Hero Profile: Hawkwoman

Once again, I’m dealing with a character who’s background is substantially muddled and been rewritten several times. This seems to be DC’s biggest weakness, they remake and revamp their characters into oblivion. Marvel may have done it a few times too, but this is the third character in a row where I have difficulty figuring out what the “official” story is. Something’s up. The duo of Hawkman and Hawkgirl/woman have gone through several substantial changes over the years. I’ll be dealing primarily with the “Silver Age” (1956-70) version of the character. Why? You’ll see in a minute. Let’s get on with the show.

Don't mess with her if you value your
skull.

Shayera Hol is from the planet Thanagar. It’s the usual sort of advanced alien world, no crime or poverty, and most people are reasonably happy. That is until another alien race known as the Manhawks flew in and taught the lower echelons of Thanagar what crime was. 0% crime rate to, say 70% in a manner of weeks. Sucky. One of the leaders of Thanagar established a new police force (they hadn’t needed one in centuries) known as the Hawk-Police or Wingmen. They fly with the aid of special metal wings. The crime rate dropped again but was now a constant annoyance, much like on our world. Shayera was rather young during the first uprising, but joined the Wingmen a short time later. She was partnered with the Wingmen’s most decorated Officer, Katar Hol, on an assignment to capture a group known as the Rainbow Robbers. Worst. Gang name. EVER. What starts off as a hate/hate relationship follows movie logic and becomes a love/hate relationship after Shayera save’s Katar’s tail feathers. They were married weeks after capturing the Rainbow Robbers. Oh, my Lord that's a terrible name.

A decade later they were tasked with capturing a criminal named Byth Rok. Byth was a shapeshifting thief that fled to our little blue marble to escape prosecution. The Hols tracked Byth across the galaxy to Earth, specifically Midway City. There, the alien cops befriended Police Commissioner George Emmett, who helped them establish covert identities as Carter and Shiera Hall. Not sure if that’s 100% legal, but we’ll roll with it. They captured Byth and returned him home, but opted to stay on Earth to learn a bit more about human police procedures and all that. They donned their Wingmen wings and weapons to fight the bigger baddies on the side. The media dubbed their superhero identities as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, though Shayera changed it to Hawkwoman a few years later.

Intimidating headgear.

While on Earth Hawkman was admitted into the Justice League, as was Shayera a few years later. Her admission was the first after the League decided to lift their twelve-member limit, which allowed for a bigger organization and for more women to join up, the aforementioned limit being the main thing keeping it a boys club. Main reason why I wanted to mention her over other variations of the Hawk pair, she’s the one that help get closer to gender equality in the Justice League. You go, Shayera. Some years later Thanagar had reorganized itself into a military dictatorship and declared open war on the Galaxy. Having spent several decades on Earth at this point, the Hols sided with us against their homeworld. They sacrificed their spaceship to stop and invasion attempt and were thus branded Traitors to Thanagar. This was a pretty big shock for both of them, and was the event that immediately preceded Shayera’s codename change. They’ve remained on Earth since, becoming much beloved heroes.

More birdy, but still
intimidating

Hawkwoman and her husband’s powers are both derived from a substance known as Nth metal. It is a universally rare metal, but Thanagar has it in abundance. Nth metal allows it’s bearer to defy gravity, increases their physical strength, and helps enhance the body’s ability to regenerate. Both Hawks have belts made out of the material, which lets them hover, and metal wings that lets them control how they fly. She also has a heavy mace made of the stuff that lets her smash things. Fun times.

Hawkwoman hasn’t been used all that often. Not entirely sure why.

Shayera as Hawkgirl appeared in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited TV series’, interestingly without Hawkman. She is one of the founding members of the Justice League, having teamed up with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), The Flash (Wally West), Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter to stop an alien invasion. As a means to differentiate Thanagarian’s from generic humans, this version of Hawkgirl has actual feathered wings. She’s on good terms with the League, and even has something of a romance going with GL John Stewart, right before her people invade Earth. It’s then revealed that Hawkgirl was an advanced scout sent to spy on Earth and its defenses. While she initially helped her people’s invasion, once she discovered their plans were to destroy earth to make an intergalactic superhighway, yes they probably stole this from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, so they could strike a mortal blow to their opposing alien empire, she switched teams. After all the hubbub, Shayera resigns her position, even though the other six members had voted to not kick her out. She’s absent for the start of Unlimited, staying with the reclusive Doctor Fate and his wife, but returns in “Wake the Dead,” when the zombie Soloman Grundy’s corpse was reanimated. This time as an actual, mindless zombie. She re-kills Grundy, which was hard for her since they’d been buddies, and rejoins the League. She and John have a bit of residual awkwardness, made nonetheless more awkward when on a time traveling mission John finds out they eventually have a son. Way to make things worse writers. In a later episode she meets an archeologist named Carter Hall. Hall, who is the Golden Age’s Hawkman, believes he and Shayera are the reincarnations of ancient Thanagarian’s that arrived on Earth and ruled ancient Egypt. She tells him that through some technological malfunctions he had the ships records imprinted on his brain, but the episode leaves on a somewhat ambiguous note. It's an interesting mix of two substantially different iterations of the characters.

Her new look after her hiatus.

Hawkwoman and her husband appear as background characters in Young Justice. She did two things. One, vocally agreeing with Wonder Woman that the League needs more women. No argument here. And two, in the season one finale she’s used by the Light to further their evil plans. Not going to go into too much spoiler detail, but as a nod to the original Justice League shows the seven League members used in the plot are the Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkwoman, Martian Manhunter, Flash and GL John Stewart. Nice nod folks.

I like Hawkwoman. She and Katar have a somewhat different backstory than most characters, baring Green Lanterns, and they run with it. I like that she’s kind of a mix of your typical female cop actions and just a no holds barred mace swinging berserker. Her JL version is the one that I know best, and I do like that they give her a pretty big story arc. They show her once or twice with Doctor Fate, and she is pretty constantly wondering what her next step is, given that she can’t go home and that Hawkgirl was “always a sham.” When she does return, it’s not with open arms and she has to work hard to earn back her friends trust. Except for Wally, but then the Flashes are usually the most trusting. It’s a very real experience. She’s the thrilling Thanagarian with the magnificent mace made of Nth, Hawkwoman. Next time, Big Barda.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkwoman

 http://youngjustice.wikia.com/wiki/File:Hawkwoman.png

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkgirl

 http://anime-showdown.wikispaces.com/Character+Profile+-+Hawkgirl+%28DCAU%29