100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Television
#37. Arrow Season 1
Medium
Live-Action Television Series
Release Dates
October 10, 2012–May 15, 2013
Credits
Directors: David Nutter, David Barrett, Guy Bee, Vince Misiano, Michael Shultz, John Behring, David Grossman, Ken Fink, John Dahl, Eagle Egilsson, Nick copus, Wendy Stanzler, Glen Winter, Michael Offer
Writers: Gerg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Moira Kirland, Lana Cho, Wendy Mericle, Ben Sokolowski, Geoff Johns, Beth Schwartz, Gabrielle Stanton, Drew Z. Greenberg, Bryan Q. Miller
Cast: Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / The Arrow, Katie Casidy as Laurel Lance, Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen, Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance, Jamey Sheridan as Robert Queen, Kelly Hu as Chien Na Wei / China White, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn / Dark Archer, Jessica De Gouw as Helena Bertinelli / Huntress, Colin Salmon as Walter Steele, Annie Ilonzeh as Joanna De La Vega, Roger Cross as Lucas Hilton, byron Mann as Yao Fei, Janina Gavankar as McKenna Hall, Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson, Christie Laing as Carly Diggle, Colton HAynes as Roy Harper, Alex Kingston as Dinah Lance, Jeffrey Nodrling as Frank bertinelli, Sebastian Dunn as Edward Fyers, Delina Jade as Shado, Chin Han as Frank Chen, Adrian Holmes as Frank Pike, Jarod Joseph as Alan Durand
The Reason It’s Great
The first season of this show did not fail its hero—the Green Arrow in the making. Arrow Season 1 was a grounded action-packed crime drama that was akin to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight franchise. The narrative had two timelines: Oliver’s present journey to clean up Starling City; and Oliver’s time on Lian Yu.
After five years on a deserted island, heir to the Queen fortune Oliver Queen returns to Starling City. Armed with the skills he acquired on the island and his father’s list of corrupt individuals, Oliver works in the shadows to clean up the city. In his lone crusade, he meets some formidable enemies and discovers dark family secrets.
Arrow Season 1 takes the Green Arrow mythology and turns it into a character drama. Even the villains that Oliver fights against are given sympathetic reasons. This is a can’t miss story arc that retells the birth of a DC universe legend.