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“ | You know, when I first met Oliver, he gave me a purpose, but he also gave me all of you. It makes sense that having a team is what helps me in the future, so why wait? | „ |
~ Roy Harper. |
Roy William Harper, Jr. (born July 13, 1991), referred to as simply Roy Harper, also known as Arsenal, is a street-savvy young man from the Glades. He is the son of the late Roy Harper, Sr. and an unnamed woman, the boyfriend of Thea Queen, a good friend of Sin, and the current protégé of Oliver Queen. When he first appeared, Roy was a street criminal who was resentful of everyone until he met Thea, who showed him another way of life and helped him become more calm as he fell in love with her. Roy also used to be one of The Arrow's main supporters, until the Arrow shot him in the leg with an arrow, telling him that the life he was trying to live was dangerous.
However when Roy discovered the reason why the Arrow shot him in his leg in the first place, and discovered his identity, Roy regained respect for Oliver, and became one of Oliver's main supporters again. He was one of a number of people kidnapped and injected with the Mirakuru serum in an attempt to create a superhuman army for Slade Wilson's Church of Blood. He was training under Oliver in an attempt to control his powers, but after Oliver forced Roy to break up with Thea and her subsequent kidnapping at the hands of Slade, Roy left Starling City but was captured by Slade and used to create more Mirakuru soldiers, whilst the drain left Roy insane and went on a city wide rampage. However, in "Streets of Fire". Roy was cured of the Mirakuru by the S.T.A.R Labs cure created by Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon.
He is currently Oliver's sidekick and partner with the codename Arsenal.
He was portrayed by Colton Haynes, who also played Jackson Whittemore in Teen Wolf.
Personality[]
In Season 1, Roy does not like to steal and only does it because he is in a bad situation. He resents rich people because he believes most of them are greedy, arrogant and selfish, Roy is intelligent and has pride, and he is above taking things for free, particularly from rich people. Despite his initial dislike of Thea at the time, he saved her from two thugs before they can steal from her, showing that he tries to do the right thing. He has a fear of needles (but it is mentioned that this fear may stem from past experiences and a fear of becoming a drug addict). He has stated he will never beg for his life because his enemies do not deserve the satisfaction.
He is shown to be grateful, as after The Arrow saved his life, he seeks to find out his identity. Roy states that he owes him everything, and possibly worships The Arrow, because he believes him to be a hero. Roy later says the reason he wants to find The Arrow is because he lost someone and wants The Arrow to mentor him, so he doesn't lose anyone else ever again.
He is impulsive, shown when he steals a police radio, in order to help himself find The Arrow, and gets arrested for it. He later broke up with Thea, because he would not give up on his search for The Arrow, but he regretted it and got back together with her. He is also shown to be a selfless person, rescuing and helping people.
In Season 2, like Oliver, Roy has a sense of justice and honor, and he has guilt, morals and remorse for his actions, Roy can sometimes be short tempered and hot-headed, he is also aggressive and violent.
Despite his rough start with Thea, Roy is shown to genuinely love Thea and was only able to keep the Mirakuru from completely twisting his mind by focusing on his romantic feelings for Thea. Later on when he trained in archery, he didn't lose his temper when he repeatedly missed his mark and simply commented he thought he would have hit one. However, when he was shot in the hand, he lost control of his rage and Oliver to resort to using Thea's nickname, "Speedy", to snap him out of it.
At first Roy did not have any respect for Oliver Queen and did not get along with him, but after he found out Oliver was The Arrow, Roy gained a lot of respect for him. Despite his respect for Oliver, Roy still blamed Oliver for Thea getting kidnapped by Slade. Unlike other members of Team Arrow, Roy does not follow Oliver's orders without question. Roy gets along well with John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. However Roy did not get along so well with Sara Lance, because of a combination his mind was twisted by the Mirakuru at the time and their differences.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Peak of human physical condition: Roy is shown to be in top physical condition from his intense exercises in the Arrowcave. Due to his youth, Roy is faster than Oliver.
- Free running/Acrobatics: In "Dodger", when attempting to flee from Thea and Laurel, Roy showed he could easily scale a fence multiple meters high in one fluid movement, making use of a nearby wall to provide leverage. In "Broken Dolls", Roy is shown to be fast enough to catch up with Sin. In the season 3 premiere, he does a double flip off a car.
- Advanced hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Roy is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, starting as a streetfighter his skills increased due to him being trained by Oliver and Sara. He has great mastery in battle, that allows him to fight with Mirakuru-enhanced soldiers of Slade army in "Unthinkable". In "Corto Maltese" he is shown to be able more than hold his own against A.R.G.U.S soldiers. Like Oliver he uses his bow as a melee weapon and has been shown training with sticks and using them in his fight against Komodo.
- Skilled street fighter: Having grown up in the Glades all his life, Roy had taught himself to fight back. In "The Huntress Returns", Roy was able to hold out on his own while fighting three thugs, even using the wall to build up centripetal force, jumping over one the thugs and strike him down. In "Sacrifice", he took out two thugs without taking a hit from them, by flipping the second thug onto the then down first thug. In "City of Heroes", he has shown an inability to fight more than three opponents simultaneously, including when they wield weapons. He later received training from Oliver and Sarah and became a way more skilled fighter.
- Advanced or Master archer: When he joined Oliver's vigilante team, Roy was trained in archery by Oliver, although not being any good at first he improves and manages to get lucky a few times he needs more coaching sessions from Oliver and fighting lessons. By the season 3 premiere Roy was able to shoot the tires of a moving truck without missing. When Komodo had a rope around the ankle of his target Roy was able to cut the rope with a shot.
- Skilled marksman: In "Identity", Roy is shown to be skilled enough to throw a flechette, straight at Oliver's face (under the guise of The Arrow), which Oliver managed to catch, Roy had good accuracy despite the fact that he was not trained in archery at that time.
- Skilled scout: Roy is an extremely capable scout. Combined with his training, Oliver regularly sends him out alone to scout Starling City for any crimes. He was also capable of even tracking Nyssa, a high figure in the League of Assassins seemingly without her knowing.
Former Powers and Abilities[]
- Peak of superhuman physical condition: In "Three Ghosts", Roy was injected with the Mirakuru, his physical capacity was increased in terms of strength, durability, stamina, speed, senses, reflexes, and agility, in addition to an accelerated healing factor. In "Streets of Fire", Roy is cured from his Mirakuru powers and abilities by Oliver.
- Enhanced strength: In "Blast Radius", Roy is shown to be strong enough to lift a light tower (close to a ton in weight). In "Blind Spot", he can punched right through breaks and concrete with ease. In "Tremors", Roy was able to punched right through a steel box, that is designed to withstand a bomb.
- Enhanced durability: In "Blast Radius", Roy is shown to be able to take a hit from a light tower, that was about to fall on Moira Queen.
- Enhanced Stamina: Thanks to the Mirakuru serum, it reduces the effects of fatigue allowing Roy to exert himself at peak capacity greater then any normal human could.
- Enhanced speed: It can be assumed with Slade, that the Mirakuru has greatly enhanced Roy's speed, allowing him to move much faster than any normal human could.
- Enhanced agility: It can be assumed with Slade, that the Mirakuru has greatly enhanced Roy's agility, allowing him to be more agile than any normal human could.
- Enhanced senses: It can be assumed with Slade, that the Mirakuru has greatly enhanced Roy's senses, allowing him to see, hear, and smell, far better then any normal human could.
- Enhanced reflexes: Thanks to the Mirakuru serum, Roy is able to react much faster than any normal human could. In "Seeing Red", he was able to catch an arrow shot at him by Oliver.
- Rapid cell regeneration: In "Three Ghosts", Roy was injected with the Mirakuru, that has increase his natural healing abilities to superhuman levels, within a day, after the Arrow shot him in the leg with an arrow, Roy's scar was completely healed. In "Blast Radius", after a small piece of broken glass falling on his arm, Roy's injury was completely healed within a day.
Equipment[]
- Customized Recurve Bow: Roy was trained in archery and use in battle his own bow, red in color. He has a great shooting speed, and can successfully use this in close combat. Despite that he recently became trained, Roy already has quite a serious success, which is enough to fight against the army of Slade. Roy demonstrated greater accuracy and speed shots.
- Wooden Bow: In "The Promise" and "Deathstroke", Roy used this bow during his training in archery, it is unknown what type of bow It is.
- Customized Hunting Arrows: Like his teacher, Roy uses customized arrows.
- Trick arrows: In battle with Slade Wilson's army, he uses trick arrows with Mirakuru cure heads. It is possible that he uses other arrowheads.
- Flechette: Roy received this Flechette after The Arrow, saved his life from the psychotic Joseph Falk aka The Savior, Roy keeps it as a reminder that The Arrow saved his life, and he owes him everything. He later painted it red so he would not get this Flechette confused with one of The Arrow's flechettes, which are green. Roy used it as a way to contact The Arrow before he discovered Oliver's identity, and joined his team. By the season 3 premiere Roy Has multiple flechettes that are red.
- Combat Knife: By the season 3 premiere Roy carries a combat knife.
- Red jacket with hood: As an outfit, Roy uses a red jacket with a hood that hides his face. This is a reference to the comic book, where Roy uses red outfit, which distinguishes it from the Green Arrow.
- Arsenal Costume: Roy wears a costume as his heroic alter-ego, Arsenal, to hide his identity from his enemies, when he goes out fighting crime. It is unknown if it was designed by Oliver or Felicity, though it was made by Lodai. It is also unknown what materials it is made from; with the exception of Kevlar. It seems to resemble the costumes worn by his mentors, Oliver (The Arrow) and Sara (The Canary).
- Arsenal Mask: Roy wears a mask to hide his identity from enemies, like Oliver and Sara. His mask is a dark red/brown in color to match his hoodie. It is made from a compressible micro-fabric. This has the ability to conceal Roy's identity very effectively, it has no restrictions on his visual field while on the run or aiming arrows. It is unknown if it was designed by Oliver or Felicity.
- Quiver: Roy has brown arrow container, to carry his arrows with him.
- Eskrima Sticks: In "The Calm", when Roy diffuses the bomb it appears that there is two sticks strapped to both his lower legs. In "Sara", he used them to fight Komodo.
- Throwing Knives: Roy has 4 throwing knives strapped round his thigh.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the original Green Arrow comics, Roy Harper is Green Arrow's sidekick, and is the first to take on the codename Speedy, which happens to be Thea Queen's nickname in Arrow. He later left Green Arrow due to drug abuse, but returned to take on the monikers Arsenal, and Red Arrow. This is frequently foreshadowed.
- As shown in "The Huntress Returns", Roy has a fear of needles. This is likely a reference to his comics alter ego's struggle with heroin addiction. This is referenced again when Brother Blood injects him with the Mirakuru serum.
- In a deleted scene for "Dodger", Roy's first appearance, Thea calls him Speedy.
- In "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Roy claimed he had lost someone and they were not coming back. It is possible this someone was his mother and/or father.
- He is often shown wearing a red hoodie, a nod to his comic alter ego, Red Arrow, and finally in "Unthinkable" Oliver presents him with a red mask, and later in "The Calm" begins to wear a full suit.
- Unlike his DC comic version, Roy does not seem to have a good relationship with Oliver, However Roy does get along with his alter ego until The Arrow unveils his identity so he can help Roy control his newfound powers.
- In the DC comics, Roy has no superhuman powers and abilities.
- Roy is referred to by his first superhero name "Speedy" in "Birds of Prey", by Oliver, attempting to snap Roy out of killing an innocent man by using Thea's nickname. Ironically, he incredibly dislikes the name.
- Roy is the first person ever to be cured from the Mirakuru.
- Eight of Roy's friends died in the Undertaking.
- He is similar to Oliver Queen, both of them are fighting for redemption.
- Oliver and Roy have the same relationship as Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis From Batman Beyond.