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7 Best Members of the Arrow Family, Ranked

Green Arrow is a character with a rich history. Oliver Queen was first introduced back in the Golden Age of Comics, in 1941’s More Fun Comics #73. The character was basically just Batman, but instead of bats, his whole gimmick was Robin Hood. Green Arrow would eventually get a sidekick Speedy, fighting crime out of the Arrowcave, driving the Arrowcar, and having very familiar kinds of Golden Age superhero adventures. He’d end in crossovers with some of the other heroes of the day, and would eventually fade away like the majority of superheroes in the ’50. The hero would return in the ’60s, and has become one of the best vigilantes in comics, in large part because of the Arrow family.

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Oliver Queen had always had a partner, and as the years have gone on, more characters have joined his fight against evil. The Arrow family has a couple of gimmicks, and is one of the more talented hero families out there. These are the seven best members of the Arrow family, a group who includes some of the coolest vigilantes in comics.

7) Mia Dearden

Image courtesy of DC Comics

The year 2000 was a wild time for Green Arrow fans. Ollie had been killed in the mid ’90s, and he was replaced by his son Connor for years. However, director Kevin Smith convinced DC to let him bring Ollie back to life. Green Arrow became a bestselling book and it introduced readers to Mia Dearden. Ollie saves the teen prostitute from being raped, and takes her in, training her to be his new Speedy. She would join the new roster of Teen Titans, reveal that she had HIV, and has worked with the family ever since. She made an excellent Speedy, had a great costume, and played a cool little role in a DC boom period.

6) Red Canary

Red Canary with red paint behind her by Dan Mora
Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Black Canary has a legacy all her own, but it’s also been folded into the Arrow family. Red Canary’s favorite member of the Justice League was always Black Canary, so she decided to try her hand at being a vigilante during one of the many world-shaking events that hit DC’s Earth. She’d eventually end up meeting and working with her hero, and since then has been a minor member of the Arrow family and the Justice League. She’s an underrated heroine, and hopefully DC will keep building her as a character.

5) Lian Harper

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Lian Harper has had quite a history. She was the daughter of Cheshire and Roy Harper, becoming one of the cute little kids of the DC Universe in the ’00s. Roy got a push in the mid ’00s, but that would be destroyed by one of the darkest DC comics of all time: Justice League: Cry for Justice. She was killed in the story, and she stayed dead for a long time. The DC Multiverse was rebooted several times after that, and it was finally established that her death had been faked and she had grown up while being moved through time and space by Amanda Waller. Lian is a really young character, a girl trying to find her place in the world and getting used to having a family again, all while masking up as the Cheshire Cat. She’s great whenever she shows up, and we need more of her as the years go on.

4) Connor Hawke

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

DC in the ’90s had a lot of success breaking their icons, and Ollie eventually got his turn. He was replaced by his illegitimate son Connor. The young hero was a cool part of mid to late ’90s DC, and he would stay around after Ollie came back to life. He’s an awesome hand-to-hand combatant, an expert with basically any weapon he needs, and a brilliant archer. He an integral part of the Green Arrow mythos, and is a favorite of numerous generations of Arrow fans.

3) Roy Harper

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Roy Harper is a sidekick that has been around since the Golden Age of Comics, making him one of the oldest characters around, and has been a member of numerous teams over the years because of his relationship with Green Arrow. The former Speedy was a founding member of the Teen Titans, and was the first drug addict superhero. He became Arsenal, joined Checkmate, had a kid, joined the Outsiders, became Red Arrow and joined the Justice League, been broken down to nothing, and then brought back as an edgy bro superhero. He’s had quite a journey over the decades, and he’s always been a very interesting character, one who is way more important to the DC Universe than most people realize.

2) Oliver Queen

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Green Arrow is one of DC’s most storied heroes, and is a key part of numerous eras of the publisher. Ollie works as a way more liberal and human Batman-lite, a great fighter who loves to protect people, all while bossing them around, often screwing up everyone’s life, and is as tough as nails and way smarter than he seems. The character has been around for 85 years at this point, battling all kinds of enemies over the years, joining teams like the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the Justice League, and becoming a star thanks to the CW series.

1) Black Canary

Image Courtesy of DC Comics

Black Canary is another Golden Age character who was kind of popular, but faded away with the rest of her generation. She’d return in the Silver Age with the Justice Society, jump over to Earth-One and then got folded into history by Crisis on Infinite Earths. She became Green Arrow’s girlfriend after she came to Earth-One, and that has been a huge part of her character in the years since. However, the character has become one of the most respected heroes in the Justice League, having led the team, and is a character beloved by numerous factions in the DC fandom. She’s an icon to a surprising level for various eras of the fandom.

Who’s your favorite member of the Arrow family? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!