Hawkman (Katar Hol)

Katar Hol is a DC Comics superhero, the Silver Age Hawkman. Created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, he first appeared in "The Brave and the Bold" # 34 (Feb-Mar 1961).

Superherobox|

caption=Cover to "Hawkman (vol. 3)" # 0.
Art by Lee Weeks.
character_name=Hawkman
alter_ego=Katar Hol
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Hawkworld: Book One" (1989) (post-Crisis)
Historical:
"The Brave and the Bold" # 34 (Feb-Mar 1961)
creators=Gardner Fox
Joe Kubert
Revamped by:
Tim Truman
homeworld=Thanagar
species=Thanagarian-Human hybrid
alliances=Elite Hawkmen Force
Justice League
aliases=Carter Hall (pre-"Hawkworld")
powers=Harness with an anti-gravity metal; metallic wings; energy weaponry; enhanced strength.
artificial feather wings; archaic weaponry (pre-"Hawkworld")|

History

ilver Age version

Katar Hol was an honored police officer on his homeworld of Thanagar. His father was Paran Katar, renowned ornithologist and inventor. Among Paran Katar's various creations are the antigravity Nth Metal and their wings.

When Katar Hol was eighteen, an alien race called the Manhawks invaded Thanagar and began looting the planet. Paran sent young Katar Hol to infiltrate their nest dressed as a bird and bring back information on the aliens. Using this information, Paran created a hawk-like battle suit containing advanced technology like his "Nth Metal". Katar used this hawk-suit and Paran's advanced weaponry to drive the Manhawks away from Thanagar.

That, however, was not the end of the problem. Some Thanagarians had learned the concept of stealing from the Manhawks. Due to the amount of crime, the Thanagarian government created a police force. In honor of Paran Katar and his achievements, the new police force began using his hawk-suit and equipment. Paran headed this new police force, named the Hawk-Police (or Wingmen), and his son became one of the first recruits.

Katar soon became one of the most skilled of the Hawk-Police. Soon he was teamed up with Shayera Thal to track and apprehend the Rainbow Raiders. A few weeks later, Katar proposed to Shayera and the two got married, working together as partners-for-life in the Hawk-Police.

After ten years of marriage, the pair were sent to Earth in 1959 to capture the shape-shifting Thanagarian criminal Byth. Following this mission, they elected to remain on Earth to work with authorities in Midway City in the United States to learn human police methods. The two adopted covers as a pair of museum curators, Carter and Shiera Hall, and acted publicly as the heroes Hawkman II and Hawkgirl II (later Hawkwoman).

His supporting cast consist of Commissioner George Emmett, the only person to know of the Hawks' true identities and their alien origins; Mavis Trent, museum naturalist and diorama artist who flirts with Katar; Joe Tracy, the museum's publicist; his commanding officer Andar Pul; and a large red hawk named Big Red who lives nearby Hawk Valley. Katar gained a variety of unique villainous opponents such as the Shadow Thief, Matter Master, Ira Quimby (I.Q.), the Criminal Alliance of the World (or C.A.W.), Lion-Mane, Kanjar Ro, Hyathis, the Fadeaway Man, and the Gentleman Ghost.

Katar joined the Justice League of America in the early 1960s, where he befriended the Atom and frequently sparred with Green Arrow with whose "question authority" outlook the lawman frequently disagreed.

Hol left the Justice League for a time when Thanagar was hit by the Equalizer Plague, which caused all Thanagarians to change so that their physical and mental talents, and even their heights, became the same. With the help of the JLA, he was eventually able to reverse the effects of the plague.

However, in the wake of the plague, Thanagar adopted an expansionist outlook, and went to war with the planet Rann, which orbits Alpha Centauri. This forced Katar and Shayera to choose to fight for or against their own planet, and they elected to oppose Thanagar, becoming exiles on Earth. Around this time, Shayera herself joined the JLA, and took the name Hawkwoman.

Following the truce between Thanagar and Rann, Thanagar began to secretly try to take over the Earth. Hol opposed their efforts in a furtive "secret war" for several years.

Following the events of DC's miniseries, "Crisis on Infinite Earths", the histories of Earth-One and Earth-Two are merged together. 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, and they briefly joined Justice League International. However, DC reversed this decision and rebooted Hawkman continuity after the 1989 "Hawkworld" miniseries. Originally, "Hawkworld" retold the origins of Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman, but following its success, DC Comics launched a "Hawkworld" ongoing series set in the present, resulting in a complete reboot of Hawkman continuity. By doing so, several continuity errors regarding Hawkman and Hawkwoman's Justice League appearances needed to be fixed.

Post-"Hawkworld" version

:main|HawkworldKatar Hol was rebooted in the prestige format miniseries "Hawkworld" by Timothy Truman. A regular ongoing series of the same name followed.

In this new version Katar Hol was a young police officer on the planet Thanagar, and a child of a privileged family being the son of Paran Katar. But Thanagar was a planet which conquered and mined other worlds for their resources to maintain its high standard of living, and Hol realized that this was wrong. He rebelled against the system and favored the old days of Thanagar. He became a student of history and archaeology, and admired Thanagar's legendary hero Kalmoran. Hol became addicted to a recreational drug, and was manipulated by the renegade police captain Byth into killing his own father, and was sent into exile in the Isle of Chance.

During that time, he found one of the island residents in robes fashioned a pair of wings. Katar, disillusioned, killed him and taken his wings. He learned the wings were meant for Hol and that the robed man had natural wings on his back. Horrified on what he's done, the brother of the man he killed help him deal with withdrawal symptoms from his drug addictions and made peace with himself.

When his sentenced was up, Hol was sent to Downside. However, he managed to escape and uncover and defeat Byth, who had gained shape-shifting abilities. As a result, he was reinstated in the force and given a new partner, Shayera Thal - Hawkwoman - a young woman from a lower class of society.

Just after Fel Andar left Earth, Katar and Shayera were sent to Earth, where they remained for some time fighting both human and alien criminals in places like Chicago's Netherworld. Dubbed by the press as Hawkman III, Katar and Shayera, Hawkwoman II, had a tempestuous working relationship, and eventually Shayera broke away from Katar, who continued alone.

Katar met Carter Hall and Shiera Sanders who returned from Asgard with the rest of the Justice Society. He learns that his father came to Earth during World War II, under the alias "Perry Carter". They were friends with Paran, and were the inspiration of the Wingmen. In one adventure, Carter took an injured Katar to be healed by an old friend, a Cherokee shaman named Faraway Woman. Katar discovers that she had known Paran and the two fell in love. They eloped, her name was changed to Naomi Carter. Thus she is his birth mother and Katar is half-human.

During the "Zero Hour" event, Katar Hol was merged with Carter, Shiera, and a "hawk god" creature in a new Hawkman version -- a living avatar of the hawk god who adventured for a brief time, continued to prey on criminals and deal out his own brand of fierce justice. He later went insane (tormented by the voices of all previous hawk avatars in his head), until he was eventually banished to limbo by the combined skills of Arion and the Martian Manhunter.

Because of Carter Hall's return from the dead prior to Infinite Crisis, it has been stated that Katar Hol's soul dissipated from the limbo/hawk realm and is now deceased. Carter Hall currently inhabits a reconstructed version of Katar Hol's post-Zero Hour body.

Hawkman Special (2008)

This may not be the case, however. Carter Hall, approached by the "Demiurge" (the nameless god who inspired his namesake to Plato) while in space, he's told how his past history of countless deaths and rebirths is only a lie, the byproduct of grafting to a single body the stories and the personal lives of the countless version of the same character as once they resided in the the multiverse that was before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Carter himself is one of the "Six Aberrations", six individuals who's personal continuities were wrecked by the destruction and the rebuild of the Multiverse. The Demiurge however addresses Carter as Katar, hinting that the core personality may be Katar, and Carter the graft from the lost Earth-2.

Other versions

The Silver Age Katar Hol has made some appearances in out-of-continuity series.
* In Alex Ross's Silver Age-toned "Justice", Katar Hol is a member of the Justice League, he is married to Shayera - also a member of the Justice League and works as a curator of the Midway City Museum. He is mostly referred to as "Carter", even by Shayera. In the climax of the series, he wears a suit of armor that resembles the Hawk-God. He also appears in "Secret Origins" and "Liberty and Justice", tabloid-sized comics also by Alex Ross.
* Katar and Shayera are featured in the Elseworlds three-part series "Legend of the Hawkman" (2000). The story takes place in the Earth-One timeline, some time after "The Brave and the Bold" #34. Shayera is shown wanting to return home to Thanagar while Katar has grown accustomed to life on Earth. Although this mini-series was never labelled as an "Elseworlds" project when originally published, it is now accepted as being one, with this story clearly based on the Silver Age versions of Hawkman and Hawkwoman during the pre-"Crisis on Infinite Earths" era.
* In "", Katar Hol was killed by Amazo while trying to get Green Arrow to safety. He was mentioned in the sequel "Another Nail".
* In "The Dark Knight Strikes Again", the Hawks were killed by a military strike ordered by Lex Luthor. They have a son and daughter who were brought up in the rain forest of Costa Rica. As Hawkboy, their son was bent on revenge against Lex and kills him, which Batman encouraged understanding what he's been through.
* The Silver Age Hawks made a cameo appearance in "Adventures in the DC Universe 80-Page Giant" as Chronos II travels across time and space. He witness them in a battle against the Manhawks.

Other media

* Hawkman's first animated appearance was in the 1967 Filmation animated series "The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure", in which Hawkman appeared in several shorts, either in solo adventures or as part of the Justice League.
* Hawkman has appeared as a Super Friend in "The All-New Super Friends Hour", "Challenge Of The Super Friends", ', and '. His voice was provided by Jack Angel. Hawkman appears in almost every episode of Challenge of the Superfriends, but has only spoken lines in only thirteen out of the sixteen episodes of this series.
* Hawkman was featured in the Legends of the Superheroes TV Specials in 1979, portrayed by Bill Nuckols.
*Hro Talak from the episode "Starcrossed" in "Justice League" TV series is an anagram for Katar Hol. The producers of the Justice League series originally meant for Hro Talak to be the DCAU version of Hawkman, but DC Comics refused to allow it since Hro Talak was essentially a villain. They did introduce Carter Hall in the last season of Justice League Unlimited, whose name in a past life was revealed to be Katar Hol. Hro Talak can also be compared or loosely based on Fel Andar.
* Hawkman first made a cameo on "The Batman" in the season-four finale "The Joining, Part Two" and appeared in the episode "What Goes Up...", voiced by Robert Patrick. While not identified by name, a comment made about the Batcave looking like police headquarters on Thanagar indicates that he's Katar Hol.
* Katar Hol has a cameo appearance as Hawkman at the end of the animated film "". He is seen during the famous speech by John F. Kennedy.

Trivia

* It is believed Paran Katar named his son Katar Hol after his close friend Carter Hall in his honor. Explaining the similarities in their name. This theory may apply to Shayera Thal, possibly named after Shiera Sanders.
* In "The Spectre" v.3 #54, both Katar and Carter are seen together in a JLA/JSA team-up. In post-Crisis it should have been Carter Hall - the "only" Hawkman. Though it may considered an error, writer John Ostrander (also writer of "Hawkworld") may have intended to bring Katar back as the Silver Age Hawkman. Also in "Legends of the DC Universe" #12-13 and "JLA 80-Page Giant" #2, the JLA's Hawkman is also depicted or referred to as Katar. [ [http://www.mykey3000.com/cosmicteams/profiles/hawkman3.html DC Cosmic Teams! - Hawkman and Hawkwoman] ]
* He is often referred to as an "alien cop", a nickname coined by Green Arrow.
* In "JLA" #6, Aquaman mistaken the angel Zauriel to be Katar Hol.

References

External links

* [http://www.dcindexes.com/database/character-appearances.php?storycharid=156 A Comprehensive index of Katar Hol's appearances through the mid-1980s]
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