Arrow Season 4: 5 Reasons Why The Comics Shouldn't Matter

While there is no dearth of shows out there with credits arranged alphabetically or financially due to no established lead, most feature either a protagonist or a protagonist unit. The Doctor undoubtedly outranks his companion on Doctor Who, Merlin deservedly had top-billing on Merlyn, and Sam and Dean Winchester certainly haven't faced any competition on Supernatural. Shows almost always have a lead or lead unit to receive most of the attention and development, because it just works.

The lead of Arrow is obviously Oliver Queen. It’s not because he looks great without a shirt or because he’s a fantastic actor or because his oodles of hard work show in each and every episode. It’s because the show is called Arrow. There should be no doubt of who should receive most attention and development.

Unfortunately, Season 3 chose to advance characters of comic fame toward superheroism rather than focus on the protagonist. Ray Palmer as the ATOM, Laurel Lance as Black Canary, Roy Harper as Arsenal to a certain extent…all were promoted for their roles as comic characters rather than peripheral Arrow characters. The series is not called Arrow And Friends or Arrow, Etc., and even if certain character have journeys in comic lore does not mean that those journeys belong onscreen for Arrow.