Hawk Facts

Are you a fan of The Hawk-People? Well, here are One Dozen Hawkman & Hawkgirl Facts!

1. Hawkman and Hawkgirl were two of five heroes who joined The Justice League after it was founded by it's original seven members. Along with Green Arrow, Black Canary, and The Atom, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were recruited onto the JLA.

2. The Hawk's most infamous feature are their origins. In the 1940's, Hawkman was a man named Carter Hall who was the reincarnation of an Egyptian Prince. Upon finding the Prince's tomb and the Prince's mystical metal weapons, Carter becomes Hawkman. He later finds a woman named Shiera Sanders, who is the reincarnation of the Prince's lover. Shiera becomes Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman.

3. In 1961, DC Comics reinvented Hawkman as Katar Hol, the Prince-turned-police officer of planet Thanagar. Thanagar was home to other Hawk-People including Shayera Thal, Katar's lover. The two were partners on the Thanagarian police and got married. After ten years of marriage they were sent to Earth to hunt down an alien criminal, but while on Earth they found that the planet could use the two of them and decided to stay as the heroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

4. In order to keep both versions of the characters, DC Comics established that the Carter Hall version existed on Earth 2-populated by the heroes of the 1940's and 1950's. And Katar Hol's version existed on Earth-1 which featured the modern day heroes. Eventually, the two versions of Hawkman would meet.

5. The final and most used origin states that the Prince who arrived in Egypt was a Thanagarian and when he and his Thanagarian wife died their spirits were reincarnated throughout the ages, sometimes as human archeologists and sometimes as alien soldiers.

6. There also existed a "hawk god" that acted as Hawkman for a short time until the event "Zero Hour" combined all versions of Hawkman into one. The Hawk-God would reappear in the alternate future of "Kingdom Come".

7. Hawkgirl was included as a main character of "Justice League" the animated series. She was chosen over Aquaman or Hawkman because artist Bruce Timm found her helmet design to be "fun to draw". Hawkman, Aquaman, The Atom, and many other traditional DC superheroes would appear later on in the show's history, but Hawkgirl's inclusion and her characterization launched her into popularity, making her more recognizable than her male counterpart. Proof to this can be found in "Injustice: Gods Among Us" where Hawkgirl is a playable character and Hawkman is not.

8. Some of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's rogues include the shapeshifting Shadow-Thief, the monocle-themed villain known as The Monocle, an apparition of a Victorian-era serial killer known as Gentlemen Ghost, Byth the alien psycho-scientist, Fadeaway Man who possesses an inter-dimensional cloak, the mystically created Lion-Mane, an alchemist called Matter Master, an inventor called I.Q., an ancient Thanagarian tyrant named Onimar Synn, and Hath-Set, a reincarnated Thanagarian who plagues Hawkman and Hawkgirl in every life they live.

9. Part of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's reincarnated history is that they will always find each other and love one another, whether they want to or not. Hawkgirl has had relationships with the Green Lantern John Stewart and Red Arrow/Roy Harper, but has left them both for Hawkman at one point or another.

10. Nth Metal is a special substance that exists on Thanagar. Using Nth Metal, Thanagarians can control gravity, generate electricity, and effect intangible objects. In combination with their wings, Hawk-People can fly expertly with the use of Nth Metal as their wings wouldn't be strong enough to carry them without Nth Metal effecting gravity. Nth Metal weapons like claws, maces and spears can create electrical blasts and make physical contact with entities like ghosts. Characters like Batman, Deathstroke, and The Legion of Super-Heroes have used Nth Metal as well.

11. The planet Rann was once re-positioned in space to avoid conflict with another planet. This re-positioning however, caused the neighboring planet of Thanagar to orbit into a sun. The surviving Thanagarians were welcomed to live on Rann, but tensions rose. The Thanagarians blamed their planet's destruction on Rann's movement, while Rann insists if Thanagar would have helped them against another planet perhaps they wouldn't of needed to move. This argument caused "The Rann-Thanagar War", an event where The Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Hawkman Katar Hol, and Adam Strange the hero of Rann, had to work together to stop the bloodshed.

12. The version of Hawkman from 1985 was later revealed to be Fel Andar was actually a Thanagarian spy claiming to be Katar Hol as Thanagar was planning on invading Earth. Charley Parker was an orphan in Midway City who had a bad upbringing, but was adopted by Carter and Sheira, they shared their Nth Metal tools with him and he became the sidekick known as The Golden Eagle. He joined a small team called Titans West and filled in for Hawkman later in his adulthood. Carter and Shiera had a child named Hector who would later become The Silver Scarab, the second Sandman, and the second Doctor Fate of Earth 2.

Thanks for reading!