Arrowverse vs. DCEU: Which Version Of Black Canary Was Better?

Warning : The following feature contains SPOILERS for Birds of Prey.

Which Black Canary is the best: the Arrowverse version from Arrow or the DCEU version from Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)? Dinah Lance fans are dying to compare both Canaries in the wake of the highly-anticipated film's release and the epic conclusion to the long-running superhero series.

Black Canary may be the most frequently adapted heroine in DC Comics history, in terms of live-action incarnations. She was first adapted for live-action in 2002's Birds of Prey show, with two characters based on her appearing in the short-lived series. She was also a major supporting character in the later seasons of Smallville, before being set up as the romantic lead opposite Oliver Queen in the first season of Arrow.

Birds of Prey marks Black Canary's big-screen debut. Comparisons between the film and television versions of the character are inevitable, though it should be noted that both versions offer unique interpretations of the same great character. It must also be said that Katie Cassidy and Jurnee Smollet-Bell are both talented performers. Still, the question remains; Arrowverse vs. DCEU: Which Version Of Black Canary Was Better?

Black Canary In The Comics

Black Canary on Motorcycle by Neal Adams

First appearing in Flash Comics #86 in 1947, Black Canary was originally depicted as a mysterious masked woman who recruited Johnny Thunder to help her crack a gangster's safe. While Johnny's genie pal the Thunderbolt was skeptical of Black Canary at first, her heroic heart was later confirmed as she was revealed to be robbing thieves to recover stolen property and gathering evidence of their crimes. She would not be given a proper name or a secret identity until six issues later, when she was revealed as florist Dinah Drake and developed into a master martial artist, known as the Mistress of Judo. Within a year, she had joined the Justice Society of America and had her own feature in Flash Comics, where she continually crossed paths with a private eye named Larry Lance.

In time, Dinah and Larry married and had a daughter, who was also named Dinah. The younger Dinah was determined to follow in her mother's footsteps as a superhero, particularly after she discovered that she had a superpower; a third vocal chord that gave her the ability to produce ultrasonic frequencies with her voice. Secretly seeking out various masters to train her, starting with her favorite uncle, Ted "Wildcat" Grant, the new Black Canary became one of the world's greatest mixed-martial artists and one of the founders of the Justice League of America.

The New 52 revamp in 2011 eliminated this legacy, giving Dinah Drake a new backstory as an orphan, who lived on the streets of Gotham City until she was taken in by a kindly dojo owner. He taught Dinah how to fight and her skills earned her a place in the elite covert operations squad known as Team-7. It was here that she was experimented on and given her trademark sonic-scream superpower. Going on the run after being falsely accused of killing her husband, Dinah formed the Birds of Prey team as a means of helping other outcast women living on the edge of society, giving them a venue for their powers and talents that could help others. When the team fell apart, Dinah sought a new outlet, taking up the identity of "DD" and a new career as the lead singer of a rock band called Black Canary.

Black Canary In Arrow

Arrow Season 7 Black Siren Katie Cassidy Pretending To Be Laurel Lance District Attorney

The daughter of college professor Dinah Drake and police detective Quentin Lance, Dinah Laurel Lance (Laurel to her friends) knew what she wanted to do with her life from a young age. Determined to a fault, Laurel was inspired by her father's belief in justice and decided to devote her life to helping others as a lawyer. She also dreamed of marrying her childhood friend Oliver Queen, despite his playboy ways. That dream died when Oliver was presumed lost at sea while on a pleasure cruise he had taken with her younger sister, Sara.

Five years later, Laurel had graduated from law school and started an on-again/off-again romance with Tommy Merlyn. Her new life was thrown into sharp relief when Oliver Queen was discovered to be alive, spending five years marooned on an island. One year later, Sara Lance returned to Starling City as well, revealing to her sister that she had been rescued by a group called the League of Assassins, given the name "The Canary," and spent five years serving as one of them before being allowed to leave. In time, Laurel would learn that Oliver Queen had also become someone else: the vigilante known as "The Hood."

When Sara was murdered under mysterious circumstances, Laurel became determined to avenge her death and honor her legacy. Donning a leather costume, Laurel began using her own meager fighting skills to help defend Starling City, while seeking out teachers like Sara's former lover Nyssa Al Ghul. As a symbol of her mourning, Laurel called herself the Black Canary. Later, she gave herself a sonic scream, with the aid of a special choker designed by STAR Labs engineer Cisco Ramon, which was based on the sonic stunning device Sara had used as The Canary. Laurel would later die in battle with the sorcerer Damien Darhk during the events of Arrow season 4.

Laurel's dying request was for Oliver to find some way to continue the Canary legacy, so that some part of her could remain with him. Oliver honored her request, recruiting a woman named Dinah Drake to become the new Black Canary. A former undercover cop from Central City, Drake had become a vigilante after acquiring the metahuman power to generate ultrasonic frequencies with her voice. With Oliver's help, she built a new life as the second Black Canary to protect Star City.

Black Canary in Birds Of Prey

Birds of Prey Jurnee Smollett-Bell Black Canary

A Gotham City native, Dinah Lance worked as a lounge singer for crime boss Roman Sionis. Referred to lovingly as his "Little Bird," Dinah was comfortably employed in this capacity for several years. As the movie opened, she had just assumed a new job as Sionis' personal driver.

Little is said directly about Dinah Lance's background, but several key facts do come out over the course of the movie. She was apparently a foster child, as she tried to comfort Cassandra Cain after she came across the young woman hiding in the hallway of her apartment complex while her foster parents fought. Dinah assured Cassandra that life wouldn't always be this bad and gave her some money to get something to eat.

According to Rene Montoya, Dinah's mother was a vigilante who used to help the police out; a fact that does little to embiggen Dinah's sense of civic pride when Montoya asks her for help spying on Roman Sionis, as her mother apparently died violently and alone with no police to help her when the gangs she fought caught up to her. Montoya also reveals that she knew about the special power that Dinah's mother had and that Dinah had the same ability: a sonic scream that could incapacitate whole mobs.

Despite her desire to not get involved and her working for a criminal, Dinah was shown to have a strongly developed sense of right and wrong. She ultimately agreed to help Montoya after becoming convinced Sionis' plans would ultimately cause an all-out gang war in Gotham's underworld. She also refused to sit idly by and allow Sionis' men to take advantage of a drunk Harley Quinn, no matter how annoying she personally found Harley. The movie doesn't explain where Dinah Lance learned how to fight, but it was made clear she learned how to take care of herself and other people quite well, easily fighting multiple attackers simultaneously.

The Winner: DCEU

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary in Birds of Prey poster

Honestly, this wasn't a remotely fair comparison. The fact that Arrow's showrunners felt the need to introduce a more comics-accurate Canary in the form of Sara Lance for Arrow season 2 speaks volumes. So does the fact that the fan outrage over Sara's being killed off in Arrow's season 3 opener, purely to push Laurel to become Black Canary, led to Sara's resurrection and, eventually, her headlining the ensemble of Legends of Tomorrow. Then they introduced Dinah Drake in Arrow season 5: another new Canary meant to be more like the Black Canary of the comics than Laurel Lance.

While Laurel Lance is a compelling character in her own right, there's just no comparing the Arrowverse version of Black Canary to the Dinah Lance we see in Birds of Prey. The DCEU movie acknowledged the Black Canary legacy from the comics in a way that Arrow never truly managed. Dinah's backstory in Birds of Prey was also much closer to the modern comics than Laurel's, with Dinah being established as an orphan, a Gotham City native, a master martial artist and a professional singer. The DCEU Dinah also had an ethical code and attitude much closer to that of the classic Black Canary than Laurel Lance.

More: Everything We Know About Birds Of Prey 2