Hawkman

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Fictional biographies

The Golden Age Hawkman (Carter Hall)

In the days of ancient Egypt, Prince Khufu was engaged in a feud with his rival the Egyptian priest Hath-Set. The priest eventually captured both Khufu and his consort Chay-Ara, and killed them. Millennia later, in 1940, Khufu was reincarnated as American archaeologist Carter Hall, and Chay-Ara as Shiera Saunders. Hath-Set himself was reincarnated as a scientist named Anton Hastor. Hastor turned to evil, while Hall regained his memories of his past life and recognized Hastor.

Related Topics:
Ancient Egypt - Egypt - Priest - Hath-Set - 1940 - American - Archaeologist

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Using the properties of "ninth metal" to craft a gravity-defying belt, Hall created wings and a costume and confronted Hastor as Hawkman. He also encountered and remembered Shiera during this time, and following Hastor's defeat the two began a romance.

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Hawkman was a charter member of the Justice Society of America, and became their permanent chairman, following The Flash and Green Lantern. Shiera, meanwhile, adopted the identity of Hawkgirl and fought beside Hall throughout the 1940s.

Related Topics:
Justice Society of America - The Flash - Green Lantern - Hawkgirl - 1940s

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Hawkman was JSA chair in 1951 when the JSA was investigated by the "Joint Congressional Un-American Activities Committee" (based on the real-life House Un-American Activities Committee) for possible Communist sympathies and asked to reveal their identities. The JSA declined, and Hawkman and most of the JSA retired for the bulk of the 1950s.

Related Topics:
1951 - House Un-American Activities Committee - Communist - Identities - 1950s

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One piece of retroactive continuity fills out early Hall history. All-Star Squadron Annual #3 states that the JSA fought a being who imbued them with energy which retarded their aging, allowing Hall and many others - as well as their spouses - to remain active into the late 20th century without infirmity.

Related Topics:
Retroactive continuity - All-Star Squadron Annual - 20th century

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The JSA and Hawkman reactivated in the early 1960s following The Flash's meeting with his counterpart on the parallel world Earth-1, the JSA being active on Earth-2. Around this time, the Halls, having married, had a son, Hector, who would later become the Silver Scarab and after that an incarnation of Doctor Fate. Little is known of Hawkman's activities during the 1960s, other than the JSA's annual meeting with Earth-1's Justice League of America.

Related Topics:
1960s - Parallel world - Hector - Silver Scarab - Doctor Fate - Justice League of America

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In the early 1980s, Hawkman was instrumental in denying his son and other JSA children membership in the JSA, leading directly to the formation of Infinity Inc.

Related Topics:
1980s - Infinity Inc.

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Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, some of Hall's history was retconned, when the parallel worlds were combined into one. It was established that he joined the Justice League shortly after its formation to be a liaison between the two teams. He remained active until the early 1990s, before being killed in the Zero Hour crisis. He was later reincarnated as the Modern Age Hawkman (see below).

Related Topics:
Crisis on Infinite Earths - 1990s - Zero Hour

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The Silver Age Hawkman (Katar Hol)

Katar Hol is an honored police officer on his homeworld of Thanagar. Along with his wife Shayera, they use the antigravity ninth metal and their wings to fight criminals. These were the tools of an elite police unit tasked to track and apprehend the most dangerous criminals. The pair were sent to earth in 1959 to capture the shape-shifting criminal Byth. Following this mission, they elected to remain on Earth to work with authorities in the United States and learn human police methods. The two adopted covers as a pair of museum curators, Carter and Shiera Hall, and acted publicly as the heroes Hawkman II and Hawkgirl II.

Related Topics:
Police - Thanagar - 1959 - Byth - United States - Museum - Hawkgirl

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Hawkman II joined the Justice League of America in the early 1960s, where he befriended The Atom and frequently sparred with Green Arrow with whose "question authority" outlook the lawman frequently disagreed. Like his contemporary heroes, Hawkman II gained a variety of unique villainous opponents, including Shadow-Thief, and the Gentleman Ghost.

Related Topics:
Justice League of America - 1960s - The Atom - Green Arrow - Shadow-Thief - Gentleman Ghost

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Hawkman II left the JLA for a time when Thanagar was hit by the Equalizer Plague, which caused all Thanagarians to change so that their physical and mental talents, and even their heights, became the same. With the help of the JLA, Hawkman II was eventually able to reverse the effects of the plague.

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However, in the wake of the plague, Thanagar adopted an expansionist outlook, and went to war with the planet Rann, which orbits Alpha Centauri. This forced Hawkman II and Hawkgirl II to choose to fight for or against their own planet, and they elected to oppose Thanagar, becoming exiles on Earth. Around this time, Hawkgirl II herself joined the JLA, and took the name Hawkwoman.

Related Topics:
Rann - Alpha Centauri

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Following the truce between Thanagar and Rann, Thanagar began to secretly try to take over the Earth. Hawkman II opposed their efforts in a furtive "secret war" for several years.

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Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Hawkman II (and Hawkgirl II/Hawkwoman) was wiped out of DC Comics continuity. (However this elimination did not take place immediately, causing the many continuity uncertainties mentioned above).

Related Topics:
Crisis on Infinite Earths - Continuity

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Hawkworld and the Hawk God

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Hawkman II was rebooted in a prestige format miniseries named Hawkworld by Timothy Truman. A regular ongoing series of the same name followed. Katar Hol is a young police officer on the planet Thanagar, and a child of a privileged family. But Thanagar is a planet which conquers and mines other worlds for their resources to maintain its high standard of living, and Hol realizes that this is wrong. He rebels against the system, and is sent into exile. However, he manages to escape and uncover and defeat the renegade police captain Byth, who had gained shape-shifting abilities. As a result, he is reinstated in the force and given a new partner, Shayera Thal - Hawkwoman - a young woman from a lower class of society.

Related Topics:
Crisis on Infinite Earths - Reboot - Miniseries - Hawkworld - Timothy Truman - Police - Thanagar - Byth

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The two are eventually sent to Earth, where they remain for some time fighting both human and alien criminals. The two have a tempestuous working relationship, and eventually Shayera breaks away from Hawkman II, who continues on alone.

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This Hawkman was killed in the Zero Hour, event, merged with a number of alternate Hawkmen into a "hawk god", who adventured for a brief time under the name Hawkman before disappearing.

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The Modern Age Hawkmen (Carter Hall / Fel Andar / Katar Hol)

In the days of ancient Egypt, Prince Khufu and his consort Chay-Ara were travelling in the desert in the company of the wizard Nabu and the hero Teth-Adam, when they came across the wreck of a Thanagarian space ship. The vessel was styled with a hawk-like motif, and powered by Nth Metal, a mysterious substance with many marvelous attributes. Most obviously, it negated gravity, but its energy also strengthened the souls of Khufu and Shayera, binding them together in their love. Nabu used the Nth metal to create several remarkable devices, which persisted through the ages.

Related Topics:
Ancient Egypt - Desert - Wizard - Nabu - Teth-Adam - Thanagar - Space ship - Nth Metal - Gravity

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When the pair were murdered by the villainous Hath-Set, their souls lived on and were reincarnated over many lifetimes, always finding each other and often dying violently together, usually at the hands of the reincarnated Hath-Set. Finally, in the late 1930s, Khufu and Shayera were reborn as Carter Hall and Shiera Saunders, who went on to become the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl (see above). The pair retired in the early 1950s, but became active again in the early 1980s when Hall briefly joined the Justice League of America. Then the pair retired again.

Related Topics:
Reincarnated - 1930s - 1950s - 1980s - Justice League of America

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Late in the 1980s a Thanagarian spy called Fel Andar arrived in Earth to infiltrate the Justice League as Hawkman II. Then he took on an unwitting earthwoman, Sharon Hall, as his Hawkwoman. This impostor, intending to gain his teammates confidence, claimed to be Carter and Shiera Hall's son Carter Hall, Jr. He was actually working for the future alien-alliance Invasion. When Hawkwoman learnt about the masquerade she exposed the truth to J'onn J'onzz and Maxwell Lord. Confronted by both, Hawkman II escaped back to Thanagar but not before murdering Hawkwoman for her betrayal.

Related Topics:
1980s - Spy

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Soon thereafter, Hawkman III arrived on Earth. Katar Hol was a policeman from Thanagar, part of a force which used the hawk as their symbol, and also had a winged, gravity-defying harness. He and his partner Shayera Thal fought crime on Earth as Hawkman III and Hawkwoman II until he was killed in the events of Zero Hour, then merged with Carter and Shiera Hall in a new Hawkman version, which briefly created the "hawk god" creature.

Related Topics:
Police - Zero Hour

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In the late 1990s a new hawk appeared, Hawkgirl II: This was Kendra Saunders, the great-niece of the original Hawkgirl (Shiera Saunders). It turned out that Kendra, a troubled youth, had committed suicide as a teenager. The wandering soul of Shiera had taken up inhabitance of the body, possessing all of Kendra's memories, and believed herself to be Kendra.

Related Topics:
1990s - Suicide

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A few years later, in a mystical ceremony on Thanagar where the Justice Society had travelled to learn the truth of the Thanagarian ship which had crashed in ancient Egypt, Carter Hall was reborn as his youthful self from the 1940s, except with black hair instead of blond. Following this unorthodox resurrection, Hall has all the memories of his past lives, as well as those of Katar Hol, and find this a great burden to bear. Moreover, he has had trouble accepting that Kendra is not his beloved Shiera, a source of friction between them despite their working partnership as Hawkman and Hawkgirl II.

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Hawkman and Hawkgirl II became members of the Justice Society, and operated out of the fictional city of St. Roch, Louisiana (clearly based on New Orleans).

Related Topics:
St. Roch, Louisiana - New Orleans

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In recent comics, a cabal of Silver Age Hawkman villains came to St. Roch and treated Hawkman with a hallucinogen called Delirium. While under the effects of the drug, he beat Hawkgirl unconscious. Wracked with grief, he and Golden Eagle (who had recently returned to the city) tracked them down and defeated them, at the cost of Carter Hall's life. Golden Eagle has since taken on the Hawkman mantle, vowing revenge and claiming to be the "true" Hawkman's son, while he considers Hall a "false Hawkman".

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The entire event is assumed to be connected to the Infinite Crisis.

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