Lady Blackhawk

Lady Blackhawk was a former member of the World War II Blackhawks. After being thrown into the present, she's now the pilot for Oracle's Birds of Prey.

Origin


Zinda Blake was determined to become the first woman member of the famed Blackhawks. She trained herself in flying the most modern jet aircraft and in various forms of combat and weaponry. After rescuing Olaf from a villain called the Scavenger, Zinda was disappointed to be told that the Blackhawk code forbid a woman from joining the team. However, later when Zinda rescued the entire Blackhawk team, Blackhawk himself made her an honorary member. During her time with the Blackhawks, Zinda was captured by the villainous Killer Shark, a Nazi Operative and a Pirate. Killer Shark injected Zinda with a chemical that made her forget who she really was and believed herself to be completely in love with him and obeying his every whim. During her time under his control Zinda became Queen Killer Shark and continued to battle the Blackhawks before they could free her from the effects of his chemical. Zinda was never able to really settle her score with Killer Shark.

Zero Hour
Zinda was sent forward in time to present day, where she struggled with the culture shock and worked for the Blackhawk Shipping Company, present day version of her former team. Arriving in the future, she befriends Guy Gardner and joins his team serving mainly as his pilot putting her best skills to good use. She also befriends an alternate universe Batgirl. They share several adventures throughout time before the group ultimately breaks up during the end of Zero Hour.

Zinda finds Guy again later when she stumbles across his nightclub and he instantly welcomes her back. She assists him and his team battle against supervillains as their pilot. The team consisted of Arisia, Buck Wargo, and Tiger-Man.

Birds of Prey
Looking for a change, she accepted Oracle's offer to join the Birds of Prey and left behind her part in the Blackhawk Company, taking only the Aeirie One Citation X and becoming pilot for the Birds. Her only condition was that no one tell her how to fly. She ultimately suggests the name Birds of Prey for the team.

For a time, she had a crush on another one of Oracle's agents, Creote, only to find out he was gay, or "fancy" as she calls it. She is a valuable addition to the Birds of Prey and has become somewhat of a conscience for Oracle offering riendly advice here and there. Zinda is also the person who officially comes up with the teams name calling themselves the Birds of Prey.

After the death of Big Barda, Zinda mourns the death of her friend by visiting as many bars as she can (referring to it as a warriors wake) on the way to Edwards Air Force Base. She had become extremely close to Barda and saw her as a truly dear friend. During her journey Zinda befriends a cab driver named Massaud while at the same time she is being hunted by False Face and White Star who under orders of the Calculator who wishes to replace Zinda with False Face and finally learn the true identity of Oracle. The journey ends with Zinda and Massaud arriving at the bar of Edwards Air Force Base and tells the bartender to place a picture of Big Barda up next to her old comarades the Blackhawks.

She participates in the mission that sees the resurrection of the heroine Ice, but Zinda briefly quits the Birds when Spy Smasher II is put in charge, ending the relationship with a solid punch to the face. She stubbornly vows to make her own way home even though they are in the middle of a harsh Russia territory. She returns to the Birds once Oracle reinstates herself as the leader.



As Zinda returns to her apartment she finds written coordinates on her window to help her find him. Zinda tracks Killer Shark down and is drugged by him and forced to lead Killer Shark II to his grandfathers treasure. Huntress attempts to save Zinda only to end up fighting Queen Killer Shark, a terribly vicious brainwashed Zinda. Because Huntress hesitates Zinda is able to knock her out, however Killer Shark decides not kill her as he wishes to use the his grand fathers chemical on her as well. After tying Huntress up Zinda finally leads Killer Shark to his grandfathers treasure. This causes Killer Shark to cry and to reveal that he had originally intended on killing her after he got his treasure but has changed his mind. As he leans in for a kiss, Zinda subconsciously punches him breaking his teeth and which causes Killer Shark to proceed with his original plan and kill her as she is forced to stand still but she snaps out of it with the help of teammate Huntress who arrives just in time to knock Killer Shark out.

Brightest Day
Zinda is with Black Canary in Reykjavik after Canary rescues a little girl named Katy, when Oracle calls to get the Birds back together. She speaks to Dove about joining the Birds and gives her Oracles card. Later when Hawk and Dove do join up, she becomes highly irritated by Hawk because he not only wrecks her car, but tells her what to do.

While Canary goes off to fight the White Canary, Zinda and Huntress and Dove rush to take Penguin to the hospital. Penguin betrays them and stabs Zinda with his umbrella. Dove punches Penguin out to save her. She was in the hospital for a short time, but recovered quickly in order to retrieve Black Canary from Bangkok because she never granted Dinah permission to leave. She and Huntress travelled to Bangkok in order to recuse Black Canary, only to discover a much more hideous plot was underway involving the notorious Lady Shiva. Zinda is outraged that Black Canary has agreed to anything White Canary and Shiva have offered her.

When the Birds take Dawn out to a strip club for her birthday, Zinda is boisterous as usual, appreciative of her booze and men. Later, The Calculator sends Mammoth, Current, Mortis and HIVE troops to their location in order to capture Oracle. Dawn ends up passing out, the Birds are ambushed, and Zinda ends up having to tell Dove off for not being able to handle her beer.

Powers and Abilities


Lady Blackhawk is an ace flier, able to easily handle any form of aircraft. She is also a fine markswoman and hand-to-hand combatant. She if often known to dual wield hand guns which she is an expert with and on one occasion even used a shotgun. Though she prefers firearms, Zinda is more than capable of holding her own in a fight and does not give up easily.

Zinda enjoys cooking, dancing, and drinking in her spare time. There is a running gag through most issues of Birds of Prey about her strong love for alcohol, which, she boasts, she can order in 30 different languages.