Like Plastic Man and Hawkman, the Black Canary is a superhero who started out on the wrong side of the law, One of the few truly "equal" female characters of the Golden Age, Canary was a character who knew what she wanted, and got it every time. Far from a wilting female, she was the equal to her male counterparts in every way, even replacing her original pair-up, Johnny Thunder, as a member of the JSA. According to Don Markstein's Toonapedia:

"Wherever and whyever she did it, it happened not in a series of her own, but in that of Johnny Thunder, which ran in the back pages of DC's Flash Comics. She first appeared as a supporting character in #86 (August, 1947). After a half-dozen issues, however, Johnny finally got it through his thick head that she wasn't romantically interested in him — she loved policeman (later private detective) Larry Lance. Johnny then faded from the scene, and Black Canary became the main character. By this time, she'd taken to aiding the law in less ambiguous ways than stealing from crooks. She remained in what had been Johnny's space until the demise of Flash Comics in 1949"