Black Canary finally made her movie debut in 2020’s Birds of Prey, with Jurnee Smollett-Bell bringing Dinah Lance to life. As with its left-field takes on Huntress and Cassandra Cain, the film’s interpretation of Dinah was pretty different from the comics, though there were familiar elements in there—most obviously, her sonic scream, though that was only used once.
There’s room for growth for the heroine, though, as Bell is returning for her very own HBO Max solo venture, with the actress reuniting with Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green, who is penning the screenplay. DC fans will be pleased to know that the Black Canary movie will be hewing closer to the comic books as Green has confirmed that she’s doing a lot of research while writing the script.
“Are you reading Black Canary comics for inspiration?” one fan asked the screenwriter on Twitter, to which she responded: “Yes. Research is always [key].”
Green’s tweet reacting to the news of the movie’s announcement back in August previously teased that she would be drawing from the source material. Intriguingly, she added a series of emojis at the end of her message, including a tiger and a dragon.
WGTC has since been informed by sources that Black Canary will be martial arts-themed and feature Dinah encountering Bronze Tiger and Richard Dragon, not to mention Lady Shiva. So Green clearly isn’t lying when she says she’s doing her research and is going to be honoring Dinah and her status as one of the DC universe’s finest martial artists.
Maybe once Green has completed the screenplay, Warner Bros. will find a director to helm the picture and things can really get rolling on it. Other reports indicate that Dinah’s frequent love interest Green Arrow will also feature in the film, which Green may have hinted at with the green heart emoji in her initial tweet.
Black Canary is just one of many HBO Max-exclusive DCEU movies on the way, alongside the likes of Batgirl and Blue Beetle.