Dinah Drake


 * For others characters with the same first name, see Dinah.
 * For other people who used the "Canary" identity, see Canary.

Captain Dinah Drake, formerly known undercover as Tina Boland, is a meta-human vigilante, a police captain, formerly a lieutenant of the Star City Police Department and a former police detective of the Central City Police Department. She was eventually recruited into the ranks of Team Arrow by Oliver Queen, who was searching for a successor to the Black Canary mantle. After discovering that Oliver, John Diggle and Felicity Smoak respectively had violated her privacy, she left the team, along with Rene Ramirez and Curtis Holt to formed their own team known as New Team Arrow, until she rejoined Team Arrow to help Oliver battle Diaz along with Rene and Curtis.

Dinah is also the former girlfriend of the late Vincent Sobel.

Early life
Dinah was born and raised in Central City, where she later joined the CCPD sometime in 2003, becoming a detective specializing in undercover jobs. Her first undercover assignment was with the street gang called the Pilgrims, where she was trained in bo-staff fighting.

Dinah has apparently been engaged to be married multiple times, though all of these relationships dissolved.

Becoming a meta-human
In 2013, Dinah was an undercover cop going by the name Tina Boland in order to go after Sean Sonus. Sonus discovered that Tina was an undercover cop and he tortured her for two weeks, trying to get information from her. Sonus captured her partner Vincent Sobel and "killed" him. The S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded subsequently, which gave Sonus, Vincent and Dinah their powers. She screamed as the particles from the accelerator went into her system, giving her sonic screaming abilities. In her grief over Vincent's "death" she used her sonic scream, attacking Sonus.

She handed in her badge after her partner's funeral and went rogue becoming a vigilante all across America never settling down her roots. While doing this, she always kept track of Sonus' movement.

Recruited in Team Arrow
In late 2016 to early 2017, knowing Sonus was in Hub City, she indirectly caught the attention of Team Arrow when Curtis showed them video footage of her fighting and using her sonic scream against a group of criminals. Agreeing that she was perfect to be the next Canary, Curtis, Rene, and Oliver went to recruit her.

After joining the SCPD, she would eventually be promoted to the rank of lieutenant. She continued to be a member of Team Arrow and became close friends with Rene and Curtis. She also became friends with Quentin Lance who eventually gave her the codename of Black Canary after his late daughter.

Dinah would meet Black Siren, the Earth Two doppelganger of Laurel Lance and the two would end up in a feud with Black Siren always defeating Dinah every time they fought even when Dinah was armed with a weapon and Laurel was not.

Dinah eventually discovered the identity of Vigilante to be her old partner Vincent Sobel, she allowed him to go and he started sending her texts and leaving her gifts. This eventually caused Dinah to confront him and tell him to leave town, unfortunately for her, Oliver discovered that a member of Team Arrow had betrayed him and setting him up to be arrested and sent to prison, and he discovered the meeting between Dinah and Vincent. Oliver confronted Dinah and accused her of being the traitor, but Rene stepped forward and admitted to being the traitor. Dinah still remained in the team but when Oliver kicked out Rene after he went off on his own, he gave everyone a speech about trust in which Dinah agreed and told him that she didn't trust Oliver anymore and left the team. She later met up with Vincent and told him that she needed a friend she could trust.

Establishing a new team
Five weeks after leaving Team Arrow and reconnecting with Vince, Dinah along with Curtis and Rene created a new team one that would protect Star City and be rival to their former team. Dinah found out Vince was part of Cayden James' criminal cabal heartbroken and outraged she confronted him. However, Vince easily overtook her when he saw that she wouldn't easily be calmed down and listen to him. She eventually found out later that he was in fact undercover and his feelings for her were still real. However, upon witnessing his death for real, she swore vengeance and said Black Siren was at the top of her kill list.

Becoming captain of the Star City Police Department
Sometime after Ricardo Diaz's downfall and Oliver Queen's (wrongful) incarceration, Dinah had been reinstated as the police lieutenant, eventually became the police captain of the Star City Police Department.

Potential future
In a potential future that Eobard Thawne hails from, Black Canary is one of the several heroes remembered in the "Age of Heroes", whether this refers to Dinah or her predecessor Laurel Lance is unknown.

Personality
Before being subjected to inhumane torture and witnessing Vincent Sobel's death, Dinah was presumably a happy and carefree individual who cared deeply for the ones she loved. She even went far to legally change her name to keep her family safe as she went undercover in Sean Sonus' gang. Dinah never revealed to anyone she was a meta-human following the particle accelerator's explosion and cut all ties with her former life the day following Vince's funeral.
 * -|As a civilian=

Unable to understand herself and the powers she gained, Dinah started to travel all over the USA, protecting those who needed help. Still wired like a detective, she kept track of Sean's movement, which paid off in killing him. However, she admitted to Oliver that killing him didn't give her closure, despite making sure that one less killer was on the street.
 * -|As Black Canary=

Dinah stated to John that since Vincent's death she never had a normal life, so he convinced her to move on and take up a job at the SCPD, which she eventually agreed to. After joining the team she was shown to have a jovial personality among the members and she was shown getting along with them very well, especially with Curtis and Rene and even being concerned about them, willing to risk her life to ensure their safety, she can also be quite probing into people's personal problems, shown when she tries to make sure Quentin doesn't go back to drinking and showing concern for John when he was distracted and unable to shoot properly in the field due to his nerve damage, she eventually even pressed him to tell Oliver, though he did not. Dinah is very similar to Helena Bertinelli and Laurel Lance. The difference between Helena and Dinah, both of them had the same vendetta, but Dinah has a lot of remorse. She can be forgiven and took responsibility for everything.

When Dinah discovers that Vigilante is in fact her ex-boyfriend, Vincent Sobel, she was not only shocked to discover that he was alive, but horrified at what Vincent had become. Despite claiming to John that she would take down her ex-boyfriend the next time she encountered him, she ultimately chose to let him escape, indicating that she is still had unresolved affection for Vincent, despite the ruthless vigilante he had become.

Dinah has a sense of justice, honor and good morals; when she learns that Oliver had her on surveillance (as he believed she was the witness that will testified against him in court - regarding his identity as Green Arrow) she became completely disgusted by his actions and more so when she discovers that even John Diggle and Felicity Smoak did not trust her simply because she was meeting with her ex-boyfriend, even after she had genuinely proven herself trustworthy and after Oliver (unfairly) kicked out Rene of the team - Dinah finally left the team, having lost complete trust and respect for Oliver.

Later, when Oliver finally apologizes for his unfair/unjust treatment towards her, along with Rene and Curtis, and despite the sincerity of his apology, Dinah could not return to the team, having lost complete trust and respect for the original members of Team Arrow - firstly for the violation of her privacy and trust, but foremost because they never trusted her in the first place and did not treat her as an equal, as she felt strongly that she could not be part of a team where there was no trust.

After Vincent's death, this time for real, Dinah returned to her ruthless and destructive ways, she wanted to kill Earth Two Laurel Lance due to her being the one who had killed her boyfriend, claiming that she was obtaining justice for Vincent's death, when this was an act of pure vengeance that regularly clouded her judgement (this was similar to how Helena Bertinelli had justified her actions; regarding her fiancé, Michael Staton's death) and was determined to kill Laurel the same way she killed Vincent, however, when she was given the opportunity to actually do this, Curtis was able to talk her down, after this, Dinah resolved to imprison Laurel instead of kill her.

However, Dinah would never be able to bring Laurel justice; after the latter reveals herself to the public (pretending to be her late Earth One counterpart) making it impossible to imprison Laurel, as she can't even reveal to the public that the latter is the doppelgänger of Earth One Laurel from a parallel universe.

After a few months of bitterness over her inability to bring Laurel to justice, Dinah comes to regret how harsh she was with her former teammates, causing her to agree to join Team Arrow once again and sincerely apologizing for what she did. She even has come to forgive Laurel, to the point that when she had her in a position where she could have killed Laurel, as Laurel was not able to use her powers, she instead frees her and helps her fend off Diaz's men.

Powers

 * Meta-human physiology: After Dinah was struck by the energy of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion, her DNA and cells were altered to augment her vocal cords.
 * Superhuman sonic scream: Dinah is able to emit a high frequency scream that comes from her voice, with the highest known frequency her scream can reach being 183 decibels. Dinah's scream can produce enough force to launch a full-grown human and other heavy objects back several feet, kill a human being by causing internal hemorrhaging or snapping their neck at close-range, and easily turn over a moving armored truck. She can even emit a scream powerful enough to stop a moving train. Dinah can also use the sonic waves of her scream for levitation, as shown when she directed a falling John Diggle towards a building Alex Faust was fleeing to. Dinah is immune to her own powers and her scream is stated to be more refined than Laurel Lance's.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: As a trained policewoman and vigilante, Dinah is in top physical condition. Her strength allows her to take on and swiftly incapacitate much larger adversaries. During a fight with Laurel Lance, Dinah was able to flip Laurel over her shoulder. Her reflexes are fast enough for her to easily dodge Laurel's sonic screams and push Emily Pollard out of the way of a sniper's bullets. Dinah's durability and resilience are remarkable since she was able to recover with no visible injuries after being knocked down by an explosion from a sonic scream battle and pinned underneath heavy rubble. Her conditioning also lets her recover from most injuries very quickly, though not superhumanly.
 * Acrobatics/Free-running: Dinah is very nimble, having developed free-running and parkour skills. She can drop from a height of several feet without injuring herself.
 * Honed senses: Dinah has sharp hearing and sight, as well as keen skills of perception. She is able to pick up an incoming danger and react extremely quickly. For example, she instantly deduced a sniper's presence and was able to save the target.
 * Keen intellect/Expert detective/Expert tactician/Master deceiver: Dinah is a very sharp-witted individual and a capable tactician. As an undercover cop, she has excellent skill in subterfuge, having successfully worked underground in and dismantled multiple criminal gangs/organizations. Dinah spent three years undercover in Sean Sonus's gang without being caught. As a police detective, she is an experienced tracker, having formulated a network to figure out where Sean was hiding. She was even able to track down Laurel on her own in her pursuit of revenge. Dinah gained multiple skills from her undercover work, which she utilizes as a vigilante.
 * Safe-cracking: Dinah has considerable knowledge in safe-cracking, having once worked undercover in a safe-cracking gang. Using these skills, she came up with the idea to use hydrochloric acid to weaken the titanium hatch of an EMP-impacted Arrowcave to rescue Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak, which would also ensure that the high levels of leaking methane gas wouldn't be ignited.
 * Expert combatant/Martial artist: As a former field police detective and vigilante, Dinah is a highly proficient combatant. In one such sighting, she quickly dispatched three much larger men. After taking on the mantle of Black Canary, Dinah was able to hold her own against China White, incapacitate Vigilante and defeat multiple armed criminals with relative ease. She was implied to have put up a good fight against Prometheus' team before being captured. Dinah is able to fight on par with Laurel, though combat her skills are ultimately inferior to the latter's, as she has been bested by Laurel on several occasions. After a few more months of training and Vincent Sobel's death, Dinah's abilities have greatly improved (albeit partially fueled by rage) as seen when she easily pummeled John Diggle whilst his right arm was injured, disarmed and knocked down Quentin Lance and even briefly got the better of Laurel, who was forced to put in more effort than before to push Dinah back in their latest encounter.
 * Police training: Dinah received training like all Central City Police Department members do.
 * Expert markswoman/Firearms: Having been a high-ranking police officer in two different cities, Dinah is trained in the usage of at least standard firearms. During a shootout with Sean Sonus' men, she was able to effectively fire even while dodging incoming shots. Dinah was also able to shoot Laurel in the stomach despite being pushed back by her scream.
 * Expert stick fighter: Dinah learned bo-staff fighting during an undercover mission with The Pilgrims. She uses a bo-staff while sparring with John, who praised her skills. Since joining Team Arrow, bo-staff fighting has become Dinah's signature tactic in battle against her adversaries.
 * Indomitable will/High pain tolerance: Despite her personal demons, Dinah is a very resilient and driven women, having spent three years alone hunting down her boyfriend's killer. When Vincent was murdered by Laurel, Dinah was relentlessly determined to get revenge, allowing her to easily beat Laurel. Dinah also has a very high tolerance for pain; despite two weeks of brutal torture from Sonus's men, she remained defiant throughout and refused to tell them anything. After crashing into a rail with pottery due to a shockwave from a sonic scream battle with Laurel, Dinah, despite being barely able to move for a few seconds, was able to get back up on her feet and continue fighting alongside her team. Similarly, Dinah was able to quickly stand up after being thrown against some cars by Laurel's scream and pinned underneath large debris by Cayden James' bomb.
 * Stealth: Dinah has skills in stealth. She was able to ambush Vigilante as he tried to kill Emily Pollard and Laurel as she tried to flee Star City.

Weaknesses

 * Power-dampening tech: Like most meta-humans, Dinah's powers can be neutralized by using power-dampening tech.
 * Vocal cords: Presumably like Laurel, if someone is able to grip Dinah's throat tight enough, she is unable to use the scream to defend herself.

Equipment

 * Black Canary suit: Dinah wears a protective black leather suit as Black Canary, to hide her identity from her enemies, when she goes out fighting crime. She was presented by Felicity with a mask to wear in the field to better protect her identity. After the death of Adrian Chase, Dinah received a new mask and suit.
 * Bo-staff: Dinah carries a bo-staff as her signature weapon.
 * Expandable batons: After a while of being the Black Canary, Dinah starts using a pair of Black expandable batons to fight which are capable of combine into a bo-staff.
 * Sonic amplifier: A device created by Curtis Holt that allows Dinah to more easily focus her Canary Cry and bypass the effects of a sonic dampener.

Former equipment

 * Leather jacket: Before joining Team Arrow, on missions, Dinah wore a leather jacket for her gear.
 * Gloves: Before being recruited by Oliver, Dinah wore gloves suitable for her in fist-fighting.

Arrow
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Trivia

 * She is the only known character who has worked for both the CCPD and SCPD.
 * Vincent Sobel stated that he and Dinah were cops for nearly 10 years before the particle accelerator exploded. Assuming that they both joined the CCPD between at the age of 18-21 and including the three years between the accelerator explosion and Dinah becoming Black Canary, this puts Vincent and Dinah around the ages of 31-34.
 * Unlike Laurel Lance, Dinah initially didn't much control over her powers beyond "on and off." This may be due the fact that while Laurel most likely received training with her powers in Zoom's army, Dinah had to learn how to use her powers largely through self-teaching before being recruited into Team Arrow.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the DC comics, Dinah Drake (later known as Dinah Drake-Lance) is the first person to take on the legacy mantle of Black Canary and is also the mother of her successor, Dinah Laurel Lance. In the New 52 reboot, Dinah Lance (née Drake) is the only Black Canary ever existed on Prime Earth, with the two previous versions being combined into one.
 * On the show, the character is split into two altogether separate individuals; Dinah Drake, the meta-human Black Canary-in-training and Dinah Lance, the civilian mother of Sara and Laurel Lance, the Canary/White Canary and Black Canary, respectively.