The Biggest Thing Missing From Green Arrow Comics Is Coming to the Show

Sure, The CW’s Arrowverse isn’t giving viewers Batman or Wonder Woman, but it’s doing a pretty good job of making sure that pretty much every other part of DC Comics lore is making its way to the small screen. But, Arrow, the show that kicked everything off, has conspicuously left out one iconic aspect of comics: Green Arrow’s flashy goatee. Facial hair fans need not worry, though, as star Stephen Amell says we’ll see the goatee for sure before the series ends.

Amell was speaking on a panel at Salt Lake Comic Con over the weekend when he was asked if his TV version of Oliver Queen would ever sport a goatee like his comic counterpart.

“I promise you, before the series — not season, series — ends, we will have at least one shot with the iconic goatee,” Amell responded. So, maybe don’t expect Green Arrow to go fill Van Dyke this season, but it’s nice that Amell is suggesting that Arrow isn’t as afraid to embrace the goofier aspects of Green Arrow comics as it once was.

Arrow is very much a TV version of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight in terms of inspiration. Amell’s Green Arrow is very serious, and Arrow remains by far the darkest show in the Arrowverse. But, as superheroes become more and more of a dominant force, creators are less concerned about seeming too goofy. Consider that it was only two years ago, ahead of the Season 4 premiere, that Amell said he would “never” sport a goatee in no uncertain terms.

The Green Arrow from the comics is best known as a fiercely liberal, fairly outlandish swashbuckler. If the Arrow crew feels confident enough to bring some version of that character to their moody show at some point before it ends, everybody wins.