When Dinah was nineteen, she decided to become a crime-fighter, taking on her mother's costume and identity as the Black Canary. Due to a curse placed upon her at childhood by the Wizard, Dinah developed a 'Canary Cry'.
Shortly after doing so, Dinah became a founding member of the Justice League of America. Dinah recommended the name in remembrance of the team her mother was part of: the Justice Society of America. It was during this time Dinah first met Oliver "Ollie" Queen, the Green Arrow.
Black Canary worked with the JLA for many years. Her friendship with Oliver soon blossomed into a romance. When Oliver left the JLA and moved to Star City to work on his own, she soon followed him. She continued to work solo and with the JLA until Green Arrow decided to settle down in Seattle.
Lady in Waiting
Oliver and Dinah set up a shop, "Sherwood Florist", as well as continuing to fight crime. Oliver was having something of a midlife crisis, however, just as he was about to turn 43. He wanted to marry Dinah and have a real family with real children of his own (he loved Roy, his ward, and Roy's daughter Lian, but wanted his own biological children). Dinah turned down the idea, citing that their lives were too dangerous. During this time, Dinah was kidnapped by a drug dealer she was investigating. She was brutally tortured, causing her to lose her 'Canary Cry' and rendering her incapable of having a child. Ollie killed the man who tortured her, and that act lead to a turning point in the life of the Emerald Archer.
Green Arrow and Black Canary
When Dinah came out of the hospital, she was still emotionally traumatized by the incident. Oliver was with her as she entered counseling. Needless to say, she was not going out fighting crime during the first few weeks after leaving the hospital. Ironically enough, it was when she stepped up to stop some muggers on a bus (taking a few hits in the process) she felt back to her old self, knowing that her biggest fear was that she would not be able to fight back anymore, and that fear was gone. She and Ollie were closer than ever.
She continued to fight crime off and on, eventually breaking up with Oliver, feeling he would never commit to her completely.
She was shocked when Connor Hawke, Oliver's son and the new Green Arrow, told her Oliver had died over Metropolis while fighting some eco-terrorists.
Black Canary rising from the Lazarus Pit
Dinah was contacted by Oracle (Barbara Gordon) to work in Gotham, which she accepted, and the pair formed a partnership, the Birds of Prey. After a battle with Ra's al Ghul, she took a dip in the Lazarus Pit at Oracle's urging. Doing so healed her injuries and restored her Canary Cry. As time went on the Birds expanded their number with Dinah became the backbone of the team, operating alongside notable female adventurers such as the Huntress, Gypsy and Lady Blackhawk.
A short time later, Dinah resigned from the JSA when she discovered that Oliver Queen had come back to life. She traveled to Star City, where the two former lovers were happily reunited. Their renewed relationship was short-lived however, as Dinah feared that Oliver might try to take advantage of his young female ward, Mia Dearden. Dinah left Star City and returned to Metropolis where she continued to function with the Birds of Prey.
Following the "One Year Later" jump, Dinah trades life experiences with Lady Shiva in hopes of softening the warrior, undertaking a harsh training regimen in an unidentified Vietnamese bidonville, or shantytown. The regimen replicates Shiva's early life and training; Shiva, meanwhile, assumes Dinah's role in Oracle's group and demands that her associates call her the "Jade Canary".
When Dinah realizes following Lady Shiva's path will require her to fundamentally change who she is as a person, she ends the training and returns to the United States. She brings with her a little girl, Sin, who also had begun the harsh grooming process to be Lady Shiva's successor (Birds of Prey #95; the now resurrected Oliver Queen uses his connections to allow Sin to immigrate into the country). Dinah hopes to balance her duties as a superhero with the responsibilities of being a surrogate mother/sister to the child.
Birds of Prey era
In Birds of Prey #99, Dinah informs Oracle that she is quitting the team, having decided to devote herself to raising Sin. Issue #100 shows Dinah and Sin leaving Metropolis. It is hinted that their final destination is Star City; Dinah jokingly tells Sin that she can rip out Ollie's beard if he isn't nice to her.
After leaving the Birds of Prey, Black Canary joins with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Red Arrow (Roy Harper) on a mission to locate the Red Tornado's body (stolen by his creator and Solomon Grundy). The three heroes join forces with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Black Lightning, and Vixen to defeat Amazo.
The assembled heroes re-form the Justice League of America; Dinah is made the Chairwoman, due to her strong abilities and strategic mind. The team's first mission with Dinah as leader sees the JLA and JSA discover that members of the Legion of Super-Heroes (a team that lives in the 31st Century) have been located in the 21st Century.
Dinah eventually returned to Star City to aid Oliver, Connor and Mia against Roadblock and Merlin. During the course of their mission, Dinah rekindled her relationship with Oliver yet again, feeling that he had truly changed and that all the parts of him that she hated seemed to be gone. Oliver admitted to Dinah that many of the changes he made over the last year were due in most part for her, because he wanted to be a better man. As the battle concluded, Oliver at last proposed to Dinah. Dinah however, did not give him an answer right away.
Shortly thereafter, Ollie and Speedy helped Black Canary when Merlyn abducted Canary's "daughter" Sin. To save Sin's life, Ollie was forced to fake the young girl's death, keeping the knowledge of the plan between himself and Mia, even at the risk of losing Dinah forever. After Sin was placed into safekeeping, Ollie told Dinah what he had done. Recognizing that he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness to save a life, Dinah finally agreed to marry him.
After a great deal of compromise and strife, Dinah and Ollie agreed to get married inside the Secret Sanctuary, the original cave headquarters of the Justice League of America. Wedding guests included nearly everyone within the superhero community who were asked to attend the ceremony in-costume. The wedding was interupted by a phalanx of supervillains, who attempted to take out as many heroes as possible in one fell swoop. Nearly all of the villains were apprehended except for Deathstroke, who managed to escape. Despite the interruption, the ceremony concluded and Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen were married.
Don't get me wrong. We're not freaks. We weren't born different. But we became different the moment we stepped into the hero role. Now we have to live up to it... or die trying
