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Truthfully, Joe West didn’t have much of an opinion on the Arrow. Back when he was being called the Hood and was properly labelled—as you know, a murderer—he was a problem, sure. But he was also about six-hundred miles away and goodness knows he can find more than enough problems as a detective in Central without having to worry about what was going on there.
The Hood, or whatever he gets called, is a type that attracts media attention and speculation, making good, ordinary people who otherwise have perfectly common sense start to debate things and wonder and follow his exploits while not-so-subtly getting the opinion that he isn’t what he is: a criminal.
His foster son, unfortunately, is just that sort of person.
Barry has enough wits about him not to bring up the Starling City vigilante in front of him or anyone else at the station. Iris sometimes mentions something she reads on his blog, but Joe has been determined from the day Barry first started that thing that he was going to remain willfully ignorant. The kid needs a place to vent, stubborn as he is about his belief in impossible things and Henry Allen’s innocence and, apparently, the Vigilante as he calls him—fine. Letting him have that has been working far better for their relationship than sending him to the shrinks.
So when Barry takes a couple of vacation days and books a train to Starling City, he only feels the need to give a precursory warning to stay out of trouble. Starling’s a big city and Barry is a tourist who will be there for perhaps two, three days. It’d be ridiculous to assume he’d even register as a blip on the radar of their resident vigilante.
Of course, Barry gets himself into different trouble with the CEO of Queen Consolidated, and probably Captain Singh once he returns home. If Joe doesn’t get to him first. But the kid’s even later getting back than usual and by then even the Captain’s anger has mostly boiled over. The Mardon brothers are back in town, after all, and any discussion about Barry’s trip can happen after the case breaks.
Then Wells’ accelerator blows and the lightning strikes, and there won’t be discussing anything with Barry for a long time.
Joe reads about the attack on Starling, like most everybody else, he’s sure. It’s with disbelief that he learns about the supposed heroic role the Arrow played in the city’s fight to save itself, and how the new police captain has disbanded the vigilante taskforce. On a visit to STAR labs, he reads the article out loud just to see if it might get a reaction, like Barry might sit right up with a smug smile and tell Joe he knew it all along. But Barry sleeps on.
He doesn’t think much about the Arrow, even after Barry’s woken up and saved him and his partner with super speed in a special suit that hides his face. But as a month drags by and he starts hearing a report here and there about a red streak saving people from burning building or car accidents, mysteriously disarming would-be muggers, he starts getting the idea that Barry has been thinking about the Arrow. A lot.
The last thing he wants is his son, that kid with a heart of gold, to aspire to be like some lunatic who’s gotten away with murder. But he thinks, no, that’s not it at all, Barry just wants to help, he’s always wanted to help. With his newfound powers, he’s just gotten a little reckless with that want, and he’s getting encouragement from the wrong people. A sweatshirt hanging on the back of a chair in the scientist’s lab lets him know his enemy still isn’t the Arrow, it’s Dr. Harrison Wells.
But Barry stuns him with the fierceness of his belief in what he’s doing. And it’s Wells himself who explains why Barry’s going to keep doing it anyway, but that he needs Joe in order to be succeed. And Joe realizes that in this crazy world they now live in of metahumans, someone like Barry has to step up. So far his kid’s the only one proven willing. Whether he got that inspiration from the Arrow or not, Joe’s going to be there to make sure that Barry is unlike him; not a vigilante, but a hero.
And things are going well, real well. People are being saved, dangerous metahumans are being put away before they can make Central a disaster zone, and he feels closer to his foster son than ever before. Whatever problems that have also arisen with it, the Flash is a gift.
But then he’s on a team that’s tracked a robber to a warehouse. Things seem normal, fine, until one of their officers suddenly turns and starts firing on everyone else. It’s chaos, their robber gets away, then the red blur and yellow lightning that signifies the Flash appears, rushing the other officers out of danger. Barry grabs at him but in the confusion they go down, hard, right in the turned-officer’s sights.
But it’s not him who shoots first, or Joe. Instead, the officer gets two arrows, one in each shoulder. And when Joe looks behind him, there he is. Outfitted in dark green leather, with a hood, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows. He can’t fathom why this is happening, and he makes no move to get up or speak.
The Arrow does. Two words, “Nice mask,” and just the barest of smiles that’s not for him. It’s all directed at his son, a compliment, a joke, a flirt, like something familiar being shared between them. Then the vigilante is out of the warehouse as quickly as he’s appeared, climbing up and out an opening in the roof like some kind of monkey.
But he’s left quite an impression, and not just on Joe. When he tears his eyes away, Barry’s still staring with a silly grin stretched wide over his face. The sort of beaming smile he only ever gets around Iris. Just from the sight of the man, a couple words, and some flashy acrobatics. Barry zips off soon after that, hardly making an excuse, and Joe knows it’s not to head back to STAR.
He also knows that yes, now he has a rather strong opinion on the Arrow. He doesn’t like him. He doesn’t like him at all.