She’s the daughter of the OG Black Canary, but there’s so much to Dinah Lance than meets the eye. Get to know her before the release of The Birds of Prey movie.
The daughter of the original Black Canary Dinah Drake, Dinah Lance is the frequent partner of Green Arrow and a metahuman in her own right.
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Drake’s history was changed and she was given a daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance who goes on to inherit the Canary mantle. Her most established connection is to Oliver Queen or the Green Arrow.
FULL NAME: Dinah Laurel Lance
NICKNAME(S): Laurel (in Arrow only)
ALIAS(ES):
- Black Canary (code name)
- Myra Kallen
COMIC BOOK FRANCHISE: DC Comics
CREATOR(S): Dennis O’Neil and Dick Dillin
FIRST APPEARANCE(S): Justice League of America #75 (November 1969)
ALLIES:
- Birds of Prey
- Justice League
- Ted Grant (Wild Cat)
POWERS/ABILITIES:
- Canary Cry
- Acrobatics
- Driving
- Investigation
- Various forms of Martial Arts
- Tactical Analysis
- Weaponry
- Music
- Multilingualism
FAMILY:
- Larry Lance (father)
- Dinah Drake-Lance (mother)
- Richard Drake (maternal grandfather)
- Sara Lance (younger sister – Arrow only)
- Cynthia “Sin” Lance (adoptive daughter)
- Craig Windrow (ex-husband)
BIOGRAPHY
Dinah Lance was born as Dinah Laurel Lance to Larry Lance, a police officer and Dinah Drake-Lance, the original Black Canary. At the age of 19, Dinah began her crime-fighting career, despite protests from her mother. She joined a training program where she was taught various forms of martial arts by her mother’s longtime friend, Ted Grant, better known as Wildcat.
She later took on her mother’s identity of the Black Canary and even wore the same costume.
During the Silver Age, Dinah was cursed by the Wizard Zard when she was young which resulted in her Canary Cry. This was later retconned to her being the first in her family to possess the metagene.
PAST MEDIA APPEARANCES
Dinah Lance has appeared in various media over the years.
Smallville
The hit Superman origin series, Smallville, introduced Dinah Lance in 2008. She was the daughter of the original Black Canary, Dinah Drake-Lance who was a member of the Justice Society of America. She was also an assassin.
Justice League Unlimited
Dinah appeared in the 2004-2006 animated series in a few episodes. She was a Justice League member alongside her lover, Green Arrow and was friends with Huntress and her crimefighting partner.
DC Nation Shorts
A modern version of Dinah Lance appears in the Green Arrow DC Nations Short. Though, it’s possible all versions of the Black Canary might be the Drake version.
RECENT MEDIA APPEARANCES
The Dinah Lance version of Black Canary has appeared in various DC Comics media in recent years.
Young Justice
The animated series, Young Justice introduces us to Dinah Lance, a member of the Justice League. She’s the girlfriend of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and becomes one of many ‘den mothers’ of The Team during their formative years. She learned of her Canary Cry when she was a child and accidentally deafened her first grade class.
Other being a hero, she also serves as a consellor to the series after several traumatic experiences. On the flip side, she also serves as the combat instructor for the group. M’gann also takes on her form to make out with her boyfriend Conner (Superboy) and is caught on camera which horrifies Dinah and Oliver.
Like most versions of the character, Dinah is the daughter of the original Black Canary, Dinah Drake.
Arrow
Arrow introduced three different versions of Dinah Lance from three different Earths.
Earth-1 Laurel was the daughter of Quentin Lance and his wife, Dinah, with whom their daughter shared a forename with Laurel being her middle name and the one she used on a daily basis. She also had a younger sister, Sara who would be the first to take on the Canary mantle.
Laurel dated Oliver Queen for a long time, but beknownst to her, he was sleeping with other girls and got one, Samantha Clayton, pregnant. He also slept with Sara and snuck her onboard the Queen’s Gambit, the Queen family’s private yacht. It was here that Sara was thought drowned when the ship capsized.
Sara later resurfaced and revealed herself to be alive before she took on the alias The Canary. After she is accidentally killed by Thea, Laurel takes on the role to fool their unsuspecting father to prevent him from having a heart attack.
Laurel is later killed by Damian Darhk during a prison brawl.
Earth-2’s Laurel isn’t known to have the name Dinah and became a follower of the speedster villain, Zoom under the alias Black Siren. She’d become a metahuman after the STAR Labs particle accelerator exploded. After spending some time on Earth-1, she joins forces with Oliver and becomes the new Black Canary, sharing the title with Dinah Drake.
Earth-X had their own Laurel (not Dinah) who was born into the New Reich. She was cruel and sadistic and was known as Siren-X.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
The Margot Robbie led Birds of Prey film will be the live-action feature film debut of the Dinah Lance version of Black Canary. It’s currently unknown if she’ll be a meta-human like her comic book counterpart or whether the film will set up her to receive her powers in a later film.
RECEPTION
Black Canary is considered the 71st greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard. Meanwhile, IGN ranks her as 81st greatest all time comic book hero. Finally, Comics Buyer’s Guide put her at 26th place on their 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list.
PORTRAYALS – LIVE ACTION
There has been a number of live-action actresses who have taken on Dinah Laurel Lance.
- Rachel Skarsten (Birds of Prey ‘Dinah Redmond’ 2002)
- Alana Huffman (Smallville 2008)
- Katie Cassidy Rodgers (Arrow 2012 – 2020)
- Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) 2020)
PORTRAYALS – ANIMATION
There’s been a couple of actresses portray Dinah Lance in animation.
- Morena Baccarin (Justice League Unlimited – 2004-2006)
- Vanessa Marshall (Young Justice 2010 – present
- Kari Wahlgren (DC Nations Shorts)
Want more Super of the Week? Check the blog out weekly for new heroes! Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @cjhawk93. Be sure to hit the notification bell to receive notifications of when new posts become live.
