Dinah Drake


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

Lieutenant Dinah Drake, formerly known undercover as Tina Boland, is a meta-human vigilante, a former police 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 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, and specializing in undercover jobs. Her first undercover assignment was with the street gang called the Pilgrims, where she was trained in bo-staff fighting.

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 2 weeks. 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's 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's 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 he was a double 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.

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's 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 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 real death Dinah returned to her ruthless and destructive ways. She wanted to kill 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 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. After a few months of putting her vendetta on hold, she later forgives and even helps Black Siren escape from Rigcardo Diaz 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 is powerful enough to produce enough force to launch a full-grown human and other heavy objects back several feet, kill a human being by causing internal hemorrhaging and easily turn over a moving armored truck or stop a moving train. Dinah has also shown she can emit a scream powerful enough to stop a moving train. Dinah is also immune to her own powers. Despite the destructive capabilities of Dinah's sonic scream; it is ultimately inferior to Laurel Lance's, as the the latter's sonic scream can reach up to 250 decibels.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: As a trained policewoman and vigilante, Dinah is in top physical condition, with her strenght being enough to swiftly incapacitate, hur through the air and well as beat up much larger foes relatively with ease. Dinah's reflexes are fast enough for her to react quickly and easily dodge the sonic cries of Laurel Lance. She is shown to be very nimble, performing noticeable free-running/parkour off a building to escape her assailants. Dinah's durability and resilience are also very remarkable since she was able to leave unharmed after an explosion and several pieces of debris fell on her. Her conditioning also lets her recover from most injuries very quickly, though not superhumanly. However it could be possible that her uniform may have materials that allow her survival to be possible.
 * Acrobatics/Free-running: Since becoming a vigilante, Dinah has developed free-running skills and could 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.
 * Keen intellect/Expert detective: Dinah is a very sharp-witted individual. During her undercover work within Sean's gang, she proved to have excellent subterfuge, having spent three years without being caught. She is also a very skilled tracker, having formulated a network to figure out where Sean was hiding.
 * Expert combatant/Martial artist: As a former field police detective and vigilante, Dinah is a highly proficient fighter, as noted by various sightings of her. In one such sighting, she was shown capable of dispatching three much larger men with ease and stay in combat with China White. After taking the mantle of Black Canary, Dinah can now easily defeat many criminals both armed and unarmed and effectively hit Vigilante. Despite being a highly skilled combatant in her own right, Dinah's unarmed combat skills are ultimately inferior to Laurel Lance's, the latter who has bested her on several occasions, relatively easily. After the death of Vincent Sobel, Dinah's rage had increased her abilities enough that she can fight on par with and pressure Laurel twice; but still not enough to actually best her.
 * Expert marksman: Having been a high-ranking police officer in two cities separately, Dinah is trained in the usage of at least standard firearms. During the shoot out with Sean Sonus' men, she was able to effectively fire even while dodging incoming shots.
 * Expert stick fighter: Dinah's first undercover assignment was with the street gang, called the Pilgrims, where she used bo-staff fighting. Dinah used a bo-staff while sparring with John Diggle, who praised her skills. Since joining Team Arrow, it has become her signature tactic in battle. Now using her stick she has been able to defeat many armed and unarmed criminals with relativa ease.
 * Indomitable will/High pain tolerance: Despite her personal demons, Dinah is a very resilient woman. Despite weeks of constant torture from Sean's men, she remained defiant throughout. She is also very driven, having spent three years alone hunting down her boyfriend's killer. She also felt no pain and was able to recover quickly after several large debris fell on her. However, despite this, Dinah's tolerance for pain is not as high as Laurel Lance's; after the two meta-humans try to blast each other with their own sonic screams, only for these said sonic screams to cancel each other out, sending the two flying several feet away from each other, well Laurel was able to quickly recover, Dinah was barely able to move, it had not been for the intervention of Quentin Lance, she would have been killed by the former.

Weaknesses

 * Power-dampening tech: Like most meta-humans, Dinah's powers can be neutralized by using power-dampening tech.
 * Sonic dampener: Just like Laurel Lance and Sean Sonus, Dinah was affected by Curtis Holt's sonic dampener, causing her to temporarily lose her powers.
 * 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. She later got a new mask after the death of Adrian Chase.
 * Bo-staff: Dinah carries a bo-staff and she first was seen using it while training with John Diggle.
 * Sonic amplifier: A device created by Curtis Holt that boosts her scream, allows her to more easily focus her Canary Cry and bypass the effects of a sonic dampener. It also allows Dinah's sonic scream to match Laurel's; who has a far more powerful sonic scream that can reach up to 250 decibels.

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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Season 6
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Trivia

 * She is the only known character who has worked for both the CCPD and SCPD.
 * Vincent Sobel stated that the both of them were cops for nearly ten years before the particle accelerator exploded.
 * Assuming that they both joined the CCPD between the ages 18-21, and including the three years between the accelerator explosion and Dinah becoming Black Canary, that puts the both of them around the ages of 31-34.


 * She is the only Meta-human member of 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.