Ever since his introduction in the pages More Fun Comics #73 in November 1941, Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow has been a presence in the DC Universe. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, Oliver Queen was a wealthy individual who found himself shipwrecked on an island and after years of training himself to hunt with a bow and arrow, he was finally rescued and returned to his hometown of Star City where he adopted the superhero identity Green Arrow.
He has had a number of sidekicks, fought alongside the Justice League, and has been a vital member of the DC Universe for years. While originally just seen as a Batman knock-off, the pairing of him with Green Lantern by writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neil Adams in the 1970s catapulted him to new levels of popularity and has since had legendary runs from writers like Kevin Smith, Mike Grell, and Judd Winnick, just to name a few.
Given his importance in the pages of DC Comics, the character has been featured in a number of other media, from the animated series Justice League Unlimited to the video game series Injustice. In live-action, the character was played by Justin Harley in Smallville. First introduced in season six, the character became a series regular and was the standing for Batman as the series could not use the character. In 2012, one year after Smallville ended, The CW premiered Arrow, starring Stephen Amell. The series was a dark and gritty take on the character and ran for eight seasons, launching an entire shared universe of DC Characters, titled the Arrowverse. Yet one place the character has not been seen is the big screen.
The Dark Knight trilogy co-writer David S. Goyer had written a Green Arrow script titled Super Max in the mid-2000s that never got off the ground, and while there currently are no plans for the character to join the DCEU it seems like it is only a matter of time before he shows up. With the news of a Black Canary movie on HBO Max starring Jurnee Smollett, the Green Arrow character could likely make his DCEU debut in that film, as the two characters have a long romantic history in the comics. Yet who should play the Emerald Archer? Should Stephen Amell reprise his role from Arrow? If not, these are five suggestions for who Warner Bros. Discovery and DC should cast as Green Arrow in the DCEU.
Glen Powell
Hot off the success of Top Gun: Maverick, Powell is likely on every studio's radar to be a part of their next big franchise film, and Warner Bros. Discovery would be foolish not to consider him for the role of one of their most important superheroes. Powell previously had a brief role in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, but he could step into the lead role of a superhero of his own with the Green Arrow.
Throughout his career, Powell has displayed a certain talent for playing arrogant individuals that also manage to be likable and charming, from the Fox television series Scream Queens to the Netflix original film Set It Up, and of course the recent Top Gun: Maverick. He has a carefree quality to him that fits right at home with the playboy and left-leaning political hero like Green Arrow. The Arrowverse incarnation of Oliver Queen had more in common with Batman than his comic book counterpart, who in the comics is a much more laid-back charming ladies' man. Powell could easily sell an arrogant rich man, but also would be able to play a more comic-accurate version of the character than any that has been shown in live-action.
Henry Golding
Henry Golding had a major breakout year in 2018 with the back-to-back releases of Crazy Rich Asians and A Simple Favor. He quickly rose to the top of Hollywood's most in-demand list and was cast in the lead role of Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, which was set to relaunch the G.I. Joe film franchise. While the movie was a box office bomb, Golding is still a talented actor who any studio would be lucky to have on board their project.
It would seem predictable to cast Golding as Green Arrow just because he played a handsome rich person in Crazy Rich Asians, and while he may not look like the traditional comic book version of Green Arrow, the actor possesses all the key traits a filmmaker would want from a Green Arrow actor: charming, handsome, can convincingly play an action hero. Oliver Queen's race does not define him in the comics, and it would be foolish to pass up a good actor just because a character was created in the 1940s. Jason Mamoa does not look like the comic book version of Aquaman, but the actor brought his natural screen presence and infused the character with a new personality that made Aquaman the character and the film a breakout hit, and Golding could easily do that for Green Arrow.
Regé-Jean Page
The breakout star in the cast of Bridgerton, Regé-Jean Page passed on appearing in the second season of the hit Netflix series to pursue other roles and will next be seen in the Netflix original action film The Gray Man and is one of the stars of Warner Bros. Discovery's upcoming action-comedy Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The actor was considered for the role of Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and DC could pursue him to play Green Arrow.
It would also allow for the correcting of a past mistake, as Page auditioned for the lead role in the Syfy series Krypton as Seyg-El, the grandfather of Superman, but was passed over. Producers didn't want to confuse audiences, as producer Geoff Johns believed audiences would expect it to be connected to Man of Steel and wanted a white actor for the House of El, even though the series featured a race-bent General Zod. Booking Page for Green Arrow not only corrects a serious behind-the-scenes mistake from years prior but also gets a hard-working actor a lead superhero role and one that would benefit from Page's rabid fanbase.
Tom Felton
Tom Felton is most famously known to audiences as playing the villainous Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter films, so how about letting the actor go from playing an evil trust fund kid to a good trust fund kid like Oliver Queen? Like his co-stars Daniel Radcliffe, Robert Pattinson, and Emma Watson, Felton has spent his post-Potter career taking on roles in smaller projects. Aside from his role in 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the actor has taken parts in smaller productions like 2013's Belle, 2016's A United Kingdom, and 2017's Megan Leavey.
Felton would make for a great Green Arrow as it provides the actor with the chance to break from the villainous shadow Malfoy has cast over him all these years and show off a different side to the actor and give him the chance to be the headline star. Felton has already dabbled in the world of DC Comics, playing the role of Julian Albert Desmond aka Doctor Alchemy on The Flash for its third season. He left the series after only one season, and in the vast DC Multiverse, different characters can share different faces.
Chris Lowell
Chris Lowell has been a presence on television for years in series like Veronica Mars, Private Practice, GLOW, and most recently How I Met Your Father. In many of these projects, the series dials in on Lowell's likable nature, who has both the qualities of a very handsome leading man and also a simple everyman nature that makes him accessibly likable to any viewer. The everyman nature is another important element of Oliver Queen, that while he might be a rich individual he is also a socially conscious activist who is often looking out for the little guy, appropriate for his Robin Hood-inspired outfit. Lowell could easily tap into that part of the character.
This is untapped movie star potential, and Lowell playing Green Arrow in the DCEU would give the character an instant charm with the vibe of an old-school Hollywood swashbuckler.