This is the sixth installment of our versus feature where we judge two superheroes for their strengths and weaknesses and put them against each other in a play-by-play to see who would be the one and only winner. This week we have DC and Marvel's top archers. Who will win?
But first, an assessment of each character's abilities.
Green Arrow
A (ex-)husband, protector of Star City, mentor to multiple Speedys and a member of the prestigious Justice League, Green Arrow is a man of many arrowistic talents and more.
Usually, Green Arrow uses his longbow, but he has also been known to skillfully use recurve, compound bows, and even a sword. He mastered hand-to-hand combat after "One Year later" and is an expert weapons handler. He also mastered Kyudo and zen archery at a monastery.
Green Arrow is the archer with the most trick arrows of any archer in any universe. Trick arrows are what give non-super powered beings like Green Arrow and Hawkeye advantages on the field when they are fighting against super powered beings. Green Arrow has used hundreds of absurd trick arrows, including a boxing glove arrow, an umbrella arrow and a tumbleweed arrow. He's also received several arrows from aliens which do much more than keep the rain off him or... tumble. These include a hypnotic arrow and... vacuum arrow?
But for these arrows to really mean anything, the man shooting them needs to actually be able to hit something, and if anyone can, Green Arrow can. He is possibly the best archer in the entire DC Universe.
So how does Marvel's top archer stack up against DC's...?
Hawkeye has the equivalent of the Justice League membership in the Marvel Universe as a member of the Avengers and has his own numerous arrowistic talents. He grew up as a troubled youth trained by criminals but admired heroes, an admiration that grew into wanting to become one of the men in spandex himself.
Hawkeye is at the height of athletic health making him have almost extraordinary strength, speed, stamina and agility. He is also a master archer, marksman, and a professional acrobat. He's also been trained in hand-to-hand combat by the Captain America. He is also a great strategist and capable leader.
Like Green Arrow, Hawkeye also has a number of trick arrows though no where near the wackiness or numerous number that Green Arrow has. He has a taser arrow, tear gas arrow, a... vibration arrow (for what purposes I DON'T want to know) and a rocket arrow.
So, both archers have deadly arsenals both with arrows and without. So who would win?
Arrow vs. Arrow
Let's say right away that I don't expect these archers using several trick arrows, including Ollie's vacuum arrow or Hawkeye's... vibration.
Of course, I think the archers fight would start with their strongest suit: arrows. Hawkeye would initiate the fight since he has a tendency to fight more dirty than Green Arrow since he was raised by criminals while Green Arrow recently trained in a respectable monastery. Hawkeye would engage in battle by using a tear gas arrow to catch Green Arrow off guard. But Green Arrow's been through a lot and wouldn't let a tear gas arrow get the best of him.
After literally rolling out of the situation, Green Arrow would start assaulting Hawkeye with an array of his arrows which Hawkeye would attempt to dodge and reciprocate with arrows of his own. Despite being the better shot, Green Arrow would continually miss Hawkeye thanks to his speed before Hawkeye would hit him with an arrow. Then, as it looks like Hawkeye is going to win, Green Arrow would start with his cocky attitude and taunt him into defeating him with his own hands. Confidant (and also tick-off) that he is superior in hand-to-hand combat, Hawkeye would get closer to Green Arrow. But before delivering a single hit, as Hawkeye draws closer, Green Arrow will use a smokescreen arrow and, with all his strength punch Hawkeye in the face knocking him unconscious.
Really, I think based on abilities alone these two would have been in a stalemate. It's Green Arrow's more mature personality that would beat Hawkeye's hot-headed one by luring him into a trap with word. For other rounds featuring Marvel and DC's greatest heroes, check out Player Affinity's other "Affinity Wars" below.
An all-around nerdette, I’m a comic book connoisseur, horror aficionado, video game addict, anime enthusiast and an aspiring novelist/comic book writer. I am the head of the comic book department and the editor-in-chief of Entertainment Fuse. I also write and edit articles for Comic Frontline. I am also an intern at Action Lab Entertainment, a comic book publisher at which I edit comic book scripts, help work on images in solicitations and help with other comic book related project. My own personal website is comicmaven.com.
