10 Most Hated Retcon Changes In DC Comics

3. Green Arrow And Black Canary's Lost Relationship - New 52

Green Arrow Black Canary New 52 DC Rebirth
DC Comics

DC has plenty of power couples within their pages, with Superman and Lois Lane probably able to steak a claim to the top spot. However, within the superhero community, there is one couple more iconic than any other - Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance have been an item since the late sixties, to the point where it feels strange to tell a story about Oliver and not include his partner, and vice versa. They're heroes together, and lovers forever (ignoring that one time Oli cheated on her after their marriage), and so obviously DC thought it would be a fantastic idea to get rid of their relationship for their line-wide reboot in 2011. Obviously.

Clearly, depriving Queen of Neal Adams' iconic Van Dyke beard wasn't enough, nor was bringing the main GA series in line with the decidedly dour Arrow TV show on TheCW. For pretty much the entirety of the New 52 - from 2011-2016 - Oli and Dinah didn't share so much as a kiss.

Thankfully DC realised how much of a mistake this was and brought them back together for DC Rebirth, but those five years where Arrow and Canary weren't together were so pointless.

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Content Producer/Presenter
Content Producer/Presenter

Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.