Arsenal III (Roy Harper)

Real name: Roy Harper Jr.
Known Aliases: Speedy

First Appearance: More Fun Comics #73
Known relatives: Roy Sr. (father, deceased), Jim (Guardian, uncle, deceased), Lian Harper (daughter), Vandal Savage (ancestor)
Group Affiliation: Outsiders III, formerly Teen Titans I, Checkmate, New Titans, Teen Titans III, Titans II, Titans III, Titans IV
Known Allies: Green Arrow I, Green Arrow II, Black Canary II, Nightwing, Troia, Flash III, Tempest II, Damage, Thunder III, Grace Choi, Huntress II
Major Enemies: Cheshire, Vandal Savage, Merlyn
Height:5’11
Weight:180 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red

As a boy, Roy Harper lived with his father, park ranger Roy Harper Sr., in the many rustic cabins the elder Harper resided in. One day, during a massive forest fire, Roy Sr. saved a Navajo brave, Brave Bow, from the fire, and went back into it to save more victims. He was never heard from again, and Brave Bow took in young Roy and raised him on the Navajo reservation.

Roy grew up a lonely child, and took to training himself physically to help ease his loneliness. He picked up a bow at a young age, and became a crack shot. He idolized the new hero Green Arrow, and when an archery contest judged by the Emerald Archer was announced, Roy signed up. Even though he lost due to doctored arrows, he helped Green Arrow bring in some criminals, and with Brave Bow having died, Oliver Queen took the boy in and made him his ward and crime fighting partner, Speedy.

Roy and Ollie shared many years of adventures together, Roy honing his bowmanship under Green Arrow’s tutelage. He also met a group of other young heroes, including the first Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl, and they became the founding members of the Teen Titans. Roy saw many happy days with this team, and even saw the beginning of a relationship with Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, but as teenagers do, they all drifted apart, and the hard times of Roy’s life began.

With the Titans’ disbanded, and Ollie distracted by his travels with Hal Jordan and his new relationship with Dinah Lance, Roy succumbed to despair. He began to take heroin, and soon was addicted. When Green Arrow found out, the two fought, and it was Black Canary who comforted him and helped him through the withdrawal.

Roy was not one of the old Titans called by Raven when she formed the New Teen Titans, and so Roy began working as an anti-drug councilor and advocate, while fighting drug peddlers as Speedy. He started making government contacts with this work, and soon he was working for the CBI under Sarge Steel. On assignment, Roy met the international terrorist Cheshire, and the two had an affair before she disappeared.

When Cheshire resurfaced, Roy joined with the Titans to bring her in. When they confronted her, Roy discovered that their affair had an unexpected result: a daughter, Lian. Roy held his daughter briefly before Cheshire escaped with her, and Roy swore to find her. For this purpose, Roy asked for the help of Nightwing, his old friend who had been the first Robin. Roy and Nightwing found her and stopped her attempt to disrupt a peace treaty, but she cursed him for making him love her, and she poisoned Roy. As he recovered, Nightwing appeared with a surprise: he had found Lian and brought her to her father. Roy happily took on the new roll of father.

Roy continues working with the CBI for a time, but eventually he decided he wanted to again take up the super hero life. With the aid of Steve Dayton, he was able to create a new costumed identity, and became Arsenal. Arsenal took over leadership of a new government sponsored group of Titans, and while he was a good leader, many of the members dedication was half-hearted at best, and the team eventually dispersed.

With the Titans disbanded, Roy again took up with the government, and was contacted by Eddie Fyers to come and aid Connor Hawke, Oliver Queen’s son, in trying to bring his father in from a mission infiltrating the eco-terrorists the Eden Group. Connor and Roy initially held each other at a distance, Roy not comfortable with Connor being Ollie’s biological son, Connor with Roy being the one Ollie raised. But with Ollie’s apparent death, they came together and reached an understanding.

The Titans once again reformed, and this time Roy led a team of Titans that included all his old friends and many new members. They came into conflict with Vandal Savage, the immortal villain who turned out to be Roy’s distant ancestor. He rekindled his relationship with Donna Troy briefly, but they realized that they were just meant to be friends. He also took the young hero Damage under his wing, taking him on as a protégé for a time. And it was during this time that he made his final choice about his relationship with Cheshire. Roy let her be sent to jail, as opposed to letting her go free. He has remained a great father to Lian, and the Titans formed her family.

A mysterious conglomerate called Optitron called the Titans and the young heroes called Young Justice together and offered the resources to aid their crime fighting. During the negotiations, both teams were called away to fight a renegade Superman Robot, and in the process Donna was killed. Roy was wracked with grief, as were many of his friends, and another shuffling of teams began.

Roy gathered together a group of rag tag heroes, and with the aid of Nightwing, they formed a new incarnation of the Outsiders. On their second major mission, a battle with the Cult of Blood, Roy was nearly fatally wounded. He has since recovered, but the strain between him and Nightwing over the distance Nightwing is keeping emotionally from his teammates is slowly reaching a boiling point. Recently he has continued his playboy ways by enjoying one night stands with both the Huntress and his team mate, Grace Choi.

Arsenal is one of the best marksmen in the world. While he is particularly adept with a bow and arrow, he is a master of nearly all ranged weapons. Years of practice have also enabled him to turn nearly any object into an effective weapon in combat. His time with the government has given him many contacts, and he is a capable detective.



APPEARANCES:
Action Comics #436, 744, 781
Action Comics Weekly #613-618, 627-634, 636-640
Adventure Comics #256-260, 262-269
Adventures of Superman #577
Armageddon 2001 #2
Arsenal #1-4
Arsenal Special #1
Batman Plus #1
Best of DC Digest #18
Bloodbath #1-2
Brave and the Bold #50, 83, 102, 149
Crisis on Infinite Earths #9-10
Damage #6, 8, 10, 13, 16
Darkstars #32, 34
DC One Million #1-3
Deathstroke, the Terminator #18-20, 48-50
Deathstroke Annual #4
Detective Comics #402
Flash Spectacular
Flash (2nd series) #214
Green Arrow (2nd series) #97-99, 101
Green Arrow (3rd series) #5-6, 8-9, 17-21, 32
Green Lantern (2nd series) #85-86, 100
Green Lantern (3rd series) #65
Guy Gardner, Warrior #29
Hawk & Dove (1st series) #5
Hawk & Dove (3rd series) #11-12, 26
Identity Crisis #1
JLA: Our World’s at War #1
JLA/ Titans #1-3
Justice League of America #13
More Fun Comics #73
New Teen Titans (1st series) #27-32
New Teen Titans (2nd series) #20-21, 24
New Titans #52, 56, 60-69, 71, 97-108, 110-112, 114, 0, 115-130
New Titans Annual #9, 11
Outsiders (2nd series) #17
Outsiders (3rd series) #1-6, 8-
Showcase #100
Showcase ’95 #8
Steel #50
Suicide Squad (1st series) #11-12
Superman (2nd series) #134-135, 1,000,000
Superman Family #192-194
Superman: The Man of Steel #79, 1,000,000
Tales of the Teen Titans #50
Teen Titans (1st Series) #4, 11, 19-37, 39-53
Teen Titans (2nd series) #12-20
Titans #1-6, 8-50
Titans Secret Files and Origins #1
Titans/ Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3
Titans/ Young Justice Secret Files #1
World’s Finest Comics #99-136, 138, 140, 205, 251
World’s Finest: Our World’s at War #1
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #4-3, 0