Black Canary (real name Dinah Lance) is a superheroine and a member of the Justice League. She was the hand-to-hand combat instructor for the Team, and later their counselor.
Black Canary is confident and clearheaded, and she takes her role as a trainer for the younger heroes very seriously. She is not one to mince words, but instead likes to get right to the point. She believes that injuries and setbacks come with the job of being a hero. While teaching the young heroes, she is stern, but also gives praise where it is due. She also shows a great deal of patience, particularly when working with Superboy, who initially dismisses her training techniques.[6]
Physical appearance[]
Black Canary in 2010.
Black Canary is an attractive young woman, with long blonde hair, blue eyes and a slender yet toned build. She is known for her distinctive costume, which includes a black, one-piece bustier-leotard combination under a blue lapelled jacket, with gray stockings with seams up the front and back. She wears black, heavy, calf-length boots, black fingerless gloves that go past the elbow to the biceps, and a black choker. By 2018 she wore a lapelless jacket.
History[]
Early life[]
The current Black Canary is the daughter of the original Black Canary, who was born in 1943. She gave birth to the current Black Canary in 1986, when she was relatively old.[2] She first began to develop her signature Canary Cry in first grade, and after an accident that nearly deafened her class, she tried a vow of silence.[7]She trained with many of her mother's friends and superhero peers, including Wildcat[8]and became a hero in 2007.[9]She joined the Justice League in August, 2008.[10]
She currently resides in Star City.[11]She works as a therapist and owns a flower shop.[12]
Black Canary and Green Arrow were attacked by Amazo. Green Arrow summoned six other members of the Justice League for help, and after a four-hour battle, they defeated and dismantled Amazo. Black Canary's left arm was injured during the battle, and she later bandaged it.
Mount Justice August 3, 13:03EDT
First training session with Black Canary
Later the same day, Black Canary arrived at Mount Justice with Martian Manhunter and assembled the Team for their first training session. She opened the session with a demonstration, quickly taking down Kid Flash despite his super-speed.
Superboy spoke dismissively about how such training was pointless for him, as he felt his powers compensated for his lack in combat experience. Black Canary proved him wrong by defeating him twice all the while still trying to teach him to control his temper and his situation. Batman cut the training session short however, sending the Team on a mission. Before leaving Canary informed Superboy that when he needed her, she would be there for him. Eventually Superboy took her lesson to heart, and after the Team defeated Amazo, he asked for her help.[6]
Shortly after, she was contacted by the occupants of a school bus who claimed to have been travelling through time and space and had been given Dinah's number by an adult Zatanna. She began counselling them secretly.[14]
On the night of September 29,[16][17] Dinah flew into Star City International Airport. Ollie was meant to pick her up, but left a voice message to say he was running late due to traffic.[18] Dinah listened to the message while the plane was held-up on the runway due to an incident inside the airport. She investigated the incident as Black Canary and found Count Vertigo ready to kill Green Arrow and Perdita Vladek. She disabled Vertigo with a Canary Cry. Arrow then proposed to her, which she accepted after some encouragement from Perdita.[5]
After the Team defeated the central control plant, the Justice League turned their attention to the Injustice League and helped the Team take them into custody.[19]
Black Canary was the Team's third den-mother after Red Tornado's disappearance. After the Team ran away with Zatanna to find Tornado, she had her hands full calming Zatara.[20]
After a telepathic training simulation went horribly wrong, Black Canary worked as the Team's counselor, and took the time to discuss the events with the Team one on one.[7]
Black Canary was part of the strike team that attacked the second ice fortress. From the Super-Cycle, she used her cry to weaken the airship's shields.[21]
Dinah and Oliver were called to the Cave by Batman, who showed them security footage of what appeared to be her kissing Superboy. She was shocked, even more so when she learned it was a shape-shifting Miss Martian. She vented her anger on Oliver, who thought it was hilarious, and decided to talk to M'gann. By now, she was over her anger, but asked M'gann to be herself, as her actions, innocent they were, could hurt people. The conversation was cut short by Batman, who requested the Team for a mission briefing.[1]
At a Justice League meeting discussing the possibility of expansion of the ranks, Black Canary was a proponent of Wonder Woman's suggestion for more women. She also questioned whether age should be considered biologically, or chronologically, after Red Tornado suggested Superboy.[22]
After the Team apprehended three escaped felons (Riddler, Mammoth and Shimmer), Black Canary assisted Batman in the transfer of strange alien biotechnology. She accompanied Icon to his induction ceremony, and was glad Rocket had found a place in the Team.[3]
Black Canary was sent to the Cave to check on the Team. What she found was Robin, Kid Flash, Rocket and Zatanna downloading Red Tornado's consciousness into a new body. Red Tornado warned them to get out, but Black Canary attacked, destroying most of Red's body, and knocking them all back. Robin attacked her and planted a smoke pellet on her lapel. Rocket captured her in a force bubble with the gas, which caused her to pass out. She was bound and gagged, and taken aboard the Super-Cycle to Washington. There, they immunized her against the effects of the Starro-tech with their new cure.[23]
With the cured Red Tornado and Red Arrow, Black Canary went to the Watchtower pretending to be enslaved. They told Vandal Savage the Team was captured, but Klarion knew they were lying. He ordered Hal Jordan to constrain them, and they were given a new mind Starro-tech chip. It didn't work because they were immunized, and when Klarion noted it, Black Canary attacked. Klarion summoned Superman, Batman, Hawkwoman, John Stewart, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter to take care of the three renegades. Hawkwoman knocked Canary unconscious with her mace.[23]
Following the defeat of the Light, Canary supported Red Arrow as he tried to come to grips with the fact that his whole life was a lie. With Green Arrow, she took him home.[23]
After Gamma Squad saved the hostages from the Kroloteans, Black Canary arrived on the scene with the rest of the Justice League members and the Team.[24]
Black Canary accompanied Green Arrow on his search for Red Arrow. He called her and others in after he had traced his former protégé to the capital. They confronted him, and Black Canary commented on Roy's lack of care for his body. She promptly demonstrated it by beating him in single combat, while holding back considerably. Unfortunately for Dinah and Oliver, Roy did not listen to them.[25]
Dinah attended Raquel Ervin's bridal shower with all the other female members of the Justice League and the Team. After the party was interrupted by an armored car robbery by Captain Cold, Black Canary assisted in his defeat.[26]
Black Canary talked to the abducted Team members and the teens the Reach experimented on about their experiences. After finishing a session with Tye Longshadow, she asked to speak to Virgil Hawkins. During their session, Virgil fiddled with a paper clip, which he tossed back to the holder after they were done talking. The clip knocked over the holder and Canary was surprised to see that the clip had become magnetized and rolled the other clips into a ball.
In her session with Blue Beetle, Canary told Beetle the Justice League now knew that the Scarab was not designed by Ted Kord, but by the Reach. She suggested that Beetle might be the best line of defense the League has against the Reach, to which Beetle uneasily agreed.[27]
Canary met with Captain Atom and Nightwing, discussing what she has learned. She said she determined that the Meta-Gene allows humans to develop special powers when they are exposed to trauma. Showing the other two the magnetized clip that Virgil Hawkins touched, she said she believed the Reach plans to cultivate and weaponize the Meta-Gene. The three are interrupted by Blue Beetle, who asked to speak to them. Impulse entered and told Beetle not to say anything, but Beetle revealed to the others information Impulse shared with him about the Reach apocalypse, then said he wanted the Scarab removed from his body.[27]
When magnetic field disruptors planted by the Reach threatened the Earth, Black Canary joined 39 other heroes of Earth in a briefing in Metropolis. The heroes would use a computer virus provided by Lex Luthor to safely disable the disruptors. The heroes were paired off with another into twenty squads: one member would run interference against weapons guarding the disruptors, allowing the other to get close enough to plant the virus.
Black Canary was assigned to Theta Squad,[30] and worked alongside Asami Koizumi. Within thirty minutes, she radioed in Asami's success in their mission.[30]
Black Canary watched a broadcast where G. Gordon Godfrey gleefully denounced the resigned Tseng Dangun, and endorsed Lex Luthor as the most logical replacement for UN Secretary-General. Superman turned off the broadcast in disgust, not quite accepting the turn of events. On that note, Captain Atom then happily relinquished his position as chairman to Black Canary. She thanked him sarcastically.
When the Team was summoned to the mission room for a face-to-face meeting with members of the League, Black Canary was among the leaguers present. Batman informed them that they would now operate side by side with the Justice League from the Watchtower. Not because Mount Justice was destroyed, but because they earned the right to do so. The League then left the Team to its own devices.[30]
Black Canary was asked by Green Arrow to join him, Batman and others in resignation from the League, but Canary refused in disgust, deducing Arrow and the others went behind Kaldur'ahm's back and planned things in advance.[33]
Black Lightning made mental health a focus and asked Canary and Miss Martian to have check-ins with all members of the League, the Team and the Outsiders. Canary held such a session with Halo at the Carr house in the early part of the year, where they discussed Violet's feelings about Brion Markov's actions, and how Violet wanted to explore whether Islam held the same meaning for her it did for Gabrielle Daou.[37]
On or shortly after May 15 aboard the Watchtower, Canary counselled a newly liberated Zatara about his lost decade as Doctor Fate's host. She also discussed how she had been secretly counselling the occupants of Klarion's school bus over the last decade.[14]
On July 4, Canary spoke with Kaldur in the Watchtower's memorial garden. Kaldur admitted he needed to come to terms with the deaths of his Teammates over the years, for which he felt responsible as a founder of the Team.[38]
Dinah held a therapy session with Garfield in her office above Sherwood Florist. Dinah initially presented the session as a formality for his return to duty, checking off boxes on a blank page as he admitted his prior faults but insisted everything was now okay. Eventually Gar grew frustrated as she probed him on whether he really wanted to return to the Outsiders, and finally broke down and said that he believed he was responsible for Conner's death, and for all the many deaths of those close to him over the years, even though he didn't know what he could have done differently. He admitted he felt powerless and needed help, which Dinah told him was a real start.[39]
Canary arrived with other members of the Justice League and Outsiders to respond to Dru-Zod's attack on Planet Circle, only to find the situation resolved and shocked to learn Superboy is alive.[41]
Canary attended Conner and M'gann's wedding. Before the ceremony, she told other members of the League about her idea to set up a mental health sanctuary for heroes.[41]
Ollie and Dinah were woken up by a phone call for Ollie. It was Perdita Vladek requesting help when she visited the US in three days.[18] She told them about the Kryptonite which had been found in a Vlatavanmine, and a plan was hatched to smuggle it to Serling Roquette at STAR Labs during Perdita's visit to Star City.[42]
Dinah and Ollie posed as scientists during Perdita's tour of STAR Labs. They came under attack by armored assailants, who hit them with poisoned darts and flew away with Perdita and the Kryptonite.[17]
Dinah was taken to Royal Memorial Hospital with the other poisoning victims. Artemis was sure they had been dosed with Sportsmaster's coma serum, which would take days to wear off even with the antidote.[18]
Canary Cry:[7] Black Canary can emit a high pitched sonic scream strong enough to shatter objects as tough as steel and even kill a person.[19]
Abilities[]
Peak physical conditioning: Having undergone an evidently vigorous and intensive training under assorted unnamed mentors, Black Canary has exercised physical form to perfection for someone of her age and training.
Reflexes: Black Canary's combative reaction time is beyond impressive as she is able to react and counter-react to attacks thrown at her by not only normal humans, but also people with enhanced abilities such as Kid Flash and Superboy.
Speed: Black Canary is shown able to run and react to attacks with shocking speed.
Human endurance: Black Canary's endurance is at the peak of a woman her age and size, able to go up against opponents such as Amazo and survive.
Peak human agility: Black Canary's agility proves invaluable when in combat.
Human durability: Black Canary is able to handle the worst hits and impacts without giving out.
Master hand-to-hand combat: Black Canary is easily one of the League's most impressive fighters, as she has demonstrated herself to be an expert fighter able to go toe-to-toe with any sort of opponent both human and superhuman.[6]She has trained with Wildcat.[8]
Non-combative skills[]
Black Canary works with Aqualad to redress his shaken confidence.
Counseling: Along with her combat expertise, Black Canary is formally trained in psychology.[43] She has often worked as the Team's counselor/therapist, showing understanding and patience with their problems, such as when the Team suffered a deep depression after a failed telepathic training simulation.
Black Canary was one of the DC Universe's first female characters in comics. Dinah Lance was the second of the two characters who used the name Black Canary, with the other being her mother. In the comics, the original Canary was Dinah Drake, who fought as a member of the Justice Society of America during World War II. After the JSA was accused of being Communist sympathizers by the US Government, Dinah retired from super-heroics and married a former police officer and private detective, Larry Lance. Together they had a daughter, Dinah Lance, who, after being trained by her "uncles" from the JSA, would become the new Black Canary and join the Justice League, the Justice Society and the Birds of Prey. She is known for an on-again-off-again relationship with Green Arrow, which even resulted in a short-lived marriage.
Greg Weisman has said that Black Canary is probably his all-time favorite comic book character. He wrote half of a never-published Black Canary mini-series in the mid-eighties.[44]
Young Justice marks Black Canary's sixth animated incarnation. She previously appeared on Justice League Unlimited, Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths and DC Showcase: Green Arrow, the latter written by Young Justice creator Greg Weisman.
