Justice League Member Kills Vile DC Villain, Breaks Their Code

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Superheroes commonly risk their own lives to protect others. However, they’re much less likely to take a life, even when it could save someone else. This difficult ethical dilemma recently faced a member of the Justice League, who seemingly broke their personal rule against killing in order to prevent a supervillain from harming a teammate.

In issue #30 of Green Arrow, written by Chris Condo and illustrated by Montos, a character was killed, concluding the “Crimson Sands” story arc. This arc reintroduced the villain Crimson Archer. The original Crimson Archer was Herb Vraney, a gangster who sought elaborate revenge on Green Arrow after being arrested. His plan involved getting plastic surgery and pretending to be a wealthy benefactor, hiring Green Arrow to give him archery lessons. He then attempted – unsuccessfully – to use these skills as the Crimson Archer to kill Green Arrow with his own bow and arrows.

When Condon updated the character, he kept most of the original backstory intact. The biggest change was that the new Crimson Archer wasn’t just trying to take Green Arrow’s place; he also became a powerful and ruthless drug lord. He started attacking drug users with a special arrow that injected a deadly drug he created, called Crimson Sand, causing a painful and fatal overdose.

Crimson Archer believed he was ridding the city of undesirable people – though he often profited by selling them drugs first. Green Arrow found this appalling, but it was actually another member of the Justice League who intervened and stopped him.

What Justice League member just killed to save a life?

Oliver Queen fought the Crimson Archer by himself, but their fight accidentally caused a fire at the Crimson Archer’s office. This alerted Roy Harper, also known as Arsenal and formerly Red Arrow of the Justice League. Roy, along with his daughter Lian, teamed up with Oliver to stop the Crimson Archer from escaping in a helicopter.

Things were looking really bad for Green Arrow there for a moment – the Crimson Archer almost had him! But the Crimson Archer got so focused on finishing Green Arrow off, on actually killing him, that he completely lost track of Roy Harper. That was his downfall, honestly. Roy, as Arsenal, had managed to grab one of the Crimson Archer’s own arrows – a Crimson Sand arrow that had been fired at us but missed – and that’s what ultimately did him in. It was a huge mistake to underestimate Roy.

Still dealing with his own past addiction and a recent experience with the drug, the former Red Arrow decided to fight back against the villain by using the drug against him. This backfired in two ways. First, the villain, Crimson Archer, had a seizure from the drug. This caused him to fall off the roof.

We don’t know if Arsenal has killed before, either on purpose or by accident, in this current timeframe. He used to be a DEA agent, which means he likely had permission to use deadly force when necessary. However, it’s unclear if he actually did. Regardless, Roy Harper felt immediate regret, breaking down in tears while his daughter and mentor comforted him. This shows that he considered his actions a personal failing, even if they were legally or ethically justifiable.

Green Arrow #30 is now available at comic shops everywhere.

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2025-11-29 00:58