| Hawkwoman | |
|---|---|
 Shayera Hol (Hawkwoman)'s design for DC Round Robin 2022. Art by Fico Ossio. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Brave and the Bold #34 (March 1961) |
| Created by | Gardner Fox Joe Kubert |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Shayera Thal II(Birth name) Shayera Hol(Married name) |
| Species | Thanagarian |
| Team affiliations | Justice League Justice Society of America |
| Partnerships | Hawkman (Katar Hol) Green Lantern (John Stewart) |
| Notable aliases | Hawkgirl Hawkwoman |
| Abilities |
|
| Altered in-story information for adaptations to other media | |
| Partnerships | Green Lantern (John Stewart) |
Shayera Hol, birth nameShayera Thal II, is asuperheroine appearing inAmerican comic books during theSilver Age of Comics published byDC Comics. The character was created by writerGardner Fox and artistJoe Kubert, and first appeared inThe Brave and the Bold #34 (March 1961). A revised version of theoriginal Hawkgirl, she is instead portrayed as an alien from the planetThanagar and is often depicted as aredhead.
Like otherHawkgirls, she is a reincarnation ofChay-Ara andShrra and asuperheroine who uses archaic weaponry and Nth metal although her name is phonetically identical to her past incarnation ("Shiera Hall"), whose identity she also uses. Shayera is initially a Thanigarian law enforcement officer trained under decorated officer and hero,Katar Hol. While not getting along initially, the pair grew closer till the point of marriage and eventually, Shayera would become the secondHawkgirl, studying Earth's crime fighting methods while maintaining the cover of archaeologist museum curator using her past identity alongside her husband. She eventually instead uses theHawkwoman codename due to the negative connotations associated with "girl" in her moniker.[1][2] A revamped version followingCrisis on Infinite Earths cast her similarly as Hawkwoman, a law enforcement officer and partner to Katar Hol, and a ambassador although aspect of her background differed.[3][1]
The character has since appeared in various media following her inception in the comics, most notably in theDC Animated Universe voiced byMaria Canals-Barrera. While much of her comic book history using the "Hawkwoman" moniker, she appears in most media as "Hawkgirl".
With the fading popularity of superheroes during the late 1940s, the Hawkman feature ended in the last issue ofFlash Comics in 1949. In 1956, DC Comics resurrected theFlash by revamping the character with a new identity and backstory. Following the success of thenew Flash, DC Comics revamped Hawkman in a similar fashion withThe Brave and the Bold #34 in 1961. The Silver Age versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl were married alien police officers from the planetThanagar who came to Earth to study police techniques. Silver Age Hawkgirl is introduced as Shayera (phonetically identical to first Shierra, then Shiera Hall), who appears in costume as of her first appearance. Although Silver Age Hawkman joins theJustice League inJustice League of America #31 in 1964, Silver Age Hawkgirl was not offered membership because Justice League rules only allowed for one new member to be admitted at a time. Many years later, Silver Age Hawkgirl joined the Justice League of America with issue #146 in 1977. In 1981, Silver Age Hawkgirl changed her code name toHawkwoman in the Hawkman backup feature ofWorld's Finest Comics #272.
With the establishment of DC'smultiverse system, the Golden Age Hawkgirl was said to have lived onEarth-Two and the Silver Age Hawkgirl onEarth-One.
Shayera Thal, theSilver Age version ofHawkgirl /Hawkwoman, was a law enforcement officer from the planet Thanagar and wife ofKatar Hol, the Silver Age Hawkman and was a member of theJustice League of America.
She was born and raised on Thanagar, which had a scientifically advanced civilization in which crime was virtually unknown. As an adolescent, Shayera Thal[3] joined theThanagarian police force and was assigned to assist the force's most decorated officer, Katar Hol, in capturing the Dragonfly Robbers. She introduces herself as "Policewoman Shayera Thal".[4] At first, Katar was furious at being assigned to an inexperienced young woman as a partner, but he nevertheless became strongly attracted to her.
Together, they captured the Dragonfly Robbers in their stronghold found behind a waterfall; while on the case, Shayera saved Katar's life and the two fell deeply in love. A few weeks later, Katar proposed to Shayera in front of the same waterfall. She accepted and they were married. Ten years later, the couple was sent to Earth in pursuit of the criminalByth Rok. Upon reaching Earth, they were befriended by Midway City police commissioner George Emmett, who established cover identities for them as Carter and Shiera Hall. After capturing Byth and bringing him back to their planet, Katar and Shayera chose to return to study Earth's crimefighting methods, and they fought against evil as the superheroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Shayera renamed herself Hawkwoman in the early 1980s.
As Hawkwoman, Shayera eventually joined her husband as a member of the Justice League. She was the first League member admitted as part of the League's vote to lift its prior twelve-member limitation. Her membership set precedent for the admission ofZatanna as the League's fifteenth member. Both Zatanna and Shayera became close friends.
As Shiera, she first worked as Carter's secretary, but later became co-director of the Midway City Museum. She has a sort of rivalry with the museum naturalist Mavis Trent who has her eyes on both Hawkman and Carter Hall.
Later, Thanagar had established itself as a military dictatorship bent on conquering other planets. Hawkman and Hawkwoman thwarted Thanagarian plans to invade Earth, destroying their own starship in the process. Hawkman and Hawkwoman remain on Earth, regarded as traitors by everyone on Thanagar. She helped her husband come to terms with the deaths they caused during the battle. Eventually, she changed her codename to Hawkwoman.[5]
Following the events of DC's miniseries,Crisis on Infinite Earths, the histories of Earth-One and Earth-Two are merged. As a result, both Golden Age and Silver Age versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman live on the same Earth. Initially, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman were kept in continuity unchanged. They tookSuperman toKrypton (now a gas planet),[6] briefly joinedJustice League International, teamed-up with Atom,[7] and helpedAnimal Man defuse a Thanagarian bomb duringInvasion event. However, DC reversed this decision andrebooted Hawkman continuity after the success of the 1989Hawkworld miniseries. Originally,Hawkworld retold the origins of Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman. After becoming a success, DC Comics launched aHawkworld ongoing series set in the present resulting in a complete reboot of Hawkman's continuity. By doing so, several continuity errors regarding Hawkman and Hawkwoman's Justice League appearances needed to be fixed.
Following theConvergence storyline, Shayera Thal is featured in theHawkman: Convergence. She is shown working as a curator in Gotham City museum while fighting as Hawkwoman also. At the end of the story her universe vanishes due to the Crisis happening, she is last seen flying with Hawkman.
Following Rebirth's continuity, Shayera Hol appeared in the Hawkman (vol. 5) series. She was shown in Thanagar alongside her partner Katar Hol. Later, Shayera appeared in the Justice League (vol. 2) issues #14-16 where she was shown as the empress of Thanagar Prime. Initially presenting herself as a friend and ally to the Justice League, she was revealed to be hiding many secrets from them, including a surviving Martian elder known as the Keep. It is revealed that Shayera used a device known as the Absorbacon and the Martian elder to create a fake construct of a restored Thanagar Prime, her people, and Katar Hol (the Savage Hawkman). After the death of the Martian elder, Shayera tries to keep her constructed reality from fading away but is unable to, saying goodbye to Katar one last time. It is revealed by Starman that the reason Shayera still exists despite being Kendra Saunders' immediate predecessor in their chain of resurrection is due to the Totality breaking said chain and splitting the two, making Shayera a completely independent being from Kendra. This was done byPerpetua as she feared what would happen if a whole Hawkgirl faced her at the end. Shayera assists the Justice League in their failed attempt to heal the Source Wall.[8]
Shayera came back to Earth to help Carter Hall, who was infected byThe Batman Who Laughs. As of that issue, Hawkwoman started acting as co-protagonist of the book alongside Hawkman.[9]
Shayera is revealed to be the reincarnation of the Herald Shrra, a being akin to a biblicalangel. She served an unnamed deity which had deemed the universe unworthy and condemned it to be destroyed by the Lord Beyond the Void. She sensed something that was good in Ktar Deathbringer, the original incarnation of Hawkman, and intervened in the deity's plans by appearing before Ktar in the aftermath of each battle, pushing him by guilt and shame to turn on the Lord Beyond the Void. As Ktar had made a bargain with the deity to reincarnate until he had saved as many people as he had killed, it punished Shrra for her defiance by stripping her of her divinity and condemning her to share his fate.
Hawkwoman teams up with Carter's old friends theAtom andAdam Strange to capture and cure Carter of his infection. They catch up to Sky Tyrant on an alien world where one of his previous incarnations, Titan Hawk, had hidden an artifact known as "The Key" which would have released the Lord Beyond the Void. They recover the Key and imprison Sky Tyrant on Carter's starship. When she touches the Key, her memories of all her past lives are unlocked. Sky Tyrant manages to escape his cell and brawls with the three heroes, he and Shayera touch the Key together and are transported to the realm of the Lord Beyond the Void. In the process, Carter is cured of his infection (all infected heroes were cured byLex Luthor in theYear of the Villain: Hell Arisen oneshot). The pair are attacked by Deathbringers who recognise Carter as Ktar, and, although the Deathbringers are defeated, they draw the attention of the Lord Beyond the Void.
The Lord easily overpowers them and binds them to a great stone monolith, planning to absorb the energy from all their lives, which will give him sufficient power to cross over into the universe. Carter and Shayera release the power of their thousands of lives, overloading and destroying the Lord, while also killing themselves. They awake in the afterlife, reverted to Ktar and Shrra. The deity explains that Ktar's debt is repaid, and offers to allow him to pass on and to restore Shrra as a Herald, however, the two do not wish to be parted. Therefore, the deity offers them another reward, to be reincarnated a final time in their favourite lives, where they will be extremely long lived but mortal. The two agree and are restored to life in the 1940s as the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl and reunite with their old friends in theJustice Society of America.
During a fight with theInjustice Society, Carter freezes with fear at a moment when the villains have the upper hand. Shayera throws her mace into Carter's, creating an explosion which incapacitates the Injustice Society and turns the tide of the fight. The JSA assumes Carter was simply providing a distraction for Shayera, but he privately admits to her that now he is mortal, he fears dying. Meanwhile, Anton Hastor, an incarnation of the Hawks' ancient enemyHath-Set, learns that Prince Khufu and Chay-Ara have been reincarnated, and this time, they can be killed permanently. Hastor steals his Nth Metal dagger from JSA headquarters and draws the Hawks out to a train where he has killed the passengers and resurrected them as zombies. Shayera is tackled off the train by zombies while Hastor attacks Carter, who is too fearful to fight back until Hastor threatens Shayera. Carter disarms Hastor by stabbing himself with the dagger just as Shayera catches up to the train and destroys the dagger. Shayera spends the following centuries as a hero alongside Carter, surviving into the 40th century.[10]
Shayera appeared as a member of the Justice Society of America in theDark Crisis event.[11]
