This page covers the DC comicbook hero Black Canary also known as Dinah Drake Lance , The Blonde Bombshell , Siu Jerk Jai . If this is not the page you were looking for check here.

Trained from infancy by her police detective father to the height of physical perfection, Dinah Drake had one goal in life - to become Gotham City's foremost policewoman.

When his daughters application to the police academy was rejected, Richard Drake died of a broken heart, leaving Dinah a small inheritance with which she opened a florist shop.

Still determined to follow in her father's footsteps, Dinah was inspired by other masked men and women to become a costumed crime fighter. Donning a blonde wig and suitable attire, Dinah Drake called herself the Black Canary and set out to fulfil her father's dream.

Initially it appeared that the Black Canary was a criminal who robbed other criminals, but Dinah merely did this as a ruse to learn more about Gotham's criminal underground. Ultimately, she crossed paths with the hero known as Johnny Thunder - a member of the JSA - and revealed to him that she was really a heroine. As the years passed, Black Canary also joined the JSA, while continuing to fight crime along side detective Larry Lance. After the Justice Society disbanded, Dinah and Larry got married and the Black Canary went into retirement.

Several months after giving birth to a daughter - also named Dinah, the former Black Canary and Larry Lance were confronted by the evil Wizard, who put a curse on their infant girl, transforming her cries into a sonic scream of destructive proportions. Unable to cure the child, the couple asked Johnny Thunder to take her into his mystical realm where his thunderbolt could keep her in suspended animation, her body growing to young womanhood while she slept. As a final gesture, Johnny got the Thunderbolt to make Larry and Dinah forget what had happened and made them believe their daughter had died.

Years later, when battling with the reformed JSA and the Justice League, Larry Lance was killed in action, and Black Canary was fatally irradiated by the alien monster Aquarius. Unaware of her critical condition, Dinah chose to leave Earth 2 and travel to Earth 1 with the JLA to begin a new life.

During the journey Black Canary began to succumb to her illness and she asked Superman to take her to her daughter's grave one last time. Instead, he brought her to Thunderbolt's dimension, where she discovered her daughter was still alive. When the dying Canary wished her daughter could take her place, the Thunderbolt transferred Dinah Drake Lance's memory into her daughter's mind, erasing the memory that the Black Canary was now her own daughter.

After putting the original Canary and her husband to rest in the Thunderbolt dimension, Superman carried the new Black Canary to Earth One and a new life.

Publication History

The first Black Canary, which was Dinah Drake Lance, the mother of the current Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Lance, first appeared in Flash Comics #86 in August 1947. She was created by Bob Kanigher and Carmine Infantino. After Black Canary officially became two people, Dinah Laurel Lance's first appearance is Justice League of America #219 in October 1983 because the idea that she was two people was not introduced until JLA #219. However, her actual first appearance is in Justice League of America #75.

Characteristics

Height: 5'5"

Weight: 127 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black (dyed Blonde)

Origin

Golden Age

Black Canary made her first comic debut in 1947 as a supporting character in Flash Comics for Johnny Thunder. Black Canary became so popular that she gained her own anthology which would reveal her backstory. It explains that Black Canary’s real identity is Dinah Drake, her natural hair color is black and she wears a blonde wig. She became romantically involved with Larry Lance, a Gotham City Police Department detective. Later it was revealed that Dinah had been trained by her father Richard Drake, also a detective of the Gotham City Police Department. Dinah had intended to follow in her father’s footsteps and join the police force. However, the force turned her down and her father died of a heart failure soon after. Dinah decided to fight crime anyways in honor of her late father. She inherited some money from her father and decides to open a florist shop for a day job. After becoming a vigilante, Dinah would later join the Justice Society Of America. After the Justice Society of America stopped being published, Black Canary was also ceased to be published on the 1950s.

Silver Age

In the 1960s, the Justice Society of America and Black Canary were revived and put on an alternate universe dubbed Earth-two. When they brought Dinah back they also explained that since the time she had been gone, she went on to marry Larry Lance. Dinah along with the JSA teamed up with the Justice League Of America on several adventures. Black Canary became an official member of the Justice Society of America. One of their missions pitted them in a battle with an alien creature named Aquarius, Larry Lance was killed while he was trying to save Dinah’s life. After they beat the alien, Dinah was in grief and decided to leave Earth-Two and move to Earth-One to start a new life. Her new life jump started with her joining the Justice League of America, and she soon began dating JLA teammate Green Arrow. Also during this time she discovered that she mysteriously gained the ability to do an ultrasonic scream, she would call it the “Canary Cry.” Canary would then join the Justice League of America, becoming the only Golden Age and Silver Age hero to have been on the JLA and JSA roster. She also became attracted to Green Arrow and thus, their relationship would begin to develop.

Bronze Age

While on Earth-One, Roy Harper would become addicted to Heroine, and caused Green Arrow to throw him out on the streets. Green Lantern would discover this and leave Roy in the care of Dinah. Dinah stayed by his side while he rehabilitated. Black Canary would be retconned later because writers felt that Dinah seemed to be much older then Green Arrow and the rest of the Justice League. They revealed that Dinah was actually the daughter of the original Black Canary. So now, during the 1950s Dinah and Larry had a child. However, the child was cursed by the Wizard (a foe of the JSA) which caused the child to have an uncontrollable scream, which is the Canary Cry. She asked Johnny Thunder to summon Thunderbolt to help find a cure. They could not and Thunderbolt decided to put the child in suspended animation (while slowly growing up) till a cure or a way to control it could be found. After the battle with Aquaris, Dinah learned that she was poisoned by radiation and was dying from it. She made an arrangement with Thunderbolt and Superman of Earth-one to transfer her mind to the body of her now adult daughter. Dinah also did not want to follow in her mother's shadow and adopted a new and horrendous costume, until Oracle helps her with her costume.

Modern Age

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, they retconned Black Canary's origin to become two different characters. Now there was a Black Canary named Dinah Drake Lance, and her daughter who is the current Black Canary named Dinah Laurel Lance. Dinah Drake would marry a private investigator named Larry Lance. Larry is also an acquaintance of James Gordon. A few years later they had a baby girl, the named her Dinah Laurel Lance. Dinah would grow up surrounded by her mother’s friends from the now disbanded JSA. They cared for Dinah and she would eventually look at them as her uncles and aunts. Since Dinah grew up in a household full of heroes, it was only natural that she wanted to follow in her mother’s shoes. However, her mother forbade it because she believed the world was not as nice as the days she worked as a crime fighter, and that Dinah would not be able to succeed in this world.

Dinah would not listen to her mother, and she would eventually seek out fighters to test her skills, before she started training with JSA Wildcat. Dinah also had her “Canary Cry” but unlike the Silver Age, she was able to control it and it was a result of a metagene, mysteriously though both her parents did not have any metagene. After years of intense training, she took the Black Canary mantle and started her vigilantism while also maintaining a day job as a florist.

Dinah also helped reform the Justice League with Batman and Martian Manhunter. She also eventually gets rid of her horrendous costume and dons her old costume. After she joined the Justice League, she became romantically involved with teammate Green Arrow. Their age difference was not a problem, however in this version it is Green Arrow who is much older then Black Canary. She stayed with the Justice League for years. Later Dinah’s mother would die due to radiation poisoning because of her previous battle with Aquaris. After her mother’s death, Dinah decided that she would quit the JLA. Dinah and Green Arrow move to Seattle to start a new life, she opened her own florist shop there.

Her move to Seattle would not make life better though. Dinah had decided to join an operation to bust a drug ring, but failed. They kidnapped Dinah and proceeded to torturing her. They made her lose her Canary Cry and ability to have children. Eventually Green Arrow would save her but Dinah would not be the same after this. She started to attend extensive counselling.

Dinah’s relationship with Green Arrow would take a turn too. She discovered that Green Arrow had a son, but he was drugged and had all his money from the business stolen. However, she broke off their relationship after she walked in on Green Arrow kissing her florist shop assistant.

Birds of Prey

[[Oracle:char:5769]] would later ask Black Canary to work as an agent for her, and they would form the Birds Of Prey. When she began working with the Birds of Prey, she decided to get rid of the blonde wig and bleach her hair blonde. At first Dinah did not get along with Oracle, but eventually the two put their disagreements aside and became best friends, learning that they had so much in common. Later it was revealed during one of the early Birds of Prey issues that Dinah had married when she was very young, but divorced soon after. Her ex-husband made an appearance in a Birds of Prey storyline where he was seeking her help but in fact, wanted her to return to him after he had stolen money from the mob.

When Dinah began dating a European man who later turned out to be Ra's al Ghul. She was seriously injured and the only way to save her was to dip her into the Lazarus Pit. The Lazarus Pit would restore her metahuman ability “Canary Cry” and also restored her ability to bear children again. Dinah and Oracle would build a team for the Birds of Prey which includes Huntress, Gypsy, and Lady Blackhawk.

Dinah was trained by the same martial arts master as Lady Shiva. Shiva became impressed with Dinah’s martial arts skills and offered to help harness her skills much better. However, Dinah declined Shiva’s offer because she believed that it would change her morality and turn her into a cold blooded killer like Shiva.

During Infinite Crisis, Alex Luthor. reaveals that Wonder Woman was originally a founding member of the Justice League. (This affects Black Canary because during one of the earlier retcons, Black Canary replaced Wonder Woman as one of the founding members of the Justice League.) It has yet to be explained on Dinah’s status in her earlier life with the JLA.

In One Year Later after Infinite Crisis, Dinah had traded lives with Lady Shiva. Dinah is now going through the entire training that Lady Shiva went through in her early life. It takes place in a Vietnamese village, and while Lady Shiva took care of Dinah’s role in the Birds of Prey. Eventually Dinah realizes that the training she is going through would change her morality and decides to end the training and return to America. Dinah also decided to take a little girl with her named Sin. Sin was supposed to be Lady Shiva’s successor and Dinah did not want such a little girl going through all that. Dinah has decided to quit the Birds of Prey to raise Sin as a full time mother. Dinah and Sin moved away from Metropolis, it has yet to be revealed where they reside.

Heroes Assembling for a Common Cause

Dinah hangs out with Red Arrow and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) before they investigate a laboratory. They burst in to discover Professor Ivo in possession of Red Tornado's body. They learn that he had already obtained the immortality serum and is trying to find a way to die. He then unleashes an army of Red Tornadoes that vary from different colors. A battle breaks loose but the three of them were able to handle it. Dinah grabs one of Red Arrow's arrow and starts stabbing the robots multiple times until he stopped moving. Then Hal uses his ring to finish off the remaining active ones. Next they went after the enemies that were there and Dinah went after Ivo. She demands to know where Red Tornado's body is but he keeps stalling. Hal discovers that they have Starros attached to their necks. Dinah learns that they are using Red's body to create a new Amazo. The Amazo is activated and he escapes quickly. The real Red Tornado in his new human body arrives right afterwards, only to be punched in the face by a smart Solomon Grundy. Dinah rushes to the injured Red Tornado while Grundy tells them they need to make a truce. He tells them that they need to team up and stop this Amazo, and that he needs it to prepare himself for Ivo's immortality. However, the catch is, after they retrieve the Amazo, they are going to have to fight for it. Afterwards the heroes try to regroup and are joined up by Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Black Lightning, and Hawkgirl. Grundy then reveals that the Amazo's memory was only 70% restored, and still had Red Tornado's memories. They jump through the portal and engaged against the Amazo. Everyone tries to hold the Amazo down for Dinah to use her Canary Cry up close. However, it didn't affect him and only made him madder. Batman orders Red Arrow to shoot an arrow at the Vixen totem in the back, and it alerts Vixen the location. She dives in and destroys the Amazo as she grabs her totem. Meanwhile, Solomon Grundy was beating the life out of Red Tornado, ripping his arm and then eating it. Reddy had one last chance and uses his full power to rip Grundy in half. The only way to save Reddy was to transfer him back to his robot body.

The Justice League of America

Dinah has also been offered a membership to the new Justice League of America; she accepted the offer and she was elected to be the new chairwoman and field leader due to her strong strategic mind. Later, Dinah and Hal are sent to offer Red Arrow and Red Tornado membership to the newly reformed Justice League. The Justice League have a newly built Watch Tower, and after all the memberships are handed out, they take a group photo. The Justice League is now back in action. At the Watch Tower, Hal and Dinah were playing chess against Mr. Terrific simultaneously. Meanwhile, Batman encounters Karate Kid from the Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century. After Batman knocks Karate Kid out, he takes him to the Watch Tower and reveals that Mr. Terrific just makes Dinah play against Hal, and he will eventually lose one game. Dinah wins the match. They try to find out what Karate Kid is doing in their time and discovers that there are a total of 7 of them trapped in this time. Dinah calls JSA leader Power Girl to set up a meeting with the JSA. They split into separate groups to search for the other missing ones. Once the 7 Legionnaires regrouped, they broke out a fight against the League and Society, then went to separate locations. They ended up brining Wally West and his family back.

Living with Sin

While eating at a fast food restaurant, Dinah tells Sinabout the time she teamed with Green Arrow. Dinah also mentions that Ollie has finally really proposed to her, but it's complicated so she hasn't given him an answer yet. Dinah then goes to the bathroom while Sin places in the play place. A boy decides to pick on Sin and made her retaliate, destroying the whole place. Back at their motel, Dinah tries to get Sin to stop fighting, afterwards, Sin goes outside to get some ice where she is confronted by a mysterious stranger. Dinah kicks the guy into the ice vendor and realizes that he is her ex-husband. He tells her that some people what him dead and begs her to protect him. At first, Dinah declines, but she eventually comes to save him in time. With the help of her ex-husband Craig, she was able to enroll Sin into a safe school and leased a house in Star City. After Sin got out of school, Ollie and Mia Dearden (Speedy) come over to Dinah's to have sushi.

The next day at school, Sin is attacked by the League Of Assassins. She defeated the ninjas and ran out of the school, where she beat up a few cops. Sin sees Ollie in a car outside calling her, to which runs to. However, when she gets in the car she is knocked out by a gas arrow. It was actually Merlyn in disguise. Dinah, Green Arrow, and Speedy investigate the area of the kidnapping only to find out someone that looked like Green Arrow kidnapped Sin. Dinah decides to go search for Sin by herself, while Green Arrow and Speedy check out other leads. Dinah heads over to Craig's apartment to discover a bomb attached underneath his car, and him packing ready to leave town. She makes him tell her everything he knew about the people that threatened him. With the help of Oracle, Dinah and Craig set up a trap for Merlyn at his office, while Green Arrow and Speedy went to rescue Sin. After Meryln arrives, Dinah engages against him and defeats him easily. She then heads to the harbor to help out Green Arrow. Speedy was able to rescue Sin and was putting her on the life boat. Green Arrow gets impatient and shoots an arrow at the boat's rope to drop it in the water. However, the boat shatters and Sin is no where to be found.

Dinah becomes extremely enraged at what had happened to Sin, and the League of Assassins member only fuelled her rage when they blame her for causing them to fail their mission. She then beats on the League of Assassins, then Merlyn arrives, and also blamed Dinah for ruining his only chance to rule the world. She beats down Merlyn and nearly kills him, Ollie was able to talk her out of it before she committed murder. Back at home, she throws away Ollie's engagement ring. Ollie comes in and gives Dinah a letter written by Sin. Sin tells Dinah that Ollie thought of a plan to keep the League of Assassins from continuously coming after her. However, it involved Dinah to believe that Sin was killed. In fact, Sin did not fall into the water, she would hang on the side of the boat with a rope and slipped in through the ship's window. Dinah needed to have a real reaction to make it believable. Speedy took Sin to Conner and he took her to Ollie's former master to hide. After letting some anger out at Ollie, she tells him that she accepts his proposal.

Wedding

After some difficulty the two decide to get married in the Secret Sanctuary the cave that the JLA used as their first HQ. Almost every hero in DC universe is invited to the wedding. The wedding special involved alot about the wedding including those invited, invitations, the actual wedding, and more. The wedding was attacked by Deathstroke (of course it had to) and many more villains. They attempted to kill as many heroes as possible in one move, but almost all the villains were captured except for Deathstroke who was able to get away. The wedding was able to go on and Ollie and Dinah were soon married. The two soon got on with the honeymoon and couldn't wait to start the "physical part!" However a blank look came over Ollie's face and he wen't berserk and was choking Dinah to death, she no choice but to stab him in the neck with some arrows that they knocked over. When the Green Arrow/Black Canary miniseries started everyone was giving the condolences to Dinah, but she was convinced that Ollie wasn't dead. Connor Hawk also doesn't think that his father is dead too. Dinah also runs into Batman who also doesn't think that that was Ollie. Soon Batman and Dr. Mid-Nite ran an their own autopsy on the body and found out it was actually a shape-shifter named Everyman. Meanwhile it was revealed that Ollie is being held hostage by Amazons in Themyscira.

Dinah decides to go to the Amazonian islands with Speedy. And while Dinah and Speedy were distracting the Amazons, Conner would rescue Ollie. Dinah meets up with Athena, and after one of the Amazons continuously insulted Speedy, Dinah took offence and knocked the Amazon on her back. Athena then offers Dinah to join her and her cause. Dinah tells her that she needs to think about it, but Athena only gives her an hour. Meanwhile, Conner went to the other side of the island to find Ollie locked up in a cage. He successfully frees him and the two head for an exit, only to be confronted by a large group of Amazons.

Alternate Continuities

All-Star Batman and Robin

Black Canary is a sexy, gorgeous bartender in the bad part of Gotham City. She wears her leather jacket and black costume with a mask while bartending, and her fuse is about the blow as these sleazy drunks continuously hit on her. After she tells off a couple of guys, one of them slaps her on the butt, only to get the teeth kicked out of him. Canary then started beating up all the drunks in the bar, after she knocked everyone out, she proceeded to robbing them. Her boss comes out and she tells him that she is resigning and that Batman is on her mind. After he replied to her saying "Sweet Chunks," he gets kicked through the window by Canary. She then steals one of the drunk's motorcycle and leaves. She heads over to the docks to beat up some thugs. Coincidentally, Batman was also at the docks conducting an investigation of his own. Canary then fights the two thugs and easily knocks them out, also stealing their money afterwards. However, she is then ambushed by more armed men. Canary was able to avoid most of the gun shots and knock some of them out. She held on long enough for Batman to arrive. While Batman was beating up the thugs, Black Canary stood there and watched as she started becoming attracted to the Batman. After Batman was done, the two shared a kiss and Batman took her back to home.

Kingdom Come

Twenty years into the future of the current DC Universe, superheroes have split into two different categories. There were the traditional superheroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League. The other category were vigilantes like Batman and his meta-human team of "Outsiders." Black Canary was on Batman's side and acted as one of his generals. In this future, Dinah married Oliver Queen (one of Batman's partners) and the two have a daughter named Olivia Queen, who also acts under the alias Black Canary. She also wields a bow similar to her husband. However, during the Gulag battle, she was killed by a meta-human named Trix, who accidentally shot an arrow into her head. She died in Oliver's arms. Oliver would soon suffer the same fate as he was caught and killed in the nuclear explosion.

Powers

Black Canary has an ability called the "Canary Cry," which she sends out an ultrasonic sound from her mouth by screaming. The sound is strong enough to destroy solid objects and incapacitate her opponents. She is also a master martial artist, and is also considered one of the seven best fighters in the DC Universe.

Justice League Unlimited

Black Canary becomes a member of the Justice League in the first episode entitled "Initiation." She was also the reason why Green Arrow decided to accept the membership to the Justice League. Canary had a minor role in the first season, however her character would develop more through the next couple of season. Black Canary had some episodes that were about her, the first being the first episode in the second season entitled "The Cat and the Canary." This episode explored her relationship with her former mentor and Justice League member, Wildcat. Wildcat had lost his flame for fighting crime as he began to realize he was too old for it. Canary would convince Green Arrow to help her get Wildcat back on the right track. After discovering he was fighting in an illegal cage fighting league that pitted superhumans against each other, they decided to challenge Wildcat to a fight. Green Arrow would battle Wildcat and feign his own death, and it snaps Wildcat out of his funk. The next episode for Black Canary would be in season two episode nine entitled "Double Date." This was a homage to the comic Black Canary and Green Arrow's relationship. Another interesting fact about this episode was that it was written by Gail Simone (Birds of Prey writer), and that she wanted to be a tribute to the Birds of Prey, but the script ended up going in a different direction. In this episode, Black Canary and Green Arrow tail Huntress and Question as they try to get revenge on mob boss Steven Mandragora.

The next episode with Black Canary getting more screen time was entitled "Grudge Match" in season three episode nine. This episode was an all women's fight as the illegal superhuman fight promoter named Roulette, who was responsible for persuading Wildcat into this sport, forced Canary to battle her fellow Justice League members under mind control. After Canary defeats Huntress, Vixen, and Hawkgirl, they were free from the mind control. The four of them were then pitted against Wonder Woman, they eventually defeat her and lifted the mind control. In the episode entitled "Destroyer," it was the series finale and Black Canary was in it. She and the Justice League defended Earth from Darkseid's invasion.

Episode Appearances

Initiation

Fearful Symmetry

The Dark Heart

The Cat and the Canary

Double Date

Panic in the Sky

Divided We Fall

To Another Shore

Grudge Match

Destroyer

Black Canary Appears in These Volumes

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