Hawkgirl
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Hawkgirl is the name of several fictional superheroines in the DC Comics universe. They are partners, and sometimes spouses or lovers, of the various incarnations of Hawkman, and shares many features with the character Hawkwoman.
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[edit] Publication history
[edit] Golden Age
Shiera Sanders first appears in Flash Comics #1 as a civilian supporting character in the Hawkman feature. Archaeologist Carter Hall has a dream that he is an ancient Egyptian prince, Khufu, who has a lover, Princess Shiera. The next day, Carter meets a woman named Shiera who looks exactly like the woman in his dream. Carter dons the identity of Hawkman and Shiera becomes Carter's girlfriend. Shiera first appears in costume in All Star Comics #5 during Hawkman's solo segment of the Justice Society of America story. Shiera dons a spare set of ninth metal wings developed by Hawkman, masquerading as Hawkman in order to trick some criminals. Shiera continues to wear the costume and wings in later stories, eventually adopting the identity of Hawkgirl.
[edit] Silver Age
With the fading popularity of superheroes during the late 1940s, the Hawkman feature was cancelled with the last issue of Flash Comics in 1949. In 1956, DC Comics resurrected one of their cancelled properties, the Flash, by revamping the character with a new identity and backstory. Following the success of the new Flash, DC Comics revamped the Hawkman property in a similar fashion with Brave and the Bold #34 in 1961. The Silver Age versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl are now married alien policemen from the planet Thanagar who come to Earth in order study police techniques. Silver Age Hawkgirl is introduced as Shayera Hol (phoenetically identical to Shiera Hall), who appears in costume from her first appearance. Although Silver Age Hawkman joins the Justice League of America with Justice League of America #31 in 1964, Silver Age Hawkgirl was not offered membership at the time because Justice League rules only allowed for one new member to be admitted at a time. Several years later, Silver Age Hawkgirl joined the Justice League of America with issue #146 in 1977. In 1981, Silver Age Hawkgirl changed her name to Hawkwoman in the Hawkman backup feature of World's Finest #274.
With the establishment of DC's multiverse system, the Golden Age Hawkgirl was said to have lived on Earth-Two and the Silver Age Hawkgirl on Earth-One. Although Golden Age Hawkman makes his first Silver Age appearance during the first JLA/JSA teamup in 1961 and continues making appearances during the annual JLA/JSA teamups, Golden Age Hawkgirl doesn't reappear until 1976 during the revival of the old All Star Comics monthly comic. During the publication gap between the cancellation of Hawkman at the end of the Golden Age and the reintroduction of Earth-2 Hawkman during the Silver Age, Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl are married off-panel. Golden Age Hawkgirl would make further appearances as the mother of Silver Scarab in the Infinity Inc. comic and as Hawkgirl as a member of the All-Star Squadron, retroactive team of Golden Age heroes active in the 1940s.
[edit] Post-Crisis
Following the events of DC's miniseries, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the histories of Earth-One and Earth-Two are merged together. As a result, both the Golden Age and the Silver Age versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl live on the same Earth. Shortly after Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC decided that having the Justice Society on the same Earth as all of the other superheroes was redundant and most of the team including Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl were given a sendoff in the Last Days of the Justice Society oneshot. The Justice Society were trapped in another dimension, Limbo, where they would battle for all of eternity to prevent Ragnarok from occurring on the Earth.
Initially, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman were kept in continuity unchanged after Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, DC reversed this decision and rebooted Hawkman continuity after the success of the Hawkworld miniseries. Originally, Hawkworld was a miniseries set in the past that retold the origins of Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman. After Hawkworld became a success, DC Comics made Hawkworld an ongoing series set in the present resulting in a complete reboot of Hawkman continuity. By rebooting Hawkman continuity, several contiuity errors regarding Hawkman and Hawkgirl's Justice League appearances needed to be fixed. All previous appearances by the Silver Age Hawkgirl in the Justice League were explained by the Golden Age Hawkgirl taking the Silver Age Hawkgirl's place. However, Hawkwoman continued to appear in some pre-Hawkworld Justice League adventures during the time Golden Age Hawkgirl was trapped in Limbo. To explain this continuity error, a new Hawkwoman, Sharon Parker, was created and retconned into the Justice League during the time Golden Age Hawkgirl was in Limbo.
After the Hawkworld reboot, the Silver Age Hawkgirl is now named Shayera Thal. Shayera is not married to Katar Hol, but is merely his police partner. In post-Hawkworld continuity, Shayera adopts the name Hawkwoman from the very beginning of her costumed career and never uses the name Hawkgirl. The Golden Age Hawkgirl is eventually returned from Limbo, but is killed during the Zero Hour miniseries when she is merged with Katar Hol and Golden Age Hawkman into a Hawkgod.
A new Hawkgirl is introduced as part of the 1999 revival of the JSA monthly title. The new Hawkgirl is Kendra Saunders, granddaughter of the Golden Age Hawkgirl's cousin, Speed Saunders. Hawkgirl would continue to appear regularly in the monthly JSA series and later in the Hawkman's monthly series. In 2006, the ongoing Hawkman monthly series is renamed Hawkgirl starting with issue 50 as part of the One Year Later jump forward, with Kendra replacing Hawkman as the lead character.
[edit] Character history
[edit] Shiera Sanders
The Golden Age Hawkgirl was Shiera Sanders (or Saunders), the reincarnation of the Egyptian princess Chay-Ara, and partner of Carter Hall, the Golden Age Hawkman. Centuries ago, Chay-Ara and her lover Prince Khufu were killed by Hath-Set with a knife forged from an alien substance called nth metal. The properties of the metal and the strength of the duo's love created a bond between them, causing them to be reborn multiple times throughout the centuries.
She has had a number of subsequent incarnations, most notably Celia, the lady fair of Sir Brian Kent (The Silent Knight) and the Old West gunslinger, Kate Manser (a.k.a. Cimmamon).
In the early 20th century, Chay-Ara was reborn as Shiera Sanders. She was kidnapped by Dr. Anton Hastor (reincarnation of Hath-Set) but subsequently rescued by Hawkman (her reborn lover Khufu). Shiera became the hero's frequent ally and love interest. Eventually, she was granted a costume of her own and a belt of gravity-defying nth metal and joined him at his side as Hawkgirl.
The Hawks were members of the All-Star Squadron, and while Hawkman was a member of the Justice Society of America, Hawkgirl was not, only assisting the group on occasion. Recent retcons seem to point to Hawkgirl being formally inducted into the JSA at some time however. Eventually, Carter and Shiera married and had one son, Hector Hall, the most recent Doctor Fate.
Through retcon Carter and Shiera also joined the Justice League of America in the late 1980s, serving as liaisons between that group and the Justice Society.
Shiera died when she was merged with Carter and Katar Hol to form a new Hawkman version, a "hawk god" creature, during the events of Zero Hour.
[edit] Kendra Saunders
The current Hawkgirl is Kendra Saunders, a young woman who committed suicide. When Kendra's soul left her body, that of her grandaunt, Shiera Hall, the Golden Age Hawkgirl, entered it. Her grandfather, former OSS agent and globe-trotting adventurer Speed Saunders, recognized this change and encouraged his granddaughter to embrace her destiny as the "new" Hawkgirl.
Still believing herself to be Kendra, she debuted as a heroine using the original Hawkgirl's equipment and set out in search of a being called the Fate-Child (actually her own reincarnated son, Hector Hall). This led to a meeting with the Justice Society and Kendra's induction to that team.
She currently has all of Kendra's memories, but almost none of Shiera's. This creates tension with Hawkman since he remembers all of their past lives together and believes they are destined for each other. Kendra has been presented as a very troubled young woman, haunted by the murder of her parents by a corrupt cop and confused by her jumble of memories and feelings. She has operated as Hawkman's partner but only recently began to actually admit her attraction to him. The truth about Kendra's identity was eventually revealed to her by the angel Zauriel.
She is one of the heroes who fought in space during the Rann-Thanagar War. Following the events of Infinite Crisis, a Zeta Beam tranporter malfunction injured many of the superheroes in space, including Hawkgirl, causing her to grow over twenty feet tall. Some time later, her proper stature restored, she is protecting St. Roch, Louisiana, in the absence of Hawkman. She has also been confirmed as a new member of the Justice League.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Hawkgirl owes her powers to a belt of nth metal, a substance native to the planet Thanagar (once home of another pair of Hawk-heroes, Katar Hol and Hawkwoman). The metal is psycho-reactive, responding to its bearer's thoughts and in its base form has a number of electromagnetic/gravitational properties. To the Hawks, it grants the power of flight, superhuman strength, super-acute vision, and an enhanced healing/regeneration ability.
Additionally, the nth metal knife which murdered Hawkgirl in her original incarnation as Chay-Ara had an unusual effect upon her soul and that of her lover Khufu (Hawkman). The pair are locked in a seemingly endless cycle of death and rebirth throughout the centuries. While not a superhuman power per se, this propensity for reincarnation has allowed Hawkgirl to cheat death and return to active duty in her current incarnation.
Recently Kendra has discovered that she had enhanced healing and limited hover abilities when not wearing Nth metal. She speculates that this is due to her prolonged exposure to the substance.
[edit] Other media
- Hawkgirl appears in the animated Justice League series on Cartoon Network. Based on the Silver Age Hawkgirl, Shayera Hol is an advance scout for a Thanagarian invasion force. She carries an electrode mace made of Nth Metal and her wings are organic. For more information check Hawkgirl (animated).
- Hawkgirl is a playable character in the Game Boy Advance games Justice League: Injustice for All and Justice League: Chronicles; the character is based on the animated version of the character.
- Hawkgirl has been revealed as a playable character in the upcoming Justice League Heroes game.
