Hawkman: the winged warrior powered by Nth metal, not to be confused with Hawkgirl

Who is Hawkman? The Egyptian prince of 1940

Hawkman is the name of several DC Comics superheroes. Almost all of them fly thanks to a metal that cancels gravity, and they prefer ancient weapons to gadgets. The first, Carter Hall, appears in Flash Comics #1, which carries a January 1940 cover date and goes on sale in November 1939. Gardner Fox writes this twelve-page story, and Dennis Neville draws it. Superman had been born a year and a half earlier, in Action Comics #1: Hawkman belongs to the first generation of heroes of the Golden Age of comics.

In this first story, Carter Hall is a wealthy weapons collector and researcher with no superpowers at all. When he touches an Egyptian dagger, he relives his life as Prince Khufu, murdered along with his beloved, Shiera, by the priest Hath-Set. Hath-Set has been reincarnated as Dr. Anton Hastor, and Shiera lives again under the name Shiera Sanders. Carter makes himself wings and a belt from a metal that defies gravity, puts on a hawk-headed helmet and confronts Hastor, who has lured Shiera into his lair. Shiera dons wings of her own in 1941, before becoming Hawkgirl; later stories make Carter an archaeologist and turn the couple into lovers who find each other again, life after life.

Nth metal: what really makes Hawkman fly

In 1940, Carter Hall's metal still goes by the name “ninth metal.” From it, Carter makes a belt that cancels gravity; his great wings don't carry him: they let him steer. Stories from the 1940s also credit the metal with a warmth that protects its wearer from the cold, and recent versions add increased strength, resistance to blows and accelerated healing.

In the 1960s, DC sorts its heroes onto two parallel Earths. On Earth-Two, the 1940 Hawkman's ninth metal has no known alien origin; on Earth-One, Katar Hol's Nth metal comes from the planet Thanagar. Later revisions also have Carter Hall's metal come from Thanagar, and the ninth metal retroactively takes the name Nth metal. The contrast with Superman is sharp: Superman's flight comes from the yellow sun, whereas Hawkman can only fly as long as he wears his metal.

Katar Hol, the Hawkman from Thanagar

The second Hawkman arrives in The Brave and the Bold #34, cover-dated February-March 1961. At the time, editor Julius Schwartz is relaunching the heroes of the 1940s under new identities, after the Flash and Green Lantern. Gardner Fox writes, Joe Kubert draws. This Hawkman has nothing Egyptian about him: Katar Hol is a police officer from the planet Thanagar who has come to Earth with his wife, Shayera, to arrest Byth, a criminal who can change shape.

With the help of George Emmett, the police commissioner of Midway City, Katar and Shayera take the names Carter and Shiera Hall and become curators of the city's museum. Once Byth has been captured and sent back to Thanagar, they stay on to study the methods of Earth's police. Like the 1940 Hawkman, Katar fights with ancient weapons, which he borrows from the museum's collections. Shayera, Hawkgirl at his side, will later take the name Hawkwoman. The 1961 Hawkman gets his own series in 1964, launched by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson; it ends with #27, in 1968.

From the Justice Society to the League, alongside Superman

The 1940 Hawkman attends the first meeting of the Justice Society of America, in All-Star Comics #3, dated Winter 1940. After the Flash and Green Lantern, he becomes the group's chairman and holds the post until the end of his adventures in All-Star Comics, in 1951. In these 1940s comics, Superman is only an honorary member, like Batman. He appears in #7, cover-dated October-November 1941, in which the team raises a million dollars for war orphans, then in #36, cover-dated August-September 1947, in which Superman and Batman go on a mission with the group, Hawkman included.

The 1961 Hawkman follows the same path. Justice League of America #31, a November 1964 issue by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, brings Katar Hol into the Justice League, where Superman holds a seat, though he only makes a brief appearance in the issue. In the League, Hawkman often argues with Green Arrow, a rivalry that survives every revision of continuity.

Superman and Hawkman as a duo in the comics

Superman and Hawkman also team up as a duo in DC Comics Presents, the series in which the Man of Steel meets DC's other heroes. Issue #11, cover-dated July 1979, pairs Superman and Katar Hol against a criminal, Frank Rayles, across Paris, Metropolis and Midway City; Cary Bates writes it, Joe Staton draws it. Issue #74, cover-dated October 1984, adds Hawkwoman against the Orgons, alongside Var-El, a Kryptonian ancestor of Superman from the House of El. Issue #95, cover-dated July 1986, pits them against the Thrill-Killer, a murderer from Thanagar.

In 1988, their encounters take an unexpected turn. In Superman #18, second series, cover-dated June 1988, John Byrne and Mike Mignola send Superman toward the former location of Krypton, aboard the ship of a Hawkman and a Hawkwoman. A later revision turns this couple into impostors. Hawkgirl, for her part, had her own team-up with Superman, without Hawkman, in DC Comics Presents #37, cover-dated September 1981.

Crisis, Hawkworld, JSA: a hero rebuilt again and again

If Hawkman has a reputation as a puzzle, it is mostly because of the revisions launched from the mid-1980s onward. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, published in 1985 and 1986, the two Earths merge into one. In 1989, Timothy Truman's miniseries Hawkworld restarts Katar Hol from scratch as a young police officer on Thanagar, and the ongoing series that continues it in 1990 only brings him to Earth in the present day. To explain who was wearing the helmet in the Justice League International in the meantime, DC assigns that role to Fel Andar, a Thanagarian spy.

The JSA series restores order. In 2001, the arc “The Return of Hawkman,” by Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer, brings Carter Hall back alongside a new Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders, and Hawkman gets his own series again in 2002. In 2011, the New 52 relaunch introduces The Savage Hawkman, whose hero, called Carter Hall, turns out to be Katar Hol. The series by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch, launched in 2018 and built around Carter Hall, then traces his first life back to Ktar Deathbringer, an alien warlord condemned to be reborn. One trait never changes: IGN, which ranks him 56th on its list of comic book heroes, singles out his explosive temper.

Hawkman in Smallville: Clark's gruff ally

On television, Hawkman enters Clark Kent's life with “Absolute Justice,” a special episode of Smallville (9x11) that aired as a two-hour event on February 5, 2010, on The CW in the United States. Geoff Johns writes it; Glen Winter directs the first part and Tom Welling, who plays Clark, directs the second. Michael Shanks, the Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG-1, plays Carter Hall, a reincarnated prince who led the Justice Society in the 1970s and whose wife, Shayera, was killed by the first Icicle.

Hostile at first, this Hawkman threatens Oliver Queen, who foiled his trap. Yet he joins forces with Clark, Chloe, Oliver and John Jones, the series' Martian Manhunter, against the new Icicle, while Amanda Waller, played by Pam Grier, pulls the strings as head of Checkmate.

Michael Shanks returns in “Salvation” (9x21, May 14, 2010), then in “Shield” (10x02, October 1, 2010), where Clark asks him to watch over Lois Lane in Egypt. In “Icarus” (10x11, December 10, 2010), just after Clark and Lois get engaged, Carter dies rescuing Lois from Slade Wilson. Black Canary also appears in this episode, which ends with Carter's burial in Egypt. These are the US air dates.

Hawkman on screen, from the 1967 cartoon to Black Adam

On screen, Hawkman crosses paths with Superman long before Smallville. In The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, launched on CBS on September 9, 1967, Katar Hol has his own short episodes and joins Superman in the adventures of the Justice League of America. He then becomes one of the Super Friends, at the Hall of Justice, voiced by Jack Angel. In the animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, released on video on September 29, 2009, in the United States, Superman and Batman even have to fight Captain Marvel and Hawkman before getting into Luthor's base. In the animated adaptation of The Death of Superman (2018), Hawkman is part of the League that takes on Doomsday.

In live action, Falk Hentschel plays Carter Hall in the Arrowverse, notably in Legends of Tomorrow. On the big screen, Aldis Hodge takes on the role in Black Adam, released on October 19, 2022, in France and on the 21st in the United States, as the leader of the Justice Society, in a film whose mid-credits scene brings back Henry Cavill's Superman.

Hawkman or Hawkgirl: two heroes, several names

Hawkgirl refers to several heroines, almost always tied to Hawkman. In the 1940 comics, she is Shiera Sanders, Carter Hall's beloved; in the 1961 comics, Shayera Hol, Katar Hol's wife and the future Hawkwoman; since 1999, she has also been Kendra Saunders, Shiera's grandniece.

On screen, the gap is even wider. In the animated series Justice League (2001-2004), Hawkgirl, alias Shayera Hol, is a founding member of the League alongside Superman, without Hawkman; Hro Talak, her Thanagarian fiancé in “Starcrossed,” is only inspired by Katar Hol. Hawkman doesn't arrive until Justice League Unlimited, with “Shadow of the Hawk,” which aired on September 17, 2005, in the United States: this Carter Hall, an archaeologist born Joseph Gardner, believes he is the reincarnation of Katar Hol, bound to Shayera by destiny, until “Ancient History,” in 2006, makes John Stewart Shayera's soulmate. Finally, in the 2025 film Superman, Hawkgirl, played by Isabela Merced, is already a member of the Justice Gang, with Guy Gardner and Mister Terrific, without Hawkman.

Conclusion

Hawkman spans more than eighty years of comics, changing his name, his planet and his past without losing his metal wings or his explosive temper. Carter Hall served alongside Superman in the Justice Society, Katar Hol in the Justice League, and the Smallville Carter Hall gave his life for Lois.

His story intersects with those of Clark's other allies, from Green Arrow to Martian Manhunter, while Hawkgirl goes her own way, all the way to the 2025 Justice Gang.