Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow, has the honor of being our latest Character of the Month! Throughout October, we'll post articles about his Best Covers, Must Read Stories, and more, but we'll also put his abilities as a combatant to the test! His first opponent was Black Widow and the voters gave him a fair majority in the poll. He was able to defeat one deadly and agile character from Marvel, but what about Elektra? Would his luck run out against the assassin? The Comic Vine community has been thinking about this battle since Monday and they've finally picked a winner. The poll was very close, but in the end, a slight majority of voters think Green Arrow wins.
The Emerald Archer took the victory by a mere 2%! He earned 49% of the votes and Elektra received 47%. Meanwhile, 3% thought this fight is too close to call and believe the characters have an equal chance of winning. Yeesh, close race, right? Let's discuss why this one had such a close poll and then we'll highlight some of the posts made by the Viners.
It's obvious that in close range Elektra has the advantage. Not only does she have an edge in hand-to-hand technique, but she won't hesitate to use her sais in a more lethal fashion. Additionally, she's faced accurate characters before and we know she has commendable reflexes and agility. And, in the event the distance grows between them, she could always fade into an alleyway and focus on stealth. She absolutely has what it takes to bring the marksman down.
While Oliver's incredibly unlikely to defeat his opponent using regular arrows and the most those will accomplish is keeping Elektra on her toes, his variety of trick arrows serve as a big game changer. Deflecting or catching them will only lead to a world of hurt. Those aren't limited to long range, either. Well, obviously something like an explosive arrow is, but something like an electric one? If Elektra gets in close and lands a good hit, Ollie could be desperate enough to use one of his many trick arrows in close proximity. Whether or not he takes proper advantage of a momentarily stunned Elektra is a whole other matter, though. One would hope so because, if she's already in close range, he's certainly seen how dangerous she can be. Also, while Elektra does have the technique advantage, Oliver's hardly a slouch when it comes to agility and close quarters combat. Just like Elektra, he's taken on a fair share of deadly, powerful, and different opponents. He'd eventually lose if he chose to stick to melee combat -- there's really no doubt about it -- but there's no reason why he would do that and odds are he'd realize he needs to use those trick arrows. But again, whether or not it'll be too late at that point is a whole different story and one that's certainly up for debate.
Now, let's see what the Comic Vine community had to say about this match.
lagozzino
"Even if you try to discount Elektra's considerable reflexes, fighting skills, and mystical abilities, the deciding factor here is that, according to the rules, these two are in-character. Elektra's first instinct when being attacked is to go in for the kill. Ollie would be wasting time with trick arrows and trying to subdue her in a non-lethal manner, while Elektra would be trying to gut him or snap his neck pretty much the instant that she identifies him as a threat."
Owie
"Last week I supported Green Arrow against Black Widow, who may superficially seem similar to Elektra. Elektra is on another level, however, and Elektra takes this.
Elektra is a clearly superior hand to hand combatant over either of them (despite her one-time stalemate against Widow which most consider to be PIS). She is significantly faster. She is incredible at dodging. She has impressive pain resistance. She has redirected a hail of bullets from a machine gun with her said and caught arrows. Her stealth is extremely good. She uses her sai and shuriken as ranged weapons, and honestly I could see her catching his arrows and tossing them back, or cutting his bow string with shuriken.
On the other hand, 30’ gives Green Arrow time to get off several shots, and he does often shoot multiple arrows at once. And his trick arrows are a danger; catch the wrong arrow and you’re potentially in trouble. So I don’t want to downplay him.
However, all together, she has what it takes to close, either directly or through stealth, and take Ollie out.
To those comparing this to the time Bullseye killed her, please recall that this is not the 80s and she has beaten him since. The time when she and DD fought Bullseye together was actually a Skrull, not her."
highaccuser
"Actually leaning toward Ollie here. Granted as far as the overall quality of their showings Elektra is much better, but Elektra tends to block or catch projectiles rather than avoid them, which won't help with Trick arrows."
Zarneyboy
"Green Arrow.
The new 52 Ollie has fought & defeated enemies more powerful than Elektra. Ollie would know what to do in a scenario like this. I know what Elektra is capable of as well. But I have to say Green Arrow would just be able to win due to his arsenal of trick arrows & years of training with a highly trained assassin (Natas)."
That's it for this week! Check back Monday for a new fight with Oliver Queen. If you want to suggest a match for an upcoming Battle of the Week for Green Arrow, tell us below or share it via twitter.