DC Admits Why This Justice Leaguer Loses So Much (and It Shows He’s a Hypocrite)

Absolute DC has been firing on all cylinders. For the first time in years, DC Comics has been able to steal Marvel’s thunder and actually succeed. DC’s Absolute comics are basically the same basic set-up as the new Ultimate Universe, but they’ve been able to stay hotter longer, really dialing in on the concept of a universe where evil wins. Readers have gotten to see new versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter, and have been chomping at the bit for when they would team up as the Justice League. Well, Absolute Evil #1 finally gives readers what they wanted, just not in the way they wanted.

Absolute Evil #1 is a compelling Absolute Justice League origin, bringing together the villains to deal with the rise of the heroes. However, the book also introduces another classic member of the Justice League from the mainline universe — Oliver Queen, better known as Green Arrow. In the Absolute Universe, Ollie is still a rich liberal firebrand and already known to the powerful villains, including Hector Hammond. Hammond ends up discussing Queen, and makes a rather astute observation about him, one that will change the way you look at Green Arrow and Oliver Queen.

Are Green Arrow’s Beliefs Genuine?

The Absolute version of Oliver Queen is basically the same as the mainline version, and Absolute Evil #1 does a great job of establishing. Back in the early days of the character, Green Arrow was basically Batman in Robin Hood drag, but all of that would change in the Silver Age, when writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams made him into a liberal firebrand in “Hard-Traveling Heroes”, one of the best Green Arrow stories ever. Since then, Oliver Queen has basically been a leftist in superhero clothing, calling heroes like Batman and Hawkman “fascists” and basically being loud and opinionated about the world.

However, Oliver Queen is still a billionaire. He’s still of the same ilk as Bruce Wayne and he still works with the police to fight supervillains and gang leaders who use the poor as weapons. There’s always been an idea that Green Arrow is something of a hypocrite; it’s not that someone with billions of dollars can’t be a progressive liberal, but Green Arrow’s actions are still those of the “fat cats” he rails against. He tries to help, but the way he helps is the same way as the people who often gets sassy with. Absolute Evil #1 references this and it’s the greatest indictment of Green Arrow ever.

After the scene that introduces Absolute Ollie, we get Absolute Hector Hammond, the villain of Absolute Green Lantern, talking to Ollie’s target — Jubal Slade — about him and Hammond basically confirms what everyone has ever thought about Oliver Queen. In Hammond’s opinion, Ollie knows that his actions aren’t going work, but he wants the righteousness. He wants to be able to look at himself as one of the good people. All of his actions, all of his rhetoric, it’s not to help anyone, not really. It’s all to make him feel good about himself and his own guilt about being successful and powerful. Over the decades, DC has played Oliver Queen and his beliefs as straight as possible, but fans have always had their own opinions. Absolute Evil #1 is the first time that DC has said out loud what some fans have thought for years.

Hammond posits that Ollie knows that he’s going to lose in the long run, but he doesn’t care because losing is righteous. It allows him to take the moral high ground, it allows him to be the good guy. In fact, Ollie wants to lose; he wants his beliefs to fail because if they fail, he can keep fighting forever. Now, obviously, Hammond is a villain and this book is set in another universe, but for fans who have followed Green Arrow over the years, this actually makes a lot of sense. Ollie never actually does anything to make the world he wants reality; he just straps on a quiver and goes out into the night to beat up poor people so that he can feel good about being a rich person.

Green Arrow’s Self-Righteousness Has Always Been Hypocritical

Green Arrow is a favorite of a lot of DC fans, and the character is a lot of fun. Green Arrow’s grown beyond the Batman clone he was in the Golden Age and early Silver Age, and it’s a lot of fun to see him sass his fellows in the Justice League. However, even more than Batman, Green Arrow has always felt quite hypocritical. Absolute Evil #1 goes a long way in calling out this hypocrisy and it definitely fits the character in the main line universe.

Green Arrow is a great character, but looking at him through the lens of Absolute Hector Hammond — that he’s a self-righteous liberal billionaire who knows he’s going to lose — makes complete sense. Green Arrow talks a big game, but doesn’t even put as much into it as Batman does. Of course, Absolute Evil #1 deals with Ollie rather permanently, but this is still a rather interesting look at the character.

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