The following contains spoilers for Dark Crisis Worlds Without a Justice League: Green Arrow #1, now on sale from DC Comics
Whenever the Marvel and DC Universe meet, it’s not uncommon to see specific pairings and battles teased out — including a Hawkeye/Green Arrow rivalry that served as an undercurrent of the JLA/Avengers series. But as Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths is reminding audiences, there’s another Marvel hero who has a lot more in common with Ollie Queen than Clint Barton.
The story “Till Death Do Us Part!” from Dark Crisis Worlds Without a Justice League: Green Arrow #1 (by Dennis Culver, Nik Virella, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Troy Peteri) reinvents Green Arrow as DC’s own Iron Man — showcasing the similarities between him and Marvel’s Armored Avenger.
Dark Crisis Introduced an Armored Green Arrow
Part of the gimmick to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths has been the revelation that the “death” of the Justice League locked the heroes into pocket dimensions that were more or less idealized worlds, quietly pacifying the group. While some have been able to break free of their prisons on their own, others have required help to reach that point (and some have even actively resisted escaping their personal timelines). But according to Pariah, something unique about Green Arrow and Black Canary has been corrupting his attempts to trap them in realities. No matter which worlds he creates for the two, they always end the same with the pair breaching their realities to find one another.
One of these timelines introduces a version of Green Arrow who goes into battle with more than just a bow and quiver. Instead, he dons a green suit of robotic suit called the Arrow Armor — which naturally still has a bow, but one that uses lasers to increase the power of the weapon. In essence, this Green Arrow version is a direct parallel to Marvel’s Iron Man. Ollie’s best friend is Diggle – who quietly assumes the role James Rhodes typically takes up in relation to Tony Stark. This Ollie Queen is a genius inventor, creating the machine that can analyze everyone on the planet and a Shift-Ship that can transverse across dimensions, suggesting this version of Green Arrow has the same kind of intellect that usually fuels Iron Man.
Is Green Arrow More Like Iron Man Than Hawkeye?
This version of Green Arrow even sports a version of his classic goatee that looks more akin to Tony Stark’s facial hair. It’s impressive for the typically underpowered hero, who more or less finds a way to cross entire realities in a bid to be reunited with the love of his life. In a lot of ways, it also makes a lot of sense. While Green Arrow is usually compared to Marvel’s Hawkeye, due to the pair’s similar skill sets and typical status as the resident human on their respective superteams. It makes more sense to compare him to Tony Stark, another formerly vain rich boy who, after a tragedy almost killed him, rose up and became a more heroic figure.
Both Ollie Queen and Tony Stark bring their fortunes to their heroics, along with a dogged commitment to women. Both are notorious flirts (to the point that Green Arrow ended up with an unexpected son in the form of Connor Hawke), and even share a meta-textual bond — as Iron Man and Arrow both set the stage for entire superhero franchises to grow around them (the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Arrowverse, respectively) before both heroes died in massive crossover events. Green Arrow getting his own Iron Man armor just codified the connections between the two characters — and highlights how with the additional motivation of his love for Black Canary, Green Arrow could theoretically reach heights even Iron Man would balk at.
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