Hawkwoman

Origin

Shayera Thal II was raised in the Downside ghettos of Thanagar by her grandfather, Thal Porvis. She was abandoned by her father, Chief Andar Pul, and her mother, Shayera Thal I, died in a bombing set by Thanagarian rebels. She was a successful Wingman in the Thanagarian police force and a partner of veteran Wingman, Katar Hol.

After the Invasion! story arc, Shayera Thal II and Katar Hol arrived on Earth in 1990 for a Thanagarian goodwill tour. They also had a mission to capture Thangarian shape-shifting criminal Byth. Shayera and Katar stopped Byth’s drug smuggling activities and captured him. They became known as Hawkman and Hawkwoman and fought crime with the local police.

After the new 52 relaunch, she was relaunched (and brought back from the dead) in the ongoing Savage Hawkman series. She is revealed as a princess of Thanagar and formerly the lover and wife of Hawkman. She comes to Earth seeking vengeance for what she saw as Hawkman’s betrayal.

Creation

As with many of the other landmark DC Comics characters, during the early silver age changes came to Hawkgirl which Julius Schwartz, who created or re-created most DC characters, had decided to introduce. This was partially because of a decision by the publisher to pursue superhero comics which were science fiction based as opposed to fantasy settings. The new Hawkgirl debuted in The Brave and The Bold #34, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Joe Kubert. The new Hawkgirl was Shayera Hol, a member of the winged police force on Thanagar. Hawkgirl’s husband and partner on the police force was Hawkman. Hawkgirl changed her name to Hawkwoman in World’s Finest Comics #272 (12/1981) written by Bob Rozakis and drawn by Alex Saviuk (pencils) and Rodin Rodriguez (inks).

Hawkworld

In 1989, Timothy Truman wrote and drew the Hawkworld mini-series which featured the debut of Shayera Thal II as a revised Hawkwoman. Unlike the Silver Age Hawks, Shayera Thal II was not married to Katar Hol but they were partners as Thanagarian police officers. Shayera started her professional career as Hawkwoman and never used the name of Hawkgirl. Thanks to her work, the treachery of Byth was revealed.

Hawkworld was originally set in the past as an origin reboot with the intent of updating the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman for the Modern Age in this continuity. However the Hawkworld mini-series proved to be far more popular and successful than expected by DC Comics.

The decision was made to set Hawkworld in the present day which rebooted more than Hawkwoman’s origin and removed the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman from this continuity to be replaced with other versions of the Hawks. Several months later, DC Comics was publishing the on-going Hawkworld series in 1990. Shayera Thal II died in Rann-Thanagar War #5 (11/2005).

DC Comics had to fix continuity errors caused by the Silver Age Hawkwoman’s removal from this continuity. In one retcon, an earth-woman named Sharon Parker replaced the Silver Age Shayera Hol as Hawkwoman in story arcs such as Millennium in 1988 and in Invasion! in 1989.

Sharon Parker first appeared in Hawkworld #21 (3/1992) written by John Ostrander and drawn by Graham Nolan. Sharon Parker was murdered by an alternate version of Hawkman named Fel Andar in Hawkworld #23 (5/1992).

Character Evolution

Bronze Age

Shayera Hol was a dedicated member of the Justice League of America as Hawkgirl and later as Hawkwoman. She, along with Hawkman, eventually resigned from the team as their civilian identities and threats from Thanagar required their full attention. The Hawks continued to defend Earth against all threats including an invasion from Thanagar during the Shadow War of Hawkman. The Hawks fought alongside the rest of Earth’s super-heroes during Millennium and Invasion!

Modern Age

During her time on Earth, Shayera Thal II continued her role as Hawkwoman while her partner, Katar Hol, continued being Hawkman. They protected Earth’s citizens and enforced Earth’s laws in cooperation with the local police. They also fought against the corrupt system that existed on Thanagar.

Soon information about an earth-woman, Sharon Parker, and a Thanagarian spy, Fel Andar, revealed that they had assumed the identities of Hawkwoman and Hawkman prior to the arrival of Shayera and Katar on Earth.

Fel Andar murdered Sharon Parker when she revealed this information to the Martian Manhunter and Maxwell Lord. Then Fel Andar returned to Thanagar. Sharon Parker and Fel Andar had a son, Charley Parker, who grew up to be Golden Eagle.

Shayera and Katar eventually became romantically involved with each other and decided to stay on Earth instead of going back to Thanagar.

Major Story Arcs

In the story line Legend of the Hawkman, Katar and Shayera are considering having a child together. This does not occur when Shayera becomes unable to have children due to an attack by the corrupt Thangarian Thasaro. Thanagar’s Trinity gives her the ability back after she and Hawkman defeat Thasaro and banish him to the earth’s underworld.

After the Zero Hour story arc, Shayera Thal II was no longer involved with Katar Hol. Shayera retired from being Hawkwoman to become a policewoman in Detroit. Some time later, Shayera teamed up with Animal Man and the latest versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders, against the Thanagarian criminal called Byth.

During the Rann-Thanagar War, Shayera was reinstated as Wingman of the Thanagarian Army, last seen fighting with the invasion force of Polora. Back in her Hawkwoman uniform, she fought alongside Hawkman and Hawkgirl as trusted friends but had conflicts with their ally, Adam Strange, who she believed his adopted world of Rann, and that planets science had destroyed her birth planet. She reluctantly served as an ally with Adam and the Hawks.

As Hawkwoman continued fighting in the war, she was murdered by Blackfire, an ally who turned traitor. Hawkwoman’s body was discovered by her true friends and allies. They sent Hawkwoman’s body into Polaris, the sun of Thanagar, believed to be the resting place of heroes in Thanagarian culture.

In the New 52, Shayera Thal is revealed as the princess of Thanagar, former lover of Katar Hol and sister of the Emperor Corsar. Initially, she is depicted as a villain, seeking revenge against Katar for the murder of Corsar. It later evident that Katar was innocent and Shayera is surprised when she discovers her brother alive and behind Katar’s arrest in the attempt to part Katar from the Nth metal and own it for himself. Shayera has no choice but to comply to his orders as the Emperor but later sabotages a machine that was to teleport the Nth metal from Katar to Corsar. In rescuing Katar from being killed by the transfer, Shayera leads Katar and Emma Ziegler to an escape pod while remaining in the Aerie ship to face Corsar. While Katar and Emma escape to Earth, Shayera and Corsar are left alone and die as the ship drifts off into the Sun.

Following DC Rebirth, Shayera Hol is shown as the Empress of Thanagar Prime and very protective of planet’s secrets. She first appears when Kendra Saunders, current Hawkgirl, makes a trip to Thanagar, there they both meet and realize that they are essentially the same person. It’s later revealed that Hawkgirl now reincarnates through time and space, making this possible

After Kendra tries to assault a secret vault of Thanagar while looking for answers about her Nth Metal wings and the secrets the universe was hiding from her, Shayera tries to stop her, since she believes it’s her duty as Empress to protect Thanagar’s secrets. It’s revealed that Shayera was using the Absorbascon’s power to protect Thanagar’s integrity making the planet seem more powerful than it actually is.

After being defeated by Kendra and Martian Manhunter, Shayera had to deal with reconstructing Thanagar. She was later shown aiding the Justice League heal the Source Wall in the Justice League Annual.

Other Media

Animation

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited

Hawkgirl gained a whole new popularity in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited Cartoon series. In the cartoons her real name is Shayera Hol. She is one of the original seven members of the league, though Hawkman does not appear until the last season of Justice League Unlimited. Instead, Hawkgirl is revealed to have a romantic attraction for John Stewart, a Green Lantern. Their relationship is strongly hinted at throughout the first and second seasons, coming to a climax in the second part of the episode: “Wild Cards,” where they finally confess their love for each other and kiss.

But this relationship turns sour in the following episode “Starcrossed,” when it is revealed that Hawkgirl is secretly a spy for her people and engaged to the commander of their army. When the League and the Thanagarians disagree, she sides with her people, betraying the League in the process. However, when she discovers that the Thanagarians are planning to destroy Earth in order to save Thanagar, she attempts to help out the League. It is her help that ultimately leads to the Justice League’s victory over the invaders.

The members of the Justice League decide to have a discussion over whether they should kick Hawkgirl out of the group or not. However, she chooses to quit the group before hearing their decision. After one last moment with John, in which she reveals her love for him, she flies off into the sunset, not to appear again until Justice League Unlimited.

Hawkgirl’s next appearance is at the end of the first season episode of JLU, “The Return.” She is revealed to have been living with Dr. Fate and his wife ever since her disappearance. She next appears in the episode “Wake the Dead,” because of the rebirth of a villain whom she had been friends with, Solomon Grundy. She meets John again, who is revealed to still possess feelings for her, despite his new girlfriend, Vixen. He tells Hawkgirl that she had not been voted out of the League and invites her to join again. She agrees and begins to mend fences with various members of the group.

In order to feel more with the public she doesn’t wear her mask and Thanagarian armor. She tries to make herself more humanly as possible since people still remembered what happened in the past. Despite what others think of her she still continues to pull through and be there for her friends.

Two members who have a difficult time trusting her are Wonder Woman and Vixen. Diana, who voted against Hawkgirl’s return to the League, feels betrayed by her teammate. However, the two are able to make up after a mission in “The Balance.” Vixen, on the other hand, dislikes Shayera because John still loves her. They clash in the episode “Hunter’s Moon,” but at the end become friends.

The episode “Hunter’s Moon” is also important, because it ties up several loose strings from “Starcrossed.” The surviving members of the Thanagarian fleet are hunting down Hawkgirl in order to punish her for treason. They reveal that Thanagarian lost the war, news which saddens Shayera, who is still attached to her homeland.

Hawkgirl and Lantern’s relationship is again addressed in JLU second season episodes: “Shadow of the Hawk” and “Ancient History.” Within “Shadow of the Hawk,” Carter Hall, or Hawkman, makes his first appearance. He is a scientist who becomes interested in Shayera, something which makes John jealous. Carter later reveals that he is the incarnation of a Thanagarian soldier who crashed in Egypt several centuries ago and that Shayera is his reincarnated wife. Because he discovers these memories by touching a piece of ancient Thanagarian technology, Hawkgirl refuses to believe him, telling him that the technology corrupted his mind.

However, in the later episode “Ancient History,” Shayera, John, and Carter are all forced to touch the machine, and discover that they are the reincarnated versions. However, instead of Carter’s original version of Shayera and him as fated lovers, they discover that Shayera and John were actually the fated lovers from Egypt. This news forces Carter to reconsider his feelings for Hawkgirl, and he decides to let her go, saying that they both know who she is really supposed to be with. Shayera then goes to talk to John, who disappoints her expectations by revealing that he still loves her, but that he wants to stay with Vixen.

However, it is revealed in the 2-part episode “The Once and Future Thing” that John and Shayera end up married and having a son, Rex Stewart (named for John’s friend Rex Mason, a.k.a. Metamorpho), who used his mother’s Thanagarian technology as Warhawk, a member of the Justice League Unlimited. In the show Batman Beyond, Warhawk aided the future Batman, Terry McGuiness, and the other leaguers in saving Earth from an alien parasite.

The character seems to share more in common with Hawkwoman though. The name Shayera Hol was the name of the Silver Age Hawkwoman as well as being a Thanagarian which was Hawkwoman. The character seems to only resemble Hawkgirl in her reincarnated destiny trait.

Justice League Appearances

• First Mission (Promo Pilot)
• Secret Origins Parts Two & Three
• In Blackest Night Parts One & Two
• Injustice for All Parts One & Two
• War World Parts One & Two
• The Brave and the Bold Part Two
• Fury Parts One & Two
• Legends Parts One & Two
• Metamorphosis Parts One & Two
• Savage Time Parts One to Three
• Twilight Parts One & Two
• Tabula Rasa Parts One & Two
• Only a Dream Parts One & Two
• Hearts and Minds Parts One & Two
• A Better World Part One
• A Better World Part Two
• Eclipsed Part Two
• Secret Society Parts One & Two
• The Terror Beyond Parts One & Two
• Hereafter Parts One & Two
• Comfort and Joy
• Wild Cards Parts One & Two
• Starcrossed Parts One to Three

Justice League Unlimited Appearances

• The Return
• Wake the Dead
• The Once and Future Thing: Weird Western Tales
• The Once and Future Thing: Time Warped
• The Balance
• Hunter’s Moon
• Panic in the Sky
• Divided We Fall
• Epilogue
• I Am Legion
• Shadow of the Hawk
• Grudge Match
• Ancient History
• Destroyer

Powers and Abilities

Nth Metal

Hawkwoman uses Nth Metal to grant her flight, as the metal defies gravity and the abilities are controlled mentally. The Nth Metal also allows some form of protection against high pressures, allowing Hawkwoman to reach high altitudes. Another thing the Nth Metal does is grants her enhanced strength, though during the Golden Age, it seemed to come naturally. Hawkwoman uses traditional melee weapons, the primary of which being her Nth Metal Mace, but she also has skill with swords, spears and shields as her skills allow better use with them rather than the modern day weapons. The nth metal also grants Shayera a degree of resistance to injury and boosts her enhance strength (from her baseline of 600lbs to roughly 1 ton).

She has been seen to be able to carry at least 1 ton of weight. she has also withstood blows from the powerhouse Solomon Grundy and survived. (something not many can do) Thet Nth metal also gives her the ability to see for miles. She’s also stated that she has enhanced hearing, but it is unknown whether it comes from the Nth metal.

Other Abilities

Hawkwoman has shown the ability to talk to birds on multiple occasions.

Personal Data

• Real Name: Shayera Hol
• Height: 5’7″
• Weight: 130 lbs.
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: Red

Status

• Race: Thanagarian
• Place of Birth: Thanagar
• Marital Status: Married
• Occupation: Thanagarian Soldier/Spy, Police officer, vigilante
• Known Relatives: Katar Hol (husband)