Queen Industries
From Hey Kids Comics
| Queen Industries | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| In-story information | |
| Type of business | Conglomerate |
| Owner(s) | The Queen |
Queen Industries is a fictional business organization in the DC Comics universe. It is owned and run by businessman Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow. Oliver reluctantly inherited the company after his parents, Robert and Laura Queen, were killed on safari.[1] It was founded by Robert Queen, Oliver's father.
Fictional history[edit | edit source]
In the early days of Oliver's ownership, Queen Industries made much of its profits from the sale of weapons and munitions. In "Peacemakers", written by Dennis O'Neil, Oliver discovers some of the disastrous impacts that the weapons he is making his money from are having in other countries. As a result, Oliver decides to sell off what is left of the company, giving all of the proceeds to a war relief effort. (This was a widely accepted retelling of the original story of how Queen lost his remaining fortune to a man named John Deleon).
For many years following, Queen Industries was without its namesake ebullient owner, as Green Arrow traversed the countryside, to discover the true America. During this period, he formed strongly liberal values (in stark contrast to his frequent conservative traveling partner, Green Lantern) which he was never shy about espousing, and which defined and motivated his later career. The strength of his convictions indeed became one of his most indelible characteristics, and was a primary influence in the new treatment of social issues as a valid theme for mainstream superhero comics.
Eventually, Oliver Queen was able to reassert his control of Queen Industries, now divested of its weapons contracts. He used the income from it to secretly fund his superhero activities. Originally, much of the money was funneled into bankrolling the fledgling Justice League of America. However, this ended when Oliver quit the JLA, having decided that they were only interested in fighting the big battles with the supervillains, and weren't looking out enough for "the little guy." Since then, the income from Queen Industries has gone to charitable donations and to funding his own crime-fighting activities.
In other media[edit | edit source]
Television[edit | edit source]
Smallville[edit | edit source]
Queen Industries has been mentioned in Smallville several times and is an electronics company in the series.
In the season 8 episode "Requiem", it is revealed that Tess Mercer sold controlling interest in LuthorCorp to Queen Industries.[2] However, in the series finale and the comic book continuation, after Lex Luthor regained control of LuthorCorp (later renaming it LexCorp), Queen Industries immediately dissolves its partnership with the Luthors after Lex Luthor's return.[3]
Arrow[edit | edit source]
Known as Queen Consolidated in Arrow television series, the company is headquartered in Starling City, with Walter Steele serving as the company's chief executive officer even before marrying Moira Queen (Oliver's mother, still alive in this version). The company experiences serious trouble after Moira Queen reveals her role in the Undertaking- a plan to destroy the Glades, an area of the city where crime was particularly predominant, with an earthquake machine-, but Oliver manages to retain control of the company despite a near-hostile takeover by enlisting Walter's aid- Walter having divorced Moira the previous season and moved on to a position as financial manager of Starling City Bank- to buy enough shares for Oliver and Walter to retain a controlling interest in the company.
References[edit | edit source]
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