10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Green Arrow

6. He's Not A Political Character

Whew boy, this one's a doozy.

But it's also sadly true. Unless you're strongly familiar with the character's bibliography (or indeed his appearances on Justice League Unlimited), there's a pretty high chance that the character's political roots, despite the Robin Hood motif, have proven to be somewhat elusive. The fact is, in the comics at least, Green Arrow is as much a social activist as he is a superhero; someone who embodies the liberalism of the Kennedy era and who wears his politics quite unashamedly on his sleeve.

Indeed, Oliver Queen's political beliefs are an integral part of the character, having come to blows with Hal Jordan, Barry Allen and even Hawkman regularly as a result of them. This rather explicit portrayal of the character's values represents something of an anomaly in the medium, despite countless stories and characters in both Marvel and DC providing analogues for real world issues, concepts and beliefs. Indeed, the politics of Green Arrow are fundamental to the character. To omit them would be a massive disservice to his history.

It's a quandary that the CW in particular have failed to address, and, apart from the many, many alterations to the Arrow lore, the absence of Oliver Queen's ideals remains the show's biggest failure. With repeated attempts by showrunners Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg to effectively have their cake and eat it, it's clear that Arrow's Oliver Queen suffers a massive crisis of identity.