Arrow Is Oliver Queen (GA) really helpful in the long run for Starling City?

[herolee10]

So here's a question that I had once raised a few months back regarding Oliver's (Green Arrow's) crusade towards protecting Starling City from external and internal threats.

As I had noted before, one of the things that I've noticed within the last two seasons is that for MOST, if not ALL, of the good things that Oliver accomplishes, he seems to be responsible (in some way) for creating even greater threats and dangers to Starling City and its inhabitants as a response.

Of course, I'm not saying that it's intentional on his part. However, I often wonder if Oliver's really created a "big difference" so far for his city on a positive note.

Here are some of the examples of how Oliver has (unintentionally) created even bigger problems for the city through his known actions:


1. Oliver is responsible for saving and training Helena (aka the Huntress) who last we checked, went on a killing spree as a means towards gaining revenge against her father, which resulted in the deaths and injuries of several cops. It also led towards Officer McKenna being seriously injured and in need of long term physical therapy.

2. Oliver was the one that suggested Slade being injected with the Mirakuru serum as a means towards saving his life and as a result, Slade is now a big threat towards Starling City, where his actions have allowed Brother Blood to experiment and kill several people within the city.

3. Oliver was the one that brought Sara on board the "Queen's Gambit" which ultimately led to a series of events that resulted in Sara ending up in the "League of Assassins" where she has killed several people as a result.

4. By sparing Count Vertigo's life, it ended up where the Count was able to later escape and cause more trouble for the city along with allowing the Doll-Maker to kill more people since he was only able to escape thanks to the assistance of Count Vertigo.

5. By saving Malcom Merlyn's life after he was nearly assassinated by Deadshot, it ultimately allowed Malcom to bring his plans to fruition which led to the deaths of 500 people, including Tommy, from the Earthquake machine.



Granted, while I'm not trying to make (nor do I believe) Oliver Queen towards being a villain, you have to admit that the the guy has really had some severe cases of bad karma as a result of his actions.


It seems like for every good thing he does, more bad things are created as a result.


What are your thoughts?

 

[DrRocket]

True he has caused some problems but he has saved over 500 people, and I like this change of things, oliver is a flawed hero and doesn't always save the day which I like compared to the superheroes always Savin the day in the nick of time.

 

[herolee10]

True he has caused some problems but he has saved over 500 people, and I like this change of things, oliver is a flawed hero and doesn't always save the day which I like compared to the superheroes always Savin the day in the nick of time.

Indeed;

though I feel like Oliver has yet to make a "Major Impact" when it comes to saving the city as a whole.

He failed to save the people in the Glades and he's been more like a "painkiller" to the city's disease as opposed to a permanent treatment, where he just rounds up the bad guy at the end of the episode.

Plus, a lot of the problems that he's made has had bigger impacts, in a negative way, on the city itself.

 

[Capt. Marvelous]

Well Arrow didn't level Metropolis..

Things could be worse.

 

[Nathan]

2.Oliver was the one that suggested Slade being injected with the Mirakuru serum as a means towards saving his life and as a result, Slade is now a big threat towards Starling City, where his actions have allowed Brother Blood to experiment and kill several people within the city.

I think Sara is partially to blame for this as well. If she wouldn't have immediately lied about the circumstances of Shado's death, Slade might not have turned against them, once he ultimately learns the truth.

3. Oliver was the one that brought Sara on board the "Queen's Gambit" which ultimately led to a series of events that resulted in Sara ending up in the "League of Assassins" where she has killed several people as a result.

If Sara wouldn't have ended up in the league, other Assassin's would have killed those politicians.

4. By sparing Count Vertigo's life, it ended up where the Count was able to later escape and cause more trouble for the city along with allowing the Doll-Maker to kill more people since he was only able to escape thanks to the assistance of Count Vertigo.

But he caught him in the first place. If he hadn't caught him, people still would have died. It's too bad for the girls killed by the Dollmaker though.

5. By saving Malcom Merlyn's life after he was nearly assassinated by Deadshot, it ultimately allowed Malcom to bring his plans to fruition which led to the deaths of 500 people, including Tommy, from the Earthquake machine.

Without Oliver though, I doubt Moira would have had ever ordered the hit on Malcolm. Without Oliver, Deadshot would have killed Walter a long time ago. So Malcolm would have never gotten the chance to kidnap him. Or if Malcolm wouldn't have thought that Oliver was the hood, he would have never ordered the hit on him. Malcolm would have never done any of these other shenanigans, if it wouldn't have been for Oliver. Giving Moira less reasons to finally try and get rid of him.

So without Oliver, Walter would have been dead, and Moira would have had only Thea left, without Malcolm giving her additional reasons to go after him. The Undertaking would have been on schedule. With Oliver, only half of the Glades got leveled.

 

[DrRocket]

Well Arrow didn't level Metropolis..

Things could be worse.

Exactly, at least he saved half the glades And over 500 people,

 

[DrRocket]

Well Arrow didn't level Metropolis..

Things could be worse.

Exactly, at least he saved half the glades And over 500 people,

 

[Matt.S99]

See, I think this is actually part of what makes the show so good. He Isn't squeeky clean and can't save everyone. Like someone said above, he's a flawed character. It's also very early on in his Crime fighting career. I wouldn't expect him to have already been a "cure for the cities disease". Hell, it may never even happen. But he's doing as much as he can and is making somewhat of a change for god better.

 

[Capt. Marvelous]

Green Arrow has always been flawed. Even in his older days.

He isn't an upstanding boyscout like Superman should be.

 

[Grommers]

I don't think you can blame anyone for there actions except themselves...

Saving merlyn isn't a bad action, or a condemning one to the city, it's a completely different situation to merlyn eqing the glades.

It's valid points, but yes he is helping in the long run, as the alternatives are much worse, which is a doll maker never being stopped, a vertigo still going strong, the glades gone, slade wreaking havoc on a defenseless city (not necessarily starling).

You can't change people and there decisions, Ollie in the first season, tried too give them no decision, by killing them, now he's relying on the justice system, which hopefully gives them the opportunity to either be enlightened about there wrong doings or in most cases of villainous decisions, break and do it all over again. either way none are oliver's fault, but that of the individual, and only an individual should be held responsible for there actions.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I'm guessing the people that Sara killed somewhat deserved it. If we know anything about the League of Assassins, it's that they're not completely evil, they think that they're doing good.

 

[herolee10]

Well Arrow didn't level Metropolis..

Things could be worse.

Exactly, at least he saved half the glades And over 500 people,

No he didn't. That would be Zod, unless of course we saw different films.

And Metropolis wasn't completely leveled, just a portion of the city.

 

[herolee10]

I think Sara is partially to blame for this as well. If she wouldn't have immediately lied about the circumstances of Shado's death, Slade might not have turned against them, once he ultimately learns the truth.






But he caught him in the first place. If he hadn't caught him, people still would have died. It's too bad for the girls killed by the Dollmaker though.



So without Oliver, Walter would have been dead, and Moira would have had only Thea left, without Malcolm giving her additional reasons to go after him. The Undertaking would have been on schedule. With Oliver, only half of the Glades got leveled.

I can agree with your assessment of the Malcom Situation.

In regards to Count Vertigo, I was just pointing out on how by Oliver not choosing to kill the count when he had the chance, it allowed for a future opportunity for the count to kill more people and to allow the dollmaker to escape.

And it was still Oliver's idea to give Slade the serum.


I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that Oliver is cancer to the city, but he's been strangely written to be the unintended source for some of these problems, where by doing one thing good, something bad seems to from it regardless of how hard he tried.

 

[storyteller]

Well it's really all about free will. For every Slade and vertigo there is someone who see's the light.

 

[Shikamaru]

Based on my limited exposure to Green Arrow, that's kinda his thing. He constantly makes the wrong decisions but is sympathetic nonetheless. He is very much comic book Green Arrow in that sense.

 

[DarthDorranceBane]

Is Bruce Wayne (Batman) really helpful in the long run for Gotham City?

It seems to me that for every good things that Bruce accomplishes, he seems to be responsible for the escalation of threats and dangers to Gotham City and its inhabitants as a response.

OR

Is Kal-El (Superman) really helpful in the long run for the world?

His presence leveled out a number of blocks within Metropolis City!