Arrow TV Series 2012

Spoiler Alert: Watch the TV Show first before reading on.

Remember Oliver Queen from the Smallville TV Series? Well, the Green Arrow is back on television, and this time, he is the main man. The series is titled Arrow.

From IGN

This new show features actor Stephen Amell as the new Green Arrow and will most likely explore how he becomes a hero and not a super hero. He's just like Batman. In fact, there are so many similarities. His father dies and is one of the reasons why he is on a quest to rid Starling City (his Gotham) of crooks and bad guys while Bruce Wayne took up crime fighting to avenge the death of his parents. 

They are both billionaires (Seems like that's the only way to become a crime-fighting hero - and looks like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg are the only ones who can afford to do so in real life). Wonder what type of comic book character they would imitate. Bill Gates could be Iron Man. Both Queen and Wayne act like douche bags when they are under their billionaire playboy guise, but become super serious under their heroic identity.

They both use gadgets. One favors arrows while the other favors bat-shaped stuff. They travel using cable mechanisms. But Wayne has a more plausible source of tech gadgets in Lucius Fox - head of Wayne Enterprises R&D Division. Queen's tech gadget source? Still unknown. How do you learn to create an arrow that can steal money from computer accounts on an island you are ship wrecked on in five years time?

They both have extensive physical training. Arrow gained his training on the mysterious island he was trapped in. Wayne, as the Nolan movies tell us, gained his training from Raz Al Ghul's ninja camp. We see a lot of parkour from Arrow.

They both give up their love interests and focus on a life of crime-fighting instead. Seems logical since your enemies can get to you by hurting the ones you love the most. I'd give up Katie Holmes but not Katie Cassidy. Rawr. Hubba hubba. (And does having both love interests named Katie count as another similarity?)

But if there was one distinction, and one that I admire the most from Batman, it is his decision not to kill. Arrow shows no hesitation in taking a life - which is really the more practical route. Bad guys are dead. They can no longer come after you. Batman takes the harder path making him more heroic (stupid, but heroic).

I don't know if this show will be as successful as Smallville, having 10 seasons under its belt. There aren't any super powers to explore (which was what made Smallville fun). So unless he got trapped in the island in LOST, and fights various interesting villains (instead of your typical mob bosses and crime lords), this show might not have a second season. But the first episode was interesting enough to make me want to watch the next. 

Green Arrow had a sidekick named Speedy, and this is also the nick name of the kid sister of Arrow on the show. Will she become his sidekick later on? Stay tuned and find out.