- "That's why you need me, to keep you in check." - Mia Dearden to Oliver Queen , Disciple
Mia Dearden, also known as Speedy, is a martial artist being mentored by Oliver Queen.
Powers and Abilities[]
Mia in a fight.
- Skilled hand-to-hand combatant: Before her training with Oliver Queen, Mia was an exceptionally good fighter. She was quite nimble and fast. After training with Oliver, she was able to not only sneak up on him, but fight him as well until he put her in a choke hold.
- Master Archer: Because of being trained by Oliver, Mia has become an extremely skilled archer. (Hollow)
- Seduction: Before she was Oliver's protege, she was a forced prostitute, she had to use elements of persuasion to earn enough money to please her handler.
Season Nine[]
- "I'm not gonna go tell all my friends I use to train with the Emerald Archer." - Mia Dearden to Oliver Queen, Disciple
Mia approaches Oliver.
Mia was fighting in an underground fight club when she was suddenly forced to leave by an intimidating man named Rick DeGroot. Oliver, who had witnessed Mia's fight, decided to follow her and discovered that she was a forced prostitute and that Rick was her handler.
Oliver sought her out and made a proposal to make her a better fighter and get out of her life on the streets. At first she was reluctant to the idea, but ended up accepting. Oliver turned her into his driver and then, she stole his car to pay back Rick, but he was not willing to let her go.
Mia goes with Oliver.
Rick forced her to help him kidnap Oliver and inadvertently, Lois as well. Mia tried to do the right thing and made a turnaround but in the end failed, due to intimidation. Mia went back to the streets after thinking she had lost Oliver's confidence, but then, Oliver came back for her and didn't give up on her.
Mia trapped in a hedge maze.
Weeks later, Mia surprised Oliver for a training session but Oliver overreacted and nearly killed her. She became concerned about Oliver's reaction and began to distrust him. She appeared at the LuthorCorp office to talk with him and discovered that Oliver going over surveillance photos of the city. Mia wanted to help him solve who was responsible for attacking Lois as well as following him, but Oliver was very hostile and told her to leave and never return.
Mia remains by Oliver's side.
While walking the streets, she was followed by Vordigan, who kidnapped her. She was sent in a hedge maze and used as bait for Oliver to appear and then discovered that Oliver was the Green Arrow. Oliver and Clark managed to come to her aid and stopped the Dark Archer before he could hurt her. The next day Mia told Oliver that she would keep his secret and then Oliver apologized to her. She then remained at Oliver's side as his disciple.
Season Eleven[]
Oliver would continue her training, eventually giving Mia her own costume and bow to become her own hero.
Two years later and Oliver hadn't kept in touch with Mia due to her training being complete and because he was busy with his own life. After he married Chloe he didn't have time to look out for her, so he sent her off to Black Canary, who even if she took Mia under her wing, didn't want her own sidekick either, preferring to work alone. Dinah did still look out for and teach Mia while she was working for her.
Black Canary and Speedy in Seattle.
Mia, finally adopting the persona of Speedy, is seen alongside Black Canary in Seattle. They proceed to stop an attempt of armed robbery as part of their duties as members of the Justice League.
At some point Chloe and Dinah Lance convinced Mia to join Jay Garrick's school, thinking that she would feel much more at home with a team of heroes her own age.
Speedy attempts to suppress Doctor Phosphorus' fire.
When Doctor Phosphorus escapes from the prison Superboy appears and engages into a fight with him. When Phosphorus sets a Ferris wheel on fire, Megan Morse, Blue Beetle, Speedy, Zan and Jayna, who along with Superboy are all members of Jay Garrick's team, surprisingly appear and Megan says he must go and save the kids on the wheel and leave Phosphorus to them.
Jay Garrick arrives to reprimand the team after the fight.
While Blue Beetle is fighting with Phosphorus Speedy asks him to get clear and she then shoots at Phosphorus two arrows with fire-fighting foam to suppress his fire but Phosphorus proves that the foam cannot stop him, saying that he can run hotter than that.
Some seconds later, Speedy, Blue Beetle and Jayna combine their abilities to defeat Phosphorus and knock him into the water. After the fight Jay appears saying that they actually failed on their mission, making them feel very disappointed about themselves. Garrick then tells them to return to the school.
Mia defends the team's actions.
At the team's headquarters Garrick talks to his students a little bit about Bart Allen's life, how Bart was the inspiration for the creation of the team and the Titan Corporation, which funded the school. He tells them he is very disappointed about their first mission and he is not sure if they ever will be ready for field work. Mia says that they couldn't just sit there and do nothing while Phosphorus was causing havoc and Conner says that Garrick is not fair with them. Jayna and Zan also say that they had to stop him but Jaime says that Garrick has got a point. Megan says that the discord is clouding her mind but Garrick tells her to toughen up. Garrick then informs them that the D.E.O. wrangled Phosphorus back to prison and that they would probably succeed stopping him themselves, without the team's interference. Conner asks if he knows how Phosphorus escaped in the first place but Garrick says it's not their problem and if they make some more mistakes like this one it won't be even possible for Superman to convince the public that this team should not be locked away, too.
Mia and Jayna talk about their past.
Mia talks about Oliver.
Outside the building, Mia and Jayna are talking and Mia says she is here only because Dinah and Chloe told her to be. Jayna asks what was Oliver 's opinion on the matter but Mia says that he wasn't actually there for her. Mia also says she is used to have men in her life that do not make good on their promises and at least her pimp was straight enough with her. Then Jayna says that they haven't really had it all that bad, revealing some of the problems she and Zan had to come through in the past and how important her brother is to her. She also reveals that even though they had problems they were pretty well on their own. Mia then asks her why did they join Garrick's team and Jayna responds that they felt lost and they needed some guidance and gear. Suddenly Garrick appears and says that they don't always need gadgets and gear and that Bart Allen outran his past so they can do the same.
Mia tries to calm Jayna down.
When Conner and Megan arrive at the compound they find Mia trying to calm down Jayna, who is lying on the floor screaming her brother's name. Mia asks what is happening to Jayna and Megan responds that this reaction is caused by her connection to Zan, meaning that something has happened to him. Conner uses his super-hearing and then says that they've got trouble.
Mia fights with Rose.
Rose drugs Mia.
Later, their attacker, Slade Wilson's daughter, lands on the ground, after being shot by Conner's heat vision and says she got caught off guard and it won't happen again, while catching an arrow Mia throws on her. Jay, Mia and Megan confront her with Jay saying to her to leave his lawn. He then runs towards her but she uses a gravity bomb, which immobilizes him. Mia then fights with her seemingly defeating her but Rose manages to poison Mia with a needle full of a drug called, "Vertigo", making her sick. Megan asks Rose what did she do to Mia and she says to Megan not to worry because the drug will run its course before long.
Later, Rose threatens the rest of the team to stand down or she will kill their teammates by detonating the bomb Jaime has on his back. Conner tells her if she wants a real fight she should confront him and leave the rest of his team out of this.
Mia advises Conner to not give any ideas to Rose about killing all of them.
While confronting Rose, Conner asks Rose that if she is so better than them why she haven't killed Jaime, Zan or even Stargirl yet. Mia then tells him not to give Rose any ideas.
Conner asks Mia's help.
Mia, who is still suffering from drug poisoning, says that she can't fight in her condition but Conner, through the telepathic link, tells her to just start shooting arrows. While Rose is ready to kill Conner with her sword, Conner uses his telekinesis to control Mia's arrows aiming Rose. Later Conner uses the arrows with his telekinesis and destroys Rose's sword, preventing her from committing suicide. Suddenly Zan along with Jaime appear being on top of a huge pink dinosaur, in which Jayna has been transformed. Watching them the team shouts to the D.E.O.'s soldiers that the dinosaur is with them.
Weeks later, Zatanna turns a young girl, named Rachel Roth, over to Jay Garrick and the Teen Titans at the airport, with the team being very excited for their new teammate.
Jaime is awoken by the Scarab, which informs him about an alien threat but neither the Scarab nor the Titans know what exactly it is. He and the others observe, while the rings approach their base, and even one of the rings identify one of them, Megan, as a potential harvester but she is deemed incompatible by the ring, which then moves on in search of another host. After that, Conner says they need to get Watchtower on the line immediately.
Weeks later, Superman and Lois arrive at Watchtower where Tess Mercer, Chloe and Oliver along with Batman, Nightwing Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Jay Garrick and his team of teenagers. Clark tells Chloe, Tess and Bruce to find out everything from one of the Manhunters he destroyed about the Crisis, because more ships are on their way. As Batman starts to examine the crumpled Manhunter head he wonders where are they going, Clark grimly says everywhere.
The next day, Clark gathers all of the heroes onto his rooftop and gives them the lowdown. They can distract the Manhunters with physical attacks while Watchtower leads an evacuation to the heartland. If the distraction they provide fails everyone will die or be 'rebooted', but if they win everything will stay as it was and how they all remember the world. Clark tells them to say goodbye to their loved ones and suit up ready for war.
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The Justice League attacks.
Superman delivers a rousing speech to the heroes. The other Earths might have been erased or rebooted but they are determined for their Earth to survive and their continuity to continue. With that Superman, Luthor and all of Earth's heroes attack the incoming Manhunters.
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The Lanterns save Green Arrow and Speedy.
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The Legion and the Titans head to Smallville.
All the heroes are fighting valiantly, Green Arrow, with his long range weapon races across rooftops trying to get a vantage point and is rescued from a deadly fall by Speedy. Fortunately, out of nowhere, the cavalry arrives as Green Lanterns John Stewart and Aya shield the archers while Blue Lantern Saint Walker uses his ring to blast away their attackers.
The Monitors automatons suddenly change direction and race to reboot Smallville and if they succeed everything will be lost. Superboy has gathered all of the youngest of heroes and they prepare to stop the tide. Superman orders him to stand down but another team arrives to help, the Legion. With the Legions arrival as back up the Titans with Superman's blessing rush to stop the reboot in Smallville.
Three weeks later LexCorp holds a major press confrence and Lex introduces the public to a new monument built on the former Watchtower site. In a massive turnout Lex publicly admits that if it weren't for the heroes of earth the universe would be lost. Then Superman makes a speech that is broadcast all over the world. The Teen Titans are also watching the reveal, in their new base.
The Justice League welcomes a new family member.
After her son's birth, Chloe worries about the dangers in the world and the rise in heroes. Oliver reminds her they all fight for justice and will ensure their new baby will have a safe and healthy upbringing. Chloe laments that family should be here for their big occasion and Ollie smiles as he wheels her into the waiting room to be greeted by their 'family' composed of the Heroes that they met over time.
Appearances[]
- Season Nine: "Crossfire", "Disciple"
- Season Eleven: "Detective" (dream sequence), "Hollow"
- Smallville Miniseries: "Titans", "Harbinger", "Lantern", "Continuity"
In the Comics[]
Mia Dearden a.k.a. Speedy as she appears in the comics.
Mia Dearden is a teenage runaway who was abused by her father. Unable to survive on her own, she fell in love with a man who offered her food and shelter in exchange for sex and prostitution. Mia was soon rescued from this lifestyle by Green Arrow/Oliver Queen. He vowed after her rescue to take her under his wing and make her his new ward. Mia continued to work with Oliver when she discovered his crossbow. Soon after, Mia began to train as an archer. She continually petitioned Green Arrow to allow her to serve as his sidekick, but Oliver refused, not wanting to put another teenager at risk.
Mia appeared in Green Arrow as a supporting character until 2004, when writer Judd Winick revealed that she was HIV-positive, a legacy of her prostitute past. With this knowledge, Mia redoubled her efforts to convince Green Arrow to let her become the second Speedy and the Green Arrow finally relented. Mia takes up the mantle of Speedy and subsequently Oliver decided that she would do well to join the Titans. In order to earn her spot on the team, had the new Speedy face off against Robin. While Robin beat Speedy, Mia proved herself to be a very skilled fighter and worthy Titan. Shortly after her first official mission with the Titans, she revealed to the team that she was HIV-positive. She left the team soon afterwards after a battle with the mad Superboy-Prime. Mia recuperated on an island with Green Arrow and his son Connor Hawke she was further trained by the two in new styles of fighting and healing.
Things became good for Green Arrow's family when he proposed to Black Canary however the wedding was attacked by a group of villains and Green Arrow was kidnapped and replaced by a shape-shifting villain named Everyman. Mia, Connor and Dinah managed to save Oliver but Connor was shot and put in a coma who was then kidnapped. As the family searched the world for him with the help of Batman and Plastic Man she met a young mercenary named Dodger whom she became attracted to.
After the rescue of Connor she goes to London to pursue a relationship with him but after learning he had an affair she returned to save Black Canary. Recently, the villain Prometheus made a move against the JLA and attacked several of their home cities. The one hit hardest, however, was Star City, which was destroyed by the villain. Mia narrowly survived, unfortunately the first Speedy's daughter, Lian Harper, didn't.
In the New 52, in the first part of the Green Arrow storyline, titled "Kingdom," a mysterious individual tortures a man for information on the whereabouts of Mia Dearden, whom he somehow considers to be more of a threat to him than the Green Arrow. She is only shown in a picture.
Notes[]
- Like Clark and Kara, Mia always wore a color-combination that resemble her counterpart in the comics. She always wore red and yellow, as well as black and yellow to resemble her new costume.
- Oliver called Mia Speedy the first time that they met.
- In the comics, Mia's HIV-positive. Her HIV status was never addressed on the show.
- Mia is the third member of the Teen Titans from the comics to appear in Smallville, the first two being Bart Allen and Victor Stone .
- This is the first and only appearance of Mia Dearden in other media, besides comics. There is a character, who appears in the TV show Arrow and is based in part on Mia, named Thea Dearden Queen and played by actress Willa Holland. She is the illegitimate daughter of Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn (Dark Archer), Oliver Queen's younger half-sister, whom he refers to by the nickname "Speedy" and Roy Harper's love interest. The name "Dearden" is revealed to be her mother's maiden name. During her time with her father in Corto Maltese, she uses the name "Mia".
Other versions of Speedy[]
