Larry Lance

Lance with Black Canary. Art by Carmine Infantino.

Larry Lance's original appearances pertained to being a civilian love interest for Dinah Drake (Black Canary's alter ego), a male "damsel in distress", and occasionally as a crime fighting partner and capable detective to Black Canary; a dynamic of equality similar to the relationships between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman or Mera and Aquaman. Larry and Dinah later married and had a daughter.[1]

In Justice League of America #73 (August 1969), Larry plays a larger role as he tends to Starman after the hero is wounded in a battle with a cosmic powered villain called Aquarius. After a universe spanning battle in Justice League of America #74 Larry sacrifices himself to save his wife from a blast of cosmic energy directed at her by Aquarius. After his funeral, Black Canary decides to migrate from Earth-Two to Earth-One with the former universe reminding her too much of her lost husband.[2]

Black Canary, feeling lonely, tries to strike up a romance with the Larry of Earth-One. However, he turns out to be a fixer for the Gotham mob, The Collector. He takes care of difficult situations; his reputation rides on being able to provide a tidy profit for all concerned in the end. He manipulated Black Canary, and died while trying to assassinate Batman at the horse races.[3]

The post-Crisis version of Larry Lance remains largely unchanged, with minor alterations such as now being the husband to the first Black Canary and father to the second. in Birds of Prey #66 (June 2004) it is revealed that Larry befriended Jim Gordon in the past, while working together on the Gotham police force. They were both growing concerned over the influence of Mafia figures on Gotham society, such as the Falcones and Bertinellis. This conversation happened at a society event which was interrupted by a serial killer later dubbed 'The Blonde Slasher', who left a victim for Larry and his wife to find. Many years later, Larry's daughter caught the man. It was the great-grandfather of Lian Harper, the unrelated child Larry's daughter was raising.[4]

Kurt Lance as a member of Team 7.

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Dinah Drake Black Canary is re-established as a singular heroine and is supposedly on the run from the law for the murder of her husband, Kurt Lance.[5] Later, a member of Amanda Waller's task force known as Team 7 is revealed to be Kurt Lance, alive and well, working deep undercover.[6] When the events before his "death" are detailed, it is revealed that Dinah Drake had also been part of Team 7, where she and Lance met and later secretly married.[7]