I think it should do just fine. It is basically Heroes plus Prison Break which are two insanely popular shows. Heroes especially, which does not follow any comic book movie cliches and is still fantastic.

Most of the complaints seem to be "this is my favorite character and I want him to have the classic comic movie treatment", which is not going to carry over to the general public.

sorry to say but the premise of this movie sounds really stupid... how do you have ollie with no goatie?? thats just not him. oh well. i might still see it just for the heck of it because who knows?, maybe it'll be a good movie...

I've yet to understand how Prison Break made it as far as it did, as the early episodes had me wondering how severe a stroke I'd have to have before the show would be acceptable. Still, point taken on that. Mass media doesn't have to cater to me.

The leap to Heroes, though (a show I do enjoy) is a tougher one, since the focus of the show is on otherwise seemingly normal people (even if most of them uncannily look like catalog fashion models) coming into these powers and trying to figure out what it all means.

Also, both of the shows you mention rely strongly on an audience being willing to follow developing plotlines from week to week and beyond a single season. These dynamics can't be depended on in a roughly 2hr movie, especially where the backdrop is supposed to be a world where people are aleady empowered. Origins will have to be ignored or referred to casually -- it can be done, but I don't know if the mainstream movie studios will do it. Still -- there's hope. I was very pleasantly surprised by how astute the screenwriters for The Incredibles were in just allowing the audience to take it in stride that these characters existed and held the status they did in the world. Never so much as a pause to speculate on how the adult heroes came to have their powers. Very sharp.

Agreed on all points.

The only universally acceptable way to handle this would be to make a Green Arrow movie that convinces people he's someone they should have known all along... and to be perfectly honest I don't know that that's easily possible without making something new up.

Much of what makes him special is likely to vary from fan to fan -- his politics, for instance -- but at the core we're likely supposed to find him admirable as the closest thing to a normal human who still manages to hang out with the gods most of the classic Justice League are and still make a difference. I wonder how much any of that will be hamstrung by the nightmare of separate licensing deals? You know, the things that drive us comics fans nuts because we know how unutterably cool it would be to have Spider-man, Iron Man or Daredevil, etc. show up even in passing in a Fantastic Four movie, but won't happen because the individual film rights are tied up in different contracts. Can Green Arrow be anywhere as interesting in a world where Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, etc. can't even be mentioned?

They is why DC movies suck & Marvel movies don't.

They should have done "Long Bow Hunters."
It snot an orgin story but GA does reinvent himself.

I actually think it sounds somewhat interesting, and certainly not like a 'typical' comic book movie.

So, while my wife might walk into it going "Who is this guy again?" (though, she's less likely to react that way now that he's been introduced on Smallville), it certainly seems more attention-grabbing than Ghost Rider, or Elektra, or Hulk, or any number of other lame comic book movies did.

I mean, did we not learn in Brubaker's Daredevil run that a hero stripped of his secret identity and thrown into prison with a number of villains he'd helped put there could make for great entertainment and story-telling ... ?

That way lies flames and madness.

DC managed to get out some entertaining superhero movies over years when Marvel couldn't manage to get a single one out, so it's really just a matter of how the deals come together. Marvel or DC, these can be done well or poorly.

Really, the only thing that galls me in comics-to-film projects is when they don't have the sense to keep what works in the comics version and only change items that will improve it in the film version. Too often changes are made seemingly just for change's sake.

The first Spider-man movie is the closest to doing it right for me from Marvel (and I suppose the first Superman movie strikes a similar path for the DC properties), as they stuck with all of the important things and only bent matters where it made for a smoother movie treatment. Sure, Mary Jane was retconned into his primary school years and his webbing became something his body manufactured, but both made for a smoother film treatment. Changing Uncle Ben's death from burglar to carjacker was a case of improving the Lee/Ditko original; it made much morse sense and made Peter feel all the more responsible. (How much the Sandman's origin in Spidey 3 will alter this isn't clear.) The organic webbing really only bothered me because it took away from how essential Peter's science background was in making him Spider-man, as opposed to anyone else who might have received the spider's bite. (ie Someone without his knowledge and creativity would have been without the webbing.)

Really, though, when it comes to Olver Queen/Green Arrow, we're not faced with a character who has a truly compelling, iconic origin. I think the fillmmakers may be onto something by simply letting us pick him up in mid-stream. I simply don't have any confidence that Goyer's the guy who's going to be able to deliver that.

I don't mind watching a comicbook/superhero movie that doesn't rely on the typical origin story as long as its engaging enough.

As for this Green Arrow pitch, considering he'll be in prison, it'll be easy to squeeze in flashback sequences for his origin to be told in bits and pieces if there really HAD to be an origin in the movie.

Whatever the case is, if it does get turned into a movie, I'll check it out just out of curiosity. I rarely walk into a movie theater with high expectations anyway, so if turns out to be #### just like everybody says it will be, i'll get exactly what I expected. If it turned out to be good, at least I'll walk out pleasantly surprised.

Daredevil + Elektra + Hulk + X3 + Fantastic Four + The Punisher + Blade II + Man-Thing = Genius!

Batman Begins + Superman Returns = teh suck!

Like Grayson????

As far as GA's backstory, that can be covered while his cell mate comforts him after "Prison Shower Violation: Scene #1"....

Or maybe they will just re-write "The Naked Gun 33 1/3" sans Anna-Nicole...who knows?

GA is not just a rich guy with a bow. The origin story could be done as a narration of the incident that made him GA. Rich guy goes out on his bout, it explode, he gets standed on and island. Do some castway/lost thing,where he learns to make a bow and catch some bad guy and then comes back to society. Only to not be happy being rich anymore & sees the injustice the people face so he decides to become a champion for the people. Inspired by Robin Hood. If done right it take ten minutes for the origins. Personally, I think this movie sounds terrible.

Here's the catch...

It can be a 5 minute origin. A fever dream while he's in prison. Everyone knows Robin Hood. They don't need to know Ollie to enjoy the movie...

Alright, I have to step in here...

Also...

Eh. For every "Batman & Robin" or "Superman IV" there is a "Batman" and "Superman".

Now you've got me picturing Ollie as a fuzzy faced little critter with a paperclip and a rubberband using pencils as arrows.

Some of the posters here may not be old enough to know that reference....

This is actually an awesome point. His origin has him stranded alone in the jungle surrounded by wild animals, so it makes for an easy comparison to being alone in prison surrounded by murders and psychopaths. Showing the parallels between these two survival scenarios could make for a very interesting retelling of his origin.

I for one, am getting more excited about this the more it is discussed, hopefully it can be pulled off correctly.

That makes me incredibly sad.