John Diggle (Earth-1: Pre-Crisis)

"I've been a spy, a vigilante, a soldier... hell, I've even been the Green Arrow. The most important job I've ever had is as a dad."

- John Diggle

John Thomas "Dig" Diggle is the head of A.R.G.U.S., the former leader and member of Team Arrow, the best friend of the late Oliver Queen and the vigilante known as Spartan.

Early Life
John Diggle was born and raised in Starling City to an unnamed man and unnamed woman, and as the sister of Lynn Stewart. Diggle soon grew up to drop out of college and join the United States Army.

Army and A.R.G.U.S.
Later in his life, Diggle met and married Lyla Michaels, soon having two children, Sara Diggle and John Diggle Jr..

Throughout his adult years, Diggle had been a spy for A.R.G.U.S. and the head of security of Jeturian Industries, where Franklin Jet hired him.

Green Arrow & Spartan
In 2012, Diggle was hired by the Queen family to protect their long lost son, Oliver Queen. Unbeknownst to the outside world, Queen was in fact the vigilante, the Green Arrow, and fought at night to supposedly save Starling City according to his late father's wishes. Diggle then discovered Queen's secret and worked with him, though was against his murderous behavior in each of his missions. Fortunately, Diggle was able to convince Queen to stop his murders and soon gained his trust, becoming a close friend of his and a partner in the field, known as Spartan.

In the next eight years, Diggle, alongside Queen's Team Arrow, fought bravely against criminals and villains, including the Dark Archer, Deathstroke and his Mirakuru army, the League of Assassins and Damien Darhk, even briefly doing so as the Green Arrow. Diggle eventually became a close ally to other heroes of Earth as well, including The Flash and Supergirl.

Crisis on Infinite Earths
In January 2020, Diggle's Earth-1 counterpart's memories was restored by J'onn J'onzz, among other heroes. Diggle then remembered Oliver Queen's sacrifice before the Original Multiverse was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, and grieved with the rest of Team Arrow.

The team's grieving was then interrupted by Sara Lance, who hoped to find Queen in the newly created universe. Diggle expressed his frustration and sadness over the death, though was distracted by the sudden arrival of a giant Beebo rampaging through the city. As The Flash, Supergirl and the Atom went out to encounter the Beebo, Diggle stayed in the Bunker and provided advices that ultimately led to discovery that the Beebo was composed of magic. Thanks to Mick Rory's criminal experience in the past, the group soon realized Beebo was merely a distraction, and the perpetrator was defeated and capture.

After the attack on the Paragons, Lance gathered the heroes of Earth-Prime for a final fight against the Anti-Monitor. Nash Wells then alerted the group that the Anti-Monitor was, in fact, not killed during the Battle at the Dawn of Time, with Lance soon ordering the heroes to prepare themselves.

The heroes then went to the pier and fought countless Shadow Demons with Lance telling the fight is for Oliver. Diggle fought bravely against Anti-Monitor, though was unable to cause harm due to the Anti-Monitor holding up an energy shield and protecting himself from all attacks. As Diggle was cornered with the heroes by the Shadow Demons, Supergirl detonated the Shrinking Bomb on impact, defeating the Anti-Monitor and saving the ground team from danger.

After the battle, Diggle returned home to his wife and children, while participating in Queen's honoring on national broadcast.

Life is Not a Marathon
Preparing Oliver Queen's funeral, Diggle traveled to Central City and gifted Barry Allen Queen's first mask, according to his last will and testament. As soon as Allen examined the mask, he discovered a smear imprint near the eye area, and soon worked extensively to identify the cause of the imprint to be Mirakuru and dirt from Lian Yu.

Fixating on believing that the mask is a final clue left by Queen, Allen brought Diggle, who was reluctant to superspeed traveling, to the island and within the A.R.G.U.S. Supermax Site. After searching around Deathstroke's former cell, Allen and Diggle did not find any suspicious messages nor clues. Allen was frustrated and believed that he had failed Queen, even after his time. However, Diggle theorized that the stain may be from one of Queen's fights with Deathstroke, and not a specific message to Allen. Diggle also reminded Allen to slow down and live his life, comparing life to be a marathon and not a sprint.

The Emerald Archer
Days later, Diggle returned to Star City and finalized Queen's funeral service, while being interviewed by Marcia Pedowitz, the director of the documentary known as Emerald Archer. While the team reunited to attend Queen's funeral, they were surprised by John Byrne's kidnapping of William Clayton, Queen's son. As the leader of the team, Diggle ordered the heroes to honor Queen's legacy and save his son from danger, completing their final mission in Star City.

"Oliver may be gone, but his mission endures. That mission lives on, Oliver lives on in the people he inspired. Some will take that mission to the rest of the world. Maybe even beyond that. Because if the past eight years has shown us anything It's that this universe is far bigger than any of us could have dared imagine. Even if it is a little less bright without him in it."

- John Diggle on Oliver Queen's legacy

After the rescue, Diggle decided to disband Team Arrow, as crime had been eradicated as one of Queen's changes to the multiverse. Diggle then led the friends and family of Queen to the Queen Mansion, making a speech and reminding the team that his mission lives on in all of them, people that he had inspired.

Crash Landing
While preparing to move to Metropolis as the new co-head of A.R.G.U.S., a mysterious object crash landed from the sky, landing on the ground and knocking Diggle backwards. Curious as to what the object was, Diggle inspected it and discovered it to be a box, which emits a green glow when opened. Throughout the next year, Diggle attempted to reopen the box with help from A.R.G.U.S. but was unable to do so, and he soon began suffering from migraines with voices telling him that "worlds await".

Trip to Gotham
In 2021, Diggle went to Gotham City for an appointment at Gotham General due to his fogginess in his mind. During the trip, Diggle met Luke Fox and played poker with him along the latter's attempted murderer, Russell Tavaroff. Diggle later witnessed Tavaroff fighting Fox in an alley and stopped him. As Tavaroff told him it was not his fight and justified his own crimes, Diggle punched him in the stomach once more and scared him away.

Diggle then bought painkillers for his headaches and for Fox, who refused the offer. Diggle sat down next to Fox and told him about anger, and how it could win a fight. He also told him that he would make his family proud and was interrupted by the flickering Batsignal, which sends a Morse code message that says, "Need Fox Help". Fox left Diggle, and they bid goodbyes to each other.

The Godspeed Imperative
Weeks later, Diggle went to Central City with the Entropy Trap in order to stop the Godspeeds from wreaking havoc in the city. He approached Team Flash and successfully captured a Godspeed with Barry. Soon, Diggle witnessed Allen interrogating the Godspeed and went to clean up the mess when the Godspeed escaped the Pipeline. However, Diggle was surprised by Allen's sudden burst of anger towards Chester P. Runk with the damaged device.

Diggle talked to Allen afterwards and asked him about his aggressive attitude towards his team. Allen told Diggle that he was worried about his future and his doubts on going to 2049 to check out his daughter. Diggle convinced Allen to do so, using their common role as a father to remind him that being a father is the most important role he has ever had.

Cecile Horton later brought Diggle to investigate August Heart's whereabouts in 2021. On the way out, Diggle experienced a headache and Horton was able to sense infinite voices in Diggle's head. Diggle assured Horton that he is capable of fighting and encountered a Godspeed. Diggle shot him with nanites, courtesy of Ray Palmer, and temporarily defeated him. However, the headaches resurfaced and brought him on the ground until Frost arrived, protecting him from the Godspeed. The trio then went to the site of the future Dayton Labs, seeing a scared man hiding from them. Horton and Frost brought him to S.T.A.R. Labs and restored his memory. Diggle, on the other hand, brought the damaged Entropy Trap with him and bid goodbye to Runk.

Blind Spots
Soon afterwards, Diggle was contacted by James Olsen to provide support for his sister, Kelly Olsen, in her investigation on a respiratory infection within the neighbourhood of the Narrows after the Ormfell Building collapse in one of Nyxlygsptlnz's attacks. Diggle conversed with Olsen, soon relating himself to Olsen's situation and told her that he had been struggling to choose between a path as a greater a hero, or a path of living peacefully with his family. Diggle reminded Olsen and himself that they need to choose what kind of hero they needed to be.

After Olsen's debut as the Guardian, Diggle approached her once more and shared some words of wisdom from Jefferson Pierce: "Don't be a hero to the people. Be a hero for the people," Before he left National City and return to Metropolis, Diggle noted to Querl Dox that "worlds await".

Helping Jada Jet
Diggle was eventually contacted back to Gotham City once more, under a call from Jada Jet, his former employer. Jet expressed her concerns over her son's condition and told Diggle that Joker's Joy Buzzer was the only thing capable of reversing the damage done on her son's brain years ago. Diggle and Jet then broke into Renee Montoya's office at City Hall, where they stole the buzzer from one of the evidence lockers.

Before he left Gotham City for a second time, Diggle approached Fox at the latter's father's grave. Fox returned the green box to Diggle, claiming that not even Bat-Gadgets were able to open it. Diggle thanked Fox for his assistance, and continued to search for methods to open the box.

No Choice at All
Desperate and losing hope, Diggle turned to Eobard Thawne, who was imprisoned on Lian Yu with his powers stripped from him. Knowing his presence in the darkness, Thawne asked him to step out of the shadows. Diggle told Thawne of his attempts to open the extraterrestrial box, and how neither A.R.G.U.S. nor Luke Fox was able to open it. Thawne demanded a deal: he will assist Diggle if he is shown the contents of the box. Diggle agreed to the deal as Thawne explained the origins of the box.

Guiding Diggle through words, telling him that the box chose him for a reason, Thawne was able to open the box and show Diggle the secrets of the universe, including the lives he could have lived. However, Diggle realized that the cosmic destiny was not what he wanted, and he would rather be with his family which he had been out of touch with since the box landed in front of him. Diggle threw the box as the box disappeared, much to Thawne's surprise and frustration.

Bloodwork Crisis
In 2023, Diggle went to Central City for Allen's birthday, being part of the surprise party Team Flash made for him at S.T.A.R. Labs. During the party, Diggle planned to gift Allen Oliver Queen's bow, which was thought to have been lost during the Crisis. Allen declined the gift, surprising Diggle. The party continued until Diggle, alongside the rest of Team Flash, fainted on the ground. Allen and Wally West were the only two unaffected, realizing that it was Bloodwork's doing. Diggle and Team Flash were then turned into Bloodwork's Blood Brothers, chasing Chester P. Runk and trying to bust through the door to his workshop. Thankfully, Khione was able to freeze the liquid in the Blood Brothers' bodies, including Diggle's, saving Runk's life.

With Queen briefly returning to the living to save the New Multiverse, Khione unfroze Diggle and gave him his suit, telling him that Allen needed help. Upon arriving at the battlefield, Diggle managed to shoot Bloodwork with a bazooka, soon touched to see Queen fighting and alive. Queen wanted to explain, though Diggle did not need an explanation and hugged him immediately. With the joint effort of Spartan, Green Arrow, The Flash and Kid Flash, Bloodwork was striped of his superhuman abilities and the Multiverse was saved.

At the West-Allen Loft, Diggle conversed with Queen one last time and was told that the box was sent to tempt him. Queen reminded Diggle that the brightest days are now ahead of him once he chose his family over his destiny, as Diggle hugged his closest friend for the final time before returning home.

Abilities

 * Peak of Human Physical Condition: Diggle is muscular and strong, able to allow him to use the salmon ladder.
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat: Diggle is able to fight highly trained individuals easily using his former skills as a bodyguard.
 * Marksmanship: Diggle is familiar with firearms and uses them on the field as Spartan.

Former Weaknesses

 * Headaches: After resisting the Green Lantern Power Ring for a long period of time, Diggle started hearing voices in his head, affecting his fighting. According to Cecile Horton, the voices were infinite. The voices are presumably no longer present after Diggle rejected and discarded the ring.

Current Equipment

 * Spartan Suit: Diggle wears a protective suit when operating as Spartan.
 * Guns: Diggle primarily uses a pistol when operating as Spartan.

Former Equipment

 * Green Lantern Power Ring: Diggle came across a Green Lantern Power Ring when packing up to move to Metropolis. He later refused to accept the ring and was annoyed by infinite voices within his head. Eventually, he chose to throw the ring and sent it elsewhere.