Black Canary

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 Alignment | Neutral Good

Dinah Laurel Lance, aka **Black Canary**, is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

## Background

Dinah Drake was a costumed vigilante known as the “Black Canary”. Posing as a criminal, taking down gangs, and serving the Justice Society of America, she was always bound for the crimefightning business. Trained at a young age by her police detective father, Richard Drake, Dinah donned her costumed identity after she tried and failed to become a Gotham City cop. After the government had disbanded the Justice Society, Dinah decided to settle down with a husband, Larry Lance, and they had a daughter. This child would become the next Black Canary, known as Dinah Laurel Lance.

It didn’t take long for the second Dinah to learn about her mother’s heroic past and take on the mantle of the new Black Canary. She had inherited a metagene from her parents, who didn’t have such a thing, giving her the ability to produce an incredibly loud and destructive scream known as the Canary Cry. As a founding member of the Justice League, this second Black Canary is ready to carry her mother’s crimefighting legacy.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Canary Cry:** Black Canary possesses a Metagene that allows her to produce a powerful sonic attack capable of damaging, disorienting, and stunning anyone she uses it on. According to Dinah, her Canary Cry is powerful enough to be capable of shattering metals and shattering a person's skull if directly on them. Dinah is able to use her Canary Cry to glide across great distances by manipulating sound waves. She is also able to use her voice in a low frequency to extinguish fires.
	+ **Sound Immunity:** Black Canary's eardrums have a thick membrane which makes her immune to the effects of her own powers as well as other loud noises.
* **Peak Human Condition**
	+ **Peak Human Strength**
	+ **Peak Human Reflexes**
	+ **Peak Human Endurance**
	+ **Peak Human Stamina**
	+ **Peak Human Agility**
	+ **Peak Human Balance**
* **Martial Arts Intuition:** Dinah is one of the most well known martial arts fighters in the DC Universe and has been trained by the best. This includes Lady Shiva who has been described as being the greatest martial artist in the world. She has also taken down some pretty top tier martial arts in the DC Universe including her on-and-off again lover Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow. She has also taken on skilled martial artists such as Talia Al Ghul, Manhunter and Cheshire. She has even shown to be Wonder Woman’s equal in martial arts. Oracle aka Babraba Gordon even thinks she could take Batman down (which is definitely possible but the two have never been shown going all out in a martial arts match). While in combat, Dinah has employed many styles of martial arts:
	+ **Aikido**
	+ **Amazonian Martial Arts:** Trained by the best Amazonian in the business (Wonder Woman). Dinah has become pretty skilled at using Amazonian Martial Arts while in combat, though she can’t come close to the best. She was strong enough to use an Amazonian Weapon that she was unfamiliar with to match a Depowered Wonder Woman in a fight in terms of Martial Arts.
	+ **Boxing:** Trained by fellow Justice League Member and well renowned boxer, Wildcat, Dinah has become quite skilled at Boxing style motions and combat. In terms of the Boxing Triangle it can be assumed she is more of a Swarmer - pressuring her enemy with quick attacks before finishing them though she has also displayed some Outboxer tactics as well. (she’s not really a Slugger though).
	+ **Capoeira:** Due to Dinah tending to prefer kicks over punches generally, she tends to employ a lot of Caporia while in combat. For those who don’t know Capoeira is an extremely fast martial art that focuses on using quick kicks and almost dancing like movements to do sweeping attacks and taking an enemy off guard. To most people who haven’t studied Capoeira, the act of seeing it will make you think it’s more like a dance than anything else but for the experts it is an extremely unpredictable and versatile martial art.
	+ **Dragon Style Kung Fu**
	+ **Hapkido**
	+ **Judo**
	+ **Jujitsu:** Jujitsu is an Japanese martial art and a method of close combat for defeating an armed and armored opponent. Considering Dinah’s line of work where she often has to fight armed foes - this martial art is extremely useful for her. Often while employing this martial art while in combat Dinah uses throws, traps, joint locks, holds, gouging, biting, disengagements, striking, and kicking while in combat. Jujitsu schools also teach the use of weapons.
	+ **Krav Maga**
	+ **Muai Thai**
	+ **Savate:** Savate is a French Martial Art that uses both the hands and feet for combat while also combining elements of western style boxing and extremely graceful kick techniques which Black Canary can employ extremely well due to her graceful fighting style. In Savate, only foot kicks are allowed - preventing the use of the knees.
	+ **Taekwondo:** Taekwondo is a combination of martial arts, most of which originated in Korea. Among the oldest disciplines, some of which are over 2,000 years old, that influenced the development of Taekwondo are Taek Kyon, Tae Kwonpup, Tae Kwon, T’ang-su, and Kwonpup.Taekwondo draws inspiration from . inspiration from popular martial arts like Kung-Fu (kicking techniques), Judo, and Karate (linear, abrupt movements). Whilst in combat Taekwondo users employ kicks - focuses on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques which Black Canary often employs to great effect.
	+ **Wing Chun**
	+ **Pressure Point Combat:** Like Batman, Black Canary has studied and used pressure points whilst in combat. Using this fighting style, she can impact an enemy’s pressure points in order to temporarily disable them and then finish them off with a swift strike.
	+ **Five Heavens Palm:** This is perhaps the oddest martial art/power that Black Canary has. This ability is extremely ill-defined, but basically it channels Black Canary’s Canary Cry power into a strike. With it, she is able to summon the spirits of others (in this case it is her ancestors) to warp whomever gets hit by this attack to a place between space and time.
* **Music:** Dinah practiced the harmonica as it was a perfect way to strengthen her breathing and vocal chords.
* **Multilingualism:** Dinah can speak Japanese.

## Equipment

* **Sonic Cry Amplifiers:** Dinah has equipment that she can use in order to enhance her Sonic Cry as well as having better control over it. Created by Vibe, these amplifiers not only make her Canary Cry louder, but they can also increase their range, or help her focus the cry into a more precise attack.
* **Canary Cry Bombs:** When she was stripped of her Canary Cry, she developed these sonic bombs that emit ultrasonic sound waves that are able to emit sonic blasts that are on par with her Canary Cry. While these disruptors are no longer used by her since she can use her Canary Cry once again, it wouldn’t surprise us if she kept a few around just in case.
* **Gas Pellets:** Like Batman, she carries gas pellets with her which can be used to make her difficult to see for anyone whom she is fighting.
* **Grappling Hook:** While she doesn’t really use this often, she has a grapple hook that she can use in order to reach higher areas.
* **Cables:** Black Canary has cables she can use in order to swing around the city to compensate for her lack of standard flight. (like say Batman and Catwoman).
* **Body Armor:** In the New 52, Black Canary wore body armor, while it’s not known what Black Canary’s body armor was made out of - we can assume she wore it in order to protect herself more from bullets and knives. Currently in DC Rebirth - she no longer wears body armor and has gone back to a design more resembling Pre-New 52.
* **Various Martial Arts Weapons:**
	+ **Metal Police Baton:** She has used police batons whilst in combat in order to defeat an enemy whilst she was crippled and in a wheelchair.
	+ **Staff:** While training against Wonder Woman, she used a bo staff whilst in combat, despite her lacking experience with the weapon - she was still able to match one of the greatest fighters in the DC Universe with it and “beat” her (Black Canary claims that Wonder Woman let her win but she denies that).

## Feats

### Strength

* Took Giganta down with her Canary Cry.
* Knocked Black Alice back several feet in one kick
* Swung around a trained soldier using a metal chain
* Damaged metal using just her elbow
* Blew off Amazo’s head with the Canary Cry
* Dismantled a moving vehicle with her Canary Cry
* Canary Cry was able to hurt Black Adam
* Defeated a large group of Jokerized prisoners
* Stopped a moving train with her Canary Cry
* Destroyed a stone elemental with her Canary Cry
* Stunned Solomon Grundy with her Canary Cry
* Destroyed part of a mountain with her Canary Cry
* Shattered an iceberg with her Canary Cry
* Canary Cry completely obliterated this robot’s chest
* Threw Black Adam into a fire hydrant
* Was able to fight off Deathstroke and hit him in the testicles
* Hurt Convict who tanked attacks from Superman and Wonder Woman
* Destroyed the floor of a rooftop
* Canary Cry is strong enough to fragment rock and cause a stalagmite to fall
* Canary Cry is strong enough to break a stone wall
* Brought an entire city block to its knees with her Canary Cry
* Canary Cry is precise enough to break handcuffs
* Stopped a runaway train at top speed
* Canary Cry is described to be 300 Decibels (2.4 gigatons of TNT)
* Canary Cry is also precise enough to destroy a held billiard ball and a shot glass.

### Speed

* Struck Wonder Woman in what she claimed to be a single nanosecond (0.000000001 seconds)
* Dodging Hive gunfire
* Dodged bullets
* Sniped an arrow out of the air
* Dodged laser fire
* Avoided more laser fire
* Dodged an attack from a magical creature
* Dodged a dagger
* Dodged a sickle
* Reacted to and grabbed Merlin’s arrow with her bare hands
* Dodged hits from a robot
* Outraced a kerosene explosion.
* Reacted to a moving laser that was going to hit Metamorpho
* Dodged Hawkgirl’s attack and outmaneuvered her through wrapping her up in bolas.
* Caught an arrow while it’s heading towards her
* Dodged a blast from Eclipso’s diamond, which is confirmed to shoot actual light
* Dodged gunfire multiple times from multiple sources
* Grabbed onto a steel beam while falling with only one hand
* Reacted to Superman's intercontinental flight.

### Durability

* Fell from a great height and was fine
* Able to withstand her Canary Cry’s loud noise
* Survived an explosion that destroyed the top of the building
* Survived a building explosion
* Survived a huge explosion
* Survived a point blank explosion
* Survived a fall into the ocean head first from (as Oracle states) a “thousand feet in the air.”
* Dropped from a big height and smashed into the car
* Tanked a laser to the neck
* Hit so hard that she cracked the wall
* Thrown from a speeding car and smashed into pavement.
* Fell off a bridge along with a minivan into a river.
* Tanked a beating from Huntress (animated series)
* Got thrown into a pile of crates (animated series)
* Tanked Fire’s attacks (animated series)
* Withstood a blast from Amazo who was using Firestorm’s powers
* Tanked a laser blast from Eclipso-possessed Superboy.

### Skill

* Leader of the Birds of Prey
* Occasional Leader of the Justice League/Justice League of Amercia
* Defeated Black Alice twice, once when Alice was boosted with Shazam’s powers and once when boosted with Wonder Woman’s powers
* Challenged Superboy to a fight and didn’t get hit while throwing him around
* Once took down six guards in three hits
* Matched Cheshire in a pool (not in that way)
* Matched Talia al Ghul
* She took out a small platoon by herself
* She defeated White Canary
* Defeated Mammoth.
* Defeated Red Rocket
* Beat Green Arrow with one punch
* Defeated Ted Kord (Rest in Peace) with her Canary Cry
* Killed Roy Harper aka Arsenal with her Death Cry
* Killed Firefly
* Defeated Hawkman and Green Arrow with her Canary Cry
* Defeated skilled martial artist Manhunter
* Dueled with Wonder Woman with bo staffs and ends up winning.
* Disarmed and defeated an Amazon Warrior in one go
* Battled Savant while she was in a wheelchair
* Broke free of mind control

## Weaknessess

* **Human Physiology:** Black Canary is a tough fighter, but it’s important to note that despite being a metahuman, she’s still only a human, meaning she can still be hurt the same way as a normal human or affected the same as them. Her armor can protect her, but it can only do so much.
* **Throat Vulnerability:** Her Canary Cry can be stopped if she is strangled or unable to talk for any reason.
* **Reckless:** She’s known to be extremely headstrong and brash, often rushing into situations without considering the possible risks. This is an especially common problem in the Birds of Prey comics, to the point that Oracle has often had to stop her from doing so on multiple occasions.