The episode after the untimely death of Laurel Lance, the Black Canary on The CW’s Arrow , has seemingly brought a brand new Canary to Star City. And non-comic book readers may have missed this new Black Canary’s connections to the character in the comics.
“Canary Cry” was a sendoff to Laurel’s character as Team Arrow coped with the loss. But the episode wasn’t all melodramatic interactions and flashbacks (though there were plenty of those). The team also had to deal with a new player in town donning the Black Canary costume and violently looking to take revenge on HIVE.
The mystery of the new Black Canary in Star City was solved by the end of the episode, and if you aren’t familiar with DC Comics New 52 the reference could go over your head.
SPOILER ALERT! The following will spoil the events of “Canary Cry,” so turn back if you haven’t watched the latest episode.
When the new Black Canary shows up in the new episode, Oliver goes to the doctor who performed the surgery on Laurel to ask who would have stolen the voice emitter from Laurel’s belongings.
While the doctor is not at liberty to say, she does hint at a woman who constantly shows up at the hospital.
After the new Black Canary almost killed Ollie’s former campaign manager (you know, the guy Thea was pining over), the Canary tells Oliver that he let her parents die at Remington Industries, the place where Damian Dhark performed his Genesis experiments and where Felicity was held earlier in the season.
After putting two and two together, Team Arrow deduces that the new Black Canary is Evelyn Sharp, the daughter of an olympic gymnast whose parents died in Dhark’s experiments.
She wants revenge on HIVE for what happened to her parents and is willing to kill to do it.
As with these DC Comics television shows, almost every name has ties to comics in some shape or form. The popular theory is that Evelyn Sharp is actually Evelyn Crawford. So a quick Google of Evelyn Crawford will bring up the hero Starling from the New 52’s Birds of Prey book.
Starling was created back in 2011 with the debut of the New 52 initiative at DC Comics to bring in new readers. She was part of the Birds of Prey with the Black Canary, whose ties with Dinah Lance/Black Canary date back to when the two worked in Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge.
With the new Black Canary in Arrow thwarted but not taken into custody, it is very possible that Evelyn Crawford will return in the future. Whether she remains as the Black Canary is yet to be seen, but since Oliver revealed Laurel’s identity as the Black Canary during her funeral, the name may be off the table.
But the introduction of Starling (presumably) and Huntress already established in the Arrow -verse (not to mention Felicity and the possible return of Sara Lance as the Canary) the series may see its own version of the Birds of Prey in the future.
So what do you think of another character taking up the mantle of Black Canary? Do you want Starling to be a recurring character on Arrow ? Let us know in the comments section below.
