Roy William Harper Jr. is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Roy is one of DC's most longstanding characters, originating in 1940s comics as Speedy, the teen sidekick of the superheroes Green Arrow and Black Canary. Like his mentor Green Arrow, Roy is a world-class archer and athlete who uses his exceptional marksmanship to fight crime. Along with other prominent DC Comics superhero sidekicks, he goes on to become a core member of the superhero group the Teen Titans. As an adult, Roy casts off his Speedy identity to establish himself as the superhero Arsenal, and later takes on the name Red Arrow to symbolise his coming-of-age and having become an equal of Green Arrow as he joins the Justice League. In addition to continuing to serve on occasion as one of the Titans, Roy has had leading roles in the superhero groups the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the Outsiders, Checkmate, the Justice League, and the Outlaws.
He was the subject of the award-winning 1971 comic book story "Snowbirds Don't Fly", which was celebrated for its gritty depiction of Roy's battle with drug addiction; the story is considered a key moment in comic book history, as it represented the emergence of mature themes in comics. In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Harper as #50 on their list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics". The character has been adapted for video games and animation several times, and was portrayed in live action by Colton Haynes on the Arrowverse television series Arrow.
Publication history The character first appeared as Green Arrow's teenage sidekick Speedy, a name by which he was known for over fifty years, in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941) and was created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp.Wallace, Daniel "1940s" in Dolan, p. 88 The character's modern-day version was an early member of the Teen Titans who later assumed the identity Arsenal in The New Titans #99 (July 1993), and became a member of the Justice League of America under the guise Red Arrow in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996) or Justice League of America vol. 2 #7 (May 2007).
Fictional character biography
1941–1992: Origin, Teen Titans, addiction and fatherhood As an infant, Roy was raised by his father, Roy Harper Sr., a forest ranger. The fate of his birth mother is unknown, something that Roy has questioned his entire life, not sure whether she left them or died. When his father died in a forest fire when Roy was a baby, he was rescued by a man named Brave Bow, a Navajo medicine chief. Brave Bow took Roy into his tribe and raised him as his own son, telling him about how his birth father saved him, which made Roy grow up seeing him as a hero. Under Brave Bow's tutelage, Roy trained in archery, becoming remarkable at a young age and a champion in several events. Roy began learning about the superhero Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) and started idolizing him, seeing him as a hero alongside his father and Brave Bow.
When Brave Bow learned of an illness that would lead to his death, he contacted Green Arrow, asking him to take Roy in and raise him after his death. After posing as a judge in an archery contest, Green Arrow becomes impressed by Roy's skills as an archer, which prompts him to test Roy's character by rigging his arrows with magnets so they can be deflected. After Brave Bow's death, Roy was adopted by Green Arrow and became his sidekick, Speedy. He was given the name Speedy after stopping a pair of robbers faster than Green Arrow could even put on his costume, and for being quicker than him at shooting arrows and in general.
Speedy becomes a founding member of the Teen Titans along with Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl, a group they formed so they as sidekicks could come out of their mentors' shadows. Roy develops a crush on Wonder Girl Donna Troy, and the two begin dating. As Roy spends more time with the Teen Titans, Oliver leaves to travel the country with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) after losing his fortune. When the Teen Titans break up, Roy finds himself alone. Trying to find some comfort, he starts taking drugs and develops a heroin addiction in the award-winning story "Snowbirds Don't Fly". When Oliver returns and learns of Roy's addiction, he banishes Roy from his house. When Hal finds Roy on the street later, Roy vows to fight and end his drug addiction. Hal takes him to Black Canary, who helps Roy with his drug withdrawal. Roy reconciles with Oliver, but leaves him to go solo.
When the Teen Titans reforms, Roy rejoins the team. In addition, Roy begins working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, working as a counselor in various anti-drug programs as well as in helping taking down drug operations and drug lords. His work with the DEA leads to him joining the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI), where he works as an agent and spy. While on undercover assignment with the CBI in Japan, Roy is assigned to capture the assassin Cheshire, but they end up falling in love. Roy's feelings for Cheshire lead him to let her go.
About a year later, Roy reunites with Cheshire on a mission with the Titans, where he found out he fathered a daughter with her, Lian. However, Cheshire, only allows Roy to see Lian once. Desperate to see Lian again on her first birthday, Roy sought the help of Dick Grayson. The two of them found Lian and fought off Cheshire. It was here that Cheshire realized how much more dangerous her life as an assassin was, and she decided to give Roy full custody of Lian.
Roy moves to Los Angeles, where he took up work as a private detective, balancing that job with being Speedy and raising his daughter. It was during this time that Roy also reunites with Oliver after some time of not being on full speaking terms, where he was finally prepared to forgive him and accept him as a father.
1993–1996: Becoming Arsenal and leading the Titans Roy decides to take up spy work again and joins Checkmate under the command of Sarge Steel. While at Checkmate, Roy expands his skills beyond just using a bow and arrow and becomes a weapons expert, as well as mastering Moo Gi Gong, the martial art of using any household or random item as a weapon. At Checkmate, Roy became friends with a fellow agent, Martin Santos and his wife Erika and their family, who helped him with Lian in her early years.
Being a founding member and current reserve member of the Titans, Roy is sent by Checkmate to talk to Dick about the Titans, who had been under pressure from the government and the media due to the large amount of damage caused in the battle against the Wildebeests in the "Titans Hunt" storyline. Roy is asked to convince Dick into having the Titans cooperate with the government; he had also secretly heard that if the Titans did not cooperate, Congress would work on shutting down all superhero teams, so he tried to levy the situation as much as he could, but he knew it would not work out.
Roy suggests a compromise to Sarge Steel: that he would return to the Titans full-time and make sure everything was going smooth himself. Since he had not been Speedy for some time, Roy decided to take on a new mantle. With some help and technology acquired from Steve Dayton, Roy built new gear and a new costume, now officially calling himself Arsenal.
Some time later, the wedding of Dick and Starfire is interrupted by an attack, causing the death of the minister and damage all around. This caused a major uproar from the government and media against the Titans. Sarge Steel turns on the deal he made with Roy, demanding that he take leadership of the Titans himself, or else the government will shut them down. Roy refuses, not wanting to turn on Dick because Roy had faith in him as a leader, confident that Dick would turn it around, but continues to be pressured by Steel. Dick agrees to temporarily resign leadership until the situation is resolved. In Dick's absence, Roy becomes leader of the Titans.
1996–2003: Titans reunion After the death of Oliver Queen, Roy moves to Metropolis. During a reunion with Dick, Wally, and Garth, Roy faces the villain Haze, who makes Roy face an image of his ideal self, which was him in a red version of the Green Arrow suit.Teen Titans (vol. 2) #15 (January 1998) To honor Oliver, Roy takes on the red Green Arrow suit fully and goes back to using a bow as his primary weapon.Teen Titans (vol. 2) #16 (January 1998) He joins the new Teen Titans team, acting as an experienced mentor to the younger new heroes along with fellow first generation Titan Lilith Clay.
While in Metropolis, Roy and Lian are sought out by Vandal Savage, who has discovered that Roy and Lian are his descendants and intends to take their organs for his use to prolong his life. Roy saves Lian from Savage and gets a band tattoo on his left bicep to honor his Navajo heritage.Arsenal #1 (October 1998)Arsenal #4 (January 1999)
Shortly after, Roy joined the rest of the original five Titans in reforming the Titans team for a new generation.Titans #1 (March 1999) Roy becomes a mentor role to Grant Emerson, the younger hero known as Damage, who Roy recruits in his tenure as leader. It was also during this time that Roy found out he had a living relative: Jim Harper, a clone of his great uncle.Superboy (vol. 4) #82 (January 2001)
2004–2006: Death of Donna Troy and reforming the Outsiders A mysterious conglomerate known as Optitron offers to sponsor the Titans and Young Justice after summoning them to San Francisco.Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1 (July 2003) Before any decisions can be made, a cybernetic girl from the future known as Indigo invades the complex, and immediately engaged both teams in combat. With half the group out of commission, the remaining members try to track down Indigo, but instead encounter a rogue Superman android, which had been activated. The Superman android manages to kill Donna Troy and Lilith Clay before Indigo shuts it down. Shaken by these losses, Nightwing decides to disband the Titans.Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #3 (August 2003)
Mourning Donna's death, Roy dons a new, more advanced suit and assembles a new team of Outsiders.Teen Titans/Outsiders: Secret Files #1 (2003)Outsiders (vol. 3) #1 (August 2003) During a mission, Roy is shot five times in the chest,Outsiders (vol. 3) #6 (January 2004) leaving him out of commission for three months. During a later battle with Deathstroke, Roy is spared after Deathstroke sees the bullet scars on Arsenal's chest, reasoning that he has suffered enough.
After the return of Donna Troy, Roy begins to rethink his position as an Outsider. While leading an effort to take down the Secret Society, Roy realized that working like this was too much for him, and that operating from the shadows was not for him, and that he was not meant to blur the line. When Lian told him that she saw him up at night, looking sad, Roy decides to leave the Outsiders, accepting that he was not made for the life of a cloak-and-dagger type hero. He hands leadership of the team back to Dick and took his leave, seeking to be a hero more in the light, aspiring to be more of a hero that can be an inspiration to people and to Lian.
2005–2011: Becoming Red Arrow and joining the Justice League For the next year, Roy largely works solo. During a team up with Black Canary and Hal Jordan, Roy finds himself fighting Amazo alongside several other heroes. After this, he is invited to join the Justice League, where he officially took on the name Red Arrow. As Red Arrow, Roy found himself to be fully settled for the first time in a while, happy that he was fully embracing his legacy. He buys a house in Star City to give Lian more room as she grew up, and even begins giving her archery lessons, realizing that one day, she would probably want to take on the family legacy herself.