Arrow: Ranking Every Version Of The Black Canary From Worst To Best

The one true Black Canary, Arrow started off a show that had put all the elements in place in order to allow Dinah Laurel Lance to follow in the footsteps of her comic book counterpart, and yet still managed to rewrite the narrative so that her and Oliver Queen were teenage sweethearts ripped apart by grief and betrayal. It was a bold retelling of Laurel's origins, but one that was showing some serious promise.

With a lifetime full of grief over having lost both her boyfriend and her sister (who had betrayed her by sleeping with Oliver), it's safe to say that Laurel had a lot to overcome. But she managed to do just that and, in the process, defeated rage, jealousy, resentment and even alcoholism to come out the other end as the city's District Attorney and the Black Canary.

Again adopting an admirably grounded approach, the writers attempted to make Laurel's journey to heroism all the more realistic as, spurred on her by her sister's death (again), she attempted to take on the Canary mantle - but as the Black Canary. Her look reflected her grounded origins as, unlike the comics', she donned a more combat-ready fighting attire that covered all of her body and used a sonic device to create the Canary Cry sound effect.

Laurel Lance was, by far, the most nuanced and well-developed character on the show, but unfortunately, the moment she reached her goal and became the Black Canary, the writers got lazy and eventually sacrificed her for the sake of unimportant original characters. She deserved so much better.