Black Canary is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by the writer-artist team of Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, the character debuted in Flash Comics #86 (August 1947). One of DC's earliest super-heroines, Black Canary has appeared in many of the company's flagship team-up titles including Justice Society of America and Justice League of America. Since the late 1960s, the character has been paired with archer superhero the Green Arrow professionally and romantically.
At her Golden Age debut, Black Canary was the alter ego of Dinah Drake and participated in crime-fighting adventures with her love interest (and eventual husband), Gotham City detective Larry Lance. Initially, the character was a hand-to-hand fighter without superpowers who often posed as a criminal to infiltrate criminal gangs. Later stories depicted her as a world-class martial artist with a superpower: the "Canary Cry", a high-powered sonic scream which could shatter objects and incapacitate enemies (even ones powerful enough to kill Kryptonians such as Superman). When DC Comics adjusted its continuity, Black Canary was established as two separate entities: mother and daughter, Dinah Drake-Lance and Dinah Laurel Lance. Stories since the Silver Age have focused on the younger Black Canary, ascribing her superhuman abilities to a genetic mutation.
Black Canary has been adapted into various media, including direct-to-video animated films, video games, and both live-action and animated television series, featuring as a main or recurring character in the shows Birds of Prey, Justice League Unlimited, Smallville, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice and Arrow. The character is ranked the 21st-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard, and IGN rated her its 11th greatest all-time comic book hero. She was number 6 on Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.
Video Black Canary
Publication history
Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino created the character in 1947 to be featured in Flash Comics as a supporting character. Appearing first as a clandestine crime-fighter who infiltrates criminal organizations to break them from the inside, Black Canary was drawn with fishnet stockings and a black leather jacket to connote images of a sexualized yet strong female character. She appeared as a character in a back-up story featuring "Johnny Thunder":
I was drawing Johnny Thunder, which was not much of a character. I suppose he could have been better because his 'Thunderbolt' was interesting, but the situations they were in were pretty juvenile. Bob Kanigher wrote those stories, and he had no respect for the characters. These stories were nowhere near as good as 'The Flash' stories. DC knew it--they knew 'Johnny Thunder' was a loser, so Kanigher and I brought the Black Canary into the series. Immediately she got a good response, and it was, 'Bye, bye, Johnny Thunder.' Nobody missed him."
According to Amash & Nolen-Weathington (2010), Black Canary is "really" Carmine Infantino's "first character." According to the artist: "When Kanigher gave me the script, I said, 'How do you want me to draw her?' He said, 'What's your fantasy of a good-looking girl? That's what I want.' Isn't that a great line? So that's what I did. I made her strong in character and sexy in form. The funny part is that years later, while in Korea on a National Cartoonists trip, I met a dancer who was the exact image of the Black Canary. And I went out with her for three years.
Bob didn't ask me for a character sketch [for the Black Canary]. He had a lot of respect for me, I must say that. He always trusted my work... Bob loved my Black Canary design."
Maps Black Canary
Character biography
Dinah Drake
Dinah Drake made her debut in Flash Comics #86 (August 1947) as a supporting character in the "Johnny Thunder" feature, written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Carmine Infantino. Initially appearing as a villain; Johnny is instantly infatuated with her, and is reproached by his Thunderbolt. Dinah is later revealed to have been infiltrating a criminal gang.
In Flash Comics #92 (February 1948) she has her own anthology feature, "Black Canary", replacing "Johnny Thunder". The new series fleshed out Black Canary's backstory: Dinah Drake was a black-haired florist in love with Larry Lance, a Gotham City Police Department detective. She first meets the Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #38 (December 1947-January 1948), joining them in All Star Comics #41 (June-July 1948).
Black Canary was revived with the other Golden Age characters during the 1960s. In these stories, it is retroactively established she lives on the parallel world of Earth-2 (home of DC's Golden Age versions of its characters). Married to Larry Lance since the 1950s, Dinah participates in annual team-ups between the Justice Society and Earth-1's Justice League of America.
In a 1969 JLA/JSA team-up against the rogue star-creature Aquarius, who banished Earth-2's inhabitants (except the JSA) to another dimension, Larry Lance is killed saving Dinah's life and Aquarius is defeated. Grief-stricken, Canary moves to Earth-1 and joins the Justice League. She begins a relationship with JLA colleague Green Arrow and discovers that she has developed an ultrasonic scream, the Canary Cry.
Black Canary teams with Batman five times in The Brave and the Bold and once with Superman in DC Comics Presents. Appearing frequently as a guest in the "Green Arrow" backup feature of Action Comics, she was a backup feature in World's Finest Comics #244 (April-May 1977) to #256 (April-May 1979) (when the title was in Dollar Comics format). Black Canary's backstory was featured in DC Special Series #10 (April 1978). After the "Black Canary" feature in World's Finest Comics, she appears as a guest in its "Green Arrow" feature and in Detective Comics.
A story in Justice League of America #219-220 (October and November 1983) served to explain the origin of Black Canary's new sonic scream powers, and further, why she continued to appear youthful despite being active since the late 1940s (thereby making her nearly 60 years old). It was established that during the 1950s, she and Larry had a daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, who was cursed by the Wizard with a devastating sonic scream. Her mother hoped that Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt could cure her, but the Thunderbolt was only able to keep the younger Dinah in suspended animation in his own dimension. To ease their pain, the Thunderbolt altered the memories of the tragedy, leaving all to believe Dinah's daughter had simply died. Following the battle with Aquarius, Dinah discovered she was dying from radiation exposure, and she asked to see her daughter's grave one last time. Shown the body of her daughter--still in suspended animation, but now grown to adulthood--Dinah wished that she could somehow be her successor. The Superman of Earth-1 and the Thunderbolt conceived a solution, and transferred Dinah's memories into her daughter's body so that she could continue fighting as the Black Canary.
A Black Canary miniseries by writer Greg Weisman and artist Mike Sekowsky was planned in 1984. Although its first issue was pencilled, the project was shelved due to the character's use in writer-artist Mike Grell's high-profile Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters series. Elements of the project were used in Weisman's short film, DC Showcase: Green Arrow.
Dinah Laurel Lance
Following the universe-altering events of Crisis on Infinite Earths (concluding in March 1986), Black Canary's history was revised again. The mind-transplant story of 1983 was discarded; in this version of the story, the present-day Black Canary is Dinah Laurel Lance, who inherits the identity from her mother, Dinah Drake Lance. Although some references (for example, those in James Robinson's Starman series) tried to distinguish the two Canaries by calling the first "Diana", recent accounts have confirmed Dinah as the mother's given name.
The two Canaries' origin stories were told in full in Secret Origins #50 (August 1990). In this story, Dinah Drake is trained by her father, detective Richard Drake, intending to follow him on the Gotham City police force. When she is turned down, her disillusioned father dies shortly afterwards. Determined to honor his memory, Dinah fights crime and corruption by any possible means. She becomes a costumed vigilante, using her inheritance to open a flower shop as her day job. Dinah marries her lover, private eye Larry Lance, and several years later their daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, is born (Birds of Prey #66 (June 2004) would establish that they took the name "Laurel" from a librarian Dinah befriended during a case).
The younger Dinah has her own "Canary Cry"--in this version, the result of a metagene absent from both her parents--which (unlike the Silver Age Black Canary) she can control. Growing up surrounded by her mother's friends in the disbanded JSA (seeing them as uncles and aunts), she wishes to be a costumed hero like her mother, but the elder Dinah discourages her, feeling that the world has become too dangerous for her daughter to succeed. Regardless, Dinah finds fighters (including former JSA member Wildcat) who help her hone her skills, and after years of dedication and training, she assumes the mantle of Black Canary despite her mother's opposition. Like her mother, Dinah operates out of Gotham, with a day job in the family floral business.
In an early Birds of Prey issue, writer Chuck Dixon has Dinah briefly married and divorced at a young age. Although ex-husband Craig Windrow seems to need her help, he actually wants to reconcile after he embezzles from the mob. Dinah's early marriage and ex-husband are not mentioned again until the 2007 Black Canary limited series.
After joining the Justice League, Dinah meets Green Arrow (Oliver Queen). Although she dislikes him at first, they become romantically involved despite their age difference; opposite the earlier depiction, in the Modern Age stories Oliver is considerably older than Dinah. Dinah is a League member for about six years, including a brief stint with Justice League International (JLI, which she helps found). After her mother's death from radiation poisoning received during her battle with Aquarius, Dinah feels that her time in the JLA is over. She moves to Seattle with Green Arrow and opens a flower shop, Sherwood Florist.
When Dinah belonged to the JLI during the 1980s she wore a new costume, a blue-and-black full-body jumpsuit with a bird motif and a slightly looser fit instead of her traditional, skin-tight black outfit with fishnet stockings. The change was poorly received and short-lived, and later artists restored her original look.
Birds of Prey
When former Batgirl Barbara Gordon is seriously injured by the Joker, she reestablishes her crime-fighting career as Oracle, information broker to the superhero community. After briefly working with the Suicide Squad, she forms a covert-mission team. Since Barbara thinks that of all the superheroes Dinah has the most potential, Oracle asks Black Canary to become an operative.
Black Canary reinvents herself, trading her blonde wig for bleached blonde hair. Her relationship with Oracle is rocky at first, since her impulsiveness clashes with Oracle's organization. Gradually, they learn to work together and became friends. When Oracle flees from Blockbuster Dinah rescues her and meets Barbara Gordon, deepening their friendship.
Infinite Crisis gives Earth a new timeline, with Wonder Woman again a founding member of the Justice League. In a Week 51 back-up feature of 52, Black Canary is at the battle which forms the League. Its core is Black Canary, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), the Martian Manhunter, the Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. In the 2007 Black Canary miniseries, she and Green Arrow join the Justice League after its founding and are tested by founding member Batman early in their membership.
During publication of the Infinite Crisis limited series, most DC Universe comic books advanced one year. After this "One Year Later" jump, Dinah trades life experiences with Lady Shiva to soften the warrior and begins a harsh training regimen in an unidentified Vietnamese shanty town. The regimen replicates Shiva's early life and training, and Shiva assumes Dinah's role in Oracle's group.
During Countdown, several series include tie-ins and run-ups to the wedding of Dinah and Ollie. The Black Canary Wedding Planner details the preparations; in Birds of Prey #109, Dinah and Barbara discuss the wedding (and Ollie). Countdown: Justice League Wedding Special, and Justice League #13 deal with the bachelor and bachelorette parties. A plot thread throughout is a plan by the Injustice League to attack the wedding.
Dinah resigns as JLA chairwoman after the team's confrontation with the Shadow Cabinet. After learning that Ollie began his own Justice League with Hal Jordan, she confronts him when he arrives at the Watchtower to warn her of an attack on the world's superheroes. Prometheus arrives and attacks the team, severing Red Arrow's arm and maneuvering Dinah into the path of an energy bolt fired by Mikaal Tomas. After Prometheus is defeated, he destroys Star City with a teleportation device. In their search for survivors, Dinah and Ollie discover the bloody body of Roy's daughter, Lian. Dinah goes to Roy's hospital bedside with Donna Troy to break the news about his daughter when he emerges from his coma.
In Blackest Night, Dinah travels to Coast City to fight Nekron's army of Black Lanterns. According to Nekron, he can control the heroes (including Ollie) who have died and been resurrected. Dinah fights her husband, now a Black Lantern, with Mia and Connor. Ollie regains control of his body long enough to miss his wife with a shot which severs a hose containing liquid nitrogen. Dinah orders Connor to use the hose on Ollie, freezing him solid, and the three join the rest of the heroes in battle.
When Ollie returns to normal, it is discovered that he secretly murdered Prometheus and left his body to rot at his headquarters. After Barry Allen and Hal Jordan confront Ollie and Dinah with the news, Ollie escapes. Dinah, Hal and Barry search the ruins of Star City for him, finding him looking for one of the men who worked for Prometheus. Ollie overpowers them, leaving Dinah in a restraining fluid. After Green Arrow surrenders for Prometheus' murder, Dinah visits him in jail and realizes that he wants to be left alone. She removes her wedding ring, leaving it with him, and does not attend his trial.
In Brightest Day, Dinah returns to Gotham in a relaunch of Birds of Prey with Gail Simone. In Birds of Prey #1 (July 2010), she is sent to save a child with Lady Blackhawk. After receiving a call from Oracle, the team (including Huntress) is reunited. They are confronted by a new villainess, White Canary, who has a grudge against Dinah and exposes her civilian identity. After capturing White Canary (the vengeful sister of the Twelve Brothers in Silk), Dinah learns that Lady Shiva is behind the attack on the Birds. Dinah and White Canary travel to Bangkok; when the Birds arrive a short time later, Dinah attacks them dressed as White Canary. Later, Dinah reveals that Sin and her foster parents are being held hostage, their lives threatened unless Dinah challenges Lady Shiva to a fight to the death. Huntress offers to take Dinah's place instead, reasoning that she has too many people who love her. However, this gives Dinah the opportunity to rescue Sin with the help of one of White Canary's students, Terry, and race back to halt the duel between Helena and Shiva. While the duel is understood to be a matter of duty and honor, Dinah brings to their attention that there was no time mentioned and for now the fight must end, and to be resumed at a later time. While White Canary is displeased, Shiva sides with Black Canary and the Birds and the fight is over.
Bloodspell
Although the Black Canary-Zatanna graphic novel Bloodspell, written by Paul Dini and drawn by Joe Quinones, was scheduled for a 2012 release, it was delayed until May 2014. The story centers around the meeting of 16-year-old Dinah and Zatanna.
The New 52
In the New 52, Dinah Lance, a founding member of the Birds of Prey, recruits the team beginning with her friend Ev Crawford, known as Starling. Eventually Katana and Poison Ivy also join the team. Initially reluctant to join, Batgirl becomes a regular addition to the cast by the fourth issue of the series. Black Canary's maiden name is Dinah Drake, and was never married to Oliver Queen in this continuity. Black Canary joins Team 7 in a flashback, and is drafted into the Justice League to assist in the "Throne of Atlantis" crossover, and after which she remains a reserve member.
Post-Flashpoint, Dinah Drake was born the child of a teenage single mother, handed into foster care at the age of four. Considered a troublemaker, she moved from foster home to foster home, and finally ran away at the age of ten. Taking to the streets of Gotham, she was caught dumpster diving by Desmond Lamar, an ex-Special Forces agent and martial arts sensei who took her in, offering her a job to clean his dojo after classes, and in return he would provide her with food and a safe place to sleep. At her request, Lamar took to teaching her the same teaching he provided his students, and she became his regular. When Lamar contracted fatal brain cancer, he left her his dojo. Unfortunately, he was the only one who could keep the local gangs from getting protection money out of them. Dinah's martial arts prowess could only keep them at bay for so long. Eventually she began losing students who feared the possibility of their retaliation. Flashbacks show that during Zero Year, Dinah's dojo was destroyed in a fire. It was at this point, John Lynch, impressed by her martial arts prowess in taking down several ninjas during an attack, recruited her into Team 7.
During her tenure with Team 7, Dinah works as a covert ops agent in charge of infiltration. She is given the codename Operative Canary. It is during this time that Dinah secretly marries her longtime partner, Kurt Lance. Her powers are subsequently awakened after being tested metagene-positive. Toward the end of the Team 7 run during a mission to retrieve Pandora's Box, Dinah's sonic scream surfaces and are amplified by Kurt's, the after-effect of which ultimately destroyed the island of Gamorra. In the aftermath, Kurt is presumed dead and Team 7 is mothballed, leaving Dinah a fugitive on the run from authorities and an outlaw codenaming herself Black Canary.
After Team 7, Black Canary continues freelance covert operations hunting the terrorist network known as Basilisk, and later attempts to form a team recruiting Starling, Katana, Poison Ivy, and later Batgirl. The team is ambushed by treachery from Poison Ivy and eventually Starling, pressuring Dinah to question her leadership. As the team roster progresses and evolves following the departure of Katana to include Strix and Condor, Dinah's questioning reaches its peak to erupt trust issues and notably with Batgirl when she discovers her powers are being manipulated by an apparently alive Kurt Lance.
Throughout her missions with the Birds, Dinah encounters and protects an elderly woman, Miss Ettie, later revealed to be known as Mother Eve, a centuries-old woman hunted by Ra's al Ghul for her immortality which takes place in the form of her metamorphosis into her youth after every life. She claims that in nearly every life, she was a mother and outlived her children, some of whom have developed unique abilities genetically, and believes that Dinah might have gained her abilities through a genetic link to her.
When Dinah's husband Kurt is found to have no memory of his past life with her, and she realizes Amanda Waller is involved, she summons Waller to seek for answers during a mission against the Suicide Squad. Confronting Waller, she is informed that Kurt was revived by a Samsara Serum, and the resurrection process damaged his memory. With the truth of Dinah's past and her setting up of this meeting with Waller shared with the Birds, Batgirl confronts Dinah on her leadership and angrily disapproves of Dinah's actions in keeping it from the team. As a result, the Birds of Prey part ways.
After a long rift, Dinah returns to apologize to Barbara, and is forced to move in with her when her dojo is burned down (which was partially Barbara's fault). It is later revealed that Dinah has become the lead singer of a band called Ashes on Sunday. Black Canary's appearances on Batgirl lead to the spin-off Black Canary, which focuses on Dinah's attempts to balance a musical career with the difficult life she leads as a vigilante. After her stint with Ashes on Sunday, Dinah received an offer from A&B Records for an album and go on tour, and joins a rock band she named Black Canary. As the lead singer of Black Canary, Dinah attempts to leave her past life behind and takes to the stage name D.D., joining the likes of drummer Lord Byron, keyboardist Paloma Terrific and mute guitarist Ditto--all of whom are accompanied by the band's tour manager, Heathcliff Ray. However, when her friends' lives are threatened, Dinah dedicates herself to training them in battle. Over the course of the title, Dinah learns more about her powers, which derive from an alien girl named Ditto, and finds that the frontwoman she replaced, Maeve, has been given identical powers by a criminal syndicate. The series ends with issue 12.
DC Rebirth
In Geoff Johns' DC Rebirth #1, Wally West reflects, from outside the universe, on how Black Canary and Green Arrow hardly know each other any more, when they should be husband and wife, as a result of sinister alterations to the timeline. The comic shows the pair briefly meeting, by chance, and then separately staying up at night, contemplating what is missing from their lives. They meet again in Green Arrow Rebirth #1, and instantly hit it off. In the ensuing Green Arrow series, Dinah is the first to notice something awry with Oliver's apparent suicide (in fact, an attempted assassination by Shado) and disappearance. She is also a current member of the Birds of Prey, as well as the Justice League of America. In Birds of Prey: Rebirth, it is revealed that Dinah and Barbara (Batgirl) have been good friends for a few years now, while just meeting Helena Bertinelli (Huntress). In Justice League of America, she is seen fighting Caitlin Snow (Killer Frost), and is later recruited by Batman due to the skills she possesses.
Powers, abilities and equipment
Although depictions of Black Canary have varied over the years, she is often portrayed as a prodigious hand-to-hand combatant with Boxing, Judo, Shuri-Te, and Wing Chun being the most notable of her style. Having been trained by other top-tier fighters such as Wildcat, Lady Shiva, Cassandra Cain, Wonder Woman and more. In addition to her martial arts skills, Black Canary has also been depicted as an expert motorcyclist, gymnast, covert operative, and investigator. She is also an excellent leader and tactician, having served as the field commander of the Birds of Prey and was the leader of the Justice League for a time.
Her superpower, the Canary Cry, allows her to create ultrasonic vibrations from her mouth whenever she screams allowing her to severely damage both organic and inorganic objects. Her Canary Cry has been depicted as having the capabilities as most sonic weapons, ten-fold and has even been depicted as breaking metals and as having the resonance to affect and shatter the Earth. In the New 52, her Canary Cry now grants her the ability to glide and propel herself across long distances in by screaming downwards. Despite its power, Black Canary often relies on her martial arts skills instead, preferring to use her Canary Cry only during urgent situations such as against super-powered opponents.
The origin of Black Canary's Canary Cry has been retconned over the course of her character history, with it being depicted as magical in origin due to being cursed by the Wizard. Later, the cry is depicted as an inborn metahuman ability. As of the New 52, her ability is result of human experimentation by the executive leaders of Team 7 involving her being treated with genes from an alien girl named Ditto.
Other versions
- JLA: The Nail
- In JLA: The Nail, Black Canary leads the Outsiders after Oliver Queen is crippled by Amazo; the partnership dissolves when Queen says he feels like a mascot. In a previous battle, the character's sonic scream and Black Lightning's blasts vaporize Brainiac.
- Kingdom Come
- In the DC Elseworlds comic Kingdom Come, Black Canary and Green Arrow are Batman's generals. In this future world, the romantic partners have a daughter: Olivia Queen, also known as Black Canary.
- Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl
- In another DC Elseworlds comic, Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Black Canary is an African-American woman who makes a brief appearance.
- All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder
- Frank Miller's All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, drawn by Jim Lee, features a character based on Black Canary. An immigrant from County Monaghan, Ireland, she is an unnamed barmaid in the seedy Black Canary.
- The Dark Knight Strikes Again
- In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Black Canary is a member of the Superchix, a pop-music trio.
- League of Justice
- Black Canary is a goddess-like character in League of Justice, a Lord of the Rings-type Elseworlds story. Although she has many names, she is most commonly called "the lady of the birds". Her hair is blonde on one side and black on the other.
- Justice
- In Justice, the widowed Black Canary is involved with Green Arrow.
- Earth-3
- In the 52 multiverse, an African-American Black Canary is a member of the Crime Society. In JLA: Earth 2, White Cat is an evil counterpart of Black Canary.
- Earth-11
- On Earth-11, a world of reversed genders, Black Condor is a male version of Black Canary.
- Superman/Batman
- In the Superman/Batman storyline "Mash-Up", elements of Black Canary combine with Starfire, creating Star Canary.
- Justice League: Generation Lost
- An African-American version of Black Canary is part of a future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost. She is a descendant of Black Canary's teammates Hawk and Dove.
- Injustice series
- Injustice: Gods Among Us
- In the comic prequel based off the video game, Black Canary appears. In Year One, she is a member of Batman's insurgency alongside her husband, Green Arrow. Although initially skeptical and distrusting, like her husband she forms an unusual attachment to Harley Quinn after Oliver saves her from Superman's wrath. After Oliver dies giving his life to deliver a pill that can grant people superhuman physical abilities, Dinah instinctively knowing her husband is dead orders the retreat with the other members of the Insurgency. In Year Two, Dinah attempts to breaks off her friendship with Hal Jordan and declares to Superman that she will personally take him down for murdering her husband; during which she is revealed to be pregnant with Oliver's child. She later gives birth to a son, Connor Lance-Queen, who she leaves with Doctor Fate and Zatanna. Using the super pill, Dinah attacks Superman and manages to immobilize him with a Kryptonite bullet. Her victory is short lived as Superman is given a Sinestro-Corps ring to remove the bullet and fatally injures Dinah with his Heat Vision. Dinah reveals that she was recording all of Superman's actions and the footage was broadcast by Oracle via camera contact lenses so that Superman can no longer convince the public he is still a hero. Black Canary is considered dead by most of the Insurgency, but secretly she was healed and transported to alternate universe with her son where a different version of Oliver Queen exists, but his own Dinah Laurel Lance was killed. Doctor Fate leaves the two together, giving them a chance at happiness.
- Injustice 2
- In the comic prequel based off the video game's sequel, Dinah and the alternate Oliver were having a happy life with their grown up son Connor in the alternate world. Shortly, Doctor Fate returns to bring Dinah back to their world and bringing the good news of Superman's defeat, offering her a chance to help the Insurgency rebuild the world. During the events of the game, Black Canary and Green Arrow are recruited by Batman to join the Insurgency, upon being taken to the Batcave, are introduced to Harley Quinn. While Oliver is hesitant about trusting her, Dinah seems more open. Batman sends the trio to Gorilla City to take down Grodd and his Secret Society. Once they arrive, Canary and Arrow infiltrate Grodd's headquarters and deafeat Catwoman and Bane before being interrupted by Doctor Fate who informs them that a world-ending event will destroy Earth and offers to take them and Connor back to their universe. They refuse and apprehend Grodd but they are captured by Brainiac before they can take him into custody. Oliver and Dinah are then put under Grodd's telepathic control and are forced to fight Aquaman and Black Adam but are freed once Grodd is defeated.
- Arrowverse
- In The CW's Arrowverse, Earth-2 Dinah Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) is a supervillain and metahuman (unlike her Earth-1 counterpart, also portrayed by Cassidy) and is known as the Black Siren. She first appeared on The Flash before becoming a regular character on Arrow.
In other media
Although she has a lower profile than DC flagship characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, Black Canary has appeared in live-action and animated adaptations of DC properties and in video games based on the comic books.
Live action
Black Canary's first live-action appearance was Danulta Wesley's 1979 portrayal in NBC's two Legends of the Superheroes specials. The character appeared in the short-lived 2002 television series Birds of Prey, an adaptation of the comic book. Dinah Lance became Dinah Redmond (played by Rachel Skarsten), a teenage runaway with psychic powers. Her mother Carolyn Lance (played by Lori Loughlin) was Black Canary with a supersonic Canary Cry. In 2008, Smallville introduced Black Canary (played by Alaina Huffman) as an assassin who is recruited for Green Arrow's team of superheroes. She appears in a number of episodes, including several season premieres and finales.
In the TV show Arrow (2012- ), and other shows in its fictional universe, Dinah Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) is an attorney who commonly goes by the name Laurel. Her sister, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) returns in Season Two after a six-year absence as a trained assassin for the League of Assassins who works alongside the Arrow (Stephen Amell) to protect Starling City as the Canary. When she dies, Laurel trains to honor her, operating as the Black Canary until her own murder in Season Four. In the spin-off show Legends of Tomorrow (2016-), a resurrected Sara Lance resumes heroism under the moniker White Canary as prompted by Laurel. Cassidy also portrays Laurel's villainous Earth-Two metahuman doppelgänger, Black Siren, on The Flash, and also in the fifth season of Arrow. Cassidy reprises her role as Black Siren on Season Six of Arrow as a series regular.
In Season Five, Arrow introduced a new Black Canary in Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy), a former Central City undercover cop with the alias of Tina Boland and possessing a metahuman Canary Cry, who continues the Canary legacy. Harkavy was promoted to series regular for Season Six.
Animation
The Dinah Drake version of the character is the basis of the character Donna Nance, the Black Siren (voiced by Jennifer Hale), in the Justice League animated series episode "Legends" (2002). The Dinah Laurel Lance version (voiced by Morena Baccarin) appears in the sequel series Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006), where she is a member of the Justice League, develops a romantic relationship with Green Arrow and a partnership with Huntress during the series.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-2011) featured Black Canary (voiced by Grey DeLisle) in a number of episodes. In one, she forms the Birds of Prey with Catwoman and Huntress. In another, her Canary Cry is used to break a spell done by the Music Meister. Grey DeLisle reprises her role in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Young Justice (2010-2013) features Black Canary (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) as a member of the Justice League and combat trainer for the show's team of teenage superheroes. Her relationship with Green Arrow links her to his family of superheroes.
Classic and modern versions of the character appear in several DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Kari Wahlgren voices Black Canary in the Green Arrow series of DC Nation Shorts. The Dinah Drake version of Black Canary makes a cameo in DC Super Hero Girls, graduating from Super Hero High.
Video games
Jennifer Hale and Grey DeLisle reprise the character in video games, appearing in Justice League Heroes for PlayStation Portable and Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame respectively. In DC Universe Online, Black Canary is a non-playable character voiced by Kelley Huston. The character appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham voiced by Kari Wahlgren. She's also included in Young Justice: Legacy. Black Canary made her debut as a playable character in the 2017 game Injustice 2, with Vanessa Marshall having reprised her role from Young Justice.
Music
In 2016, DC Comics released a three-track musical album called EP 1 to promote the comic book, in which Black Canary becomes the lead singer of a band that shares her name. Caveboy lead singer, Michelle Bensimon provided Dinah's singing voice. A followup three-track album called EP 2 followed in August 2017.
See also
- Black Canary (comic book)
- Woman warrior
References
External links
- JSA Fact File: Black Canary I
- Earth-2 Black Canary at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Earth-1 Black Canary at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Cosmic Teams: Black Canary I & II
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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