To start off this term I thought I would write about a hero who hit the absolute bottom. I don’t mean that they were defeated by their arch nemesis, or lost an ally in combat. I’m talking about a hero that destroyed themselves and ruined their entire reputation.
But this isn’t a hero, technically. It’s a sidekick. I like the sidekicks better because they’re the diamonds in the rough that everyone overlooks. So what happens when you take a self-destructive man and put him in a position where he lives in the shadow of his mentor? Well you get Roy Harper Jr., otherwise known as Arsenal.
Roy Harper Jr. was the son of a forest ranger who died in a forest fire, and was found by a Navajo medicine man named Brave Bow. Brave Bow raised Roy as his son and taught him archery. Brave Bow eventually died of old age and Roy was left to fend for himself. Roy went to a nearby city, Star City, to enter an archery contest with a cash prize that was being judged by Green Arrow. After winning the contest he assisted Green Arrow in halting a nearby bank robbery. Green Arrow was impressed and adopted the young boy, who became his sidekick Speedy. At first Roy was an exceptional sidekick. He was part of the second iteration of the Teen Titans, and even dated Wonder Girl. But then the Titans disbanded, he broke up with Wonder Girl, and Green Arrow lost his entire fortune.
Green Arrow became distant from Roy and immersed himself in his super hero duties. Roy felt neglected and unwanted and went into a dark place in his life and eventually became addicted to heroin. He began to turn to petty crime. Green Arrow, not knowing how to control his emotions in the situation, nearly beat Roy to death, and threw him onto the streets. Green Arrow denounced him as his sidekick and his adopted son. Being taken into care by fellow hero Black Canary, Roy tried to get his life back on track. But having his father figure abandon him in his time of need threw Roy into a deeper depression.
During this time Roy bounced between being sober and addicted. He tried joining the Outsiders, until eventually almost being killed in combat with Deathstroke. Roy also tried to become an agent of the government agency Checkmate, but was fired when they discovered he shared ancestry with the terrorist Vandal Savage. Entering a deep depression, he tried to commit suicide by getting into a fist fight with Killer Croc. Upon finding out what he was trying to do, Killer Croc stopped the fight and put Roy into rehab, becoming his sponsor. With Killer Croc’s help Roy finally became clean of all substances. Currently, Roy has undertaken the name Arsenal instead of Speedy; he became part of the Red Hoods vigilante group of heroes The Outlaws and has become a better hero than he was before. Roy now knows that he is a hero and strives to become a better person each day, constantly putting his life on the line to save his comrades Starfire and Red Hood.
The point that I’m trying to make here with Roy is that he is another example of a non-textbook hero. He embodies how easily corruptible a human’s heart can be, how the mighty can fall from their pedestal of power, and how tempted the body is for a dark pleasure. Roy was on top of the world and had it all taken away from him in a hard way, with nobody to blame but himself.
Constantly, Roy tried to get himself into shape but he didn’t have the willpower that we see so much of in comics, and that’s the best part about him; he is truly human. A human cannot be so simply defined in the comic book universe as someone without powers, it has to be someone susceptible to temptation and darker urges. We rarely see that in well known comic book heroes. We normally see the pinnacle of what people are inspired to be, but in Roy we see a mirror image; a man who is easily broken. But Roy went to the edge of the abyss and was consumed, and in a way is still consumed. He might be a hero again, and a valiant one at that, but he’s still throwing himself into danger head first putting himself between the barrel of a gun and his allies.
The truth of the matter is that Roy is a hero in progress, but the fact that he is trying even after failing is admirable and a key element to being a real hero. He may not be perfect, but he wants to be. How many of us can say we’re doing that after being completely broken? At the end of the day what makes Roy a hero is the fact he’s fighting for something, even if it’s proving himself to others.
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