Connor Hawke is a superhero who operated as the second Green Arrow, created by Kelley Puckett and Jim Aparo. In the post-Zero Hour continuity, Connor is the eldest son of Oliver Queen, the original Green Arrow, and his former college girlfriend Sandra "Moonday" Hawke, making him the heir of Oliver's estates and Green Arrow legacy. Connor Hawke first appeared in Green Arrow (vol. 2) #0 (1994). He appears in American comic books published by DC Comics.
The character's prominence in DC comics has gone up and down at many points following his short-lived tenure as a full-time replacement for Oliver Queen. For a decade, from 2011 to 2021, the character was largely absent after DC attempted to make Oliver Queen a younger man again and to reintroduce his supporting cast gradually as part of its The New 52 relaunch, although versions of the character continued to appear in comics set elsewhere in the DC Comics Multiverse. With the Infinite Frontier initiative in 2021, Connor is restored to prominence, reintroduced as the second Green Arrow and Oliver's illegitimate son. Furthermore, Connor's multi-racial European, African, and Korean background is made more prominent.Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1 (May 2021) The DC Pride 2022 anthology confirmed that Connor is asexual.
Outside of comics, multiple versions of Connor appear in The CW's Arrowverse, where Connor Hawke is the pseudonym of the Earth-16 counterpart of John Diggle's son, portrayed by Joseph David-Jones while the other Connor Hawke, portrayed by Aiden Stoxx in the present and David-Jones in the future, is the son of Ben Turner. Separately, another loose adaptation of Connor's comic book origin story involves Oliver discovering he has an illegitimate son named William Clayton, is also depicted on Arrow with the present-day version portrayed by Jack Moore and the future adult version portrayed by Ben Lewis.
Fictional character biography Meeting Oliver Queen Connor Hawke met Oliver Queen after Oliver came to stay at the ashram where Connor had been studying for some years. Oliver who had previously retreated to the ashram decades before, looking for peace after accidentally killing a criminal,The Flash (vol. 1) #217 returned to the ashram under similar circumstances, haunted by the thought that he had killed his former best friend Hal Jordan, who, at the time, was involuntarily serving as the host of the entity Parallax. Thanks to Connor, who was a big fan of Green Arrow, Oliver was able to regain a semblance of inner peace and venture out into the world again, especially after numerous attempts on his life had been made.
Connor decides to journey with Oliver, and created a costume similar to his. Oliver learns that Connor is his son after being visited by Hal Jordan's ghost.Green Arrow (vol. 2) #96 Oliver subsequently agrees to go undercover in an eco-terrorist group called the Eden Corps for the government. The mission turns out to be fatal for Oliver, as his arm is connected to a bomb in a plane that was headed for Metropolis. Refusing to allow his arm to be amputated, he sacrifices himself to let the bomb explode away from the city. With his father dead, Connor takes the Green Arrow name.Green Arrow (vol. 2) #101
The new Green Arrow
Connor continues to travel with Eddie, accompanied at times by Connor's martial arts mentor Master Jansen. Connor tries to find his place not only in the hero world, but also in the legacy of Green Arrow. Akin to the friendship between his father and Hal Jordan, Connor quickly befriends the new Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), who himself was struggling to live up to a legacy.Green Arrow (vol. 2) #104
Besides making other friends such as Robin (Tim Drake),Green Arrow (vol. 2) #105 he also made significant enemies in the fighting world, including the Silver Monkey, an assassin and member of the Monkey Fist martial arts cult. Their first encounter resulted in a decisive loss for Connor, which was also filmed and sold underground. Connor's close win in a rematch resulted in a loss of face for the Monkey Fist cult and set Connor on a path that would bring him face to face with Lady Shiva, said to be the deadliest assassin in the world. During the Brotherhood of the Fist storyline, the Monkey Fist schools attacked various world-class martial artists attempting to prove their worthiness and skill after having been dishonored by the Silver Monkey's loss. Under the alias "Paper Monkey," Shiva arrived in Gotham City where Connor had allied with Batman, Nightwing, and Robin. Shiva's final opponent was Connor, who was the prime target of the Monkey Fist. Though a close and taxing contest, Shiva was the victor, with Connor unconscious and defenseless. Thankfully, Shiva's old pupil, Tim Drake who had saved her life during a previous encounter, asked her not to kill Connor, trading a life for a life. After warning Robin that using the favor now meant she would challenge and kill the boy wonder when he was older, she refrained from killing Connor and departed. Batman warned Connor that he would be perceived as surviving a battle with Shiva through his own skill and would therefore be a possible target for any fighters building their way up to a battle against her.Green Arrow (vol. 2) #134-135;Detective Comics #723; Nightwing (vol. 2) #23; Robin (vol. 2) #55
Connor also applied for membership in the JLA, replacing his father.JLA #5 On the date of his second interview, he singlehandedly saved the League from the hands of the Key, defeating the Key's robots by using his father's old trick arrows after the Key had destroyed his own. In the end, he knocked out the Key using his father's trademark boxing glove arrow, and was accepted as a member of the JLA.JLA #8-9
He would later be used by Batman as a "traitor" in the League in a ploy to defeat Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang.JLA #10-15 Connor left the League afterward, feeling he was better suited for the street-level work and out of his element in the epic adventures of the Justice League, although he did remain on reserve status. During this time, he also developed a friendship with Kyle Rayner, the latest Green Lantern, occasionally contacting Kyle for help if he felt that he was dealing with a problem that went beyond his skillset. One unique mission against the Eden Corps- the organisation responsible for Oliver Queen's death- saw Connor team up with a temporally-displaced Hal Jordan, pulled from early in his career as a hero, with the two musing on how they had each never had a chance to know Oliver (As Hal was from a point before he had developed his close ties to the archer). He and Eddie returned for a time to the ashram where Connor was raised, although they both often returned to the outside world, aiding Robin at one point when his Brentwood Academy roommate had been attacked by a demon, and again when Robin, the Spoiler, and Batgirl were attempting to protect Robin's father from an ancient cult.
Return to action When Oliver returned from the dead, Connor left the ashram and tracked him down. After Connor manages to save his father from warlock Stanley Dover, Connor and Oliver move in together in Star City.Green Arrow (vol. 3) #8-10 The two live with Mia Dearden, a runaway that Oliver has taken in and trained as his new sidekick Speedy. Since returning to the superhero life, Connor has been wounded seriously twice, once by the villain OnomatopoeiaGreen Arrow (vol. 3) #13-15 and once by Constantine Drakon, but he continues in his hero role. He is the voice of reason for Oliver, and the two have since formed a real father-son relationship. During his recovery from Onomatopoeia's attack, Oliver Queen and his former sidekick Roy Harper went on a trip across the country recovering old possessions. One of them was an old photograph which revealed that Oliver had been present at Connor's birth, but later ran from the responsibility of being a father.Green Arrow (vol. 3) #16-21 Oliver kept this fact from his son. However, Connor already learned the truth years ago from his mother, and has already forgiven him without Oliver's knowledge.
"One Year Later" During the 2006 "One Year Later" storyline, Connor is revealed to be on an island with Mia Dearden and Oliver Queen as Oliver trains for his return to Star City.Teen Titans (vol. 3) #34 (2006)
In November 2006, Connor starred in his own six issue miniseries, entitled Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood. It was written by Chuck Dixon with art by Derec Donovan. Dixon stated, "A big surprise leads to major changes in Connor's life, particularly as it relates to his father."Wizard #177
In Tony Bedard's Black Canary miniseries, Connor is shot by League of Assassins agents and infected with a neurotoxin, leaving him in a vegetative state.Green Arrow/Black Canary #2 - 5 (January - April 2008)Green Arrow/Black Canary #11 - 12 (October - November 2008) However, after Oliver and Dinah return home from getting married, the nurses tending to Connor are found dead, with Connor missing.Green Arrow/Black Canary #5 (April 2008) This quest leads him to Doctor Sivana, who has utilized a neural patch to turn Connor into a mindless drone. Connor is rescued by Oliver and finally awakens from his comatose state.Green Arrow/Black Canary #12 (November 2008)
After his coma, however, Connor starts exhibiting several unusual traits. Physically healthy, he's now amnesiac and oblivious to everything happened to him before waking up (even his life as a superhero) and he feels no pain at all and exhibits a strong healing factor, forcing Dinah to ask for outside help.Green Arrow/Black Canary #13 (December 2008) A brief examination of his physical make-up, made by Batman and Doctor Mid-Nite, reveals that he was enhanced with Plastic Man's DNA, along with several other alterations fully accounting for his new healing factor and high pain threshold. His memories however come back only in a fragmentary, confused way, with none of the emotional attachments previously experienced, and he has lost his archery skills.Green Arrow/Black Canary #13 (December 2008)Green Arrow/Black Canary #14 (January 2009)
"Blackest Night" and return In Blackest Night, Connor travels to Coast City and battles Green Arrow after Nekron transforms him into a Black Lantern. He is hesitant to fight his father, but eventually stops him by spraying him with liquid nitrogen. After Oliver's defeat, Connor, Mia, and Dinah join in the fight against the other Black Lanterns.Green Arrow/Black Canary #30 (April 2010)
After this, Connor returns to the ruins of Star City (which had been destroyed just prior to Blackest Night) and tries to help maintain order. Connor is approached by Oliver, now a fugitive after having murdered Prometheus, the villain that destroyed the city in the first place. Oliver tries to talk to his son, but Connor angrily states that his battle with his Black Lantern father somehow jogged his memory, and that he now remembers all the terrible things Oliver had done to him. When Oliver tells Connor that he had thought he had forgiven him, Connor states that he no longer has the strength to forgive him for his transgressions. Though he refuses to turn Oliver over to the Justice League, he also refuses to help him, instead telling him to do the right thing for once in his life.Green Arrow/Black Canary #31 (May 2010)
Infinite Frontier
Following The New 52 continuity reboot, Connor appears as a member of the League of Shadows, a splinter faction of the League of Assassins.Detective Comics #1034 (March 2021)DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration (May 2021)
The DC Pride 2022 anthology confirms Connor to be asexual, following decades of fan speculation. The debut story, titled "Think of Me", was created by an entirely-asexual team consisting of Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, and Frank Cvetkovic.