6 Times Arrow Improved Green Arrow Mythology (& 4 Times It Failed)

As Arrow draws to a close, here's how the series has impacted the DC Comics favourite.

by Andrew Pollard
Arrow Season One
The CW

As of this writing, there are just three episodes of Arrow left before the show calls it a day.

Across eight seasons, the Stephen Amell-starrer has generated a huge fan base and impressed many a naysayer who thought that nobody would care about a Green Arrow TV series. After all, this wasn’t Batman, this wasn’t Superman, this wasn’t Wonder Woman, this wasn’t The Flash, this wasn’t… you get the idea.

Despite all of the fans that Green Arrow now has as a result of Arrow, the initial buzz around the show was largely flat as the majority of the series’ potential audience had no real interest in the Emerald Archer. But boy, how that changed as the show progressed – particularly from Season 2 onwards.

Like all such series, of course, Arrow hasn’t been a complete homerun. For the most part, it’s certainly been a brilliant genre show, yet there have still been a few issues and niggles along the way.

Spotlighting that here, then, here are six ways that Arrow has improved the mythology of the Green Arrow… and four ways that the series has had a negative effect on the Master Bowman.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.