A superhero is only as good as the team that stands behind them, and few teammates can bring as much technological skill as the hacker, I.T. specialist, and business owner, Felicity Smoak. Felicity has become a very recognizable character since her iconic role in the television series, Arrow, but the character first appeared long before the Arrowverse began. Felicity actually dates back to 1984 when she was created by Gerry Conway and Rafael Kayanan and appeared alongside the superhero, Firestorm.
Felicity's character in her first appearance is far removed from the kind, lighthearted portrayal that fans would equate her with today. In The Fury of Firestorm # 23, Felicity Smoak is a professionally dressed woman with dark hair who does not see eye-to-eye with the superhero Firestorm, who is made up of the combined consciousnesses of the Physicist Martin Stein and high school student, Ronnie Raymond. Firestorm saves a train from going off the rails by creating a gigantic magnet, but unknown to Ronnie and Martin, the train was carrying computer chips. While enjoying the praise from a job well done, an irate Felicity Smoak informed the hero that he had destroyed eight million dollars of her company's equipment by using the magnet.
In this incarnation of the character, Felicity is a supervisor of a New York computer software firm who makes reoccurring appearances in which she speaks out against Firestorm's collateral damage as he does his superhero duty. At one point during the run, Felicity becomes romantically involved with Ed Raymond, whom she has no idea is the father of one-half of Firestorm. Felicity eventually learns about Ronnie's secret identity, but at that point she forgives him for their past disagreements and decides to support her new stepson.
The character was reimagined for her inclusion in CW's television series, Arrow, in which she is played by Emily Bett Rickards. The character first debuted in season 1 episode 3, "Lone Gunmen," where Oliver Queen uses Felicity's technical prowess to help retrieve information from a laptop. Felicity's character was originally intended to be a one-off inclusion, but the reception to Felicity was so strong that she became one of the iconic members of the show. Felicity, like her comic counterpart, is gifted with technology and also becomes the founder of her own company, Smoak Technologies. In the television universe, Felicity is an I.T. specialist for Queen Consolidated who learned of Oliver's secret identity as the Green Arrow and joined Team Arrow where the two had a complex on-again-off-again relationship. Oliver and Felicity would eventually get married and Felicity would give birth to their daughter, Mia. Felicity was written out of the show when Rickards left at the end of the seventh season, but the character made a return in the series finale in early 2020.
When DC relaunched Green Arrow as part of the New 52 relaunch, Felicity was also given a new backstory that leans closer to her place in the Arrowverse than it does in her comic book origins. In Green Arrow #35 by Ben Sokolowski and Andrew Kreisberg, she is introduced at the end in a cliffhanger where she introduces herself to Oliver and calmly reveals that she was hired to kill him. However, in the next issue, Felicity explains that she is a hacker-for-hire that has done some fairly illegal things but was hired without knowing who she had to kill. She shows her technological skill by revealing she knows Oliver is the Green Arrow, but then explains that she refuses to kill a hero.
After this awkward encounter, Felicity joins Oliver in tracking down her other target, Mia Dearden -- a character who in other comic runs had been known as Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy. Later in the storyline, Felicity is invited to join A.R.G.U.S. by Steve Trevor, but rejects the offer to instead continue working with Oliver. The character resembles her television counterpart in more than just hacking prowess. Felicity's new design was very reminiscent of Emily Bett Rickards -- she wears thin glasses, has long blond hair tied into a ponytail, and wears a button-up shirt. However, her time by Oliver's side in comics was ultimately short-lived, and she quickly receded into the background of the DC Universe.