Roy Harper (character)

For the English musician, see Roy Harper

Red Arrow
Roy Harper as Red Arrow. Variant Incentive Cover to Justice League of America (vol. 2) #11, by Gene Ha.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	as Speedy: More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941) as Arsenal: The New Titans #99 (July 1993) as Red Arrow: Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996) (alternate) Justice League of America (vol. 2) #7 (May 2007) (mainstream)
Created by	Mort Weisinger Paul Norris
In-story information
Alter ego	Roy William Harper Jr.
Team affiliations	Titans Justice League Teen Titans Suicide Squad Checkmate Outsiders
Notable aliases	Speedy, Arsenal
Abilities	Exceptional athlete, archer, marksman, and hand-to-hand combatant; Occasionally uses trick arrows

Roy Harper is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe. He was known for over fifty years as Green Arrow's teenage sidekick Speedy. He first appeared alongside his mentor in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941). The modern-day version, an early member of the Teen Titans, later assumed the identity of Arsenal and became a member of the Justice League of America under the guise of Red Arrow. After being maimed by supervillain Prometheus and the death of his daughter, Harper left the League and becomes Arsenal once more.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Roy Harper was raised by Brave Bow, a Navajo medicine chief after his father, a forest ranger, died in a forest fire.

Under Brave Bow's tutelage, Roy became a remarkable archer, and, after Brave Bow's death, Roy was adopted by Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, and became the Green Arrow's sidekick, "Speedy."

Teen Titans and Roy's addiction

Green Lantern vol. 2 #85, featuring Roy's addiction

File:Speedy Harper.jpg

Speedy, Roy's first superhero identity. Art by Tom Grummett

Speedy joined Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl in the newly-formed Teen Titans, a group originally formed from the various "teen sidekicks" active in DC comics at that time.

Speedy was initially a successful member and began dating Wonder Girl (Donna Troy). Some time later, however, Roy's fortunes took a turn for the worse. The Titans disbanded, Roy and Donna broke up, and then Green Arrow both lost his fortune and began neglecting Roy. While the Green Arrow was away on a cross-country adventure with Green Lantern and Black Canary, Roy became addicted to heroin; the award-winning story played out in Green Lantern vol. 2, #85-86 in September and November 1971. Once Roy's secret was discovered, Green Arrow angrily punched him and then threw Roy out on the street. Green Lantern later found him and left him in the care of Black Canary, who stayed by his side while he went through withdrawal. Soon after, he had a confrontation with Green Arrow that caused the two of them to stop working together.

In addition to some brief adventures with later incarnations of the Titans in the 1980s, Roy also served as a government agent for a fictional federal agency, and as a private investigator, and went on a single mission with the Suicide Squad (vol. 1 issues 11-12).

Agent of Checkmate

While still helping the Teen Titans on occasional missions, Roy frequently worked as a counselor for various anti-drug programs. During this time, Roy established government contacts, and was soon hired by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI, also known as Checkmate) as a drug enforcement agent.

Roy was given an assignment to go undercover and gain the trust of the villain Cheshire. The intention was to turn Cheshire over to the authorities, but the two fell in love and had an affair. Roy could not bring himself to turn her in, but he was concerned that his presence endangered Cheshire's life, so he left her, unaware that Cheshire was pregnant with his child.

Roy eventually learned that he was the father of Cheshire's daughter, Lian. He went on a mission with Nightwing (the former Robin) to track down Cheshire and prevent her from assassinating a group of diplomats. Roy was captured by Cheshire and then freed by Nightwing, who also brought Roy's daughter. Cheshire had left Lian in Roy's care.

Arsenal

First Appearance of Roy Harper as Arsenal. Art by Tom Grummett.

Roy later returned to the Titans, and was appointed leader by Sarge Steel. At this time, he adopted the new identity of Arsenal, now equipped with a vast array of high-tech weaponry. When the original members of this latest incarnation of Titans left the team, he gathered new members and led them until the team disbanded.

Soon, another team of Teen Titans emerged. This group consisted of a teenaged Atom (de-aged by events in Zero Hour) and new heroes Argent, Risk, Joto, and Prysm. The team was funded by Loren Jupiter, who had also funded a group of Titans during Roy's time on the team.

Jupiter gathered together the original Titans (now going by the aliases of Nightwing, Tempest, Flash, Troia, and Arsenal) to combat the threat of his bitter, super-powered son Jarrod Jupiter (Haze). New and old Titans joined forces to defeat Haze – but at a price; Joto apparently lost his life, and Arsenal felt responsible for his death. Arsenal remained with this new group of Titans for a time, but eventually left the group before it disbanded.

Arsenal later came into conflict with Vandal Savage. Savage had discovered that both Roy and his daughter Lian were his descendants. Thus, their organs were suitable for him to harvest to prolong his life.

Roy was able to save his daughter from Savage. After this ordeal, Roy adopted a new look to reflect his Navajo heritage. Shortly after, the original five Titans decided to re-form the team. Arsenal served as a full-time member on the team, and resided at the new Titans Tower with his daughter, Lian.

The Outsiders

Later, a mysterious conglomerate known as Optitron offered to sponsor the Titans and Young Justice after summoning them to San Francisco. Before any decisions could be made, a cybernetic girl from the future (known as Indigo) invaded the complex, and immediately engaged both teams in combat. With half the group out of commission, the remaining members tried to track down Indigo, but instead encountered a rogue Superman android, which had been activated. Caught by surprise, Lilith had her neck snapped by the Superman android, killing her instantly. Troia (Donna Troy's new identity) tried valiantly to defeat the Superman android, but he released a deadly heat beam directly through her chest, killing her. Indigo arrived and shut down the Superman android, leaving Arsenal and Nightwing to mourn the fallen Troia. Shaken by these losses, Nightwing decided to officially end the Titans.

Roy saw an opportunity. He accepted Optitron's offer and set about forming a new team: the Outsiders. He began by buying a massive secret underground headquarters beneath New York City. Roy outfitted the shelter with state-of-the-art equipment and began recruiting members for the new team. He successfully coaxed the veteran Metamorpho, as well as newcomers Grace and Thunder into joining the team. He also decided to accept Indigo as a member. Even though she had been responsible for activating the Superman android, and ultimately for Lilith's and Troia's deaths, her memories were wiped clean and she convinced Roy that she wanted to atone for what she had done.

Indigo's presence would prove to be a major sticking point for Arsenal's last recruit: Nightwing. The Titans' former leader was completely unwilling to renew his involvement in a team after such a devastating loss. Arsenal argued that the Outsiders were the next logical step for them beyond the Titans, and that perhaps a team of strangers would operate more efficiently than a team with so many emotional attachments. Nightwing, while still reluctant, agreed to join and lead the Outsiders shortly after defeating Gorilla Grodd.

File:Outsidersvol3.jpg

Promo art for "Outsiders" (2003). Art by Tom Raney.

Arsenal was shot in the chest while attempting to stop Brother Blood from activating a global network of sleeper agents. He survived, but was sidelined for months. In the interim, he assigned the Huntress as his replacement. He was hesitant to resume active duty, feeling afraid of his own limitations, but returned with encouragement from Nightwing.

Not long after his recovery, the Outsiders took on a case which involved a child-slaver and molester named Tanner. One of Tanner's informants recognized Roy from years prior, and led Tanner to Roy's daughter, Lian. Lian's nanny was killed and the girl was branded with Tanner's mark. The Outsiders arrived just in time to save Lian and other children from being flown out of New York.

Oddly, his near-death from gunshot wounds saved his life when soon he met Deathstroke. The villain, Arsenal discovered, had been posing as Batman and feeding him information since the Outsiders began. Deathstroke and Arsenal fought, with Deathstroke intending to kill him, but when the mercenary discovered the bullet scars on Arsenal's chest, he figured Arsenal had suffered enough and gave him a "pass". About the same time, Arsenal was also kidnapped by Green Arrow's nemesis Constantine Drakon. Drakon was working with the Riddler, and he slit Roy's throat so that he would have to apply constant pressure or die. The Outsiders helped search for and rescue Roy.

Infinite Crisis and One Year Later

During Infinite Crisis, Arsenal served as leader of the Outsiders while raising Lian as a single father. He was among the heroes gathered to defend Metropolis from an invasion by the Secret Society of Super Villains (see also: Battle of Metropolis). Following the Crisis, Roy attempted to keep the Outsiders running, but unfortunately they found themselves handling low-level criminals and making little difference in the world. When Nightwing and Red Hood discovered a fellow hero as well as Thunder's father, Black Lightning, was arrested for a crime he didn't commit, Nightwing helped in a rescue mission that ultimately failed. The Outsiders are believed to be dead. Arsenal soon realized he was not made for the life of a cloak-and-dagger hero, returning command to Dick and leaving the team.

Red Arrow

Roy was approached by Hal Jordan with membership in the new Justice League. While in battle, Hal referred to him as "Red Arrow" in an attempt to stop himself from revealing Roy's name (despite the fact that Roy's identity has been public knowledge for some time now). Roy accepted membership in the League and officially adopted the identity of Red Arrow, justifying it as a final "coming of age" and outgrowing his troubled relationship with his adoptive father, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow). Roy began an intimate relationship with his teammate, Hawkgirl. However, the two ended their relationship and Roy left the Justice League following a disastrous confrontation with the Shadow Cabinet.

Rise and fall

Following Bruce Wayne's apparent death in Final Crisis, Roy returns to the team after discovering that Hal Jordan and his splinter Justice League have been hunting down and torturing criminals.

Roy and Green Arrow manage to settle their differences and work together, but things start to fall apart as Prometheus assaults Roy, cutting off his right arm with a poisoned, nanite-laced blade, and then has the Electrocutioner set off a device to destroy Star City, killing the young Lian.

Roy wakes several days later, adversely reacting to his current condition and Lian's death, taking an angrier stance to the world. The flesh-eating nanites still dormant in his stump prevent him from getting a permanent prosthesis. He is given a removable, enhanced artificial limb, built by Cyborg and Doctor Mid-Nite. The prosthetic limb is built to "work-around" the contaminated nerve endings, but increases his phantom pain. His pain and the survivor's guilt for Lian's death, bring Roy back to his former drug addiction, overdosing on painkillers and permanently locked in a state of delusional paranoia.

Haunted by visions of his dead daughter and his former pusher, Roy regresses to his identity of Arsenal, lashing out to his former friends and driving away his enhanced family, blaming Green Arrow for having stolen his vengeance by killing Prometheus and Mia Dearden for having left Lian by herself in the first place. After a bitter meeting with Cheshire, Roy is unable to release the pent-up frustration for the loss of his arm, the death of his daughter, and his stress-induced impotence. Roy leaves Cheshire behind, winding up his anger against a gang of drug dealers, swiping some drug from them to fuel his addiction. As a result, when Batman finds him delirious on the street, he's forced to bring him to a rehab home, with Dinah's consent.

Deliberately wounding his stump to alert some paramedics, Roy manages to escape the center, and sets off to break into the jail where the Electrocutioner, the accomplice of Prometheus directly responsible for Lian, is held. Despite the intervention of Green Arrow, Roy cruelly butchers Buchinsky with his knives, then burns away his house and all his possessions, becoming a dark, broody vigilante enacting his brand of deadly justice on lowlifes and criminals.

After being approached by Cheshire to help murder Slade Wilson, Roy apparently double crosses her and joins Slade's new, villainous team of Titans, although Cheshire mentally congratulates him for his performance.

Powers and abilities

Roy Harper possesses no superhuman attributes, but he is a marksman of incredible accuracy. He is extremely adept at the use of the bow and arrow, as well as a wide array of weaponry. He also has the ability to take virtually any object and use it in combat as an effective weapon. Harper is also a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and he possesses keen analytical and detective skills. He has been known to speak Japanese and understand Russian. After the loss of his right arm, Roy Harper received an advanced prosthetic, built by Vic Stone, designed to loop around his damaged nerve endings and restore his usual degree of hand-to-eye coordination, albeit with the price of a constant phantom limb pain.

Equipment

Much like Nightwing and other members of the Bat-Family, Roy's suit is capable of emitting an electronic pulse. It is unknown, however, whether or not his suit is capable of emitting only one pulse, like Batman's and Nightwing's, or several. After being dismembered by Prometheus, Roy returns to his original Arsenal costume: despite being unknown if he still carries the EMP device, the new costume comes along with an advanced prosthetic limb, shown as highly resilient to bullets and melee weapons, and nearly as mobile as his former biological arm. His enhanced limb comes with increased phantom pain, bolstered if the fitting isn't done with the right alignment.

Weapons

As Speedy and Red Arrow, Roy uses a custom bow and trick arrows (with a preference for the more mundane kind as Red Arrow), mimicking his mentor Green Arrow. As Arsenal he's known to also carry guns and other kind of ranged weapons. Roy also has been known to use an M40A3 US sniper rifle with a Kryptonite bullet on at least one occasion. His original Arsenal costumes were equipped with other exotic weaponry including a boomerang and electrified bolo. His current Arsenal costume, reflecting his angrier stance, is laced with several bludgeoning and cutting weapons, mostly knives and billy clubs, strapped to his limbs and back. Despite not being technically part of his "costume", Roy uses his prosthetic right arm only when acting as Arsenal, removing it while going incognito.

Personal life

Roy is proud of his Navajo heritage and has a tribal tattoo to represent it. He was adopted by Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) and became his ward/sidekick, but soon joined a rock band called Great Frog, and got addicted to heroin. After his recovery, Roy had a daughter named Lian, now deceased, who he raised as a single father. Roy is a natural thrill seeker, who has many connections in the government and metahuman community. His income comes from his work in the government.

Roy's first known superhero relationship was with Donna Troy during the Teen Titans. Although short-lived, the pair has rekindled the relationship on multiple occasions over the years, particularly during their time with the reformed Titans. Roy had apparently intended to propose to Donna, but she rejected him because of a prophecy that the Titan Lilith Clay had made, which stated that Donna's red-haired husband would die. This however was not in-regards to Roy, but rather Donna's husband Terry.

Roy's other main relationship was with the assassin Cheshire, who is the mother of his child. Roy would constantly flirt and buy drinks for women at bars and any social outing. When he formed the Outsiders, he had a fling with Grace Choi (who, it was mentioned elsewhere, had also had at least one night stand with his mentor, Green Arrow). At this time, it was learned that he also had a fling with the Huntress. His relationship with his JLA teammate Hawkgirl was strained because of his search for the missing Cheshire.

During the break given to the members of the Titans with Nightwing's exodus from the group to become Batman, Red Arrow spent his vacation with his child, and in the subsequent explosion caused by Starfire's traumatic nightmare involving a Justifier helmet, Red Arrow quipped "Either that was an earthquake or one of my exes. Please don't let it be one of my exes."

Other versions

Earth-Two

The Earth-Two version of Speedy was a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and All-Star Squadron in the 1940s along with Green Arrow. Aside from their origin, having been trained on a mesa top together, their history nearly parallels the history of the Earth-One versions up until the point when Arrow and Speedy along with their teammates were thrown into various periods of time during a battle with the Nebula Man. He and his teammates were later retrieved by the Justice Society and the Justice League in order to assist them in saving Earth-Two from the machinations of their old foe the Iron Hand. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths a new solitary universe was created at the dawn of time, a universe whose history fused together the histories of several universes, including Earth-Two. Whether he ceased to exist or exists only as an aspect of the post-Crisis Earth has not been determined, although his mentor died during the final part of the Crisis defending the new Earth from the Anti-Monitor.

Bizarro World

A Bizarro version of Arsenal appears as one of the heroes of Bizarro World. In addition to sporting a robotic left arm (as opposed to his right one), the Bizarro Arsenal is shown wearing a quiver filled with dead cats, which he uses as weapons.

In other media

• Speedy's first animated appearance was in the Teen Titans segments in 1967's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure voiced by Pat Harrington, Jr. In those episodes, Speedy serves in the effective place of Robin. Curiously, Green Arrow never appeared in the series.

• Speedy has appeared on the Teen Titans animated series, where he is voiced by Mike Erwin. Although his real name is not given, his appearance is clearly based on that of Roy Harper. While not a member of the main Titans team himself, he appeared as a supporting character in the episode "Winner Take All", and fought Robin, trying to convince him that winning isn't as important as he thinks. Speedy later joined up with the team's sister group, Titans East. As depicted in the series, Speedy is serious and businesslike as in his Arsenal years in comics. However, when he reappears in "Titans East" Part 1, more of his traditional bad-boy Speedy personality is seen, as he refuses to apologize for buying fish tacos, which offends Aqualad to no end. He was mind-controlled by Brother Blood in "Titans East" Part 2, but saved by Titans West. Speedy's bow was broken by Cheshire in "Calling All Titans". He was then overpowered by her. However, in the episode "Titans Together", Speedy somehow regained possession of his bow when he was freed from his suspended animation. Speedy has also made eight appearances in the comic book series based on the cartoon. His first appearance in issue #10 was a cameo. He made a reappearance with the rest of Titans East in #20 & #25. A super-deformed version of him posed as Cupid in #27. One of the two stories in issue #30 focuses on him and Aqualad. Thus far, he and Aqualad both have made appearances in each tenth issue. He appeared in issue # 39 and after being struck by Larry's arrows falls in love with Cheshire, similar to the comics. In issue #48 he appeared as Arsenal in an alternate reality in a group called the Teen Tyrants.

File:Speedy JLU.jpg

Speedy in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Patriot Act".

• Speedy appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Patriot Act". There, Speedy states that he is Green Arrow's "ex-partner" when Green Arrow calls him "my ex-sidekick", and is visually designed as a slightly older, better built version of his Teen Titans incarnation (his costume is the same, and he is still voiced by Mike Erwin). This does not necessarily mean the shows are in continuity with one another, and may have been a nod to the Titans cartoon and nothing more, much like Michael Rosenbaum's voicing of Kid Flash in the Teen Titans episode "Lightspeed". Speedy's appearance is also a nod to the original Seven Soldiers of Victory, who are the stars of this episode. Speedy and Green Arrow fail to stop the mutated General even after using their "quantum arrow".

• Speedy appears in the "Dawn of the Dead Man" episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jason Marsden. Batman, as a spirit, possesses Speedy to tell Green Arrow to dig up his grave. While Batman and Deadman deal with Gentleman Ghost, the two archers find his coffin and get the body out. They later fight against Craddock's army of the undead. He also appears in "Sidekicks Assemble" where he, along with Robin and Aqualad, go against Ra's al Ghul. It is shown that Green Arrow treats him badly, and the usually-nice Speedy defiantly points this out at the end of the episode. This version is the stereotype of what kid sidekicks are, saying phrases like "Golly!" or "Holy involuntary acrobatics!".

File:RedArrowYJ.jpg

Red Arrow as he appears in Young Justice

• Roy Harper appears in the Young Justice animated series as both Speedy and Red Arrow voiced by Crispin Freeman. In "Independence Day" Part 1, Speedy helps Green Arrow take down Icicle. Green Arrow brings him to the Hall of Justice and they meet up with Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash. When the sidekicks are told to wait in the library while the Justice League members meet about an urgent matter, an upset Speedy blurts out to Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash that the real Justice League headquarters is in space and then storms out, knowing that he and the other sidekicks are not able to become full-fledged members of the Justice League. In "Welcome to Happy Harbor," he was informed by Robin and the gang about the forming of a covert operations team for the Justice League, but he refused membership, believing that this team is just an excuse to "keep them busy" and "in their place". He later takes on the name Red Arrow after he starts operating solo as seen in "Infiltrator." Roy later confronts Green Arrow's new sidekick Artemis revealing that he knows that she's not his niece, but decides not to call her on it. He even tells the Mount Justice computer that he goes by Red Arrow now. Later on, Red Arrow confronts Artemis as he feels that his former mentor and Batman must've had a good reason for her being on Young Justice, but then threatens her if she does anything to hurt his friends.

External links

• DC Database Project - Red Arrow
• Titans Tower Biography
• The World's Finest JLU Bio
• The World's Finest TT Bio