The Real Reason Oliver Queen Died Twice During Crisis

Just why did the Arrowverse see fit to kill off Ollie not once but twice?

by Andrew Pollard
Crisis On Infinite Earths Oliver Queen Sara Lance 2046
The CW

Not content with killing the poor fella off once, The CW’s huge Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover went one better and killed Oliver Queen twice.

Stephen Amell’s Emerald Archer first went down swinging as he fought to his last breath against the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons. This act may have saved so many others, but it resulted in the death of Oliver. Well, kind of.

Courtesy of John Constantine and a Lazarus Pit, attempts were made to resurrect Ollie. The only thing is, this job required a trip to Purgatory that would ultimately result in the Master Bowman having to take on the moniker of the Spectre. Even in this guise, however, Oliver Queen would end up dying a second time – although this second death proved to be the ultimate sacrifice in recreating the entire universe and the landscape of The CW’s Arrowverse.

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So, just why was the call made to have Oliver Queen suffer death on two different occasions?

Speaking to Variety, executive producer Marc Guggenheim has explained that the end of Arrow was always going to be Oliver Queen’s death. But while that explains the ultimate fate of Ollie, Guggenheim revealed that the reason for Queen’s first demise was simply down to wanting to keep the audience on their toes.

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Many viewers were under the belief that Crisis on Infinite Earths would culminate in Oliver’s death, yet seeing the Green Arrow killed off in the very first part of this five-episode crossover did indeed strike home as a massive shock.

With Crisis now in the rear-view mirror, Arrow has just two episodes left before the genre favourite series comes to an end after eight seasons. The next of these episodes will jump ahead in time to serve as a backdoor pilot for the upcoming Green Arrow and the Canaries spin-off series fronted by Katherine McNamara’s Mia Queen, Juliana Harkavy’s Dinah Drake, and Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance – and then one final outing will bring the show to a close after a total of 168 episodes.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.