Real name: Sheira Sanders (modern), Chay-Ara (ancient)
Known relatives: Carter Hall (husband), Hector Hall (son), Hippolyta
Hall (daughter in-law), Daniel Hall (grandson), Norda (godson),
Nestor Sanders and unnamed wife (uncle and aunt, now presumably
decesed)
First appearance: Flash Comics
#1, January 1940 (Flash
Comics #24 marked her debut as Hawkgirl)
Team affiliation: Justice Society of America
Occupation: Adventuress, news reporter, co-manager of Midway City
Museum
Hair color: brown
Eye color: brown
Height: 5'4
Weight: 114 lbs
Residential area: New York City, New York, USA
History:
One thousand years after Egypt, under rule of Vandal Savage in the
guise of the Pharaoh Cheops, had built a line of the Great Pyramids,
the country of Egypt had declined and its lower end taken over by
the Hyksos and its cruel Pharaoh, who founded the Fifthteenth
dynasty, and was assisted in his reign by the even crueler high
priest, Hath-Set.
However, there was a rebellion led by prince Khufu Kha-Tarr, the
latest in a long line of Hawk Avatars, aided by his true love, a
Hyksos Noblewoman named Chay-Ara, who despised the cruelty of her
own people.
Khufu and Chay-Ara worked out a plan to trick the Pharaoh by having
Chay-Ara get captured by his troops, then Khufu staged an attack to
make it look as if he was trying to kill her to prevent her from
talking to the enemy, and was then captured as well. Chay then fed
her captors counterintelligence, telling them that she no longer
trusted Khufu after he tried to kill her, and then presented the
Pharaoh with a rigged Ninth Metal harness, which he tried on without
the wings, and vanished into the stratosphere, and fell to earth,
killing himself. In the confusion, more rebels in Ninth Metal
harnesses and wings moved in to attack, but Hath-Set ambushed and
succeeded in mortally wounding Khufu with a Crystal Dagger before
being felled by the rebel archers. Hath-Set cursed Khufu before he
died, telling him that they would one day meet again in reincarnated
form. Khufu died of his wounds shortly afterwards, and Chay-Ara died
during that time as well.
Until then, after he had, quite by a
fluke, obtained the Crystal Dagger that had ended his life as Khufu,
Carter Hall had a dream that reawakened him to his past incarnation
and Egyptian origins. Then, even more luckily, he ran into Sheira
Saunders, a journalist for the Sentinel newspaper in the city, and
discovered that she was indeed the reincarnation of Chay-Ara, and
tried to convince her of what she'd been centuries too.
However, their conversation was interrupted by a power blackout
caused by the evil Dr. Anton Hastor, who in this case was the
reincarnation of the evil priest Hath-Set, now a modern-day criminal
who demanded that the city surrender to his rule. Knowing that he
must take action, Carter Hall decided to put the Ninth Metal to use,
fitting together a costume with both that and some wings, and
prepared to take on Hastor. The two old foes soon recognized each
other and a battle ensued between them, and Hall won. Hastor was
seemingly killed, but survived and would try again on various
occasions to strike at his archnemesis. As for Hall, he decided to
continue a career as a masked crimefighter, taking on the name of
Hawkman, and becoming one of the growing community of superheroes in
the DCU. And Sheira would eventually come to realize her having been
Chay-Ara in ancient times, and she and Carter later fell in love
again. She would eventully design herself her own outfit as
Hawkgirl, joining Carter on many exciting adventures together. This
proved very effective when, during one adventure with the JSA,
Hawkman and the rest of the JSA, save Wonder Woman, were taken
hostage by Brainwave, and Sheira and the other women close to the
JSA were united to free them. When the Justice Society disbanded,
Hawkman used a teleportation device built by Paran, who'd revealed
his identity by that time and had given Hawkman the machine as a
present, to transport them from the HUAC meeting. He retired, as did
many of his fellow team members from then, and then married Sheira.
Both Sheira and Carter were kept young as a side effect of the
magical energies of the sorceror Ian Karkull, and continued later in
life to work as archaeologists. They bore a son together, Hector,
who later joined Infinity Inc.
as the Silver Scarab, and today has become the new Dr. Fate. They
became the godparents of Norda, the son of a winged Fietheran and a
human, whom they often took Hector to see when visiting Fiethera.
Some time after the futuristic hero called Waverider rescued the JSA
from limbo that they were in when stuck in a time warp, during the
Armageddon crossover, so Sheira and Carter ended up meeting Katar
Hol and Shayera Thal, the Hawkman and Hawkwoman who succeeded them
in their own roles. Sheira too would subsequently take up the
Hawkwoman codename, making her the third to go by that name
following her having originated as Hawkgirl in the yesteryear.
During Zero Hour, Carter, Katar, and Sheira were physically fused
into one being(it sounds pretty weird, doesn't it?). This being was
patterned on Katar's body and persona, but also enabled him to
physically sprout wings and didn't need a Ninth Metal armor costume,
as a result. Within him then were the spirits of combined Hawk
Avatars, including Sheira's and Carter's.
Historical facts
Hawkgirl was probably the first female take on a role originated by
a male superhero in her time, and in her costume and wings, she was
simply a knockout.
When Superman made the scene in Metropolis and began a new heroic
age, the Justice Society members were content to remain retired then
and let the Justice League continue to lead in the spotlight. Things
changed though when Vandal Savage once again reared his ugly head,
capturing several members of the JSA, including Hawkman, and were
saved by first and second Flashes Jay Garrick and Barry Allen.
Carter and Sheira subsequently joined the Justice League as liasions
to the younger heroes.
Just like her lover, Hawkgirl could fly at great speed by means of
her artificial wings and Ninth Metal antigravity belt. The
antigravity belt also enables her to lift enormous weights aloft.
She wields ancient and medieval weapons from both hers and her
husband's extensive collection in battle. Sheira is a superb
hand-to-hand combatant. She retains unusual physical vitality thanks
to having absorbed temporal energy from the villianous Ian Karkull
decades ago.