Taylor Swift has risen to a unique point in the pop culture landscape, breaking records across her albums, concert tours, movies, and more. A surprising subset of that has surrounded theories about Swift joining the world of superhero media, with nearly a decade worth of theories about her potentially playing Marvel’s mutant popstar, Alison Blaire / Dazzler. As speculation continues to swirl over rather or not Swift could join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Universe may have just beaten them to the punch with paying homage to her career through its own superhero pop star, Dinah Lance / Black Canary. Spoilers for the “World’s Finest, Part 8” story in Wonder Woman #11 from Tom King, Belén Ortega, Tamra Bonvillain, and Clayton Cowles below! Only look if you want to know!
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The backup story sees Trinity, Damian Wayne, and Jon Kent hanging out once again — this time, at a massive Black Canary concert. While Trinity is elated about seeing her favorite musician in concert, even dressing up in a replica of one of her costumes and referring to herself as a “Canaary”, Damian is a bit more of a skeptic about the artistry of Black Canary’s music. That all changes once Black Canary takes the stage, performing songs about Green Arrow, the Justice League, and more aspects of her life, complete with various elaborate costume changes. This is enough to turn Damian into a bonafide superfan. This sequence is an unmistakable homage to Swift’s globe-trotting Eras Tour, which is currently in the middle of its European leg. Some of Ortega’s art in the montage of Black Canary’s performance even seems to reference images of Swift, as some poses look similar to her Eras Tour choreography for “Delicate”, “Cruel Summer”, and “The Archer.”
The remainder of the story takes the tribute to Swift even further, during a scene of Trinity, Damian, and Jon fighting Mongul out in the field. Amid the fight, Trinity and Jon begin to speculate about the specifics of Black Canary’s latest social media post, and whether it could be a subliminal hint for her future music plans. Mongul even gets in on the discussion, as they theorize about the possibility of her releasing ten additional bonus tracks, and Damian argues that her previous album was really “leftover tracks” from another one.
Swifties will surely recognize these talking points from Swift’s album cycles, down to the “leftover tracks” argument surrounding her 2020 sister albums, folklore and evermore. The nature of bonus tracks has surrounded much of Swift’s music as of late, from the various vault tracks on her re-recorded (Taylor’s Version) albums, to her most recent release, The Tortured Poets Department, being a surprise double album. The theories about her social media posts, and the numerology that might be secretly lurking within them, have also hit a fever pitch in recent years, as Swifties try to decode when she might be releasing her next re-recording. All of these details not only boost Black Canary’s future profile as a musician in the DCU, but they help crystalize Swift’s current pop culture impact in a pretty unique way.
Wonder Woman #11 is now available wherever comics are sold.
