Op-Ed - Hawkeye VS Green Arrow!

Hawkeye vs. Green Arrow

Which Archer takes the Bullseye?

An Op-Ed by Steven Carter 

 

Not an easy one to call by any means. I don’t make this easy on myself do I? Why couldn’t I do something easy like Darkseid vs Howard the Duck? Never mind, here goes nothing. When you get two similar characters across rival comic book companies, it’s only natural for the fanboys to start endless debates, making the case for why their hero is the best. It’s the closest thing us nerds get to a derby football match, only the blood and violence is imaginary. 

Clint Barton - Hawkeye 

Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck

First Appearance - Tales of Suspense #57 (Sept. 1964)

 

So lets kick off with the Marvel corner. Clint Barton’s past has been chequered to say the least. He first appeared as an enemy along with Black Widow against Iron Man in “Tales of Suspense” in 1964, but shortly afterwards, turned away from his wrongdoings and joined up with the avengers. Before all of this he was an orphan, who ran away along with his brother to the circus. He honed his acrobatic skills under the eye of the Swordsman and became the star attraction as “the world’s greatest marksman”. He has been one of the many characters that Marvel like to kill off from time to time, most notably was in the Avengers Disassembled storyline where he brought down a Kree battleship by wrestling with an enemy soldier and using his jet pack to fly into the ship’s engine. You can’t get much more rock and roll when it comes to a hero’s death! But as we all know with Marvel, they never stay dead for long.

 Right up until the mid 2000’s, he has been sporting what appears to be a medieval archer’s outfit with a purple venetian mask. Once we had been introduced to the Hawkeye in the Avengers movie, the character adopted a more refined and tactile look. Closer to the Ultimate Hawkeye getup. Hawkeye has an incredible set of skills when it comes to armed and unarmed combat. Like the villain Bullseye, he is able to turn anything into a deadly projectile. He has even used his own damn fingernails to dispatch several henchmen! He is no stranger to a blade either. Back in his circus days, he was trained by none other the Swordsman. Going by namesake alone, that’s gotta count for something! He was also trained under the watch of Captain America in terms of tactics, martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. Archery wise, his skills are nothing short of incredible. He has even held his own against multiple enemies and shoot specific targets without the use of his eyes. He is capable of firing multiple arrows at a single target in a few seconds, and directly hit small targets in the greatest of distances.

Finally we can talk about his arsenal. Both characters are top notch archers and both possess a wide range of trick arrows. From the pure awesome to the downright ridiculous. Hawkeye’s most noteable include; Sonic arrows, Net arrows, Acid tips, even parachute arrows. One that particularly caught my eye was the USB arrow. I find it hard at the best of times to plug in my memory stick into the computer the right way up, so if this guy can do it with a bow and arrow, he’s definitely got some mad skills (yo). The more powerful arrows he has used mainly involve the fantasy science materials of Marvel. Arrows made of Adamantium, Vibranium and even Pym Particles! I would NOT want to get on the wrong side of an expert marksman in posession of any of these arrows! (If you don’t know what pym particles are, wait until the new Ant Man film comes out this Summer!).

 

Oliver Queen - Green Arrow

Created by Morton Weisinger and George Papp

First Appearance - More Fun Comics #73 (Nov. 1941)

 

Now we arrive at the DC corner, Green Arrow first appeared in “More Fun” comics back in 1941. He had a bit of an identity crisis early on as parallels were drawn between him and one certain Dark Knight but over the years, the writers at DC have developed this character into his own unique persona. His origin has been re-written many times. For this segment, we will forget his golden age archeology beginnings and focus on the more familiar silver age millionaire origin. Oliver Queen had a very different background. Instead of running away to the circus he was born into a wealthy family and enjoyed a playboy lifestyle. One fateful day saw him thrown off his cruise ship and become stranded on Starfish Island. It was here where he learned how to survive and hone his hunting skills, developing trick arrows in order to help catch food. He also fashioned a green suit to help with camouflage. When he eventually got back to the mainland, after helping a captured crew overthrow some drug smugglers, he got his taste for justice and resumed crime fighting under the name “Green Arrow”.

Like Hawkeye, Queen has been killed off and resurrected. Trapped on a plane, holding a bomb that was rigged to blow if Queen removed his hand, rather than face having his arm torn off by Superman, he elected to sacrifice himself to save thousands. Green Arrow’s costume was fashioned on Robin hood. A figure that Queen was obsessed with as a child. Given that Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor and for someone of Queen’s
upbringing to continue using that imagery does imply a sense of irony.

He is proficient in several forms of martial arts including judo, wing chun, taekwondo, as well as eskrima. Some view him as a martial arts master, he has managed to take on seven people at once. He spent a long time improving his fighting skills and and ended up being taught by some of the world's finest martial arts teachers and even received training from Natas, who also trained Deathstroke. He has displayed, on numerous occasions, that he is an expert in acrobatics and often uses this skill while evading enemy fire. Archery is by far Oliver's preferred method of hunting. He has managed to split a drop of water as it left a tap, the most impressive show of his skills was a scene where he shot two arrows down the barrels of two separate guns whilst in mid-flip. Stealth wise, he possesses enough skill in order to sneak up on a cougar without it noticing. Queen is also very proficient with a sword, though it is not his weapon of choice.

Arsenal wise, again a wide variety of trick arrows spanning from Kryptonite, hand cuff arrows (don’t ask), tear gas arrows and how could we forget the infamous boxing glove arrow? Most worryingly, one type of arrow he has in his possession contains a miniaturised atomic warhead! What the hell was he thinking there!?

So there we have it. We have the facts, now it comes to deciding who comes out on top. If it came to an all out fight with the two characters, I can imagine it lasting for an awful long time. When you add various elements to the scenario though, I’d imagine the result can be swayed in either character’s favour. If there were plenty of stealth elements involved, I would think that would play right into Green Arrows hands and he would come out victorious. If the bows were taken out of action, I would say that Hawkeye would edge it. He appears to have better sword skills, plus if he hadn’t cut his nails in a while, then I wouldn’t rate Queens chances. Archery wise, Without the super powered arrows? That is without doubt the toughest one to call. We're on the fence, it's a tie! If faced with an all out conflict, no limitations to weapons? I would fear for whatever area that event would happen in. For sure, all that would be left, would be an irradiated wasteland with two skeletons grabbing each other’s throats...