Arrow: 5 Reasons Why Oliver Queen Is The Most Compelling Superhero On Television
3. He Fell In Love
When Arrow premiered back in 2012, the epic romance of comic fame between Oliver Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance was all set up and ready to unfold throughout the span of the series. Unfortunately, the romance was doomed from the start thanks to a toxic backstory that saw Oliver taking Laurel's sister on a sex cruise to avoid commitment that resulted in Sara's "death." Sabotaged by their terrible past, Oliver and Laurel just were't fun to watch together in the present.
In a surprisingly brave move for a young series based upon beloved comic characters, producers chose to abandon the flopped relationship between Oliver and Laurel that would have been true to DC canon and switched to the accidental love story of Oliver and Felicity born of the chemistry between the performers.
Instead of watching Oliver trying to rekindle a relationship in which he had been the worst version of himself, viewers saw Oliver fall in love even as he developed from murderous Hood toward heroic Green Arrow. The romance has been tied to his growth, and everything that tainted Laurel and Oliver from the beginning - the awfulness of pre-island Ollie, the infidelity, the swapping of sisters - is entirely absent from Felicity and Oliver. The fresh start allowed for a reboot to the love story, and Oliver's character has far more freedom for the change.