History
Origin
Mia was raped by her father, then taken in by a pimp, Richard, and moved to Star City. She was prostituted by Richard, and was saved by Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) from a councilman. After that, Mia begins to work at the Star City Youth Center, after quickly guessing that Oliver Queen is Green Arrow. She later becomes Green Arrow’s ward. One day, Mia comes across his longbow, and Green Arrow offers to train her in efficiently using the longbow. From there on, Mia officially became his sidekick, though she had not yet taken on the name of Speedy.
However in 2004, it was revealed that she had become HIV-positive in light of her prostitution. Ollie takes this news hard and forbids her to fight crime anymore, even to the point when he is surrounded and saved by her, he tells her to hang up her cape. Even so, Mia convinces Green Arrow to let her become Speedy. Mia was both scared and confused when she found out, but as always put on a brave face, the only person able to see past this was Connor Hawke, Green Arrow’s son. Talking to her, he gives her the confidence to face the world and even Green Arrow. She later talks in front of her school about living with HIV, how it has affected her, and that she is living, not dying.
Joining the Teen Titans
After a while, Green Arrow decides that she would do well in the Teen Titans . For Speedy to earn her spot, she is pitted against Robin . Even though Robin beats Speedy, she shows herself as a skilled fighter. Roy Harper gave her a special blue arrow with the writing “Only use in an emergency”. She is at first apprehensive about joining and telling them of her status. She wants to be accepted for her and not seen as a someone who needs saving. During her very first mission with the team, they are pitted against Dr. Light . The villain had regained his knowledge about how the Justice League erased his memory and was taking it out on all the members. He kidnapped the Green Arrow and challenged no one but the Titans to come and defeat him. He specifically wanted to destroy Mia while Arrow watched. With a team effort and numerous other former Titans, they were able to defeat Light. As a result the team decided they didn’t want any secrets from each other and Speedy told them of her HIV status, which they accept. During a fight with Superboy-Prime, she used the blue arrow which trapped him in the phantom zone, but he broke free.
One Year Later
One Year Later, after the events of Infinite Crisis, Mia stayed with the Teen Titans while Cyborg was shut down but eventually left due to the in-fighting and team disharmony. She was then revealed to have been training on an island with Green Arrow and Conner Hawke. During her stay at the island Green Arrow recruited the best teachers in everything from long distance jumping to cooking. There she trained in many skills such as cliff jumping and sword fighting. She was later seen helping Brick and Green Arrow.
Meeting The Red Hood
Dearden would eventually kidnapped by Jason Todd also known as the Red Hood. Though it was initially due to Batman’s involvement in his operations, Jason believed that he and Mia shared many similarities. Mia battled Jason Todd, the former Robin, and was defeated by him. By involving Green Arrow, he was trying to show Batman the price of enlisting others into their conflict. Red hood took Speedy to her high school where they fought and he played multiple mind games with her. He told her how alike they were in their upbringing, being survivors, dealing with rather brutish mentors. He told her how no one would understand her like he does. He eventually let her go but blew up her school. His words appeared to affect her on some level.
Later, she was present at Green Arrow and Black Canary‘s wedding and was interrupted by Deathstroke and his band of super-villains. When she found out that Green Arrow was a fake, she helped Black Canary and Connor rescue Green Arrow from Amazon capture. She later helped Green Arrow and Black Canary save Connor after he was shot, leaving him in a vegetative state and was kidnapped by Dr. Sivana. While following the trail in London on who shot and kidnapped Connor, she met a thief called Dodger who she developed a crush on. After saving Connor, she reveals to Dodger that she is HIV-positive and nevertheless, Dodger accepts that and begins a relationship with her. When he leaves to go back to London, Mia decides to follow after him.
However, when she arrives in London, she finds Dodger “snogging” the actress Emma Watson and breaks up with Dodger and returns back home just in time to help Black Canary save Green Arrow with a new costume.
Cry for Justice and The Rise and Fall
In the events of Justice League: Cry for Justice, Mia was babysitting Roy Harper’s daughter Lian, when she heard that a supervillain called Electrocutioner was sighted in Star City planting bombs to send the city into another dimension. However, it was revealed that the bombs were actually destructive and when they activated, they destroyed parts of the city, including the area where Lian was in, killing her.
During Rise and Fall, Mia finds Electrocutioner while Green Arrow joins her in an unknown location in Star City, asking him if she could kill him for the death of Lian and the people of Star City. Green Arrow convinces her not to and takes him into custody. She was present at Green Arrow’s trial. At the funeral of Lian, Roy lashed out on numerous people including Mia. He told her how she failed to save Lian while she was babysitting at the time the city was being destroyed. The words hurt her greatly though Donna Troy tried to console her saying Roy was hurt and angry and it wasn’t truly her fault.
The new 52
Mia was reintroduced in the storyline “Kigdom”, where she on the run, escaping from his father, who she says is John King.
Abilities
Mia does not possess any superhuman abilities, though she is a proficient archer and uses the longbow well. She uses an array of trick arrows. Due to her training on the island with Connor and Green Arrow, she is effective with sword fighting and martial arts. As Mia is HIV-positive, she must be careful when injured because of wound openings, and must take large doses of anti-retroviral drugs, with all of their side-effects.
Character Profile
- Height: 5’9″
- Weight: 130 lbs
- Eye Color: Green
- Hair Color: Blond
- Citizenship: American
- Place of Birth: Seattle
- Marital Status: Single
- Occupation: Adventurer, student
- Known Relatives: John King (father)
- Base of Operations: Seattle
Other Media
Television
Smallville (TV series)
Mia is a recurring character in season 9 of Smallville, who first appears in episode 6 ‘Crossfire’.
Mia Dearden is a teen prostitute/cage fighter that Oliver Queen attempts to train by helping her battle her personal demons as he does. Although Oliver helps out Mia by training her and giving her housing, clothes and comfort Mia betrays Oliver to her pimp, resulting in Oliver being kidnapped. After Clark Kent saves them all in the typical Red and Blue Blur manner, Oliver then gives Mia a second chance, allowing Mia to come under the wing of Green Arrow. In episode 9 in season 9 ‘Disciple’. Mia’s training with Green Arrow is nearly put to an end as her life is threatened by the Green Arrow’s old master, Vordigan (Smallville’s version of Merlyn the Dark Archer).
During her appearances she is seen wearing a lot of yellow and red, teasing her comic book Speedy persona. It’s unknown what happened to her. After her second and last episode, Mia was never seen or even mentioned again. Mia is portrayed by Elise Gatien.
Arrow (TV series)
Although Mia’s character has yet to appear in an episode of Arrow, the pilot has Oliver calling his younger sister “Speedy”, a long-standing nickname referring to her tendency to follow Oliver and his best friend Tommy around. In the 12th Episode, “Vertigo”, her full name is revealed to be Thea Dearden Queen. This may make Thea a nod to Mia (see the rhyme). Also, Oliver’s nickname for Thea is Speedy. In season three’s 3rd episode “Corto Maltese” Thea is called by one of the workers there “Mia”.
After being trained by Malcolm Merlyn, and the departure of Roy Harper from the team, Thea takes the Arsenal costume, adjusts it, and starts to wear it herself. She joins Team Arrow in the fight against Ra´s Al Ghul and the League. She is officially received into the team after Oliver and Felicity’s departure. She says she wants to be called Red Arrow, but the others call her Speedy, and she chooses to keep the name when Cisco wants to give her a new one.
Thea is portrayed by Willa Holland.