From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carter Hall is a DC Comics superhero, the original Hawkman. Created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville, he first appeared in Flash Comics # 1 (January, 1940). The history of this character is somewhat confusing, due mainly to the fact that his origins were retroactively changed with the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series as well as the Hawkworld ongoing series. As a result, there are two separate origins for Carter Hall: the Golden Age origin and the Post-Hawkworld (or current) origin. Both are described below.

In the days of ancient Egypt, Prince Khufu is engaged in a feud with his rival, the Egyptian priest Hath-Set. The priest eventually captures both Khufu and his consort Chay-Ara, and kills them. Millennia later, in 1940, Khufu is reincarnated as American archaeologist Carter Hall, and Chay-Ara as Shiera Sanders. Hath-Set himself is reincarnated as a scientist named Anton Hastor. Upon finding the ancient knife Hath-Set used to kill him, Hall regains his memories of his past life and recognizes Hastor as the reincarnated evil priest.

Using the properties of "Nth metal" to craft a gravity-defying belt, Hall creates wings and a costume, ultimately confronting Hastor as Hawkman. He also encounters and remembers Shiera during this time. Following Hastor's defeat, the two begin a romance.

Hawkman becomes a charter member of the Justice Society of America, and takes the position of permanent chairman, following the Flash and Green Lantern. Shiera, meanwhile, adopts the identity of Hawkgirl and fights beside Hall throughout the 1940s.

Hawkman is JSA chairman in 1951 when the team is investigated by the "Joint Congressional Un-American Activities Committee" (based on the real-life House Un-American Activities Committee) for possible communist sympathies. Congress asks members of the JSA to reveal their identities. The heroes decline, and Hawkman and most of the JSA retire for the bulk of the 1950s.

Carter Hall finds the ancient knife connected to his past life. Interior panel of Flash Comics #1 (1940).
Art by Dennis Neville.

The JSA and Hawkman regroup in the early 1960s following the Flash's meeting with his counterpart on the parallel world Earth-1, the JSA being active on Earth-2. Around this time, the Halls, having married, have a son, Hector. Little is known of Hawkman's activities during the 1960s, other than the JSA's annual meeting with Earth-1's Justice League of America.

In the early 1980s, Hawkman is instrumental in denying his son and other JSA children membership in the JSA, leading directly to the formation of Infinity, Inc.

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, some of Hall's history was retconned by DC when the parallel worlds were combined into one, but one piece of retroactive continuity was written before Crisis and fills out early Hall history: All-Star Squadron Annual #3 states that during a JSA battle against Ian Karkull, the villain imbued them with energy which retarded their aging, allowing Hall and many others - as well as their spouses - to remain active into the late 20th century without infirmity.

Also, following the Crisis, the Golden Age and the Silver Age Hawkmen lived on the same Earth, until Carter was cast off into Limbo in the Last Days of the Justice Society one-shot.

Originally, the Hawkworld mini-series retold the origins of Katar Hol and Shayera Thal from a modern perspective, but following its success, DC launched a Hawkworld regular series, taking place after the miniseries, resulting in a complete reboot of Hawkman's continuity.

Much of Carter Hall's post-Hawkworld history is fleshed out in the pages of DC's JSA and Hawkman (vol. 4). These two titles, penned to a great extent by writers David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns, and James Dale Robinson, examine Hall's previous lives.

According to the post-Hawkworld origin, Prince Khufu lives during the reign of Ramesses II in the 19th dynasty of ancient Egypt. Khufu believes that his ka, or soul, will not journey on to the land of the afterlife. Rather, his soul and that of his betrothed, Chay-Ara, are fated to remain in the mortal world.

As prophesied by the wizard Nabu, a spaceship lands in Egypt. Prince Khufu, Nabu, and the champion Teth-Adam search the desert, finally coming across the remains of a Thanagarian ship styled with a hawk-like motif. Nabu casts a spell translating the strange language of the female space traveler. Just before dying, she whispers the words, "Nth Metal", the name of the substance that powered the downed ship.

Teth-Adam lifts the ship back to Khufu's palace, where it is studied inside the Temple of Horus at Erdu. The remaining Nth metal is examined, and its most obvious property proves to be its ability to negate gravity. The remaining sample from the ship is melted and used to create several remarkable devices, including a scarab which allows Khufu to fly, a deadly knife, and a battle glove referred to as the Claw of Horus. However, the metal also strengthens the souls of Khufu and Chay-Ara, binding them together in their love and imprinting them with the collective knowledge of Thanagar. Although the villainous priest Hath-Set murders the two with the knife of Nth metal, their souls live on in the mortal plane. They are reincarnated over many lifetimes, always finding true love in each other. However, they are cursed to be repeatedly killed at the hands of a reincarnated Hath-Set.

After his death, Khufu's soul is reincarnated countless times in markedly different eras and locations. Some of his known reincarnated identities have been depicted in Hawkman (vol. 4) and include:

• Brian Kent (also known as the Silent Knight), alive during 5th century Britain, love of Lady Celia Penbrook;
• Koenrad Von Grimm, the son of a blacksmith in 14th century Germany;
• Captain John Smith of the 16th century English colony in Virginia;
• Hannibal Hawkes, the Nighthawk, a gunfighter in the American Old West, love of Cinnamon;
• Detective James Wright, a Pinkerton detective in the early 20th century, love of Sheila Carr.

Eventually, the soul of Prince Khufu is reborn as Carter Hall, an archaeologist active during the 1940s. After regaining the memories of his first life in Egypt, Hall uses the hawk motif of the Egyptian God Horus to inspire his role as the original Hawkman.

Some of Carter Hall's lives. Art by Joe Bennett.

During the same period, his love Chay-Ara is reborn as archaeologist Shiera Saunders. After the two meet and marry, she becomes Hawkgirl, fighting at Carter's side. They become founding members of the Justice Society of America, and Hawkman takes the role of chairman. The pair reduce their activities in the early 1950s but became fully active again in the early 1980s when Hall briefly joins the Justice League of America as a mentor. The two have a son, Hector Hall, who later becomes an incarnation of Doctor Fate. Just following the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, Hawkman and the JSA become trapped in a battle in an ever-repeating Ragnarok. Odin tries unsuccessfully to give this repeating Ragnarok to Dream as a trade, knowing that Dream had by this time selected Carter's grandson, Daniel Hall, as his successor.

Years after they vanish, Hawkman and the JSA return to the modern day when a primitive but superpowered tribe volunteer to substitute themselves in the Ragnarok cycle. Soon after, however, death finds Carter once again during the events of Zero Hour. He and his wife Shiera merge with Katar Hol in a new version of Hawkman, which briefly creates the "hawk god" creature. This individual is active for a brief time but soon loses his sanity and is banished to limbo.

Years later, JSA member Kendra Saunders is transported to a ravaged Thanagar by the High Priests of the Downsiders. Seeking a champion to stop the evil Onimar Synn from enslaving the planet, the priests use Kendra's centuries-old connection to Carter to bring him back to the mortal plain. Following this unorthodox resurrection, Hall retains all the memories of his past lives, as well as those of Katar Hol, the Thanagarian Hawkman. However, Kendra has no interest in renewing the relationship due to her lack of memories of their past time together, and Hawkman declines the offer to reassume his role as chairman in the JSA, the role instead going to Mister Terrific. During the Black Reign storyline, however, Hawkman takes over as chairman to lead the team against Black Adam's recent takeover of Khandaq, but after his actions result in two deaths and their main objective- to bring Adam's team back to America- fails, he is asked to temporarily step down from the JSA.

After defeating Onimar Synn, Hall once again becomes a member of the JSA. Operating both with the JSA as well as with Hawkgirl, Hall embarks on a wide variety of exotic adventures. His quest as a hero takes him from the streets of St. Roch to exotic dimensions and even into outer space as he fights in the Rann-Thanagar War. Following this event Carter stays in space to help mediate the truce on Rann and avenge the murder of Hawkwoman.

As a result, Hawkman is absent during DC Comics' "One Year Later" event. Hawkman (vol. 4) becomes Hawkgirl at issue #50 and Hawkgirl is left by herself to patrol and protect St. Roch. During the events of the missing year, Hall served as a member of the Thanagarian police force, attaining the rank of Commissioner.

In 2007, Hall returns to Earth in a 4-part story-arc presented in Hawkgirl #59-60 and JSA Classified #21-22 and appears as an active member of the JSA in the pages of Justice Society of America. This series was cancelled with Hawkgirl issue #66 in July 2007.

An expert with archaic weapons. Promotional image for the cover to JSA #23 by Andrew Robinson.

The Nth Metal in Hawkman's belt, harness, and boots is controlled mentally and allows him to defy gravity. His wings allow him to control flight, though they can be "flapped" through use of shoulder motions.

Hall's Nth metal also enhances his strength and eye-sight, speeds healing, and regulates body temperature, preventing the need for heavy protective clothing while flying at high altitudes. Nth metal is known to affect electromagnetism as well as the strong and weak nuclear forces of the universe, but only if one has the knowledge of how to use it in those ways. It is also mentioned in Hawkman: Secret Files #1 (2002) that Nth metal possesses powers still unknown to Hall.

Due to his multiple incarnations, Khufu/Hall has become proficient in many types of weaponry. As a result, he is an expert with a wide array of archaic weapons from his past lives, including battle axes, maces, swords, spears and shields. As Nighthawk, he was a marksman with a pistol. In addition, Carter Hall is sometimes depicted handling futuristic technology. He has used a Thanagarian ship called "The Brontadon", and during the Rann-Thanagar War used Rannian hard-light armor. Hawkman is even depicted using technologically advanced laser weaponry in a possible future (Hawkman, vol. 4, #9).

As a result of his many lives and vast amount of experience, Hall is a brilliant tactician, fierce warrior, and strong leader; indeed, during the Public Enemies story arc in the Superman/Batman series, he was selected as the perfect hero to confront Batman, possessing the significant advantage of his flight and strength but otherwise being Batman's equal. At the same time, however, he is extremely intelligent (considered a leader in his field of history and archaeology) and expresses a deeply romantic side in relation to his beloved soul-mate.

He has been characterized in comics as having a quick, fierce temper with adamant views and opinions. Even in the Golden Age, he had no problem blowing up a villain's lair with the villain inside.^[1] At the same time, Carter finds it difficult to balance the "savage barbarian" of his past lives with the "gentleman" of his current incarnation.

Another prominent aspect of his personality is his staunch Conservative views, this has brought him into conflict with Green Arrow (a liberal) several times. During the mini series Identity Crisis, it was revealed that the main reason for this animosity was the opposing views that he and Green Arrow took on the mindwipe of Doctor Light, to the point that they came to blows.

Carter Hall appears twice on Justice League Unlimited, voiced by James Remar. He is portrayed as an archaeologist who was born Joseph Gardner before changing his name to Carter Hall after he discovered an Egyptian temple with a device that he believed allowed him to relive the memories of a deceased Thanagarian warrior who had crashed on Earth with his mate, where they were worshipped as gods and used their technology to improve the land. Hall believed himself to be the reincarnation of this warrior, who was murdered when he along with his mate were both poisoned by rogue officials, and Hall also believed that Hawkgirl, AKA: Shayera Hol of the Justice League, was the reincarnation of the past lover, to the point that became something of a stalker. Shayera, however, insisted that he has simply believing what he wanted to believe, and that the actual truth was different. In the end, Hall accepted Shayera's reluctance to go with him and he went on his way, continuing to believe that she would one day be with him again. He reappeared briefly in the final episode to go out and battle the invading forces of Darkseid.

• A Comprehensive index of Carter Hall's (Hawkman of Earth-2) appearance through the mid-1980s
• Hawkman and Hawkgirl's secret origin on dccomics.com