Byth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Byth Rok is a DC Comics supervillain who is a recurring foe to the Silver Age Hawkman. He was created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, and first appeared in The Brave and the Bold # 34 (Feb-Mar 1961).
[edit] Pre-crisis
Originally, Byth was portrayed as a Thanagarian thief who stole a pill that endowed him with the ability to shapeshift. Katar Hol and his wife and partner Shayera were assigned to track him down and capture him. He stole a spaceship and escaped to Earth. Eventually he battled the Hawks in Hawk Valley in the form of an enormous Thanagarian creature called Brontadon. He was defeated by being struck on his Brontadon form's twin brains simultaneously by their maces and reverted back into his original shape. The Hawks placed an unconscious Byth into a hibernation chamber and set his spaceship for auto-pilot back to Thanagar for incarceration.
[edit] Post-crisis
In the Hawkworld mini-series, Byth was a corrupt Wingman captain who manipulate Katar Hol into killing his father, aiding his rise to power. He gained his shape-shifting powers from a new drug called Krotan. Katar Hol and Shayera Thal uncovered his schemes and escaped arrest. Similar to pre-Crisis history, he fled to Earth and was soon captured by Katar and Shayera.