Meeting Black Canary

Black Canary - Name

Dinah Laurel Lance

Main Alias

Black Canary

Other Aliases

Myra Kallen,[1]

Crybaby

Relatives

Richard Drake (grandfather, deceased),

Larry Lance (father, deceased),

Dinah Drake (mother, deceased),

Sin (adopted daughter)[2]

Craig Windrow (ex-husband),

Oliver Queen (ex-husband)

Affiliation

Birds of Prey ·

Formerly

Justice League of America,

Justice Society of America,

Justice League Task ****,

Justice League International,

Team Arrow

DC Database

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DC Database

Dinah Laurel Lance (New Earth)

Mainstream Universe‎‎, 1930s-2011

Real Name

Dinah Laurel Lance

Main Alias

Black Canary

Other Aliases

Myra Kallen,[1]

Crybaby

Relatives

Richard Drake (grandfather, deceased),

Larry Lance (father, deceased),

Dinah Drake (mother, deceased),

Sin (adopted daughter)[2]

Craig Windrow (ex-husband),

Oliver Queen (ex-husband)

Affiliation

Birds of Prey ·

Formerly

Justice League of America,

Justice Society of America,

Justice League Task ****,

Justice League International,

Team Arrow

Base Of Operations

Gotham City

Formerly

Hall of Justice ·

Justice League Watchtower ·

Star City ·

New York City ·

Metropolis ·

Oracle's Watchtower ·

Seattle ·

JSA Headquarters

Status

Alignment

Good

Identity

Public Identity

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Divorced

Occupation

Florist

Characteristics

Gender

Female

Height

5' 4"

Weight

124 lbs (56 kg)

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Blond · Formerly Black

Origin

Universe

Earth-Two · Earth-One · New Earth

Creators

Dennis O'Neil · Dick Dillin

First Appearance

Justice League of America #75

(November, 1969)

More

When I was little, I used to think, of the three, Ollie was the toughest. I was wrong.

Roy Harper

Dinah Laurel Lance is the vigilante Black Canary, one of the world's foremost martial artists and possessor of the devastating "Canary Cry", a sonic scream that can shatter steel. She followed in the footsteps of her superhero mother, Dinah Drake, the Golden Age Black Canary. She has been a founding member of the Justice League and Birds of Prey, of which she was once chairwoman and field leader respectively. She has long had a recurring partnership with the Green Arrow and, like her mother, was also a member of the Justice Society.

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History

Origins

Dinah Laurel Lance was born into a family of crime fighters. Her father Larry Lance, was a police officer, while her mother (also named Dinah) was the original Black Canary.

Dinah chose to become a crime-fighter at the age of nineteen, despite her mother's wishes to the contrary. Following a rigorous training program under the watchful eye of the original Black Canary's close friend Ted Grant, also known as Wildcat, Dinah took up her mother's identity and adopted a costume as her own.

Black Canary 0002

Just like her mother

Differentiating herself from her mother, Dinah was unique in the fact that she had the power to perform a 'Canary Cry', a super-powered shriek capable of shattering metal. However, the origin of how she got her power changed over time.

At one point, Dinah's 'Canary Cry' was the result of her being cursed by the criminal the Wizard during her childhood. However, due to mysterious changes in the timeline, these sonic powers were later said to have been a byproduct of Dinah possessing the metagene, making her a super-powered metahuman since birth.

Justice League

Main article: Justice League Origins

Not long after her debut as Black Canary, Dinah Lance became a founding member of the Justice League of America. It was Dinah who suggested the newly-formed name of the League, in deference to her mother's having been a member of the Justice Society of America.[3] It was through her new association with the Justice League that she first met Oliver "Ollie" Queen, also known as the Green Arrow.

Black Canary's membership in the JLA lasted for many years. Her friendship with Oliver Queen developed during this time as their feelings for one another became romantic. When Oliver chose to quit the League in order to continue his efforts in Star City on his own,[4] Dinah decided to join him there soon after.

Hard Traveling Heroes

Whilst Green Arrow and Green Lantern went on a road trip to rediscover America, Dinah was coincidentally motorcycling near Mount Rainier, Washington when she was run down by a motorcycle gang. Left **** in the road, she was rescued by a man named Joshua, who was actually a white supremacist cult leader who hypnotized her to his cause.

Green Arrow and Green Lantern came to the rescue but were defeated by Black Canary and the cult. When Dinah was put in the position to execute her lover Green Arrow, the hypnotic hold broken, and the heroes defeated the white supremacists.[5] Ashamed of being involved in such a despicable group—albeit against her will—Dinah devoted some of her time to work with the Native Americans on the reservation that Joshua had intended to ****.[6]

Dinah rekindled her romance with Ollie and joined the heroes on their road trip. Together they attended the trial and sentence of their friend Old Timer,[7] thwarted Sinestro and his sister,[8] stoped an evil man exploiting a metahuman child,[9] and helped Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy through his withdrawal from **** addiction.[10]

Green Arrow's Disappearance

After Green Arrow accidentally killed a man, he abandoned his heroic persona, along with his civilian life in Star City.[11] Hal sought Dinah's help to locate their missing friend. Her investigation inadvertently led her to a secret hate gathering, organized by none other than Joshua's sister. She was discovered and outnumbered by the angry mob who threw her off the roof of the building but was fortunately saved by Green Lantern.[12]

Continuing Black Canary's spate of bad luck, a **** driver crashed into a phone booth when she was making a call. Badly injured and losing a lot of blood, Hal knew Ollie was one of the few people with her rare blood type that could save her. Hal had heard of the discovery of the Arrowplane wreckage, and from there, soon tracked him down in an isolated monastery. Despite his own shame and his contempt for society, it only took the mention Dinah's predicament to get Ollie to return home. Through a blood transfusion, Oliver saved Dinah's life, and she made a full recovery.[13]

Around this time, Black Canary became a founding member of the new Justice League International established by Maxwell Lord.[14]

The Longbow Hunters

Main article: Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters

Oliver and Dinah went into business together and set up a flower shop in Seattle called "Sherwood Florist" in addition to fighting crime. Oliver was having something of a midlife crisis however, just as he was about to turn 43. He wanted to marry Dinah and have a real family with children of his own. Dinah turned down the idea, citing that their lives were too dangerous to have children.

During this time, Dinah was kidnapped by a **** dealer she was investigating. She was brutally tortured within an inch of her life until she was found and rescued by Ollie, who killed her torturer, altering his career as the Emerald Archer.[15]

When Dinah came out of the hospital, she was still emotionally traumatized by the incident. She learned that she had lost her ability to perform her Canary Cry. Later she finds out that she was now permanently infertile.[16]

Oliver was with her as she entered counseling. Dinah was initially hesitant to fight crime during the first few weeks after leaving the hospital, but, when she stopped a group of muggers on the bus, she felt back to her old self. She realized her biggest fear was that she would not be able to fight back anymore, and that fear was gone.[17]

Though the trauma had brought Dinah and Oliver closer together, Dinah's permanent infertility caused her great grief. Even though she didn't want kids, knowing she never could was heartbreaking. Their relationship was strained further when Dinah caught Oliver kissing their young assistant Marianne, and Dinah dumped him.[18]

Months later, Dinah was told of Oliver's **** by his illegitimate son Connor Hawke.[19]

Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey 0001

Birds of Prey

After his ****, Dinah was contacted by Barbara Gordon, known as the computer genius Oracle, to work in Gotham City. Dinah accepted and moved across the country to start her new life. The pair formed a heroic partnership as the Birds of Prey.

As an indication of the new chapter in her life, Dinah decided to abandon the blonde wig she disguised herself with and instead began bleaching her natural hair, & grew it out. Also, because she had lost her ability to Canary Cry, Dinah began using handheld electronic weapons to simulate her iconic attack instead.

After a battle with Ra's al Ghul, Oracle urged Dinah to take a dip in the mystical Lazarus Pit. Doing so healed her injuries and restored her Canary Cry, as well as her ability to have a child.[20]

As time went on, the Birds expanded their membership, operating alongside notable female agents such as the Huntress, Gypsy, and Lady Blackhawk. Oracle also helped Dinah reopen her flower shop "Sherwood Florist" in a new location in Gotham.

Green Arrow's Resurrection

Dinah helped found a new incarnation of her mother's old team, the Justice Society of America, following the **** of JSA founding member Wesley Dodds,[21] and developed a crush on the new Doctor Mid-Nite. However, she eventually resigned when she learned that her ex-boyfriend Oliver Queen had been resurrected by Parallax.

Dinah traveled to Star City, where the two former lovers were happily reunited. Their renewed relationship was short-lived however, as Dinah feared that Oliver would possibly try to take advantage of his new young female ward Mia Dearden. Dinah returned to Gotham City, where she continued to function with the Birds of Prey.

Jade Canary

Birds of Prey Vol 1 95 Textless

Lady Shiva and Black Canary switch places

Over the course of a year, Dinah agreed to switch places with the assassin Lady Shiva as a way to possibly enrich both their perspectives. Dinah hoped that Shiva's membership as a Bird of Prey would soften the woman as warrior, while also believing that partaking in Shiva's training regiment in Vietnam would strengthen her own skills as a crimefighter.

Eventually, Dinah realized that following Lady Shiva's training path would require her to fundamentally change who she was as a person; therefore, she ended the training and returned to the United States. With her, she brought a young girl she had met named Sin, who also had begun the harsh grooming process to be Lady Shiva's successor.[22] Oliver Queen used his connections as the mayor of Star City to allow Sin to immigrate into the country.

Upon her return, Black Canary told Oracle that she would officially be leaving the Birds of Prey to devote herself to raising Sin in Star City.[23] She didn't give up super heroics completely, however; Dinah was named the chairwoman of the newly reformed Justice League of America due to her strong abilities and strategic mind.

Proposal

Green Arrow proposes 01

Green Arrow proposes to Black Canary

Dinah eventually returned to super heroics in Star City to aid Oliver, Connor, and Mia against the villains Roadblock and Merlyn. During the course of their mission, Dinah rekindled her relationship with Oliver yet again, feeling that he had truly changed over the course of his adventures. Oliver admitted to Dinah that many of the changes he made over the last year were due in most part for her, because he wanted to be a better man.

As the battle concluded, Oliver at last proposed to Dinah. Dinah however, needed time to consider her answer.

Shortly thereafter, Canary's charge Sin was kidnapped by Merlyn, and Green Arrow and Speedy sprung into action to get her back. To save the girl's life, Ollie was **** to fake Sin's ****, keeping the knowledge of the plan between himself and Mia, knowing that doing so would sacrifice his relationship with Dinah.

The plan was a success: Sin's **** was faked, and she was safely returned home. After the fact, Ollie admitted what he had done, and, recognizing that he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness to save her daughter's life, Dinah finally agreed to marry him.[24]

Marriage

Green Arrow Black Canary Wedding 01

You may now kiss the bride

Main article: Green Arrow and Black Canary's Wedding

After a great deal of compromise and strife, Dinah and Ollie agreed to get married inside the Secret Sanctuary, the original cave headquarters of the Justice League of America. Wedding guests included nearly everyone within the superhero community who were asked to attend the ceremony in-costume.

On the day of the wedding, the ceremony was interrupted by a phalanx of supervillains, who attempted to take out as many heroes as possible in one fell swoop. Nearly all of the villains were apprehended except for Deathstroke, who managed to escape. Despite the interruption, the ceremony concluded and Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen were married.[25]

On their wedding night, Oliver attacked Dinah unexpectedly, forcing her kill him with one of his arrows. As Dinah mourned for her husband, she spiraled and became rougher with criminals she caught, which worried those around her. Despite medical tests and even Hal's Ring confirming the body to be Ollie's, Dinah vehemently believed the man she killed was not Ollie. Batman took on the case, and, with the help of Dr. Mid-Nite, revealed the deceased as Everyman, a shape-shifter.[26]

After discovering Oliver was still alive and being held on Themyscira, Dinah rescued him with help from Connor and Mia.

Final Crisis

Now as a married couple, the duo continued to fight crime alongside one another, facing new challenges. They fought off Cupid, a vigilante with an obsessive crush on the Green Arrow, and Discord, a man with a grudge against the Canary for deafening him with her scream.

Shortly after, Darkseid attacked Earth and took control of it with the Anti-Life Equation. Dinah planned an attack on Darkseid from the Justice League Watchtower, but her plan was thwarted by a mind-controlled Green Arrow. She was **** to fight her husband and successfully freed him from the equation's control.[27]

In the aftermath of Darkseid's defeat, Gotham City had to cope with the apparent **** of Batman. Dinah was summoned to Gotham along with other heroes to join the Network as a way to maintain order without him.[28]

Cry for Justice

Main article: Justice League: Cry for Justice

Canary had eventually resigned from her position as chairwoman of the Justice League but remained an active member. However, Hal Jordan and Ollie had felt the team had lost its direction and left to start their own rival Justice League.

Feeling betrayed by her husband, Dinah confronted him on the Justice League Watchtower, but their fight was cut short because Green Arrow had to warn his former teammates of a threat his team had discovered. The villain Prometheus was planning a coordinated attack against all of the world's heroes.

Before he could successfully warn the original League, Prometheus broke into the Watchtower and attacked the heroes, severing Red Arrow's arm and incapacitating Black Canary. The League was able to capture Prometheus before he could do any more damage but, in his interrogation, he admitted that his plan was to destroy every major city protected by a superhero, starting with Star City.

On cue, Prometheus' trigger man Electrocutioner activated an explosion that wiped out a massive portion of Star City. Green Arrow and Black Canary panicked and used the League's teleporters to provide assistance and look for survivors in the wreckage. In the destruction, Ollie and Dinah found the corpse of Roy Harper's young daughter Lian.

Dinah and Donna Troy delivered the news to Roy in the hospital as he recovered from his losing his arm. Oliver, meanwhile, took **** on Prometheus by executing him with an arrow to the head.

Fall of Green Arrow

Oliver's **** of Prometheus was condemned by his friends in the superhero community, including Flash and Hal Jordan. Unrepentant, Oliver went on the run to avoid punishment. Dinah, wanting what she thought was best for her husband, joined Hal and Barry in searching the ruins of Star City for him. When they found him, he attacked them all, subduing them long enough to escape. He was searching for the man who pulled the trigger to destroy Star City, the Electrocutioner.

Oliver eventually calmed down, realizing the damage he was doing in his quest for ****. He turned himself into the authorities for punishment.

Dinah visited Oliver in jailed and told him she understood that he needed time to be alone. However, still incredibly hurt by his actions, she gave him her ring back and told him their marriage was over.

Blackest Night

Main article: Blackest Night

The Earth was subject to another crisis when Nekron attempted to take over the universe with his army of undead Black Lanterns. Nekron was able to resurrect the dead as mind-controlled zombies, including people who were previously dead, like Green Arrow.

With the aid of Mia Dearden and Connor Hawke, Dinah fought her zombified Black Lantern ex-husband. The living corpse fed off of misery and exploited Black Canary's emotions to grow stronger, while Oliver watched powerless inside his own body. To emotionally hurt her, the Black Lantern claimed he had secretly been in love with the assassin Shado, who had **** him and sired him a son around the time Dinah was tortured by a **** dealer. He also called her a fool for believing he had ever changed.

Birds of Prey 0008

Black Canary and the new Birds of Prey

Though the Black Lantern had the opportunity to execute Black Canary, Oliver regained control of his body for long enough to miss the shot and hit a liquid nitrogen container. Connor, under Dinah's instructions, then used the liquid nitrogen to freeze him until the Blackest Night was over.

Brightest Day

Main article: Brightest Day

Like her last major breakup with Oliver, Dinah left Star City to start a new life in Gotham City, reforming the Birds of Prey with Oracle. This time, they expanded their membership immediately to include Dove, Hawk, Huntress, and Lady Blackhawk.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Black Canary 0017

"Can you believe the mouth on this chick?"

Canary Cry: Dinah possesses a metagene that gives her a potent sonic attack, able to stun foes or damage objects to the point of shattering steel. She possesses a incredible degree of control over her vocal cords. This enables her to mimic sounds and generate any sound she desires. The Canary Cry has been able to reach 300 decibels, which is enough to make a person's ears start bleeding even if they're not the attack's target.

Abilities

Acrobatics

Driving

Espionage

Peak Human Condition

Peak Human Strength

Peak Human Reflexes

Peak Human Endurance

Peak Human Stamina: When fighting alongside the Justice League of America, Dinah and the League fought non-stop, for nearly 24 hours.[29]

Peak Human Agility

Peak Human Balance

Martial Arts: She is one of the most skilled martial artists on the planet. She has also been trained by Wildcat, who is formerly the Heavyweight Champion of the World, in the art of boxing, muay thai, capoeira, krav maga and hapkido. She has also been trained in Dragon Style Kung Fu and pressure point fighting by Richard Dragon.[30] Thanks to Wonder Woman, Dinah has been trained in Amazon martial arts, but is strictly a novice in that kind of fighting style. Due to her sparing with Wonder Woman, Dinah can perceive nanosecond reaction time, when fighting.[31] She has also received training from the Justice League of America, that teaches members how to fight at the very beginning.[32][33] Dinah also took the time to be trained by Batgirl.[34] Dinah was praised for her skills by Lady Shiva, one of the best martial artists in the world. Shiva even suggested Dinah become her apprentice.[35][36] Dinah is stated to be evenly matched with Batman.[37] Her martial art skills are claimed to be almost as formidable as the Kobra Cult is numerous.[38]

Aikido

Boxing: Dinah was training in boxing by Ted Grant.

Capoeira

Dragon Style Kung Fu

Hapkido

Judo[40][41][42]

Jujitsu

Karate[43][44]

Krav Maga

Muay Thai

Savate

Tae Kwon Do

Wing Chun[45]

Pedagogy

Tactical Analysis: Dinah is also considered a strong leader and strategic thinker, which has led to her being