Shayera Hol, formerly known on Earth as Hawkgirl, was one of the founding members of the Justice League and a former member of the Thanagarian military. She played a key role in the Thanagarian invasion on both sides. Hawkgirl is a fiery and considerably aggressive person who exhibits a wild temperament but nonetheless fights on the side of good.
History[]
Coming to Earth[]
Shayera Hol was a lieutenant and an instructor in espionage on the planet Thanagar, engaged to be married to Commander Hro Talak. Shayera was sent in advance of the Thanagarian invasion as a scout to determine Earths' weaknesses should Thanagar's enemies, the Gordanians, attack.[3] Her cover story was that she was tracking criminals to their fortress when she was unexpectedly teleported to Earth.[4] Shayera eventually established herself on Earth and became known to the populace as Hawkgirl.
During the Imperium invasion, she was telepathically summoned by J'onn J'onzz to assist in repelling the invaders. Hawkgirl was teamed with Superman to take out the aliens' factories, which propelled smoke into the air to block out the sun. They were unsuccessful and were both captured.[5] J'onn, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern attempted to rescue the two but were themselves captured. The six heroes were held for the alien invaders leader.
After Batman had successfully faked his own death and infiltrated the factory, he reversed the smoke process. The group was able to free themselves and destroy the factory and its duplicates around the world. In fact, Hawkgirl was responsible for destroying the Imperium when he attempted to escape on board his personal shuttle craft. Due to her efforts during the invasion, Hawkgirl was invited aboard the Watchtower, and formed the Justice League along with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and J'onn.[6]
The Justice League[]
Hawkgirl would participate in the various missions with the Justice League, including the Manhunter threat to Oa and[7] Vandal Savage's alteration of World War II.[8][9][10] During Darkseid's attempt to kill Superman to remake the universe in his image, she temporarily knocked him unconscious to save her friend.[11]
Hawkgirl was once teleported, along with Martian Manhunter, John Stewart and Flash to a world of superheroes set in the '50s and '60s of the 20th century. There, she endured constant sexist remarks due to her gender. She and one of the heroes from this dimension named Green Guardsman stopped a villain called Music Master.[12] She teamed up with the rest of the Justice League and the Justice Guild to fight Ray Thompson once he revealed his true intentions of evil and the Justice Guild ceased to exist.[13]
During one such mission, after tracking Solomon Grundy and Aquaman to Doctor Fate, Hawkgirl discovered Fate's connection to Thanagar.[14] Along with Superman and Wonder Woman, she discovered that Ichthultu, once worshiped on Thanagar as a god-like entity, had come to Earth. Fate, Superman, Wonder Woman, Grundy and Hawkgirl traveled to Ichthultu's world. There, Hawkgirl developed an unlikely friendship with Grundy, which was tragically short-lived. After Grundy successfully entered Ichthultu's bowels and killed a monster inside, he was rendered immobilized. Hawkgirl followed him and finished Grundy's job for him, killing Ichthultu with a strike from her magic-disrupting mace. Grundy died in her arms shortly afterwards. However, she couldn't understand why he was happy at the end, to which Aquaman replied that it was faith.[1]
During her time with the League, Hawkgirl developed a deep relationship with fellow member John Stewart, despite their constant bickering. During Joker's bomb threat on Las Vegas, John rescued her and sacrificed himself in an explosion. His power ring's aura protected him, but the shock stopped his heart. With her mace, Hawkgirl restarted it and brought him back to the Watchtower against Batman's orders. After giving John proper medical treatment, she agreed to stay with him overnight on the Watchtower to make sure he recuperated. John woke up and the two discussed their relationship. Hawkgirl was against it going any further, though John eventually brought her round to the idea. Her mask was finally removed, exposing her true face for the first time in the series. John and Shayera shared a kiss at the end.[15]
Betrayal[]
After a Gordanian vessel was shot down by the Thanagarians over Washington D.C., Hawkgirl's mission on Earth was complete. She had sent all of the data she had collected on Earth and through her work with the Justice League to the Thanagarians. It was determined that Earth would not be safe from a Gordanian attack and so construction began on a force field generator to protect the Earth, overseen by Thanagarian Paran Dul. Hawkgirl was then revealed to the entire planet as a spy. To make matters worse, especially for John Stewart, she revealed that she was engaged to the Thanagarians' commander, Hro Talak. These revelations created a rift between her and her teammates and caused significant damage to her relationship with John Stewart.
Hawkgirl was firm in her duty to Thanagar and believed that the Thanagarians were acting in Earth's best interests. When the Justice League resisted the occupation of Earth, she chose duty to her home world over loyalty to her League mates. The League was captured using Shayera's report of their weaknesses against them. When only John Stewart remained standing, she chose duty over love and rendered him unconscious with her mace as he was trying to appeal to her emotions.[3] Within days of the League's escape, Shayera discovered the Thanagarians' true intentions. The device they were building was not a force field generator, but a Hyperspace Bypass Generator. The generator would create a wormhole in hyperspace, allowing the Thanagarian armada to jump behind the Gordanians' defenses and attack their homeworld directly. This would destroy the Earth and everyone on it. Choosing to betray her people, Shayera stole this information and handed it directly to Bruce Wayne in an attempt to make amends with her friends. After everyone but John Stewart turn their back on her, Hawkgirl explained her reasons to him and returned his power ring to him then left. However, Hawkgirl's betrayal was quickly discovered by Hro Talak's right-hand man, Kragger, and she was imprisoned. When Talak realizes that she wasn't in love with him anymore, but now with John, Shayera was offered the chance to be released and pardoned for her treason, if she admitted that she didn't love John. However, Hawkgirl refused and commented that if he truly loved her, then he'd spare the Earth.
During her imprisonment, Shayera noticed that Wonder Woman had infiltrated the vessel as she and the rest of the League made their assault on the armada and their captured Watchtower. Shayera was released by Wonder Women, although she did it bitterly. The latter picked up a Thanagarian warriors' discarded mace and flew off to confront Hro Talak. Shayera found Talak in the control room for the Bypass Generator's force field as he was about to kill John. She successfully stopped his assault and turned his aggression on her, but Shayera was pinned to a wall by Talak's energy axe. After Shayera begged him to spare the Earth, he simply slammed the back of the energy axe into her, giving her an almost deadly shock and then discarded her by throwing her across the room. John Stewart then resumed the fight with Talak. After defeating Talak, Stewart was too injured to operate the lever to deactivate the force field. Shayera had awoken and assisted him, placing her hands over his and together they pushed the button down to destroy the Bypass Generator.
With the generator's destruction, the Thanagarians left Earth. However, Shayera's status in the Justice League had been called to question. With the Watchtower destroyed, the League took shelter in Wayne Manor and set about debating Hawkgirl's future with the organization. The other six members of the League discussed and voted inside Wayne Manor. Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne family butler, served tea to Shayera and provided his own small words of encouragement; stating that she was indeed a hero because she made a great personal sacrifice to save Earth. Shayera took comfort in Alfred's words.
When she was called in, Shayera never gave them a chance to tell her what they concluded as she couldn't let them be torn between their feelings and duty along with believing that none of them will ever trust her again when she voluntarily resigned herself from the League. After The Flash hugged her warmly as a goodbye, Shayera accepted it and realizes that she might still have some of her former teammates as friends. Before leaving, however, Shayera told John that she loved him and never lied about that. It is unknown if she heard his words to her: I love you too... [2]
Return[]
|
Shayera had nowhere to go. She did say, however, that she'd go to a place where there were no secrets and no lies. She eventually found refuge with Doctor Fate and his wife, Inza.[17] During her time with them, she'd have a chance to contemplate her choices. However, weeks turned to months, and she still couldn't recuperate from the invasion. It wasn't until Solomon Grundy had been raised from the dead by a dark magical ritual gone wrong that she'd take up her mace again. Supercharged, but not resurected, by dark chaos magic, Solomon Grundy went on a rampage and proved to be unstoppable, even against the combined might of John Stewart, Vixen, Superman, Aquaman, Doctor Fate, and the android Amazo. Shayera's mace was the only object on Earth capable of stopping the monster due to Nth metal's magic-disrupting properties. Regrettably, she was forced to euthanize Grundy in the sewers, which he allowed so that the creature would know peace at last.
When emerging from below, Shayera was confronted by a group of news reporters. One of the questions that were raised was her dismissal from the League. John Stewart revealed that she was never dismissed from the League, which was news to Shayera herself as she never bothered to ask and gave them a chance to tell her what they voted. John told Shayera that he recused himself from the vote due to his personal feelings for her, resulting in a 3-2 vote in favor of retaining her League membership. Superman admitted that he cast the tie-breaking vote, despite his distrust after the invasion because he still believes in her. Her return to the outside world was not only greeted by reporters, but detractors were at the scene as well. However, Shayera was also warmly thanked by the family she saved earlier in the episode, which gave her a much-needed hopeful smile that she can fix her damaged reputation as a hero.[16]
Shayera did return to the Justice League and was welcomed back to the founding member's council. However, she wouldn't be present at trials such as that of Doomsday.[18] Although she returned to her life as a superhero, she never again wore her old Hawkgirl outfit and headdress and insisted on being addressed as "Shayera", not "Hawkgirl", having abandoned her Superhero nomenclature.[19] As for her relationship with John Stewart, it was never rekindled fully. During her time away from the League, Stewart had started seeing a new Justice League member, Vixen.
Not only was there a conflict with Vixen over John Stewart, but with Batman and Wonder Woman in particular.[20] The Amazon warrior reluctantly let Shayera join the team again, however she would hold a grudge against Shayera until she was forced to take her along to Themyscira and Tartarus due to Felix Faust's return and his usurping of Hades' throne, as she needed her mace's properties against magic. During this mission, Shayera and Wonder Woman settled their differences once and for all, showing to be good teammates as they mend their friendship but will never be close with one another.[21]
However, Shayera still met conflict with Vixen. Once, they, along with Vigilante, were assigned to a rescue mission on a distant moon where alien miners were having problems due to the supposed high levels of unstable Nth metal. However, it turned out to be a trap set by Paran Dul, who was leading a group of Thanagarian soldiers including the mentally disabled Kragger. During their confrontation on the moon, Paran revealed that Shayera's betrayal had led to Thanagar's defeat by the Gordanians and that Hro Talak had been killed while fighting back. A distressed Shayera was tempted to turn herself in and let them pass judgment on her, but Vixen and Vigilante refused to let her go.
Shayera even offered to surrender in exchange for Vixen who had been captured by the Thanagarians, but then fought back when they almost killed Vixen by dropping her from mid-air. The Thanagarians were defeated and the three League members stole a Thanagarian Scout Ship and returned to the Watchtower. Upon their arrival, John Stewart rushed over to both Vixen and Shayera, but they walked straight past, implying that they were going to settle their dispute over him. Stewart feared the worse, but they merely laughed over drinks during which the two women discussed his quirks and habits. Shayera did reveal that she still loved him while Vixen revealed that he still loved Shayera and that she just wanted to see things through until the end. They agreed to a friendly contest for his affections, with a toast to en garde.[19]
At the conclusion of the Cadmus crisis, when Lex Luthor and Brainiac merged, Shayera and the founding members were faced with their Justice Lords counterparts. Her drone belittled her, saying that nobody trusted her, and everyone despised her on both Earth and Thanagar. The Hawkgirl drone was eventually crushed, with pleasure, by John Stewart who was letting off steam for his broken heart. She returned the favor by casually decapitating John's own duplicate with a simple, "likewise, I'm sure".
When the League was defeated by the combination of Brainiac and Luthor, The Flash ran around the world, faster than he has ever gone, slamming hit after hit into the cyborg. When Brainiac was finally driven from Luthor, Flash had generated so much speed, he was absorbed into the mysterious Speed Force. Shayera was the one who located the extra-dimensional portal with her Nth metal mace and was able to grab hold of Flash's arm. With the assistance of the six other members, the League pulled Flash back to their reality with her and John happily embracing him.[22]
Mysterious past[]
|
With Luthor behind bars, the League reformed itself yet again by building the Metro Tower. During a mission with John Stewart, Vixen and Batman, Shayera met Carter Hall, an archaeologist, who had studied ancient ruins in Egypt. What he discovered was a weapon from Thanagar. The two agreed to discuss the weapon over dinner, much to John's disapproval. Before she began her date with Hall, Batman revealed that Carter had been following her on several different occasions like a stalker. Shayera grew angry at both Batman and John Stewart for not trusting her and left them with "don't wait up". And of course, she meant it, as she would put that Carter "didn't miss the dress last night". Carter brought Shayera to the ruins and showed her ancient hieroglyphs that showed Thanagarian ancestry. After venturing deep inside the Egyptian tomb, he revealed that he really didn't need her to translate anything. He changed into a harness with wings attached and put a Thanagarian helmet on, proclaiming himself Hawkman. Shayera didn't take him seriously though and simply laughed at both him and herself (for having the worst taste in men and not listening to Batman and Stewart—who she knows will say "told you so").
Hawkman showed her an ancient Thanagarian vessel as well as a device known as an Asbsorbacron, the very item he touched and discovered that he was the reincarnation of a man named Katar Hol and after this discovery, he changed his name from Joseph Gardner to Carter Hall. He believed that Shayera was the reincarnation of Katar's wife, Chay-Ara Hol, and urged her to also touch the Asbsorbacron. However, she denied his request by flipping him over her shoulders and into the vessel. Hawkgirl's claim was that the Asbsorbacron was old, broken, and/or too much for a human mind to handle. At this very point, their follower revealed himself. The Shadow Thief captured both in pursuit of stealing the treasures inside the tomb, which Carter agreed as long as he didn't hurt Shayera. Carter was then stopped when their second follower revealed himself: Batman, so Shadow Thief caused the tomb's traps to engage. While Shayera, Hawkman and Batman battled the tomb's booby-trapped mummies, Shadow Thief took advantage of the situation by stealing the tomb's treasures until Shayera flew in and energized her mace, causing the Shadow Thief to retreat into the ground.
However, due to the damage done to the tomb, they were forced to retreat. Hawkman retreated back into the crumbling caverns in a fleeting attempt to save the Asbsorbacron. Shayera was able to stop him and brought him back up to the surface. Hawkman flew off but claimed that Shayera would come around eventually and see that it was their destiny to be with each other. Despite her claims that the memories Carter Hall had received were the result of an overwhelmed mind or broken Thanagarian technology, she wondered deep down if he was right. Of course, Batman only said, "If you really believe that..."[24]
Hawkman would show up once again when John Stewart was captured by the Shadow Thief, threatening he'd be back for the "Thanagarian harpy". Vixen and Shayera paid a visit to the Midway City Museum, Carter Hall's workplace, to get some clues to the Shadow Thief's whereabouts. They discovered that the Shadow Thief had John hung up. Shayera attacked the Shadow Thief while Vixen attempted to release John. Vixen was thrown under piles of fossil debris. Hawkman came to her rescue when Shadow Thief attempted to murder Vixen. Shayera and Hawkman attacked the Shadow Thief again. Shadow Thief was restrained when Shayera wrapped a whip around him. However, Hawkman did not take his chance to get the Shadow Thief. Both ended up captured. When Shayera woke up, Hawkman and John were positioned around the thought-to-be-buried Asbsorbacron. Shadow Thief forced them all to touch it simultaneously and a past story was revealed: Chay-Ara fell out of love with Katar and fell in love with Egyptian General Bashari, John Stewart's previous incarnation. Chay-Ara and Bashari were poisoned by the priest Hath-Set. Katar discovered their bodies and committed suicide, clenching his dead wife's hand. Everything became clear: Shadow Thief revealed himself to be Hawkman's darkest thoughts and unspeakable desires- a sort of "id" to Hawkman's "superego". The Shadow Thief entity was released when Carter first touched the Asbsorbacron. The Shadow Thief then freed Carter and ordered him to finish John off, claiming he was the only one standing between him and Shayera. Instead, Carter destroyed John's bonds, who freed Shayera. Carter then fought the Shadow Thief and was able to "bring" the villain back into his own self. Hawkman apologized to Shayera for his behavior, realizing that they weren't meant for each other and so left her to end the story the way it's supposed to be ended.
John and Shayera then discussed things at the Watchtower. He revealed that he and Batman went to the future and met a superhero named Warhawk, who was his and Shayera's son, Rex Stewart.[25][26] She showed happiness with this information as it meant they could still be together. However, despite the knowledge of their future incarnations and the birth of their son, John refused to be destiny's puppet and stayed with Mari. He confessed to Shayera that he would never say that he didn't love her and if they do get back together it will be their own choice. She gave John an angry look at his stubbornness before going to see Batman. At the end of these events, while Batman was working, she asked Batman to tell her about her son.[23]
Last known missions[]
Shayera continued to serve with the League, with essential missions such as Ace warping reality with the new Royal Flush Gang[27] and Darkseid's return. She traveled around the world with superheroes like Dove and members of Legion of Doom, fighting against Parademons and destroying magma-tappers.
It is unknown how or even when Shayera and John Stewart finally reconciled their romantic relationship and gave birth to their child, despite knowing it would happen at some point in the future.
Powers and abilities[]
Like all modern Thanagarians, Shayera had a pair of wings growing from her back which allowed her to fly through the atmosphere of planets at least close to Earth's gravity. It isn't known how much gravity would actually ground her. Shayera didn't need to flap her wings to achieve sufficient altitude or move and in various instances is seen hovering in the air without moving them at all. As a Thanagarian, Shayera had considerable physical strength, endurance and durability, durable enough to get thrown into a wall by Grundy.
As a former member of the Thanagarian military, Shayera had extensive training in tactical strategery, military science, and personal combat skills. She is incredibly skilled in martial arts. Single-handedly, she defeated four of the Green Lantern Corps members in hand-to-hand combat.[7] She has shown resistance to mind control and Martian Manhunter's attempts to enter her mind failed.
Despite her short fuse and often brutal M.O., Shayera has a keen mind and regularly defeated Batman at chess.[16] Her focus in espionage can make her a difficult opponent to track and provide her teammates with an advantage when tracking villains.
Equipment[]
Shayera retained her costume but subsequently abandoned it after the Thanagarian invasion and occupation of Earth. She also possessed a standard Thanagarian military outfit with clawed gauntlets. Her signature weapon is a spiked mace made of Nth metal, which can generate electric currents and possesses enough kinetic energy to cause serious damage even to those with superhuman strength and durability. The Nth metal properties also can repel and detect magical energies. She is skilled at wielding and throwing the mace accurately. She has creatively used the mace as a shield to deflect incoming projectiles or a makeshift defibrillator unit.[15]
Background information[]
- Hawkgirl's backstory in the show as presented is a melding of the DC comics Golden Age and Silver Age origins of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. In the Golden Age, they are the souls of two lovers from Ancient Egypt who were murdered by the priest Hath-Set with an Nth metal blade and are repeatedly reincarnated as champions of justice (though in the DCAU, the reincarnation aspect of Hawkgirl is inconclusive). The Silver Age Hawks were Thanagarian law enforcement officers who were stranded on Earth.
- Hawkgirl was added as part of the main Justice League line-up in the show to have more than one female character on the team, rather than just Wonder Woman.
- Maria Canals was originally cast as Hawkgirl because of her Hispanic accent as the producers wanted her character to sound subtly different from the rest of the main cast. In later episodes that featured additional Thanagarians, they were also played by Hispanic actors.
Appearances[]
Justice League
Static ShockJustice League Unlimited
|
See also[]
References[]
|
External links[]
Members of the Justice League |
---|
Founding Members: |
Batman • Flash • Green Lantern • Hawkgirl • Martian Manhunter • Superman • Wonder Woman |
Expanded League: |
Aquaman • Atom • Atom-Smasher • Aztek • B'wana Beast • Black Canary • Blue Devil • Booster Gold • Captain Atom • Captain Marvel • Commander Steel • The Creeper • The Crimson Avenger • Crimson Fox • Dove • Dr. Fate • Dr. Light • Dr. Mid-Nite • Elongated Man • Etrigan • Fire • Green Arrow • Gypsy • Hawk • Hourman • Huntress • Ice • Long Shadow • Metamorpho • Mr. Terrific • Nemesis • Obsidian • Orion • Plastic Man • Question • The Ray • Red Tornado • Rocket Red • Sand • Shining Knight • Speedy • Stargirl • Starman • Steel • S.T.R.I.P.E. • Supergirl • Johnny Thunder • Thunderbolt • Vibe • Vigilante • Vixen • Waverider • Wildcat • Zatanna |