Warhawk (Rex Stewart) is a fictional character created for the DC Animated Universe, voiced by Peter Onorati.
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He is based on Hawkman and created specifically for Batman Beyond two-part "The Call" as a member of the Justice League of the future. He was initially at odds with Terry McGinnis, Bruce Wayne's successor as Batman, because he had been recruited onto the team by Superman without the rest of the League's consent. However, after the new Batman proved himself to be a competent and trustworthy League member, Warhawk's attitude shifted from reluctant ally to devoted teammate. They would eventually become close comrades and colleagues.
In the animated series' related comics, Warhawk appeared in Batman Beyond issue # 21 ("The Blackest Day - Part 1") when Batman teams up with the Justice League Unlimited in a high-voltage adventure as they battle a new villain called Blacklight.
Warhawk's next appearance in the DCAU was the Justice League Unlimited season three episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part II: Time Warped". The aforementioned JLU is the present-day lineup, set in current DCAU continuity, as opposed to that of the Batman Beyond timeline.
In "Time, Warped", Warhawk met the modern-day Green Lantern John Stewart, the first Batman (Bruce Wayne), and Wonder Woman (Diana of Themiscyra), who had been sent into the future by Chronos. At that time he was a member of the future JLU alongside an aged Static and Batman II (Terry McGinnis).
It was revealed that Warhawk was the son of John Stewart and Hawkgirl (Shayera Hol); at the time, Stewart was involved with Vixen, having broken up with Shayera since the traumatic events of "Starcrossed", despite the presence of latent tension between the two.
Cyclical causality erased memories of the team-up from the future JLUers, the future Bruce Wayne, as well as the present-day Wonder Woman (as she had faded from existence halfway through the story). Only Stewart and the current Batman retained knowledge of Warhawk's existence. Learning Warhawk's future existence made Green Lantern suffer indecision between the two women. John decided to keep this information a secret from Shayera, and Batman agreed.
In the episode "Ancient History", Green Lantern finally informs Shayera that she is to become the mother of his child. This information briefly gives Shayera an ecstatic feeling of hope. However, despite knowing that he still loves Shayera, he decides to stay with Vixen and "refuses to be destiny's puppet," preferring to let things work themselves out. After this, Shayera asks Batman to tell her of his time-traveling adventure he shared with Stewart, along with what he knows about her son.
Warhawk's second Justice League Unlimited appearance was in "Epilogue" set 65 years in the future (although the episode aired a season before "Ancient History"). He is still a member of the JLU, working alongside Terry McGinnis (Bruce Wayne's successor as Batman), Green Lantern (Kai-ro), and Aquagirl (Marina).
The creative team used for Warhawk's design used Stewart's face from model sheets in the pre-production process of the Justice League animated series.
However, unlike his mother's organic wings, Warhawk's are made of Nth metal. Producer Dwayne McDuffie gives this explanation: "Shayera's wings are organic; like all modern-day Thanagarians she was born with them. ... Not explained on the show (but according to Bruce Timm) Thanagarians used to make their wings, only in the past several hundred years have they genetically engineered themselves to grow organic wings. ... For many generations now, Thanagarians [have been] born with natural wings. Warhawk (Rex Stewart, future son of Shayera Hol and John Stewart) was born without wings, this is as a result of his half-human heritage. Warhawk's wings are artificial. Shayera and a Thanagarian male would produce organically-winged offspring, like any other Thanagarian couple."
Bruce Timm has stated on the Justice League Season 2 commentary that Batman Beyond was deliberately ambiguous as to its existence, and that while he knows some fans are upset with him for not giving the John/Shayera romance a set-in-stone conclusion, "you can put two and two together and imagine what happens."
Dwayne McDuffie commented that "John and Shayera have the child, exactly as before. The time-traveling that has occurred is already part of the timeline that produces Warhawk as are the edicts to that timeline, including those we haven't yet seen on the show. The important thing to remember is that Warhawk isn't even 30 in Batman Beyond years [...] a few things are going to occur in that time period to change the current status quo. [Also], it's dramatically more interesting for Green Lantern to believe it's the actual future. If he believes it's only one possibility it doesn't carry any more weight than a particularly vivid dream."
Warhawk has powers similar to Golden Eagle which include enhanced strength, stamina, and speed. He wears a suit of armor which has razor-talons and the ability to cover him in protective liquid-metal plates, along with flight capabilities of artificial set of wings and thrusters.
In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #25, the trickster god Anansi creates an alternate version of the DC Comics universe, with many altered heroes. One of these heroes is an alternate version of Hawk, who wears a red version of Warhawk's costume.
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