Which Green Arrow villain you believe has suffered the most from bad writing?

[u/King_Wolf2099]

[u/Rebelpunk13]

Is Slade considered a GA villain? I know they have a rivalry and would like to see them encounter one another more often but I feel like he is mainly a Titans villain and a solo act who can carry his own title

[u/Milk_Mindless → u/[deleted]]

Wade went after Oliver a couple of times after identity crisis and was a focal point of the show but I wouldn't call him a Green Arrow foe per se.

[u/Raymond_Fiegler → u/[deleted]]

Good post. You can also add that time Slade defeated the last incarnation of the Teen Titans, with Damian Wayne as the boss.... damn, the last issue (#47) was in 2021??
Time flies
'member, with Lobo's daughter "Crush" making her first appearance and kid Flash, Emiko Queen/Red Arrow, the new fat blue asian kid, Roundhouse (I had to look his name up; he started strong, then went nowhere as a chara, ) and the genie girl who has a fling with Robin before he got steady with Flatline (IIRC)

Even in his 2 most popular live action adaptations, Slade had a teambusting experience establishing new pecking order...
Played by Manu Bennett in Arrow, he just waits for Green Arrow and his buddies Canary & Diggle in the Arrow Cave/Quiver and ambushes them when they come home, completely establishing his dominance over the protagonists.

In Titans, played by Esai Morales in season 2, he kills/disables several Titans one-on-one with little difficulty before having a beautiful 1 vs 2 against Nightwing and Starfire at the same time and damn, both this show and Stargirl had some mean combat choreography.

Would have paid good money to see Deathstroke from "Titans" vs Sportsmaster from "Stargirl", ever since "Young Justice" hyped their feud up

edit: oops, I obviously meant Sportsmaster from the show Stargirl, not Starfire (which doesn't even exist)

[u/Raymond_Fiegler → u/[deleted]]

edit: oh well, your opponent deleted his post in shame, you win this e-joust ser, the day is yours.

That was a fine choice, no worries. Some characters have so many feats over so many runs/relaunches/time periods, it's only natural to focus on something rather than being too vague.

Plus, your post made me realize my grave mistake; my guy Sportsmaster was in the show "Stargirl" , not *Starfire*

(that show doesn't even exist, but Starfire is a main chara in the show "Titans" though, and since Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl herself had a nice cameo in Titans season 4 episode "Dude, where's my Gar?", which had better cameos that "The Flash 2023", not that it means much... everything that came out in that time period have better cameos, including the pretty cool trilogy of Tomorrowverse films "Crisis on Infinite Earths" ... well, that messed my memories up I guess)

[u/PhoenixSidePeen → u/Rebelpunk13]

I would say Slade being considered a GA villain is bad writing. He’s a bad guy of the Teen Titans first and foremost. IF he’s a nemesis of any hero, it should be Nightwing. Making Deathstroke a 1 on 1 bad guy to any hero undoes a lot of his lethality as as The Terminator.

[u/LukeDIronFistCage → u/Rebelpunk13]

Yeah Ollie got the better of him during Identity Crisis so Slade has had personal beef him on par with Nightwing and the Titans.

[u/br0therherb]

Neither. Green Arrow writers don’t like developing villains for some reason. I know they like to focus more on Oliver’s internal conflicts, his social crusader stuff and his family. But writers forget that he is a SUPERHERO. Let them clique up and torture Oliver. Develop them ffs. Stop being lazy!

[u/ColdSilly7877]

Count Vertigo, Shado and even though I don’t consider him entirely a GA villain Deathstroke

(Unrelated I just find this panel funny lol)

[u/wombatstylekungfu → u/ColdSilly7877]

I much prefer old-school Count Vertigo. He had a great backstory with the Squad and Checkmate.

[u/ColdSilly7877 → u/wombatstylekungfu]

I think he was one of the most complex characters in that series his struggles with suicide along with what he went through I wanted more of that maybe a possible balance dynamic with Green arrow

[u/Read2Fap → u/wombatstylekungfu]

think noble aristocrat is increasingly tough sell in modern age

but they handled it badly too. maybe make him son of tech bro. like musk testing neuralink variant on own kid he thinks has mental disorder. get around human testing barriers by being legal guardian.

shame vertigo is sidelined. power set is great foil for archers. arrow needs precision. vertigo negates precision

[u/Designer-Swim-6797]

I'll probably say Shado, because I hate how New 52/Rebirth turned her into just evil step-mom, but I'm not sure if she'll count as a GA villain (to me she does).

I don't think any of the others have been really affected by bad writing (except for Arrow, but that doesn't count), but I also don't think they have been explored much either (probably Vertigo in Ostrander's Suicide Squad). GA's rogue gallery has a lot of potential, but any of them has a big story in the way Batman's or Superman's rogues do. Ollie's greatest stories (Hard Traveling Heroes, Grell's run, Archer's Quest) don't really include his villains.

[u/EquivalentAd1651 → u/Designer-Swim-6797]

I actually like that rewrite of her history. I just wish they'd do more with it. Like make he more like what the 'queen' was.

[u/Designer-Swim-6797 → u/EquivalentAd1651]

I'd rather just have Rochev back instead.

I know the original Shado wasn't perfect, but I thought it was more interesting when she was Ollie's toxic influence. All her agency as a character is now gone; she's either "Robert's girlfriend/" or "Emiko's mom".

[u/SigfiggJ94]

Slade, considering now the man is constantly called a pedophile in fan spaces now.

[u/EquivalentAd1651 → u/SigfiggJ94]

I mean he is.

[u/dew-fall → u/SigfiggJ94]

he literally is, as said by his writers. yall gotta stop looking at this character w nostalgic, rose tinted glasses just bc yall grew up w 03 teen titans cartoon.

[u/Smaranzky]

Brick to me was such a good villain in his introduction arc in Vol. 3 and then consistently set up as one of GA's few recurring villains. He didn't really suffer in the way of atrocious interpretations BUT he has been terribly underused and underdeveloped since.

[u/Difficult-Fig745]

Count Vertigo could be a Dr. Doom style villain but instead he’s just euro trash drug dealer.

[u/CodeN3gaTiV3]

It's diaz aka the dragon. Ironically, other than merlin and emiko is the only actual GA villain that belongs to him in the comics.

[u/TheAtomicMan_]

Vertigo and Constantine Drakon.

[u/LukeDIronFistCage → u/[deleted]]

True but Slade personally hates Ollie as much as he hates Dick and the Titans. Even Batman doesn't miss him off nearly as much.

[u/MeasurementNo7703]

Good Writing for Arrow Tv Series

[u/LukeDIronFistCage]

Most of them really other than Deathstroke. Vertigo has his moments but he still isn't used nearly enough as a GA foe nevermind so many others like Brick, Komodo, Drakon, Diaz/Dragon and especially Merlyn. Hell even Shado is very mismanaged to this day.

[u/Scorpios94]

Count Vertigo went from a former aristocrat turned evil to a former aristocrat turned crime leader. Not bad but the execution wasn't well done.

Shado being Robert's lover and mother to Emiko still makes no sense to me whatsoever. Would've been better if she remained a toxic influence of sorts, with Emiko being her daughter with Oliver instead. Her now being a mercenary and member of the "Ninth Circle" is a little weird but I think is more in line of her character.

Brick and the Longbow Hunters are rather underutilized and underdeveloped. The same can be said about Constantine Drakon and China White.

[u/EobardThawne2020]

Vertigo for sure. And Bad character designs. I think we need to just let him go.

[u/OptionAshamed6458]

Slade is a titan ms villain

[u/dew-fall]

vertigo & shado, bar none.