Arrow: 5 Reasons Why Oliver Queen Is The Most Compelling Superhero On Television

5. He's Willing To Kill

One of the most common tropes for superheroes on screen is that the good guys don't deliberately kill. There's death via collateral damage and villain hubris and good guys neglecting to save bad guys, but the heroes generally don't start their journeys with a murder spree.

Not so for Oliver Queen.

The first season of Arrow featured a protagonist who was basically a serial killer. He even had a list of names to cross off! According to Detective Quentin Lance, Oliver was responsible for the deaths of nearly thirty people in his first few months of activity as a vigilante. It was Tommy's death at the end of Season 1 that finally set Oliver on a straight and narrow path of mercy to his enemies.

Mostly. 

There have been notable exceptions to the "no killing" rule. A drug dealer learns his secret identity and holds his Girl Wednesday hostage? Arrows to the chest. Oliver must maintain his cover as Al Sah-him? Executed stranger. Ra's al Ghul intends to exterminate the population of Starling City? Blade through the chest. There's still a touch of the Hood remaining in the Green Arrow, and he's all the more interesting for it.