The DC Universe is a big place, with plenty of heroes who have been around in the comics for the better part of a century without ever getting a chance to shine on the big screen. However, for one DC character, that chance has finally arrived: the high-flying Hawkman, who’s set to make his cinematic debut on July 29 in Black Adam, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the title character.
Hawkman himself will be played by Aldis Hodge, best known for his roles as Alec Hardison in the TV series Leverage and MC Ren in Straight Outta Compton. However, there are currently few details available about the plot of the Black Adam film, or Hawkman’s place in it — and unfortunately, his comic history is far too long and tangled to easily discern exactly what his role in the movie will be. So in the interest of learning more about this winged wonder, it’s time to dive into Hawkman’s comic book roots before he soars onto the big screen this summer.
Taking Flight
Hawkman first appeared in a backup story for January 1940’s Flash Comics #1 — the same comic that introduced Jay Garrick, the original Flash. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, Hawkman’s initial origin story portrayed him as Carter Hall, an archaeologist and museum curator who discovers that he is the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian prince Khufu. Using the otherworldly ore known as Nth Metal, Hall creates a winged harness that grants him the power of flight, and decides to fight crime as the masked hero Hawkman.
In All Star Comics #3, Fox introduced the Justice Society of America, DC’s first superhero team and the predecessor to the Justice League. Hawkman was a founding member of the Justice Society, alongside Doctor Fate, the Atom, Green Lantern, the Flash, and more. Before long, he would even become the team’s official leader. Additionally, in All Star Comics #5, Hawkman’s love interest Shiera Sanders — herself the reincarnation of Prince Khufu’s lover Chay-Ara — became the superheroine Hawkgirl, fighting crime alongside her boyfriend.
Over the course of the 1940s, superhero comics began to fall out of popularity, and Hawkman’s adventures in All Star Comics came to an end in 1951, along with the rest of his Justice League teammates. While Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were still published, they became DC’s only superhero books to remain in print for the next five years, though Aquman and Green Arrow were also featured in the Adventure Comics anthology series. But in 1956, writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino created a new version of the Flash, Barry Allen, for Showcase #4.
With the new Flash’s popularity, DC began to reinvent other heroes of the Golden Age. Hal Jordan became the new Green Lantern, Alan Scott became the new Atom, and the Justice Society was reborn in the form of the Justice League. Superheroes were back, and the Silver Age of Comics was underway. Naturally, it wasn’t long before Hawkman was reintroduced as well. However, Hawkman’s new origin story would end up causing complications for many decades to come.
Ambiguous Origins
Hawkman’s first Silver Age appearance was in The Brave and the Bold #34 in 1961. Once again written by Gardner Fox, the new Hawkman comics didn’t feature a new character taking up an old mantle like with Flash or Green Lantern, but instead reintroduced Carter and Shiera Hall as Hawkman and Hawkgirl — albeit not as readers remembered them. Instead of the reincarnations of ancient Egyptian royalty, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were reimagined as Katar and Shayera Hol, a husband and wife team of police officers from the alien planet of Thanagar, who fought crime using the Nth Metal wings of their Golden Age counterparts, along with a pair of maces. After tracking an escaped criminal to Earth, the couple decide to remain there as superheroes. Taking on the aliases of Carter and Shiera Hall, they pose as humans and work as museum curators in their civilian lives — another nod to their predecessors.
While their solo comic proved to be short-lived, Katar and Shayera went on to join the Justice League. However, in 1985, something happened that would change Hawkman’s story forever. Back in the Silver Age, it had been established that the Justice Society of the Golden Age resided on Earth-2 in the multiverse, while their modern successors lived on Earth-1, thus explaining why there were two Hawkmen named Carter Hall with completely different backstories. However, the crossover miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths ended with the destruction of the multiverse and the start of a new DC continuity, in which the Justice League were not parallel versions of the Justice Society, but direct successors to their WWII-era namesakes. Naturally, this reboot posed a major problem for Hawkman. Carter Hall possessed two completely contradictory origin stories, and only one would be able to remain canon.
The 1989 Hawkworld miniseries by Timothy Truman and Suicide Squad comic writer John Ostrander served as Katar and Shayera Hol’s reintroduction to DC canon. However, it presented Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s origin story not in the past, but in the present. Naturally, this presented a whole other mess of continuity problems, especially since Hawkman was still considered to be a former member of both the Justice Society and Justice League. The original Carter and Shiera Hall Hawks were brought back to help rectify this issue, but the coexistence of the Golden and Silver Age Hawks created an even bigger problem. Carter became the main Hawkman once again while Katar was quietly ignored, until the 2011 “New 52” reboot which once again made Katar Hol the sole Hawkman.
An Uncertain Future
However, following the 2016-2017 Death of Hawkman miniseries, the rebooted Katar Hol died fighting the alien tyrant Despero. Afterwards, Carter Hall returned with a 2018 comic that revealed that Katar Hol was just another one of his many past lives — the two may have previously coexisted, but it’s explained that Hall’s soul has been reincarnated all across time and space, sometimes in two places at once. Naturally, this explanation raises as many questions as it answers, and while the recent comic has done its best to unravel Hawkman’s tangled history, its new revelations have also made things more complex than ever.
Both the Carter Hall and Katar Hol versions have been featured in various adaptations, from Super Friends to the Justice League Unlimited animated series to the Legends of Tomorrow TV show. Thankfully, the many adaptations of Hawkman manage to pick an origin story and stick to it, though which one depends on the story. Adaptations seem to be about evenly split when it comes to depicting the Hawks as human vs. making them Thanagarian, so neither interpretation has managed to truly take prominence over the other.
It’s currently unknown whether Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman will be Carter Hall or Katar Hol, but considering Black Adam’s association with ancient Egypt, Hall seems likely, possibly with the reincarnation backstory. But regardless of which origin is adapted, Hawkman has been a fixture of the DC Universe for long enough that he deserves to find mainstream popularity without his convoluted comic history dragging him down.