Some Green Arrow

Today we talk about the history of one of my favourite comic book characters in video games. I'm talking about the Green Arrow. More than being a poor man's Batman, the Green Arrow has always struck me as simply a more leftist alternative to the Dark Knight. While their respective back stories might be similar Green Arrow actually cares about poor people, druggies, politics and so on while Batman is happiest when he gets to spy on citizens and beat up baddies. To each his own.

The main draw of both of these heroes, however, is that they're more based on reality than the Superman's and Green Lanterns of the world. This is where the fraternity and similarities between Arrow and Batman end however. While Batman has a huge following and large multimedia presence Green Arrow's appearances have been limited to comic books and Smallville. On the one hand this means that those of us who like the character get nerd cred for being fans of a more obscure character but on the other hand there is always the latent possibility that the book won't sell enough and get canceled. Batman doesn't get canceled.

Thus there is no list of old video games in which Green Arrow has appeared, no beloved classic that made him thousands of fans, no beloved classic to look back upon and remember what a long tradition of Green Arrow video games there is. Nope, none of that. BUT because it can't all be Batman and Superman DC recently made Green Arrow a playable character in its MMORPG DC Universe Online. So now do we not only finally get to see Olly in video game form but we also get to play as him in an online multiplayer full of thousands of Batman's. For a small fee. Woo Hoo!

My cynicism is unwarranted. I don't play MMORPG's so I can't appreciate their awesomeness, but I do appreciate DC finally doing something with my favourite character. And for that here's a gallery of screens from the game. This probably won't lead to a blockbuster movie deal (though I could see Olive Queen in the Nolan Batman...) but its a step up from the usual. For now it's probably for the best that he remain a cult favourite, overexposure has a way of ruining obscure characters, right Deadpool?