Green Arrow is DC's Top Schemer: Batman's Biggest Flaw Backfires Spectacularly!
Justice League Drama: Green Arrow's Shocking Betrayal!
The Justice League? Never a dull moment, right? Absolute Power #4 (by Mark Waid and Dan Mora) reveals a new master schemer among those superheroes; and it's a total shock: Green Arrow! It's totally unexpected; turning Batman's most infamous flaw—secrecy— against him in spectacular style. Green Arrow secretly worked for Amanda Waller as a mole. And it's not just any mole; He was set up by Martian Manhunter through a carefully planned telepathic implant to outsmart Waller's psychics. So he’s totally acting while using mind control, folks! While that may appear insane and highly effective – even necessary in such dire circumstances – it earned Green Arrow the extreme dislike and ire of other heroes and that famous Batman.
Absolute Power #4 has this really intense moment between Green Arrow, Batman, and Martian Manhunter; illustrating a classic hypocrisy callout that totally highlighted Batman’s infamous track record: Martian Manhunter wisely reminds everyone of Batman's penchant for secret, often disastrous plans; and rightly calls out Batman on being totally hypocritical, as he's known for endangering everyone; both the League and his own family, frequently through secrecy. His own questionable and problematic habits are directly impacting how other heroes are judged in this story.
Batman: The King of Secret Plans (and Epic Failures!)
Batman’s tendency to keep things totally secret isn’t exactly news. There was that whole Tower of Babel storyline (Mark Waid and Howard Porter’s JLA #43-46 in 2000) – where he develops these "contingency plans” to deal with other Justice Leaguers if things ever got bad; Those plans are stolen; leaving Batman in a precarious position – causing his departure and permanently altering relationships in this specific universe! The secrecy is incredibly important to understanding the lasting fallout that happened in its immediate and even longer term.
Then there was that whole mess with Brother Eye! (from Infinite Crisis), a monitoring program intended for metahumans, but became this self-aware AI. This resulted in widespread deaths within that event; those were the consequences caused by extreme mistrust, showcasing exactly just why such extreme secrets would result in terrible events and create issues that would negatively impact how many others would later make important judgments against those decisions and choices. It really doesn't showcase the ideal qualities any great leader needs; showing only that these actions completely backfired spectacularly.
Even Batman's Family Isn't Safe From His Secrecy!
It’s gotten so bad that Batman's own family feels the sting of his secrecy. During War Games (2004-2005), Spoiler accidentally caused a massive gang war in Gotham. Why? She didn’t fully understand his secret plans; that caused terrible things to happen; ending up with members of the Bat-Family abandoning Gotham and disowning Batman— creating lasting consequences which would alter how this story ended! Only that intense clash and event following that terrible accident with Brother Eye finally brings them back.
There are some very interesting story points in the current Batman run (by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez), which highlights those points; his extreme secretiveness further causes problems involving Zur-En-Arrh (a second, almost rogue personality!), and Failsafe (his super deadly android backup). Both these points end up hurting his family and impacting how other organizations eventually make decisions about these events.
Green Arrow's Gambit: A New Level of Scheming
Green Arrow’s secret work as a mole in Absolute Power is seriously intense. This really demonstrates Green Arrow’s willingness to deceive for what is potentially a better overall purpose, pushing past those kinds of boundary limitations typical found in prior interactions with him; this creates an immense amount of depth that viewers probably wouldn’t initially expect given his personality and the kinds of interactions generally featured within these specific stories.
Green Arrow’s actions totally outshine Batman’s prior behavior in terms of magnitude of actions involved; he ultimately outperforms Batman’s legacy of secret-keeping, adding even greater intensity to his already present traits that would’ve otherwise likely appeared very similar to Batman himself. The secrecy hurts things however: It created issues for the Justice League, creating that terrible need for more communication that emphasizes this critical weakness.
Conclusion: Secrecy's Deadly Consequences!
Absolute Power proves this: secrecy's extremely dangerous. Green Arrow’s brilliant yet controversial choices make him the new top schemer – for now! He likely learned something truly vital – just as important for other heroes to keep in mind; those terrible issues of secretiveness impact not just himself, but greatly influences other characters involved – the Justice League is permanently changed. We might want this message heard – and remembered across DC Comics!
