Misha Green and Jurnee Smollett, known for their work on Underground and Lovecraft Country, will be developing an HBO Max exclusive live-action film based on DC Comics' Black Canary. Smollett's Black Canary was first introduced to the DC Extended Universe in the recent Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) film.
This will be the pair’s third time collaborating and Smollett was so excited that she confirmed the news on Twitter by writing, “Guess the Canary is out of the cage! So excited to finally embark on this adventure with my creative soul sis.” Smollett and Green will be collaborating with DC films president Walter Hamada and Galen Vaisman. Fans who’ve been calling for a Black Canary project will remember Green admitted to picking Black Canary while playing against Smollett in Injustice 2.
It seems this is a match made from fate since they already have good working chemistry, so fans should be expecting nothing but great things to come from this pair. Lovecraft Country received 18 Emmy nominations for its single season, yet HBO decided not to move forward with a second season much to the disappointment of fans as well as critics. No word as of yet as to what the plot of this Black Canary film will be, but this would be a perfect opportunity to dive in on her backstory in order to make her no longer stand on the sidelines as a lower-tier character. Black Canary has the potential to stand amongst the Justice League themselves, all she needs is the right writer. Marvel was able to make the Guardians of the Galaxy into worldwide icons and prior to their movie, nobody knew their name.
Black Canary, a.k.a. Dinah Lance, is known for being one of the DC universe’s best hand-to-hand fighters in addition to having supersonic vocal cords. Many fans dub this power her iconic “canary cry” because it creates devastating sound waves that knock foes off of their feet and can destroy their ear canals. Black Canary has made multiple live-action appearances in projects such as the 1979 Legend of Superheroes, the 2002 live-action Birds of Prey television series, Smallville, and Arrow, and the last of which was her most recent incarnation prior to the DCEU film. Each iteration usually has her donning her iconic black attire with blonde hair and iconic scream. The Arrowverse had multiple versions of Black Canary, including one who used a device, one who inherited the superpowers, and one who was the original's sister.
It would be interesting if DC took this solo film as a way to introduce other characters into the live-action universe. Fans don’t need other people to distract from the main hero but imagine if Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) were to be mentioned or at least make a quick cameo during the end credits. Fans are used to seeing Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance as an item in the comics, with the two even getting married during one of the special issues.
Black Canary is currently in early development
Source: Cinelinx