has been around since the Golden Age of comics, his Robin Hood meets Batman gimmick grabbing fans and allowing him to survive the vicissitudes of the comic industry. The biggest reason that Green Arrow has stayed around so long is also the simplest — he’s evolved with the times. Green Arrow nowadays is very different than he used to, and that’s allowed the character to gain many new fans. Green Arrow’s adaptability has been the key to keeping the character extant, and allowing him to grow beyond his simplistic roots. However, there’s one thing that no one talks about with Green Arrow, and it’s one of those questions that makes you rethink the entire point of the character — why do we need Green Arrow when we already have Batman?

Batman has always been successful, but his Golden Age debut was a massive inspiration for many creators. Superheroes had just been created, and the success of Batman started a formula that would still be used today — the wealthy crimefighter who devotes his life to protecting the people below him in the social pecking order. Green Arrow was originally Batman with the serial numbers filed off, and while Green Arrow has evolved over the decades, all of the Batman hallmarks are still there. Green Arrow has starred in some brilliant stories, but with Batman around, he’s just not needed.

Green Arrow Is Still Batman-Lite All These Decades Later

Back in the day, Green Arrow was more obviously a Batman pastiche, using the legend of Robin Hood instead of bats as his motif. Green Arrow had the Arrowcave, the Arrowcar, Speedy, and basically everything else that Batman made popular. Green Arrow did the same things that Batman did, and would stay a Batman clone until Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’s classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow. O’Neil would make Green Arrow into a liberal firebrand, and play him off the more conservative space cop Hal Jordan. Readers got the Speedy as a junkie storyline, a story you will never see a Robin involved in. O’Neil moved Green Arrow away from all of the things that made Green Arrow a copy of Batman, and since then, there’s been an attitude that Green Arrow is no longer a Batman clone. However, I think it’s about time that we admitted that Green Arrow is just leftist Batman. Sure, there’s no more Arrowcave or Arrowcar, but everything else is there. Green Arrow’s trick arrows are the same thing as the weapons that Batman carries in his utility belt, he has an entire family of sidekicks, he’s a billionaire industrialist (well, most of the time, at least). Green Arrow is still a Batman clone.

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Even all these years later, it’s plain to see just how much like Batman Green Arrow is. And look, it’s okay to have multiple characters that all do the same thing. Comics are built on that sort of thing. However, the thing about Green Arrow is that Batman is a much better character than Green Arrow. Green Arrow is an entertaining character, but there’s very little you can do with him that you can’t do better with Batman. Batman has the better villains, his relationships with other characters are more interesting, and fights crime in the greatest city in comics, Gotham City. Green Arrow is still just Batman with a different gimmick and is more obviously a leftist. That’s it. I love Green Arrow — most DC fans do, honestly — but if you can tell the same stories with Batman as you could with Green Arrow, why would you pick Green Arrow? That’s not a jab against the character or any creators who worked no his books, but it’s the reality of the situation. Any story you can do with Green Arrow can be done with Batman, and it will be better, because Batman has better villains and better allies. Green Arrow doesn’t bring anything to the table that Batman doesn’t, and other than Black Canary and Roy Harper, Batman has the superior supporting cast.

Green Arrow Will Always Be in Batman’s Shadow

Green Arrow stories can be a lot of fun, but more because of who Oliver Queen is as a character than anything else. Green Arrow is fun to play off other characters, and is something of a Justice League legend. However, as fun as Green Arrow can be, if you swapped out Green Arrow and Merlyn/Count Vertigo/Onomatopoeia (there are no other interesting Green Arrow villains, and even Onomatopoeia has become a Batman villain) for Batman and a Batman villain, the story would be better. That’s really all there is to it.

In a DC Multiverse with Batman, it’s hard to find a place for Green Arrow. How many billionaire vigilantes does the Earth need? Green Arrow is a perfectly fine character, but as long as Batman’s there, Green Arrow is surplus to requirements.

What do you think about Green Arrow and Batman? Sound off in the comments below.