Ranking The Black Canary Costumes

Black Canary has always been a fan favorite amongst comic fans, but over the last several years she’s also received plenty of mainstream attention.

From the character’s prominent role on CW’s Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow to an upcoming debut in NetherRealm’s Injustice 2, not to mention her critical parts in the current Birds of Prey and Green Arrow comic series, she’s as popular now as she’s ever been.

Considering how long she’s been around, the character’s gone through plenty of costume revisions. While some were better than others, there are a few that stand out amongst the rest, and the following five are ComicBook.com’s favorites.

Hit the next slide to see if your favorite costume made the list.

Honorable Mentions

For one reason or another, the costumes featured here just couldn’t crack the top 5.

Some, like the new Injustice 2 costume, didn’t make it purely because they’re a bit overcomplicated from a design viewpoint. Others, like the Laurel Lance costume seen in Arrow or the previous Birds of Prey costume merely have better versions of their core design.

Others that were considered included the DC Bombshells costume, the Smallville version, the Injustice comic costume, and of course the golden age version.

While these didn’t end up making the list, hit the next slide to see what did make the final cut.

DC Rebirth

This was a close fight with the 2015 Black Canary series costume, which featured Lance as a rock star moonlighting as a superhero. In the end, though this newest costume features a few defining details that gave it the win.

Canary’s most recent look is a bit more casual than past costumes, but it embodies the character’s brand of nonchalant confidence. The fishnets and light blue top are echoes of previous costumes with a few modern touches, including her new jacket with her namesake emblazoned on the back.

The strongest thing it has going for it is it looks like something an ex-rocker superhero would wear and is a perfect melding of those two unique worlds.

New 52

Moving from casual to full-on hero garb brings up Dinah’s New 52 costume, which sought to give the heroine a fully covered look without completely abandoning her previous style.

The good news is it mostly worked out that way. The lines on the costume gave the impression of a corset without actually needing to include one, and while her fishnets were also brought back they were in the golden age style with blue material underneath. The fishnet design is also featured on her arms.

As redesign experiments go, this was a pretty successful one.

Crisis On Infinite Earths Animated

While she doesn’t have the biggest part in Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, her costume makes you wish she had stuck around longer.

Of all the animated style costumes, her threads in Crisis On Two Earths stands out as the best. A black top paired with a dark blue jacket and darker shade tights is the perfect blend of modern and classic, and those fingerless gloves don’t hurt either. The standard for Black Canary in the animated world is typically considered to be Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, but this costume’s slightly more modern design managed to surpass it.

Arrow (Caity Lotz)

Television has seen its share of Black Canary’s, and Arrow alone is closing in on its third version of the fan favorite. While the jury is still out on the newest recruit, Caity Lotz’s costume takes the top prize thus far.

While Laurel’s suit might have more bells and whistles, Sara’s costume excels in its sleekness. The suit isn’t weighed down with tons of buckles and straps and looks amazing in motion.

Granted, it doesn’t include the fishnets, but you can’t say it doesn’t show off any skin either.

Modern Age Black Canary (All Black Version)

More often than not less is more, and that is certainly the case with Black Canary’s modern black outfit.

After she traded in her original Birds of Prey costume, Dinah decided to go with a more classic look that featured four simple pieces. An all black zip up top, fishnets, black jacket, and black combat boots.

The look would get tweaked here and there of course, with some yellow being added in at times or the black jacket turning into a trenchcoat (wish that would have stuck around longer), but all in all the main ingredients stayed the same until The New 52 came around.

It’s become the defacto costume for the character, from which all others seem to draw from. While some may prefer the lighter blue from her golden age days, the all black look gives the costume a modern sleekness that the older version just didn’t provide.

Regardless of who draws her, this costume will always look fantastic on the page.