Hath-Set

Hath-Set is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville. The character is a recurring nemesis of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

Fictional character biography

The cruel Egyptian priest Hath-Set first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940). He was a Priest who led a rebellion and captured, then, murdered Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara with a cursed dagger forged from Nth Metal, resulting in a cycle of reincarnations for all three of them together.

Over the centuries, he has been responsible for the couple's murder in many different incarnations, and during the World War II era, he was reincarnated as the evil Doctor Anton Hastor. Hawkman and Hawkgirl were reunited when facing Hastor and then, eventually, they managed to foil his plans—though of course, Hath-Set would try again over the years. He was the first foe faced by Hawkman, though in his first appearance he is killed with a crossbow bolt after kidnapping Hawkman's love.

In 1941, Hastor had kidnapped various prominent scientists and pooled their collective resources in order to build a flying mechanical eye airship, with weaponry capable of leveling whole cities. His plans for world conquest were foiled by Hawkman along with his colleagues of the All-Star Squadron.

During the 1980s, when Infinity, Inc. took place, Hath-Set used the curse he'd put upon the Hawks to take control of their son Hector Hall, the Infinitor known as Silver Scarab, and with him attacked the team. Luckily, they managed to defeat the evil priest, but at the cost of Hector's life.

Today, Hath-Set exists in a spiritual form, and has been able to take over the bodies and minds of his many descendants, most recently being a woman called Helene Astar, while Hawkman and Hawkgirl were travelling to the Himalayas to search for Speed Saunders. It was thought that Hath-Set had been reincarnated as Astar who died when attempting to kill the Hawks herself. But what really happened was that the priest possessed Astar and by letting her die, he succeeded in misleading the Hawks into thinking Hath-Set had also died for good.

Hath-Set currently plots with the crooked businessman Kristopher Roderic to kill his archnemesis.

In Brightest Day storylines, Hath-Set was recently seen living in the jungles of Peru.^[1] Hawkman and Hawkgirl discover that Hath-Set collected the remains of all their past bodies and used them to build a mystical gateway.^[2] They follow him through it to a place called "Hawkworld". Shiera is captured, and Hath-Set reveals to her that he is allied with Hawkworld's Queen. During that time, Hawkgirl is contacted by the Entity telling her that she must prevent Hath-Set from killing Hawkman.^[3] Then the monarch of Hawkworld revealls herself to be actually Shiera Hall's mother, Khea.^[4] Khea now using the alias of Queen Shrike, also reveals to Shiera that she and Hath-Set were lovers in ancient Egypt, and that they had both used her and Khufu's blood and the Nth metal dagger to become immortal. Hath-Set then ties Shiera to the gateway, and following Khea's orders striked Shiera in order to lure Carter to him. When Carter arrives and draws his attention, Shiera turns the tables on Hath-Set, using her legs to snap his neck, killing him.^[5]

In other media

Television

• Hath-Set appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Ancient History" voiced by Héctor Elizondo. In a far cry from his comic version, he is depicted as a loyal subject of the Hawks. When Khufu (as Katar Hol) witnesses Chay-Ara kissing Bashari, his most trusted top military general, he says "I wish they were dead". Hath-Set takes this as an actual order, and poisons the two (instead of using a cursed Nth metal Dagger). Upon discovering his actions, Khufu tells him to get out, before drinking the poisoned wine himself, over grief of his wife's death.

References