Dinah Laurel Lance (born November 15, 2335), she is better known as Laurel Lance, she is also known by her married name Laurel Lance-Halliwell or Dinah Laurel Lance-Halliwell is a female Human who is a a citizen of Star City, who is a resident socialite of Star City and the city's district attorney, one of its most beloved public servants. She is a lawyer who holds the position of district attorney and was previously a legal aid attorney at CNRI. Laurel is the oldest daughter of Quentin Lance and Dinah Lance (after whom she was named), she is the older sister of Sara Lance and the wife of Typhuss James Halliwell and the mother of Mia Lance. Laurel was inspired to take up vigilantism and received training from Ted Grant and later by her close friend and Sara's former lover, Nyssa al Ghul.
She eventually joined Team Arrow and became known as the Black Canary, the second Canary of her beloved city.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Laurel Lance was born on November 15, 2335 to Quentin and Dinah Lance in Starling City and had a younger sister, Sara. As children, Laurel and Sara would play and dress up together. In one instance, they pretended to be grown-up versions of themselves with Laurel as a SCIS officer and Sara as a doctor. The two would also race to climb to the top of a particular tree, in which Laurel was implied to have always let Sara win, because she knew her little sister was a sore loser. When she was young, Laurel met and befriended Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn, and the three of them grew up together as lifelong best friends. She also became close with Oliver's younger sister, Thea.
Growing up, Laurel was always studious and responsible, in stark contrast with Sara's rebellious nature. From an early age, she was very close with her father, sharing Quentin's drive of administering justice and making the world a better place.
In her senior year of high school, Laurel became the student body president with help from Oliver and Tommy, who handed out gift baskets to the voters.
Laurel planned to attend Starling City University after high school, but was struggling to figure out what she wanted to study in college. Meanwhile, her father suspected something was going on with Sara so he asked Laurel to keep an eye on her. The next day, Laurel tried to walk home with her sister but Sara rejected her offer of help. Sara later came home with a black eye, which revealed she was being bullied. Quentin scolded Laurel for not being there for her sister, citing that they should always look out for those who couldn't protect themselves, and began giving her and Sara self-defense lessons. Later as Laurel and Sara were walking home from school, Sara's bullies cornered them, but the sisters worked together to fend them off and they never bothered Sara again. Afterwards, Laurel took her father's words to heart and decided to study pre-law at Starling University, aspiring to become a lawyer to help people.
Meeting Typhuss and dating him[]
One day Laurel met Typhuss and the two quickly fell in love, Laurel and Typhuss began dating, their relationship was approved by Typhuss's family, with Patty Halliwell in particular admiring the influence Laurel had on her son.
Marriage and venture into law[]
Laurel later went to law school, where she buried herself in her studies and distanced herself from the Queen family, becoming cynical and closed off for a period of time. At law school, Laurel met and befriended Joanna de la Vega. Sometime later Typhuss proposed to Laurel and she accepted, two weeks later they got married.
At some point in law school, Laurel made it to the final mock trials in Moot Court and asked her father to come watch, which Quentin initially agreed to. At Moot Court, Laurel was the defense attorney for a suspect who was wrongfully arrested for and accused of a murder that was carried out with his stolen gun. She waited for her father but he didn't show, leaving her disappointed. Laurel proceeded as the defense and eventually won the case. Afterwards, Quentin apologized for not coming, explaining how he finally apprehended a serial killer known as "The Night-Stalker", but Laurel was still upset.
During her final year of law school, Laurel accepted a job offer at Weathersby Posner, a prestigious corporate firm in San Francisco. One afternoon, she was notified by Quentin's desk sergeant that he didn't show up at work. After finding him in a bar, Laurel paid for her father's drinks and took him home. That night, she attended her husband's birthday party at the Ritz hotel, where the two caught up before encountering Thea, whose new party-girl lifestyle worried them. The event was broken up by the SCIS when Thea's drug dealer was found dead. After Quentin arrived at the scene, he lashed out at Thea and Typhuss, also berating Laurel for continuing to associate with Oliver's crowd, much to her anger.
As Laurel took her father inside and scolded him, Quentin then revealed his unhappiness with her new job; he pointed out that she wanted to become a lawyer to help people and at Weathersby Posner, Laurel would just be “helping fat cats get fatter”. The next day, after some thinking, Laurel turned down Weathersby Posner's offer and instead accepted a job at City Necessary Resources Initiative (CNRI), a legal aid office in the Glades.
Working at CNRI[]
Laurel graduated from law school and began working at CNRI alongside Joanna. At CNRI, Laurel embarked on a mission to take down the corruption in Star City through the legal system. Through her job, Laurel became acquainted with Detective McKenna Hall due to their encounters at the courthouse.
Becoming the District attorney[]
Becoming a vigilante and Black Canary[]
Birth of Mia[]
Personality[]
Laurel was idealistic, intelligent, hard-working, and fights hard to get what she wants. She was a competent, upstanding lawyer aiming to stand up for the innocent and what was right, despite the corruption in Star City. Laurel can be stubborn, feisty, and independent and doesn't like to be told what to do. She was attracted to troublemakers, as shown when she dated both Oliver and Tommy. Laurel gets annoyed when her father tries to get in the way, always forming his opinion of her boyfriends, even though it almost never changes her mind. Laurel was tough and more than capable of taking care of herself. She takes risks, such as contacting the vigilante for help in her cases. She can't resist saving people from tough situations, from when Tommy and Oliver were going to get beat up in the night club Poison, to innocent people being wrongfully accused.
Laurel is shown to have a big heart, being open-minded and inquisitive, having a tendency to see the best in the people around her. She is shown to care for her husband Typhuss James Halliwell and her daughter Mia Lance, she loves them very much.
Abilities[]
- Peak human physical condition: After months of training with Ted, Laurel was in top physical condition with fast reflexes and was strong enough to lift a grown man on top of a desk. She later received additional training from Nyssa who taught her the ways of the League of Assassins.
- High-level intellect/Master lawyer: Laurel was a respected and highly attorney, graduating law school with an offer to work at successful law firm in San Francisco and later offered the position of District Attorney. Her ability to use the legal system to her advantage allowed her to help others and herself both inside and outside the court, while looking at every aspect before making up her mind.
- Expert detective: Laurel's experiences as a lawyer make her a capable investigator and she has exceptional instincts, as she was correct on her assumptions on Sebastian Blood's corruption. As after learning from Slade Wilson that Oliver is the Arrow she was able to gather the evidence to prove his claims and as a result figure out her sister's identity as the Canary.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Originally Laurel was a capable hand-to-hand combatant, this was due to Quentin making her take self-defense classes. Once Laurel decided to become a vigilante, she began further training in Boxing and advanced combat training under Ted Grant. Her training allowed her to match street thugs such as the Red Scarfs, however, she still gets injured from time to time. Nyssa al Ghul, who stated that her fighting style was competent but could be improved offered her training in the ways of the League of Assassins. Over time, Laurel's fighting skills improved enough for her to hold her own against multiple fighters whether they were street thugs or members of the League. After five months, Laurel was now more than capable of defeating multiple enemies of advanced training such as H.I.V.E. soldiers or League members with only minor occasional assistance. Laurel's fighting style seems to be a mixture of Boxing, Judo, and techniques and tactics from the League of Assassins.
- Expert stick-fighter: Throughout her career as a vigilante Laurel had used several weapons such as a stick, her sister's batons, and finally her choice weapon of a tactical tonfa. Laurel's skill with her tonfa had been improved through trial and error, with her later ultimately becoming able to hold her own and later defeat members of the League of Assassins. During confrontations against H.I.V.E. soldiers Laurel had been shown to occasionally wield two tonfas in combat occasionally. While helping Mari against Eshu, Laurel used a metal bo-staff instead of her tonfa, yet she showed impressive skill while using the weapon during battle.
- Expert interrogator/Torturer: As an ADA, Laurel is skilled in interrogating suspects this was demonstrated when she threatened to send one of Brick's men to Belle Reve where he can be killed if he did not aid her. Laurel was also capable of torture, such as when she pressed further on Kelso's injury when she was looking for information on Simon Lacroix. However, it should be noted that she did this under extreme emotional distress after Sara's death and does not believe in torture.
- Expert driver: Laurel had the ability to drive multiple vehicles and is skilled at it, she is able to pursue enemies in various ways using different vehicles using a motorcycle.
- Skilled markswoman/Firearms/Phasers: Laurel's father taught her how to use a gun and a type 2 phaser and she legally owns several firearms and phasers. She used a shotgun on Mr. Blank to slow him down long enough for Oliver to rescue her and Tommy, she was also able to kill officer Daily in order to save Oliver's life as the Arrow.
- Skilled archer: While being trapped under rubble, Laurel was able to wield Oliver's bow and accurately shoot an explosive arrow and break out of the debris.
- Skilled swordswoman: Laurel is highly skilled in swordsmanship, as she was able to hold her own against multiple League of Assassin members. Laurel was trained in the ways of the League of Assassins.
- Honed senes: Laurel has sharp hearing and sight, as well as keen skills of perception. She is able to pick up and incoming danger and react extremely quickly.
- Free-running/Acrobatics: Since becoming Black Canary, Laurel had developed free-running skills and could drop from a height of several feet without injuring herself. She was also able to perform a backflip without using her hands during her fight against Eshu.
- Indomitable will: Laurel was a determined and highly driven woman, unlike her father she was able to overcome her alcoholism and stay sober without any relapses. Laurel was also able to mentally overcome Werner Zytle's fear inducing Vertigo in order to apprehend him.
- Network: Being the assistant district attorney and the daughter of a SCIS captain, she had her own connections with the district attorney's office and the SCIS. Laurel also had contact with Cisco Ramon, who provides her tech such as her new sonic device or her sister's White Canary suit.
Equipment[]
- Black Canary suit: Laurel wears a protective black and yellow leather suit as her superheroine alter-ego, Black Canary, to hide her identity from her enemies when she goes out fighting.
- Expandable batons: After a while of being the Black Canary, Laurel has started to use two batons as her main weapons.
- Guns: Laurel has used guns on a number of occasions when not counting on her powers.
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Earth: Prime
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