Oliver Queen

His early years

Not much is known of Oliver Jonas Queen's life before 1989. All we know is that his parents — Robert and Laura — traveled frequently and extensively when he was young and that they died on October 14, 1989 when their plane was sabotaged and crashed into the ocean. Oliver was around 9 or 10 at the time it happened.

In the 1990s, Oliver attended Excelsior Academy with Lex Luthor. Having been the sole beneficiary of his parents' imposing fortune, Ollie was an arrogant prep school bully who often harassed Lex and his best friend Duncan Allenmeyer. But all that changed after Duncan was killed during one of their altercations. Still, to this day, Lex holds Oliver responsible of the incident that cost him his only friend.

Oliver graduated in 1998 and deferred admission to an Ivy League school to sail away in a private yacht so he could say goodbye to his parents. However, his crew attempted to murder him and steal his yacht. Oliver used his limited archery skills to escape onto an inflatable liferaft, but the crew sailed away in his boat, leaving him stranded in the middle of the stormy, shark-infested ocean. He washed up on an island and was stranded for twenty days before encountering the island natives. He lived among them for over three months during which time they taught him how to hunt and improved his archery skills. Upon further exploration, Oliver was shocked to discover the wreckage of his parents' plane on the island. He collected their wedding rings from their remains and also found a letter his mother had written to him the night of the crash. Serendipitously, Oliver's stolen yacht also banked on the island eleven months after his arrival. Oliver resolved to get it back; he and the natives staged a coup and Oliver was able to reclaim his boat and return to his home — Star City — where he began fighting crime as the Green Arrow.

Leaving Star City for Metropolis

In 2006, Oliver left Star City for Metropolis. While there, he lived in a loft apartment known as Queen Tower. His company, Queen Industries, owned the only satellite that stayed online during Dark Thursday and Oliver learned that Lex was behind the destruction. He had Lex followed and kidnapped so he could be questioned about the origins of his powers.

While a few considered that Oliver may have questioned Lex in order to discover his powers and scout him for the Justice League, it is most likely that Oliver wanted to discover his foes' abilities in order to better defeat him later on. We'll probably never know that answer. Either way, Oliver now knows that Lex's powers are gone and his interest seems to have evaporated at the same time.

But that's not to say Oliver's stay in Metropolis was for nothing; because he later befriended Clark Kent and introduced him to the idea of the Justice League: a gathering of people with superhuman skills who use them to protect the world and defend its inhabitants.

Playboy or romantic?

While the comic books version of Oliver Queen is quite the wealthy playboy, we've only ever seen him as being pretty romantic when it came to seducing Lois Lane. Alas, he left to save the world so we'll never know if his relationship with Lois would have survived the test of time or if his need to play the Arched Vigilante was in fact a very convenient way to rid himself of her. I really don't think the Smallville version was a bad guy so I have a hard time imagining that subtext to his departure.

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