Our latest Character of the Month, Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow, has done pretty well in the Battle of the Week segment. He took a firm win over Black Widow, barely beat Elektra, and took down Bullseye. But now he faces his final challenger: Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. Winter Soldier. Is Oliver's accuracy and variety of trick arrows enough to drop Captain America's former sidekick? Or is Bucky just too talented to lose this one? The community's been talking about this match since Monday and the poll is now closed. According to the voters, Winter Soldier wins!
According to many of the voters, the DC archer overcame his previous challengers because of his accuracy and the fact a fair number of his trick arrows can serve as game changers (especially the boxing glove arrow). He may not have been as agile or as gifted in hand-to-hand combat as his enemies, but it was his skill with projectiles which allowed him to barely defeat Elektra and overcome the talented and lethal Black Widow and Bullseye. But his plethora of arrows just wasn't enough to save him against Marvel's Winter Soldier.
So, why did Winter Soldier win and the others didn't? Oliver may have what it takes to keep Bucky on his toes, but the combination of Bucky's skill, physicals, and weaponry means he has what is required to eventually close the gap and land some effective hits. We've seen Bucky catch and even shoot Hawkeye's arrows before, so he's experienced when it comes to battling talented marksman. His pistol means he also has the ability to keep Oliver on the move at a distance. And what if he hits the bow? That's spells big trouble for Green Arrow. Then there's the fact Bucky has impressive stealth capabilities -- something which can play a role in a city at night -- and he's a better martial artist. A trick arrow delivered at just the right moment can turn the tide, but Bucky's advantages will make it an uphill struggle for Ollie.
The marksman may have lost, but he wasn't totally obliterated. As you can see, he put up a bit of a fight in the poll.
- The Winter Soldier 56%
- Green Arrow 41%
- Too close to call 3%
Now, let's read what some Comic Viners had to say about this brawl.
Dedpool
"Gotta go with Bucky on this one. As good as Ollie is, Bucky has had a lot of experience between his Cold War days, and his time as Winter Soldier in the present, as well as being Cap for a while. He can be ruthless, but he's calculating and precise. He's a soldier, assassin, warrior, and Avenger. He's gone toe to toe with some of the most viscous characters in the MU, and come out on top. Not to mention if he gets in a good punch with that arm, it's game over. Ollie is no slouch but if you take everything that his last three combatants had, and then role it into one, you get Winter Soldier."
jwrose5
"Bucky has a lot of experience fighting wars and working as an assassin/spy. He is familiar with shields, swords and guns. His cybernetic arm also has plenty of tricks up its sleeve, (EMP, enhanced strength,) so to speak.
GA is an acrobat, a skilled swordsman, (but he prefers archery,) and has been known to shoot an arrow straight down the barrel of a gun; so Buck is going to have to rely on hand to hand combat.
Now both guys are great h2h combatants, experienced in several forms of martial arts and both guys are extremely stealthy/fast. And an EMP arrow wouldn't take out Buck's arm. GA has other arrows he can use, Buck is stronger than GA, simply put, this can go either way.
Too close to call."
VisionTheAndroid
"Both are assassins and very skilled at stalking in close and complex settings. This was tough because I believe the Winter Soldiers comes off as more intimidating because of his past and persona but I sided with the arrow because his time in the game(more experience) although Bucky technically is older, Arrow has been battling longer. I dont know if the vine thought this through before they set up the battle but the similarities of the 2 story lines is creepy. That dynamic duo relationship Arrow has/had with Arsenal(Red Arrow) / Speedy is similar to Cap and the Winter Soldier. In one story line Speedy loses his arm and gets it replaced by a bionic arm. In either case I think Arrow's experience outlasts Bucky's skill and strength. Great battle."
SnowyMountain
"Green Arrow is a tricky opponent thanks to his arsenal of high-tech arrowheads but he is primarily a distance fighter who relies on his gimmick of shooting his opponent and incapacitating them. He's great at it. World class even. But up against the Winter Soldier, he's at a severe disadvantage.
Even if GA gets lucky and say shoots an electro-arrow or whatever and disrupts Bucky's cybernetic arm; I have seen Bucky fight without his arm entirely so I can't believe that it would slow him down that much. He's trained himself to fight without it so it wouldn't totally incapacitate him like some other people have suggested.
Not to mention that Bucky isn't just a distance fighter, he's also excellent at moderate or even hand-to-hand ranges.
And while Green Arrow is fast and can shoot multiple arrows so that he can engage most people with guns and win; I do not believe that he can do so with Bucky who has demonstrated that his reflexes are good enough that he can shoot arrows out of the air or even catch them if he was so inclined. In essence, Ollie is going up against someone who is every bit as good as he is with a gun as he is with a bow.
So basically Green Arrow's best ability is effectively nullified or countered. If anything, he's at a disadvantage since his bow is a fairly big target and Bucky is sure to shoot to damage or disable it leaving Ollie with a hunk of reinforced plastic that is a badly shaped club and no way to fire off his arrows except by throwing them. Against a speeding projectile like a bullet? He's screwed.
Green Arrow is an excellent hand to hand combatant but he is definitely not in say Batman's league in hand-to-hand combat who I think is easily in Captain America's level which Bucky has demonstrated he can fight at as well. He's also better than Green Arrow is at exploiting the terrain so GA has no advantages there either.
Overall, the Winter Soldier has too many advantages with fewer weaknesses to exploit than Green Arrow does.
WINNER: THE WINTER SOLDIER!"
That's it for Green Arrow's time in the Battle of the Week! His time as the Character of the Month may be coming to its end as well, but that doesn't mean you should stop putting the Emerald Archer in great fights. So, head to the Battles Forum and start creating some fun matches for Ollie.