As a non-comics reader, I don't get why it matters whether the show exactly follows certain details. I saw the lack of chemistry between Stephen and Katie to be the core problem with Arrow. A simple fix would be to have Sara's Canary to fill that role, but Katie's contract forced them to fridge Sara so that she could take her originally planned role. Olicity didn't create the hole in the show. It just is what expanded into the hole left when they axed the Laurel/Oliver romance.
it does matter when characters people have loved for decades finally get a live action adaption and the creators shit on everything the fans love about those characters lmao
i’m not saying comic tv shows need to follow every single detail about the comics, but there is something to be said about showing at least a little bit respect to the source material when making an adaption of superheroes people have read about and enjoyed in a certain way for decades
shoving a superhero’s main romantic interest aside for the sake of an oc is frustrating as hell for someone who might have waited years to see their favorite superhero power couple on screen.
and arrow had more “core problems” than katie and amell’s chemistry (which was??? fine??? they had perfect chemistry imo) they literally turned a snarky superhero known for his comedy into batman lite. that was their core problem. and letting sara “fill the role” of black canary wouldn’t be a simple fix, bc dinah laurel lance is the black canary. that is her role.
olicity filled a hole that wouldn’t have needed filling in the first place if the writers had just treated laurel right. olicity is literally all fan service. the laurel/oliver romance got axed because of fan service.
and that just pisses off a lot of people, especially comic book readers.