Cupid (comics)

Cupid
Modern representation of the character in the comics
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Green Arrow and Black Canary #15 (February 2009)
Created by	Andrew Kreisberg David Baron
In-story information
Alter ego	Carrie Cutter
Species	Human
Place of origin	New Earth
Team affiliations	COBALT Suicide Squad
Notable aliases	Carrie Hartnell
Abilities	Enhanced senses Enhanced vision Expert archer

Cupid (Carrie Cutter) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is an enemy of Black Canary and Green Arrow, the latter whom she is romantically obsessed with.

Publication history

Created by writer Andrew Kreisberg and artist David Baron, the character made her first appearance Green Arrow and Black Canary #15 (February 2009).

Fictional character biography

Carrie Cutter was a special ops soldier, working for a top secret program called COBALT, who thought her husband Ross had abandoned her.^[1] During a mission in Georgia she encountered something that deeply disturbed her. She volunteered for a program that would make her fearless. It also turns her emotions up to the extreme when it came to falling in love. Other effects included memory loss and increased strength. She fell off the radar for a long time. Years later, she found out that her husband Ross was still alive, tracked him to Star City and killed him. Green Arrow thought that the unknown man was abusing his wife so he shot an arrow at him. Cupid picked up that arrow which began her obsession with Green Arrow.^[2]

Cupid first showed up in Star City at a scene of one of Green Arrow's fights. She picked up a broken tip of one of his arrows and carved the infamous heart with an arrow through it on her chest. She began killing off some of his notable enemies in the hope that she may begin to fulfill his heart's desire. She is mentally unstable as upon getting a new haircut, she cut out the eyes of the hairdresser, for the hair was cut so perfectly that she did not want anyone else to ever have the same perfect hair.^[3]

Small time enemies killed by Cupid include Big Game, Death Dealer, Vengeance, and Slingshot,^[4] which brought her to the attention of Star City's crime boss, Brick. When he learned of these killings, he sent his men to find out who was behind them. Within minutes of sending a street junkie out to find Cupid, she shot the junkie in the head and proceeded to fire upon Brick himself. As this did not work, she had a back-up plan in the form of a wrecking ball suspended from a crane. The crane cut through the building Brick was in and left him dead, cut in half at the waist. She had captured Merlyn from the police department, drugged him and lured Green Arrow to Star City Museum. Cupid had it arranged that Green Arrow, with a new-found darkness within him, would kill Merlyn and help himself achieve his hearts desire. Green Arrow did not follow through with Merlyn's death after seeing a way out of it and instead incapacitated him. This angered Cupid, who triggered an explosion. We next see her waking Green Arrow up underground.^[5]

She had chained him to the subway tracks and planned on dying with him in her arms so that it may be a romantically famous death, but Black Canary rescued him. Before admitting defeat, Cupid slit an unconscious Merlyn's throat. Knowing that Green Arrow and Black Canary would not let him die (despite him being one of their worst and most destructive enemies) she used that chance to escape. She has started to aid the city during a riot, using a bow, that she admits she needs practice with. This is mainly to impress Green Arrow, but has not succeeded.^[6]

After spending some time in prison, she is broken out by her rival Black Canary because her life was believed to be in danger. Later she encounters Everyman who believes himself to be Green Arrow and they begin to work together against the real Green Arrow and company.^[7] She is seen to still be obsessed with Oliver and only considers Everyman to be "good in a pinch". Cupid later killed Everyman herself, declaring their relationship as "a rebound thing".^[8]

Powers and abilities

Cupid is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant. She possesses enhanced strength but at the cost of her own sanity.^[2]

Other versions

In other media

Television

• Cupid appears in the "Green Arrow" segments of DC Nation Shorts, voiced by Kari Wahlgren.

Cupid (Amy Gumenick) as she appears in the TV series Arrow

• Carrie Cutter appears during the third season of the TV series Arrow, portrayed by actress Amy Gumenick.^[9] She is shown briefly at the end of the episode "Guilty"; calling herself "Cupid", she kills Isaac Stanzler, a criminal that was Ted Grant's former vigilante apprentice and had been apprehended by Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. Cupid makes her full debut in the episode "Draw Back Your Bow". Here, Carrie Cutter, a former member of Star City's police S.W.A.T. team, has attachment disorder, which had led to her leaving the police department. She was assaulted by one of Slade Wilson's enhanced soldiers during their attack on Star City, from which the Arrow saved her. (The attack occurred during the final episodes of Arrow's second season, although Carrie's rescue is shown here in flashback.) Cutter forms an obsession with the Arrow, believing herself to be his partner in life. She becomes a stalker, killing criminals as acts of devotion to him with arrows having heart-shaped heads. She wants to show him how "right" for each other they are. Ultimately, the Arrow apprehends her. Recognizing that she is mentally ill, rather than send her to prison, Oliver arranges to have her join Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad in the hope that she can make a difference there. Cupid next appears in "Suicidal Tendencies" on a mission with the Squad and is still fantasizing about marrying the Arrow. However, when Floyd Lawton saves her during a shootout and takes a bullet for her, she immediately transfers her obsessive devotion from the Arrow to Lawton, believing that they are lovers and will build a life together after the mission. Lawton, unfortunately, is seemingly killed in an explosion while covering the Squad's escape, and though his body is not found, Cupid thinks him dead and is devastated. In the season 4 episode "Broken Hearts", Cupid returns to Star City, having been released from the Squad once her term of service was complete. Traumatized by Oliver's rejection and Lawton's apparent death, she now begins killing celebrity newlyweds to publicly demonstrate that love is only tragic and meaningless. Oliver and Felicity Smoak - although broken up as a romantic couple at this point - stage a fake "secret" wedding that is leaked to the media, in order to draw Cupid out. The ruse works, but Cupid nearly kills them until Felicity manages to talk her down by revealing her own feelings on how meaningful her love for Oliver is and how it has made her a better person. The distraction buys enough time for the Green Arrow's allies to arrive and defeat Cupid. As she is being taken away by Star City police, she tells Felicity and Oliver that they "give the rest of us hope", unaware that they are actually no longer together. She returned to team up alongside China White and Liza Warner in season 5 episode "The Sin Eater" when they get free from Iron Heights prison bus and attempt to find a money hidden in Tobias Church's vault so they can overtake the city before they got captured again by Green Arrow.
• Cupid was mentioned in The Flash season 3 episode "Infantino Street" with her name on one of the cells in A.R.G.U.S. along with Grodd, Cheetah and King Shark protecting Dominator's technology salvaged from "Invasion".

References

External links

• Cupid comicbookdb