Oliver Queen's identity literally makes no sense. Not because it doesn't make any sense in the grand scheme of nonsensical superhero identities (or because his glorious Van Dyke beard is a stone-cold giveaway that he's secretly also Green Arrow), but because DC's writers can never seem to decide whether it's public knowledge or not.
Oli is an odd case in that his identity was exposed after his death. Papers reported his true identity after he was killed disarming a bomb armed by eco-terrorists, and that remained the case when he returned in Quiver. However, in literally the next arc (Brad Meltzer's equally lauded Archer's Quest), no one knows his true identity again.
No explanation was given - it's just the case that he's got his double life back and the public is none the wiser. Queen is then able to mount a mayoral campaign in the years following. Before all of this even happened, the CIA managed to deduce Queen's identity during Mike Grell's Longbow Hunters - again, on account of his trademark facial hair - but Ollie was still able to keep his identity secret in the years following Meltzer's comic.
Compounding the confusion further is the fact Ollie has his secret outed yet again in the aftermath of Cry for Justice, which was then of course reversed with the New 52 and DC Rebirth.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
