Green Arrow’s 10 Best Villians, Ranked

Oliver Queen may have the most underrated rogue’s gallery in all of DC comics. Is his the best? Not really, as more than half of his rogues usually end up dead but he does have a great gallery of rogues thanks to their wide range of abilities and motivations. If more returned from the dead, that would be great just so we could get more stories, Armed with just a bow and arrow, Green Arrow makes sure these threats are neutralized yet some of them have it out for him and will take on the man multiple times.

Some of these picks do have a small number of entries but almost all of them deserve a comeback to some degree but all of them have been a great challenge Oliver in a ton of ways. Most should be thankful he’d use a trick arrow on them. With some of the best stories in DC, these villains are the Green Arrow’s best.

10) Cupid

Kicking off the list is Oliver’s overly obsessed fangirl, Carrie Cutter aka Cupid. Some ex-military ties along with a dash of insanity earns Cupid her spot here. Catching the ire of Black Canary during her first appearances, Cupid works perfect as a villain to the Green Arrow/Black Canary duo thanks to her obsession with the Emerald Archer.

While rather simple, Cupid has only appeared about four times since the New 52 and desperately needs to come back. There’s a lot of chaos Cupid can cause for Ollie — and that makes for the best stories.

9) Star City Slayer

Elderly Stanley Dover aka the Star City Slayer is one of the most short-lived villains here but he was perfect for his brief run. Created as a nice old man for Oliver to live with in Kevin Smith’s iconic run, Stanley was secretly an occultist murdering the youth to appease a demon. It may have been a bit out of nowhere but it adds a great element in “Quiver.”

As fun as he was, he’s the only one of Green Arrow’s villains who shouldn’t make another appearance, but Stanley shouldn’t be forgotten in this classic Green Arrow tale.

8) The Ninth Circle

Cyrus Broderick was the head of The Ninth Circle group. Secretly being run by Oliver’s company’s CFO, Broderick rules the society of corrupt businessmen as a sort of dark cult. While some may see them as too similar to the Court of the Owls, they stand on their own as a more demonic cult. While this is the second time Oliver fights off deranged satanists, he proves he’s rather good at it. Especially with his company in jeopardy.

While being legally dead during this time, Oliver got to fight them head on without having to worry much about his image. Because it’s comics, he got better and his reputation is fixed now, it was quite the time for him. While some don’t want this cult to return, I think they should return at some point. Might not be a lot but they are a nice new component of the Green Arrow mythos that should return.

7) Clock King

William “Billy” Tockman, one of the many Clock Kings, has proven to be the best version of the character for Green Arrow. Not to be confused with the original William Tockman or Temple Fugate, Billy weaponized his watches as miniature bombs. Rather than using time as his main weapon to figure out when to strike, he also operated as a gang leader in the New 52 making him stand out over the other versions.

6) Komodo

Simon Lacroix aka Komodo was Oliver’s greatest threat during the New 52. As the student trained by Robert Queen in the New 52, he later wanted to take the wealth of the Queen’s for himself. As the perfect dark reflection of all Oliver could have been, Komodo was a ruthless assassin for Lian Yu’s Arrow clan. Taking Emiko Queen as his adopted daughter and raising her as his own also impacted how he viewed Oliver.

5) Onomatopeia

Another Kevin Smith creation, only way more popular and interesting than some of the others, we have Onomatopoeia. He’s also been a Batman and Teen Titans villain but is a Green Arrow villain first and foremost. Debuting in the incredible “Sounds of Violence” story, as a serial killer for non-powered vigilantes, he proved a unique threat for Oliver Queen and Connor Hawke.

Only making the diegetic sounds of objects near him, he stands as a rather creepy slasher-like rogue. He’s had the one main Green Arrow story and a much smaller second one by Williamson used as a joke but still managed to be fun in both. With how fun his concept is, he’s too cool to not use in more Green Arrow stories.

4) Constantine Drakon

Perhaps the villain in most need of a comeback here, we have Constantine Drakon. Another shafted villain on Arrow, Drakon is one of the best assassins in the DC universe. With impeccable speeds of catching arrows, and kicking people from across rooms, Drakon proves his ability quick and fast. Standing around four feet tall, the mighty man gave Green Arrow a run for his money.

3) Brick

Acting as an analog for Kingpin we have Brick. Danny Brickwell is a mob boss in Star City and even a former assassin. His unbreakable skin that’s hard as a brick is where his name comes from. He’s tangled on many occasions with Green Arrow and has made some appearances recently and needs to make way more. Always in the way of Green Arrow, both care for their city just on different spectrums which makes him a particularly interesting foe.

2) Merlyn, The Dark Archer

While some of you may call this placement blasphemy, the Dark Archer is our silver medal winner. Yes he is created as the “evil Green Arrow” but he’s only been in a handful of his greatest solo outings — the end of Judd Winnick’s run comes to mind of course and as the main antagonist in Williamson’s run. With a lot of thanks to Arrow on this one actually, Merlyn has retroactively become one of Oliver’s biggest threats.

1) Count Vertigo

Causing Merlyn to miss that bullseye is Count Vertigo. Well regarded as the best Green Arrow villain is Werner Zytle. Having made a lot of recurring appearances in a lot of the recent runs gives him the spot. He always worked as a classic hypnotist with the cool cloak but would fight just about anyone.

Making a massive comeback as Green Arrow arch enemy in the New 52, Vertigo now had implanted powers of, well, vertigo. Now using it as his benefit and to his advantage, Vertigo made his lasting mark. Ever since he still fights a few other characters but prides himself as a Green Arrow villain first and foremost, as he should be. As well as that fantastic new redesign, he’s Green Arrow’s top dog.

Who’s your favroite Green Arrow villain? Let us know down in the comments.

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