Dinah Drake (Prime Earth)

New 52 Origin

Following the cosmic upheavals of the Rebirth period, this character's history was revised.

Current Origin

Dinah Drake Lance was the daughter of the Golden Age Black Canary. Growing up, she trained in combat with family friend Ted Grant. At some point, her mother used a powerful martial arts technique known as the Five Heavens Palm to split the demon Ravanahatha in two after the demon targeted and killed Dinah's father.^[8]

In the original New 52 continuity, Dinah's mother walked out on her under mysterious circumstances soon after this incident, resulting in Dinah becoming a homeless child living on the street; this does not seem to be the case in current continuity.

As a young adult, she began living in the dojo of Desmond Lamar. When he discovered that he had terminal cancer, he left the care of the dojo to Dinah in his will, and she took up instructing his classes. Unfortunately, he had been keeping the local gangs from muscling in on the dojo for protection money.

When the power outage that hit Gotham prior to super-storm René's arrival left the city in the dark, Dinah had been away from the dojo and happened to encounter an injured man working for John Lynch. The man gave her a device before dying, and she soon found herself being chased by a gang of ninjas who sought to take it for themselves. She fought them off for a while but was eventually overwhelmed. Fortunately, John Lynch and his men arrived in time to save her life. When he returned her to her dojo, she found it had been destroyed during the riots.

Realizing she had nothing left, Lynch offered her the chance to join him on the metahuman-fighting squad Team 7,^[9] which she agreed to do for a while and met her future husband Kurt Lance.^[10] Drake worked for Team 7, being sent on a mission to find the Black Diamond that was corrupting the souls of those around it.^[11] After that mission, Dinah realized that John Lynch's plan for the team was to put them through the wringer and essentially give them powers, Dinah gaining the ability to create a deafening scream called the "Canary Cry".

Early Career

Dinah would shortly thereafter marry her team member Kurt, but after a conflict on Gamorra Island, she would come to believe he had been killed by her own hand.^[12] Afterward, she would leave the government's employ.

Later, Dinah would debut as a new Black Canary, and became a member of the Justice League of America. There, she she met her future partner Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow,^[13] who commemorated her with a statue in his "Arrowcave" headquarters,^[14] and fought against the dream-manipulating supervillain Doctor Destiny.^[15] With several of her fellow heroes, she was possessed by the Devil Nezha and made to attack Batman and Superman, who had been fused together with a Green Lantern Ring and defended themselves by blocking the Black Canary's cry with a ring-construct gag over her mouth.^[16] She fought against the NewMazo-controlled robot Mekanique,^[17] and with the Justice League worked to construct the clean energy-powered Solar City before watching a total solar eclipse aboard the Justice League Satellite. When the demon Eclipso took advantage of the eclipse to strike against them, the Canary was among the first Leaguers to fall under his sway and be set against her teammates.^[18] At some point, Oliver, Dinah, and Roy Harper made a trip to a haunted house in Star City; Roy had a blast, but Oliver kept his eyes closed the entire time.^[19] When Roy became addicted to drugs, Dinah helped him get clean.

Black Canary was a founding member of a new incarnation of Justice League,^[20] later dubbed the "Justice League International," though she was driven to irritation by the antics of her teammates.^[21] She was the first operative recruited by Barbara Gordon as "Oracle," forming a team known as the Birds of Prey.^[22] She was also a member of the super-team the Justice Society of America, fighting with them against the sorcerer Mordru,^[23] and took a girl named Sin in as her adoptive sister, becoming very close to her.^[24]

At some point, Dinah trained the assassin known as Angel Breaker.^[25]

New 52

Birds of Prey

Dinah was searching for remnants of the metahuman organization known as Basilisk when she encountered a lead that pointed to the Iceberg Lounge and so got a job as a bouncer in the employ of the Penguin. There, she met and befriended Starling When her investigation was compromised by Batgirl, the three women joined forces in catching the Basilisk agent. This experience led Dinah to feel the need to be on a team again, the three founding a new iteration of Birds of Prey.^[26]

After also recruiting Katana and Poison Ivy to the team, the Birds of Prey investigated a criminal named Choke who was brainwashing civilians with a secret trigger word but failed to catch him.^[27]

Things became rocky with the team, with the roster losing Katana and Ivy soon after and gaining a former Talon named Strix. At Batgirl's urging, Dinah allowed Strix to stay at her dojo, while allowing Condor to become close to the team, though he was only intended to stay temporarily. After an ambush by Mister Freeze, the Birds of Prey learned they had been betrayed by one of this iteration's founding members - Starling, sending the team into hiding to escape the conspiracy against them.^[28]

While on the run, Dinah learned that her husband Kurt Lance was alive and being used to dampen her powers by Basilisk.^[29] She soon learned that Basilisk's leader, Regulus, was in fact Dean Higgins—a man she and Kurt had worked with in Team 7. He and Kaizen Gamorra were merged into one by a combination of the Canary Cry that destroyed Gamorra Island and the psychic energy there. Her power had been what inspired him to create Basilisk as a counter to super-powered beings. He intended to use Kurt's dampening ability to remove the entire world of super-powers and then gain control.^[30] Dinah insisted she would save Kurt no matter the cost, and removed him from his bed. The result was that his amplification ability began to over-load. It was only through Batgirl's intervention that Dinah was prevented from screaming down the whole compound.^[31]

The Most Dangerous Band in America

After a fire at Dinah's place, she briefly joined a local band called Ashes on Sunday in Burnside,^[32] before she found herself with an offer from a record producer asking for one album and a tour.^[33][34] She accepted, joining the band "Alias Insane" alongside original band members Paloma Terrific, Lord Byron, and the young Ditto as their singer and frontwoman; they then changed their name to 'Black Canary', as befitting their new lead singer. She replaced Bo Maeve a theatre student whom Byron and Paloma had formed a trio with. The original lineup shooting a video for their first single; however, Maeve was bought out and dropped from the contract, with Dinah taking her place.

The band soon earned a reputation for being aggressive and causing several thousands of dollars of property damage. Despite attempting to keep the vigilantism to a minimum Dinah and the band were soon assaulted by shadow figures who were after Ditto. Escaping the demons and finishing a killer show the band returned to the road, now with Dinah training them for protection against these spectral beings.

Later, when practicing and after an encounter with Maeve, who was stowing away, the band found themselves under attack from a masked man who was later revealed to be Kurt Lance, Dinah's husband.^[35]

It would later be revealed that the band was being targeted by the 'musician' Rave Death, later determined to be a demon known as Ravanahatha, a being which had previously been split in two by her mother, the previous Black Canary, using a martial arts technique known as the Five Heavens Palm. She eventually defeated Ravanhatha, tapping into the power of both her mother and versions of herself from across the Multiverse.

Incomplete
There's something missing here. This section of the article is incomplete, and contains information, but requires more before it can be considered complete. You can help DC Database by editing this page, providing additional information to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.

Rebirth

Green Arrow

After meeting the vigilante Green Arrow, Black Canary and the vigilante resumed their relationship and worked as partner-heroes in Seattle.

Incomplete
There's something missing here. This section of the article is incomplete, and contains information, but requires more before it can be considered complete. You can help DC Database by editing this page, providing additional information to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.

Birds of Prey, Back Together

In Gotham City, Black Canary and Batgirl were chasing after the mob boss, Louis Terroni. Huntress was also on the pursuit because she intends to kill the mobster. By the time all 3 would reach Louis, they find him bitten to death inside his car. After Huntress leaves, Canary and Batgirl are at a dead end with no lead as they are trying to uncover the identity of a new "Oracle". They return to the Gotham Clock Tower and discover Barbara's realtor Ruthie and her accomplice, Robert trying to break inside. A notification on Barbara's phone scares the two away, but the text turns out to be "Oracle," who proposes to give Batgirl his information but for a price.

So Batgirl and Black Canary come to the conclusion that Santo Cassamento is the one paying for Oracle's information. Canary later defeats the criminal Asp and she forms an alliance with Huntress and Batgirl in order to take down Fenice and Oracle. As Fenice orders Asp to kill the 3 women, they speed through the streets of Gotham as Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD escorts Santo Cassemento to a safe house.

Incomplete
There's something missing here. This section of the article is incomplete, and contains information, but requires more before it can be considered complete. You can help DC Database by editing this page, providing additional information to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.

Justice League of America

Black Canary was recruited by Batman to join a new version of the Justice League after the original and the Suicide Squad had to work together to stop Maxwell Lord. This League's members were Batman, Canary, Atom, Lobo, Vixen, The Ray, and Frost.

Expand

This section of the article does not provide a complete profile of the subject. You can help out by providing additional information, expanding on the subject matter in order to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.

This template will categorize articles that include it into Category:Incomplete Articles.

Infinite Frontier

Deathstroke Inc.

At some point, Dinah joined the T.R.U.S.T., an organization that wants to take down heavy-hitter villians. She was originally hired by Oracle to investigate T.R.U.S.T because they knew they were shady. Dinah would also eventually work with Slade Wilson again, though not without reservations. Dinah and Deathstroke begin their first misson in taking down Cyborg Superman, who's hijacked a space station. On this mission, they're accompanied by Hiro Okamura, who has the capability of hacking Cyborg Superman. When they stop him, a being called "The Weird" gets released from being held hostage by Cyborg Superman.

Expand

This section of the article does not provide a complete profile of the subject. You can help out by providing additional information, expanding on the subject matter in order to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.

This template will categorize articles that include it into Category:Incomplete Articles.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Heat Vision: Black Canary's powers were stolen by Task Force VII during Absolute Power. When the Amazos were destroyed and the heroes' powers were returned, rather than her "Canary Cry" she accidentally received an unknown hero's ability to fire beams of heat from her eyes.^[36]

Abilities

• Acrobatics
• Archery: Dinah is a skilled enough archer to briefly impersonate her partner Green Arrow, and can fire arrows with precision.^[41]
• Driving: Dinah drives her motorcycle with great skill.^[42]
• Espionage: Dinah is a skilled covert operative, having worked with Team 7 and later leading the Birds of Prey.^[37]
• Firearms: Although she prefers not to use guns she is more than capable of using them.
• Investigation
• Martial Arts: Trained by combat specialists Desmond Lamar and Ted Grant, Black Canary is a highly skilled martial artist with her combat skills being respected by the likes of Team 7's John Lynch, Amanda Waller, Barbara Gordon, and Batman.
  • Boxing^[9]
  • Escrima^[43]
  • Jeet Kune Do^[9]
  • Jujitsu^[9]
  • Karate^[9]
  • Krav Maga^[28]
  • Wing Chun^[9]
  • Wrestling^[9]
• Multilingualism: Dinah can speak and understand Japanese and French.^[44][45]
• Music: Dinah plays and writes songs on the guitar.^[46]
• Singing: Dinah is a talented singer and enjoyed a successful stint as a rock singer with her band, Black Canary.
• Tactical Analysis: Dinah is also considered a strong leader and strategic thinker.
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Body Armor (Formerly)

Transportation

• Motorcycle

Weapons

• Various Martial Art Weapons

Notes

• The Dinah Lance version of Black Canary, upon which this version was based, was created by Denny O'Neil and Dick Dillin, and first appeared in Justice League of America #75. This version, however, shares its name with the original version created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, who was Dinah Lance's mother. In the rebooted Prime Earth continuity, Dinah's last name is Lance by marriage, and her first appearance as part of the DC Universe is in Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz' "New 52" Birds of Prey series.^[37] However, as Dinah is shown to carry an I.D. stating her name as "Dinah Laurel Lance," it's entirely possible that "Laurel" is her middle name, rendering her legal name "Dinah Laurel Lance," as it was in New Earth continuity.
• Dinah Drake was married to Kurt Lance, and his death rendered her a widow. However, his resurrection by way of the Samsara Serum makes it difficult to tell what the state of their marriage is, and whether it is still legal or not.
  

Trivia

• During the "New 52" era, Dinah was born on June 23, 1989.^[47] As a result of successive changes to continuity, this may no longer be so.
• Dinah's phone number is (324)-555-2226.^[48]

Related

• 436 Appearances of Dinah Drake (Prime Earth)
• 371 Images featuring Dinah Drake (Prime Earth)
• 29 Quotations by or about Dinah Drake (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Dinah Drake (Prime Earth)

External Links

• Black Canary at Wikipedia.org

Footnotes

Birds of Prey member This character is or was a member of the Birds of Prey, a team of female super-heroes that go on special missions across the world, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Birds of Prey members" category.

Black Canary band member This character is or was a member of Black Canary, a rock band led by the hero Dinah Drake. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Black Canary members" category.

Team Arrow member This character is or was a member of the Green Arrow family of vigilante super-heroes, who fight crime using archery and martial arts. They are a loose connection brought together through family bonds and shared experiences. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Team Arrow members."

Batman Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.

Justice League member This character has been a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.