Passing the Arrow: Mia Smoak takes up the mantle
By Sabrina Reed
Crisis on Infinite Earths saw the death of Oliver Queen, but with his passing, a new Green Arrow will rise: his daughter, Mia Smoak. Time will tell if new fans follow in her wake ushering in not only a new era for DCTV but also the fandom-at-large.
It’s no surprise that Oliver Queen will be hanging up his quiver by the close of Arrow‘s last season. But fans were shocked when Oliver died the first night of The CW’s crossover special, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Mia, Sara, and Barry went as far as using a Lazarus Pit to bring his body back to life — and enlisted the help of Constantine and Lucifer to retrieve Oliver’s soul — but Oliver still chose not to return to them. It was his choice to die, and as “Part Three” of the crossover suggests, his purpose lies elsewhere.
Mia’s purpose, however, was set hours before Oliver’s death, when he charged her with the same duty he’s carried out seven years on The CW: taking up the mantle of the Green Arrow. Oliver told Mia there must always be a Green Arrow, and The CW is working to honor that statement.
On January 21, the backdoor pilot for Green Arrow and the Canaries (GAatC) will air as the penultimate episode of Arrow‘s final season. If the show gets picked up, Mia won’t simply be stepping into her father’s shoes; she’ll be forging her own path with Laurel Lance and Dinah Drake by her side as the Canaries.
A new Arrow has the potential to bring in new fans across, and from outside, the Arrowverse. Speaking as someone who has only seen snatches of Arrow over the years, thanks in large part to the annual crossover events, I find myself building excitement for the start of Mia’s journey despite my ambivalence toward Oliver.
GAatC, if greenlit, will be The CW leg of DCTV’s fourth hero installment that is female led. Mia will be joining the ranks of Supergirl, Batwoman, and Stargirl. But she’ll hopefully be doing it without the weight of a man’s shadow and instead be working toward the promise of her father’s legacy while creating her own.
Supergirl and Batwoman both wrestle with the cultural significance of their male predecessors in the universe. At times, the writing is clunky and heavy-handed when it comes to establishing not only the importance of these female heroes, but also their superiority to the men who donned the cape before them. Stargirl won’t air until Spring 2020, but she too is taking up a mantle that belonged to a man. And it’s likely that she will be wrestling with similar subject matter.
Prayers heavenward that Mia manages to sidestep this writing tendency in her own show, especially since she’ll be going head-to-head with Diggle Jr., the new Deathstroke. Their fathers were best friends, but they will be enemies. I’d rather spend valuable screen time unpacking that relationship dynamic than watching Mia chafe at being compared to her father.
But whether or not Mia struggles with what it means to be the Green Arrow following Oliver Queen’s run, it’s still undeniable that the future of DCTV on The CW is female. How that shifts narratives in universe and reverberates through fandom remains to be seen but as the stars of women rise, the face of the Arrowverse is steadily beginning to change and with it the stories they decide to tell.
Next. Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 2: Paragons and the Lazarus Pit. dark