Throughout his comic book history, Green Arrow has quite a diverse supporting cast. From sidekicks like Roy Harper to his longtime love interest, Black Canary, Oliver Queen is never short on partners. Eddie Fyers is one of Oliver Queen's supporting characters who walks the fine line between friend and foe.
Fyers made his first appearance in Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #3, written and illustrated by Mike Grell. Post-Crisis, Eddie was a CIA operative, hired to capture or kill Shado. The mysterious archer had been killing several people in Seattle, attracting the CIA's attention. Of course, Shado was mainly killing members of a drug trafficking ring, bringing Green Arrow to her defense. Oliver shot Fyers in the shoulder to prevent him from killing Shado. From this point forward, a rivalry brewed between Green Arrow and Fyers.
On several occasions, Fyers showed up to complicate Green Arrow's life. In Green Arrow #3, by Grell and Ed Hannigan, Oliver was sent to recover a fallen space lab. At the same time, the Chinese government hired Fyers to recover this same lab, bringing the two into conflict once again.
Possibly Fyers' biggest affront towards Green Arrow was framing him for a terrorist act in Green Arrow #34, by Grell and Dan Jurgens. Fyers tricked Oliver by giving him a "tracking device" so he could trail a shipment of drugs back to its distributor. In reality, Fyers gave Green Arrow an explosive, implicating him as a terrorist.
Despite this major transgression, Oliver and Fyers managed to work together a few times. In Green Arrow #76, by Grell and Rick Hoberg, Fyers left the CIA to become a freelance agent. Together, Fyers and Green Arrow escorted a former member of the East German secret police across the border to Canada so they could trade him for intel.
After a while as uneasy allies, Fyers eventually became a good friend of Green Arrow's. This friendship was so great that Oliver entrusted Fyers to look after his son, Connor Hawke. When Oliver died in Green Arrow #101, by Chuck Dixon and Rodolfo Damaggio, Fyers became a mentor for Connor and watched over him during his time as Oliver's successor.
Fyers was later reimagined for "Rebirth," appearing in Green Arrow #10, by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. During his reintroduction, Fyers was hired by the Ninth Circle to assassinate a Middle Eastern diplomat. This brought him into conflict with Green Arrow, Black Canary and Diggle. Fyers later appeared in Green Arrow #21, also by Percy and Ferreyra, as one of several mercenaries hired to destroy key points of interest in Seattle. This way, the Ninth Circle could buy out Seattle and make it their own privatized town called Star City.
Outside of the comics, Eddie Fyers was a major part of the Arrow television series. During this season, Fyers was the primary antagonist in the flashbacks, where Oliver Queen was stranded on the island of Lian Yu. Fyers ran a group of mercenaries who were hired by Amanda Waller to take control of the island. From there, Fyers was set to shoot down a Ferris Air flight, under the assumption that it would decimate China's economy.
Fortunately, Fyers was foiled by Oliver, Slade Wilson and Shado. In the season finale, Fyers was killed by Oliver. While this version of Fyers holds some similarities to the version seen in comics, he is still quite different. On Arrow, Fyers was much more of a villain than the original Eddie Fyers. The comic book Fyers was more of a morally ambiguous character, who could become friend or foe at any moment.
In comics, Fyers is more of a physical threat than on Arrow, challenging Oliver's fighting skills. Still, both versions of Fyers were mercenaries, motivated mainly by money and willing to do whatever it took to get the job done.
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