After seeing the latest episode of Young Justice, titled “Auld Acquaintance”, my wife had taken notice that the real Speedy that was in the Cadmus capsule was missing his right arm. She paused for a second and I could already see the words forming in her head as she late spoke to me; How did Speedy lose this right arm. I then paused for a moment as I was already geeking out how well played not only was the episode but also how / why they even put the bit about Speedy missing his arm, then I just decided to inform my wife as to how this all happened.
Since I decided to tell her I figured I’d drop that knowledge on everyone else who also wanted to know what happened to his right arm.
In a nutshell, Speedy lost his arm when he was ambushed by DC Comics bad guy and supervillain “Prometheus” when he went to call and wish his daughter, Lian, who was being cared for by Mia Dearden (Who also becomes the next Speedy) goodnight. He ends up with not only getting his butt kicked, loses his arm to a poison-coated nanite-laced blade, but also ends up losing his daughter when his home is blown up by Prometheus, who actually intended on teleporting Star City.
This happens in the “Justice League: Cry For Justice Event, issue #5, if you want to check out the comic for yourself.
While Speedy does end up getting a replacement for his missing appendage thanks to Cyborg and Doctor Mid-Nite, he was never able to get a permanent prosthesis due to the same blade the sliced off his arm having nanites that are still on his arm. Those very same nanites will not allow for a complete bond with the replacement arm piece. After falling into his drug addiction, fighting against friends and foes and some other off the wall stuff, he ends up becoming (Again) Arsenal and forever gives up the mantle/name of Speedy.
Oh and you’re wondering who he had a child with and if you’ve been paying attention to the last few episodes of Young Justice, you’ll be able to piece the clues together to figure it out….. and if you can’t well let’s just say it’s a sister of another bow-wielding Young Justice member.
