Will Harper

Splitshot

Will Harper

## Biography

### Background

Following John Diggle's disappearance, Roy Harper searched the globe looking for his uncle. After having a one-night stand with Jade Nguyen, she told him about a Cadmus warehouse in Bolivia. When Roy arrived, he was attacked by several League of Assassins assailants who cut off his arm and rendered him unconscious. He was delivered him to Doctor Emil Hamilton, who cryogenically froze the boy.

### Creation

By earliest estimations, Will Harper was created sometime in the first few months of 2008 by Doctor Hamilton through cloning genetic material from Roy Harper’s removed arm. Will was the most successful clone Cadmus had made thus far, miles beyond the Bizarro and Match clones of Superman they had created - due to the fact that he was purely human DNA, not meddled with any metahuman or alien genes. In fact, the cloning procedure used to make Will was later replicated to create Conner Kent.

While the real Roy Harper was kept on ice at Cadmus, Will was released in his place, taking the identity of Roy Harper, unaware that he was a clone himself. Hamilton implemented the code-word “Splitshot” in Will’s programming to act as a shutdown. The message was passed on to the League of Assassins.

Will fell in easily to where Roy left off. He mended his strained relationship with Green Arrow and was tearfully happy when his uncle John was released from Cadmus custody by the Titans. Will was even in Oliver’s wedding party when he and Dinah finally tied the knot. He even joined the Justice League.

But - all was not well for him. While on his own individual patrols, anytime he encountered Sportsmaster or Cheshire, he would inexplicably be rendered unconscious and awaken hours later with no memory of what had transpired - though he later learned they had used the Splitshot code on him.

Despite knowing him not to be the real Roy - Cheshire manipulated Will, revealing to him the two had a daughter together, Lian (who was actually the real Roy’s daughter). However, following No Man’s Land, Jade must have had a change of heart or something of the sort because she came clean to Team Arrow.

Forced to cope with the fact that his identity was a lie, Will took up the new name of Will Harper and set about globetrotting with Jade, Wally West, and Artemis Crock to find the real Roy Harper, eventually finding his comatose body in a Cadmus outpost in Bolivia. He was brought to Metropolis to recuperate, where he eventually escaped the hospital and found Emil Hamilton and murdered him.

Feeling as if it was all his fault, Will decided to step away from being Speedy - or being a superhero in general. He rescinded his Justice League membership and moved to Happy Harbor. While Roy was in prison and then on the run, he helped Jade care for Lian, and with some help from Kate Spencer - got her protection from the League of Assassins and her abusive father.

When the Light launched their OMAC attack, Will suited up with an old Green Arrow costume and took to the streets to help defend Star City. Feeling as if he’d repaired his relationship with heroics, he decided to use the shutdown code of Splitshot as a new ops moniker, and re-joined Team Arrow and started working at Bowhunter Security.

He helped Batman and Oliver track down Roy - who was on a globe-spanning bender with the recently resurrected Jason Todd. He convinced Roy to get sober and come home, where he finally got to introduce Lian to her father. Since then, Will and Roy have been working on being friendly with one another - and Will has started working on the Seven Soldiers of Victory.