Dinah Lance

Dinah Laurel Lance Queen

Black Canary, The Canary (former), "Scream Queen"

Relatives
Quentin Lance (Father)
Laurel Drake-Lance (Mother)
Sara Lance (Sister)
Oliver Queen (Ex-Husband/Boyfriend)
Lauren Drake (Clone)
Thea Queen (Ex-Sister-in-Law)
Roy Harper (Adopted Son)
Connor Hawke (Stepson)
Emiko Queen (Stepdaughter)

Affiliation
Team Arrow: Member
Justice League: Founding Member, ID: JL-005
Birds of Prey: Founding Member; Field Leader
Batman, Inc.: Member

130 lbs.

According to Dinah, she had a pretty normal childhood, as normal as a working-class family can hope to achieve in Gotham City. Her dad was a cop (actually my dad’s supervisor for a year or so) and her mother was the owner of a florist shop.

When Dinah was a teenager, her somewhat idyllic life was shattered when her mother was diagnosed with throat cancer; her dad was crippled after being shot during a traffic stop, and to top it all off, the stress of it all caused Dinah’s latent meta-gene to activate. Dinah’s screams could now render metal, shatter eardrums, and topple over full-size cars. It was Dinah’s sister that helped her realize that her power could be tamed and once she did, Dinah had an incredible degree of control over her vocal cords, allowing her to generate any sound she desired.

At first, Dinah and Sara did their best to conceal Dinah’s metahuman nature, even from their parents. However, after dropping out of school to keep her mother’s shop afloat, Dinah began to look for an alternative to her dire financial circumstances. Using a disguise made from a blonde wig, Dinah applied for a singing job at the Iceberg Lounge. Rumor has it that her tryout moved the Penguin to tears (and having heard his laughs so many times, I’m afraid to imagine what he sounds like crying). Cobblepot hired Dinah immediately, giving her a five-night-per-week contract, and offered a signing bonus large enough to pay off her parents’ outstanding medical bills.

Using the stage name “The Canary”. Dinah managed to maintain an air of mystery despite her near-instant fame and fortune amongst Gotham society’s elite and criminal elements. But even among birds, what goes up, must eventually come down; and down it did go, hard and fast, when Dinah realized that the man who had shot her father was none other than Ignatius Ogilvy, the Penguin’s right-hand man.

What is the say about a woman scorned?

Let me tell you something, cops’ daughters know how to kick some serious butt. I can attest to that from personal experience. Dinah Lance is no exception. As a kid, Mr. Lance had both of his daughters in Judo and Tae Kwon Do classes. As a teenager, Dinah and Sara studied Krav Maga, Muay Thai, and Capoeira.

When she started working at the Iceberg Lounge, Dinah expelled the stress she endured working two jobs to provide for her family and keep her sister in college by sparring at the Wildcat Gym with boxing/MMA/Savate world champion, Ted Grant. At least three times she put rowdy patrons at the Iceberg Lounge in the hospital for trying to grab her during a song. Oh, and remembers this is the same woman who can easily blast through a brick wall with the power of her voice alone. So I think I’ve painted a vivid picture of what kind of wrath a woman like this might unleash upon the men responsible for her father’s injury. Hell hath no fury, indeed. I never met Oswald Cobblepot until after his run-in with Dinah, but I like to think that Dinah had something to do with the peculiar way he walks… err… waddles.

After giving the Penguin a beating so bad he turned himself in to the GCPD for protection, Dinah decided she would go into busting the heads of criminals regularly. Dinah put what was left of her nest egg from the Iceberg Lounge earnings to build her first costume and moved to Star City to be closer to her sister (who was attending school at Star University). Of course, it didn’t take long for Green Arrow to introduce himself to this hot new vigilante in his turf and the two’s romantic escapades started off with a bang (I know, poor choice of words. Sorry!).

With Oliver taking care of Sara’s education and their parents' medical bills, Dinah did not have to worry about selling flowers anymore and focused on becoming a full-time crime-fighter and with all the time spent training, she has honed herself into a fighting machine that does not have to rely on her powers to get by. Seriously, I’ve seen her choke out Double-Dubs, knock Bats on his ass, and even knock out Big Blue (though she used her power for the last bit, but come on, it’s Superman). So yeah, I decided to let her join the Birds with Helena and me.

Resources

Canary Cry
Dinah possesses a meta-gene that gives her a potent sonic attack, able to damage and stun foes or objects, to the point of shattering metal. She possesses an incredible degree of control over her vocal cords. This enables her to mimic sounds and generate any sound she desires. The Canary Cry has been able to reach close to 300 decibels but rarely does so as such force causes ears to bleed even if they're not the attack target. A direct hit from her sonic blast can tear through steel like it was a wet paper mache. With significant practice, Dinah has learned to use her Cry for a number of special effects, such as screaming downward while falling to slow her descent and cushion her landing from a fatal height.

Enhanced Hearing
Dinah possesses hearing on par with Superman and has demonstrated herself to be more proficient in the interpretations and recognition of various sounds than the Man of Steel. Another one up she has on Big Blue is that her heightened hearing has a sort of 'sensory shield' which protects her ears from excessive noise (such as her Canary Cry).

Echolocation
By giving off a supersonic pulse, Dinah has developed the ability to utilize a bat-like echolocation sense, enabling her to get a rough 360-degree of her surroundings, even when visibility is low.

Acrobatics
Through years of training with Team Arrow, the Justice League, and the Birds of Prey, Dinah has conditioned her body to peak fitness and trained in all manner of acrobatic and gymnastic maneuvers.

Archery
Having been in some sort of relationship with the Green Arrow for over a decade, Dinah has had the luxury of being trained by a master archer and thus is an expert in the use of all archery-based weaponry. Rumor has it she gave Ollie the idea for his infamous "boxing glove arrow".

Driving
Dinah is a talented operator of most road-based vehicles, including being trained in a high-speed pursuit and defensive driving techniques. On a motorcycle, Dinah is practically a virtuoso.

Aviation
Though Dinah prefers to leave the flying of the Aerie-One to Zinda, Dinah is capable of operating the aircraft, as well as JL Javelins and the Aerie-Two.

Investigation
The daughter of a police detective, Dinah had been exposed to police procedure and forensics at an early age. Having worked with Batman, Green Arrow, and myself for a number of years, Dinah's instincts have been refined to make her an excellent detective.

Martial Arts
Dinah is one of the most skilled martial artists on the planet. She has also been trained by Ted Grant, who is formerly the Heavyweight Champion of the World, in the art of Boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira, Krav Maga, and Hapkido. She has also been trained in Dragon Style Kung Fu and pressure point fighting by Ricardo "The Dragon" Diaz. Thanks to Wonder Woman, Dinah has also been trained in Amazon martial arts but is strictly a novice in that kind of fighting style. Other styles she's mastered include Savate, Judo, Aikido, Jujitsu, Wing Chun, and Tae Kwon Do.

Psychology
Dinah has taken a number of psychology night courses to aid her substance abuse therapy volunteering efforts. Her interest in this field stems from her father's struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse, a condition which Dinah herself is genetically predisposed to but has never had a problem herself. Dinah used this expertise when Roy Harper returned from his time in the League of Assassins to help him kick his dependence on the drugs to which Cheshire had addicted him and to also recover from the trauma of losing his arm.

Tactical Analysis
Dinah is also considered a strong leader and strategic thinker, which has led to her being made Chairwoman of the JLA.

Weaponry
Dinah is highly skilled in the use of bows, swords, knives, batons, and improvised weaponry such as broken bottles and the like. Though she prefers to fight hand-to-hand, she is quite adept at grabbing whatever weapons are available to make use against an armored opponent.

Multilingualism
Dinah can speak several languages other than English, including Spanish and Japanese. Due to her vocal abilities, Dinah is able to speak with a flawless and convincing accent of any dialect she hears spoken (not to mention can precisely mimic a person's voice after hearing it once).

Strength level
Black Canary possesses the strength level of a woman her age, size, and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise. Dinah can, therefore, press at least twice her own body weight.

Body Armor
Dinah may be sporting her signature fishnets for the style but the rest of her outfit, including the leather jacket, has been designed with state-of-the-art armor that protects her against impact-based attacks and affords a limited amount of protection against ballistics and edged weaponry.

Canary Cycle
Dinah has a Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster but with custom handlebars and tank, with a reinforced frame, souped-up Kord Automotive Engine, and armored plating.

Belt Pouch
Dinah has a hip-slung pouch which she uses to stow a grapnel gun and a small number of smoke bombs and flashbang grenades, which she uses to give herself a tactical edge against multiple opponents (not that she necessarily needs it).

Weaknesses

Trivia

In her "Canary" persona, Dinah wears a blond wig to hide her identity and mislead her enemies. This is something she did back as a nightclub singer at the Iceberg Lounge.

In her early career, Dinah wore a mask but has since given up on it, though the fact that Huntress' own mask resembles her old one has not gone unnoticed by her and serves as a constant source for friendly banter.

Dinah plays the harmonica which she uses to strengthen her breathing and vocal cords.

Dinah's blood type is AB-, the same as Oliver Queen's.

When not acting as a hero, Dinah works as a physical education volunteer instructor for the Meadowhill School District here in Gotham City. She also volunteers as a substance abuse treatment coach in both Gotham and Star City.

Dinah and Zatanna have gone together to purchase a considerable bulk supply of fishnets.

Dinah had Ollie buy the location where her mother's Sherwood Florist was located. While it remains closed, Dinah has outfitted the backroom of the shop into an emergency armory and field supply station.

VOX Recording 2