The original Oliver Queen was killed in the comic book version of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, and the fate of his character does have some parallels to what happened to the Arrowverse’s Oliver Queen in the beginning of the crossover.

Though the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) has been promising all along that Oliver won’t survive the Crisis, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” shocked viewers by killing off Oliver in the first hour. The Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons swarmed Earth-38, forcing everyone to evacuate. The heroes tried to speed up the evacuation efforts, and even when it appeared that all hope was lost, Oliver persevered. Oliver defied the Monitor’s warnings and stayed behind to save as many people as possible. Oliver was killed as a result of his actions, but he was brought back with the Lazarus Pits in the second chapter.

In the comic book version of the story, DC’s primary version of Oliver Queen survived the Crisis, but his Earth-2 counterpart wasn’t so lucky. The older, retired Oliver Queen got back into action to help in the conflict with the Anti-Monitor. After being warned by the Spectre, the heroes travel to the dawn of time for a dramatic confrontation with the Anti-Monitor and his minions, the shadow demons. Green Arrow survived the first fight, but fell in the following battle. Being out of shape, Oliver was unable to properly contend with the shadow demons.

Since part of the point of the crossover was to fix the problems that came with having multiple versions of the same heroes, DC decided to do away with Earth-2’s Green Arrow. Debuting in 1941, he was DC’s first Green Arrow and a character who doesn’t have much in common with the Oliver Queen that fans know today. His death allowed for DC to focus on just one Green Arrow.

His story and impact on the crossover doesn’t match up at all with what happened in the Arrowverse, but what the two deaths do share is the method in which they were killed. Both Green Arrows were slain by shadow demons. However, that’s where the similarities end. The Arrowverse’s Oliver Queen died saving billions of people, and his importance to the crossover extended far beyond his death. A twist in part three of “Crisis” turned him into the Spectre, one of DC’s most powerful characters. Due to this remarkable transformation, Oliver may be the hero who turns the tide and saves the multiverse.

More: Crisis on Infinite Earths Gave the Arrowverse Its Best Superman Line