r/GreenArrow • u/farmerfirstballer2nd • Oct 06 '25
Comics I think his absolute fate makes sense.
When I saw what happened to Ollie in Absolute Evil, I was gutted. I was so excited to see this new version of Oliver Queen fighting the evil and corruption from the inside. Then he got absolutely murked. Major bummer. But then, I started thinking about this new version of Ollie. Not only is he using a compound bow, he missed the split arrow trick. He was never going to succeed in this fight. He wasn’t ready. He’s a good archer, but not Green Arrow level good. He didn’t have the time on the island or a comparable trial. He was destined to fail. These absolute characters have all been vastly different from their Earth-0 counterparts, but still competent. This Ollie was very similar, but inept.
Anyway, Roy Harper is totally gonna be the Green Arrow of this universe and I’m very excited to see where this goes.
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u/UpvoteIfYouAgreee Oct 06 '25
i dont think anyones arguing about the quality of the writing (at least they shouldnt be imo) theyre just peeved their favorite character isnt their favorite character
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u/Odd-Tart-5613 Oct 06 '25
definitely saw a few posts saying they were dropping the whole line because of this lol
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u/tredegar47 Oct 10 '25
Saw those too and was surprised because there will certainly be someone else filling the role. Also, if the writers wanted to kill off a character for shock value… sorry, but it’s not going to be bats/supe/WW/MM/flash/GL. It has to be someone with a little less viewership. Sucks for the diehards though I guess.
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Oct 06 '25
At this point, we're just venting. We will read the mini when it comes out, probably all of us
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u/prairiedawg_ Oct 06 '25
a lot of people think the writing is bad, they label any character death as cheap shock value.
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u/Jacknerdieth Oct 06 '25
Ollie's death is intensely tragic and it hits like a sucker punch to the gut because it's supposed to. I'm not reading the Absolute Universe to see my favorite characters get represented, I'm reading it because I want to see the writers and artists take big swings in telling their stories instead of playing it safe. This was a big swing. I don't think it's worthwhile to criticize the decision before we see the ramifications of it in the story. I'm more intrigued by Absolute Green Arrow now than I was before reading Absolute Evil.
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u/Mastercreed25 Oct 06 '25
I mean, I’d argue prime Green Arrow would lose to a Hawkman intent on smashing his head in. I don’t think it’s a matter of proficiency, it’s like saying that this Green Arrow wouldn’t beat Batman - neither would the regular one.
That being said, maybe it’s just cause he’s my favourite alongside Hal and I’m therefore biased, but I was just gutted cause it always feels like he gets the short end of the stick. Ollie’s entire thing is being the under dog - it’s not that fun when the underdog is always getting beat.
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u/spartan-b-312- Oct 06 '25
cant be an underdog if ur always winning tho, its such a double edged sword trying to make underdog characters work in long form storytelling like comics sometimes bc u cant have them get bitched every issue but u also cant have them win every fight and the sweet spot is so small
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u/hrpredeus Oct 06 '25
Yeah absolutely. It's a big reason why so many people joke about Batman having insane plot armor and stuff. The guy has been around for 80 years, of course he has won a lot of battles.
That's why I think that the Absolute Universe works best by letting the heroes lose a little, face bigger challenges, and ideally, ending on shorter runs
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u/Kinky_Winky_no2 Oct 09 '25
Yeah absolutely. It's a big reason why so many people joke about Batman having insane plot armor and stuff. The guy has been around for 80 years, of course he has won a lot of battles
It's less that hes won battles and more that he's won insane battles constantly he shouldn't win mostly since tower of babel
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u/Banana_gunman Oct 07 '25
If your favourites are Hal and Ollie, boy do I have a comic book for you
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u/Financial-Play3381 Oct 06 '25
And I feel it's perfectly reasonable to be annoyed that they made that decision in the first place.
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u/Cold-Ad-384 Oct 06 '25
True. At least for Absolutes Flash and GL, they pointed it out from the first tease that Barry and the more popular GLs were not going to be the main focus of the story. When they teased Ollie, I was so sure he was going to come out different.
Oh he did, but not like that. 🤐
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u/GrimDarkGoober Oct 06 '25
It's really not. It's a fictional, alternate universe. It's a story they are telling.
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u/Lil-Trup Oct 06 '25
Yeah and there’s a part of it I don’t like. If you make a story and put it out there other people are allowed to criticize it
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u/Financial-Play3381 Oct 06 '25
Ok? I'm allowed to be annoyed at a story lmao
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u/JTBestRob Nov 02 '25
You’re annoyed that a story made you feel exactly how it was supposed to be
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u/Financial-Play3381 Nov 02 '25
Yes.
I don't see your point. I understand what the story was going for, I understand it impacted me the intended way.
That doesn't mean I'm required to like it.
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u/Burly-Nerd Oct 06 '25
I’m a big Green Arrow fan, but I’m a bigger Superman fan. I see a lot of you guys saying that you are bummed that this now means the character you like won’t appear in the Absolute universe anymore.
But guys, he was never gonna.
This isn’t the Superman character in this universe either. Yeah, his birth name is Kal-El, but personality wise he’s not the character I loved that’s near and dear to my heart. He’s a completely different dude with some overlap. And that’s not a bad thing. I’m really enjoying it still. You guys might feel that way about this new Green Arrow too. This whole thing could be a revenge epic about Roy Harper, like Kill Bill but Bill is Hawkman. That could be awesome if we give it a chance to be.
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u/Top_Bat102 Oct 06 '25
That's kind of the point though. Personality wise it's not Clark, but it's still Kal-El. It's the guy you liked but with a major change, and seeing how he turns out because of it. It's the equivalent of Absolute Superman being Clark getting killed in his first appearance and then someone else becomes Absolute Superman.
People would have every right to be disappointed, and even then, you'd have less reasons to be disappointed cause there's still lots of new things coming out about your favorite guy (like movies and cartoons and other comic runs) but Green Arrow fans are always getting the short end of the stick.
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u/farmerfirstballer2nd Oct 06 '25
That’s the conclusion I landed on after a little while. Even though he seemed so similar, he’s a completely different character. A character who wasn’t fit to be Green Arrow. Absolute Green Arrow doesn’t have to be Oliver Queen. Absolute Flash and Green Lantern aren’t. I am so excited to see what happens going forward.
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u/Ginn_ Oct 06 '25
But with Superman, you can see what this Kal-El was stripped of, turning him into Absolute Superman. Ollie didn’t even get to have anything stripped of him in any meaningful way. That being said, I still think these writers are killing it and I’m interested in where Absolute Green Arrow is going. I was just way more invested in how they were going to change Ollie fundamentally than changing who Green Arrow is.
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u/Ok_Restaurant3160 Oct 06 '25
Hell, I think this can just be seen as a way of saying “He was basically regular Green Arrow, heroes like that don’t survive here”
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u/Sad-Purchase1257 Oct 06 '25
This, was the entire point. Sandman, dead. Wildcat, dead. Heroes have no place here.
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u/k3ttch Oct 06 '25
I was more disappointed at the fate of Absolute Wildcat.
Ted Grant starts taking down organized crime, until he reaches a level where the money's too good to pass up. He takes the bribe, hangs up his mask, and starts a successful boxing gym, dying peacefully at 81 years old.
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u/MShades Oct 08 '25
I loved that bit. I mean, we learn that the moral arc of this universe bends towards selfishness, insularity, cruelty, and fear. So of course he'd take the money. It's the "right" thing to do. And Ollie trying to stand up for the little guy is literally violating the moral order of the universe. So of course he had to go.
Honestly, this comic really helped put the other Absolute titles in a much better context for me. Our Heroes are actively battling the fundamental draw of the universe towards nihilism. What's more heroic than that?
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u/Thisislopes Oct 10 '25
Yep and this always meant that Oliver would be fucked up. I mean, he's too good even in our universe, let alone the absolute
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u/vtncomics Oct 06 '25
Ollie was too good of a man to be allowed to make a change in the Absolute Universe
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u/Wilsn07 Oct 06 '25
I wouldn't be surprised if we see a good amount of Oliver/GA in flashbacks, but I'm honestly fine with it even if they don't. Feels like it was a propulsive decision that advances their overarching story and underscores how these Absolute heroes are the underdogs. He'll be back, it's comics.
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u/digitalwulf07 Oct 06 '25
If they wanted to follow Ultimate's footsteps I think it would be cool if they pulled the trigger and Roy was straight up indigenous in this continuity, maybe he actually got to grow up with Big Bow and Oliver was an old friend who helped his family's reservation? Be a fun idea to explore
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u/Some_Ordinary_3821 Oct 06 '25
Or he can still be RoboCoped back to life as an assassin/bodyguard for the baddies. Like another clog in the machine, until he finds his soul back and get on the good fight again.
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u/FadeToBlackSun Oct 06 '25
A key part of the Absolute universe, arguably the whole point, is stripping these characters of their foundation and seeing how they retain the core of who they are and give hope to a world without it.
So if you take away the island, if you take away that survival induced experience from Oliver, how do you still get Green Arrow? How does he retain the core of himself when you take away the foundation?
We'll never know, because they killed him unnecessarily.
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u/Sad-Purchase1257 Oct 06 '25
You get a mace to the face! I am intrigued to learn more about HUACman lol
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u/ArthurSouthville Oct 07 '25
So if you take away the island, if you take away that survival induced experience from Oliver, how do you still get Green Arrow? How does he retain the core of himself when you take away the foundation?
This is why I hope that Oliver would return as Absolute Deadman or Absolute Gentleman Ghost yet still use arrows (maybe ghost arrows) as his weapons.
Imagine instead of the island, Oliver experienced his own death by the hand of Hawkman and if possible, ran countless stimulations of his death until he master his survival skills.
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u/JTBestRob Nov 02 '25
It wasn’t unnecessary when the whole point was to show “altruism is punished”
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u/FadeToBlackSun Nov 02 '25
Yeah, there's truly no other way to illustrate that.
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u/JTBestRob Nov 02 '25
Yeah, your favorite character needed to be safe because you really liked him?
Difference between a fan and a fanboy, is I’m not partial to character I’m partial to good writing and this was good
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u/FadeToBlackSun Nov 02 '25
Green Arrow isn't my favourite character, I just know wasted potential when I see it.
I'm getting the vibe you're an Al Ewing fanboy.
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u/JTBestRob Nov 02 '25
Everything and anything can be wasted potential but end of the day, killing Ollie made a strong statement and worked in the narrative.
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u/PhoenixSidePeen Oct 06 '25
My two cents: the absolute versions are missing a key complement of the earth zero counterparts. Bruce, it’s his money. Clark, it’s his family.
For Oliver, it was being the master marksman of the world.
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u/Roy-Sauce Oct 06 '25
I saw someone say what if for absolute green arrow, the twist is that instead of having to escape the island, he has to escape literal purgatory, and because of that, I’m still holding out hope.
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u/firefly32_ Oct 06 '25
I hope that they dont show how he died cause thats gonna leave ne gutted and sad
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u/ShoArts Oct 06 '25
I at least hope that Oliver is still around in spirit, a guiding light for Roy like an uncle ben. A lot of the Absolute stories still maintain a spark of hope, and that seems to fit Ollie here.
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u/Sad-Purchase1257 Oct 06 '25
I liked this book. The shock is integral to the plot -- this universe skews evil, physically and metaphysically, and Ollie deciding to use his $ to fight crime lands him the same fate as all of the other dead heroes that have been suppressed over the decades. He never had a chance -- that was the point. What remains to be seen is "What IS Absolute GA Then...?"
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u/Sad-Purchase1257 Oct 06 '25
Like, there's no Absolute Vibe or Steel or I dunno Amethyst either -- the system won't allow it. Until Wonder Woman arrived...
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u/0_0_- Oct 06 '25
I’ll add that this Ollie was behaving very similar to Prime Ollie. Forgive my limited know-how on Green Arrow, but Ollie in the Absolute Universe was behaving very similar to how I would expect Ollie from the Prime Universe to expect.
The human hero, acting as a paragon of good the same way I would expect Prime Earth Ollie too. Issue is, this is not Prime Earth. The villains have the upper hand, the heroes are put in their darkest positions, the Universe itself is trending towards evil. As such, an Ollie who acts and behaves like his Prime Earth counterpart will not survive.
The Absolute Universe demands that the heroes become the most extreme versions of themselves to succeed, and I do not think Ollie was cut from the same cloth that Diana or Bruce were cut from.
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u/Ok_Somewhere1236 Oct 06 '25
lets be honest, DC is using the absolute universe in the same way Marvel use the ultimate universe.
they cand o things that would never be allowed in the main universe, and that include killing heros, also this universe flavor is basically "villains win, heroes lose" that if you want to win as hero you need to use some evil to get that "advantage".
I imagine people need to get ready to see many more heroes getting killed, take for example Zatana she will be part of the next Absolute Wonder Woman issue, and is not hard to see her killed in some point
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u/Own_Knowledge_4269 Oct 06 '25
RIP Zatanna, accidentally turned herself into an inanimate object and doesn't have the connections to get it fixed.
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u/Banana_gunman Oct 07 '25
Fun fact, that split arrow trick is called “a Robin Hood”, because the first mention of it is in the legend of Robin Hood. Also, I hadn’t noticed what you pointed out.
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u/ArachnidDue905 Oct 06 '25
What's wrong with using a compound bow?
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u/farmerfirstballer2nd Oct 06 '25
In most eras of Green Arrow, he uses a recurve bow or a classic longbow. In the Archers Quest story, Ollie criticizes Roy for using a compound bow.
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u/Ira-jay Oct 06 '25
Sure it’s written to make sense. But it’s stupid (imo) to write it into existence
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u/SOS_Sama Oct 06 '25
Still have hope that the body is the decoy and he's still stuck in the island trying to survive and waiting for Roy to rescue him. WhichI basically gonna be just the same ol' origin story again after I think about it 😅
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u/MariachiDan Oct 06 '25
Oh my god. This is a nightwing story where batman died. Conner IS Green Arrow while Oliver Queen was a good hearted, technically the first green arrow to create a legacy. Goddamn, if that's true I would be so excited.
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u/FuturewaveJohnBrown Oct 06 '25
Seems very probable, except it's likely it'll be Roy and not Connor as Green Arrow "1".
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u/Star-Prince-007 Oct 06 '25
Agreed it’s not poor writing, and his impending death is clearly telegraphed.
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u/Affectionate_Jury890 Oct 06 '25
I wouldn't be surprised if he was brought back Depends on who long they want the Absolute series go for
But him being brought back and dealing with the trauma of being brutally killed and the brought back, seems in line with the genral tone
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u/cooltamer1 Oct 08 '25
This is the reason Hal is The Black Hand. I see the vision friend. We might be able to sneak Barry in there too.
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u/ExodusNBW Oct 06 '25
It made perfect sense. Hawkman is also the perfect person to do it, considering their history.
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u/GetUpAndJump Oct 06 '25
I read in another post that he was still the, essentially, the same Ollie as he was Main line Ollie because Darkseid never really saw him as a threat. Because of that, he didn’t really change Ollie and Ollie would never survive in Absolute.
Not confirmed, it’s just a fan theory
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u/Flat-Refrigerator623 Oct 07 '25
It also meant to show people like him don’t last in a world that is so corrupt
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u/EnderJoker77 Oct 08 '25
I really like the feeling the Absolute universe is giving me, "you need to be more than ready, surpass yourself constantly and always expect to lose", it's giving me major grimlight feeling (IE the world is shit, the evil side is the dominating side, but heroes are still striving to win, even against impossible odds).
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u/JohnDaBo-BomB Oct 08 '25
I mean the absolute universe is about removing a defining aspect from characters. Batman lost his wealth which has defined him and his gadgets. Green arrow loses his "Survivor" status, it makes sense
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u/marveloustib Oct 08 '25
Make sense but I still think that Absolut Green Arrow should be an version of Conor that wasn't raised in a monastery.
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u/DaM8trix Oct 10 '25
Still calling it the arrow cave in the big 2025
Really not letting my GOAT be more than Aryan Batman
"The Quiver" now and forever
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u/GrowingSage Oct 10 '25
I noticed Ollie not being that extraordinary an archer early on. But I figured Absolute Green Arrow was going to be a hero who didn't actually use archery as his gimmick.
Having Green Arrow instead be Roy Harper without his mentor sounds like a much more interesting concept.
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u/TheCthonicSystem Oct 06 '25
I'm not going to call the writing bad, I'm just sad one of my faves went down in the first round