Real name: Shayera Thal 2
Known relatives: Andar Pul (father), Shayera Thal 1 (mother,
deceased), Thal Porvis (grandfather, adoptive father), Hyathis
(grandmother)
First appearance: The Brave and
the Bold #34, 1961 (original), Hawkworld miniseries, 1989 (more contemporary)
Team affiliation: Justice League of America, Justice League America
Hair color: red
Eye color: blue
Height: 5'7
Residential area: Detroit, Michigan, formerly planet Thanagar and
Chicago, Illinois
History:
The illegitimate daughter of Shayera Thal 1, she was born via her
mother and Andar Pul, Thanagar's administrator of Protection, after
he had seduced the then 13-year old Shayera 1 into an affair, and
the resulting pregnancy snowballed into a political scandal that
could've brought her father's career to a standstill. To avoid
further scandals, her mother abandoned her in Downside shortly after
birth, leaving her with a guardian. By the age of ten, though still
an obscure residant of Downside, she met her future partner, Katar
Hol, during a trip he made to the Thanagarian slums on his first
mission to inspect them.
When Shayera's Downside guardian was arrested by the police, she was
sent to High Towers to live in an orphanage. There she was found and
adopted by planetary administrator Thal Porvis, whose grief over the
loss of his own daughter, Shayera 1, in a terrorist bombing had led
him to search for and reclaim his granddaughter. But he didn't let
her know that she was actually his granddaughter until years later.
When she came of age, Shayera 2 became an officer in the Thanagarian
Wingman Corps, and later met with Katar again. During one of her
missions, she found out that Katar was involved in an illegal
smuggling operation in Downside and thinking it to be the gun
running operation she was investigating, she confronted Katar to
shut it down, but learned that it was really an operation at a
clinic to smuggle medicines to the Downsiders, and that the real
culprit behind the gunrunning was Byth Rok, a supposed planetary
hero who had framed Katar for murder a decade ago. Teaming up, they
were able to expose Rok and his operation, though he escaped with
the help of a shape-shifting drug called Kortan. Nevertheless, their
efforts managed to clear Katar of all charges and reinstate him as a
Wingman. Both he and Shayera were given special winged helmets by
the corps as a sign of honor.
Shayera and Katar would go on many fun adventures together in the
galaxy, including at least one with Adam and Alanna Strange, the
former being the archaeologist who became a space adventurer by
coincidence. They would also find themselves at odds with Kanjar Ro,
who would covet rule of their planet too. (Note: most of that is
pre-Crisis, and may not count anymore.)
Byth later fled to earth to continue his criminal operations there,
and Shayera and Katar were sent there to look for him, following
Thanagar's unsuccessful participation in the Invasion crossover, and
took up residence in Chicago, Illinois, managing a cultural
exhibition as part of a goodwill tour in the effort to establish
diplomatic relations with earth. She joined the Chicago police force
and dated officer Verzell K. Jones. Byth discovered this and later
murdered him, and then tried to frame her for his own murder when
she was tracking him down. Katar luckily was able to expose Byth and
get Shayera cleared of all charges, and she returned to Thanagar
with the now captured Byth in tow.
Katar grew distant from Thanagar, and he and Shayera
started running an operation to help smuggle Downsiders to earth to
form their own society of metahumans and aliens formed their own
society away from the normal world. But Thanagar's government found
out, and Shayera and Katar applied for sanctuary on earth, as did
even ambassador Klus.
They later battled Count Viper, and Shayera was seemingly killed,
but, as Katar later found out, she hadn't died, and that Count Viper
was now possessing her body while she lay dormant in a kind of
mental asylum in his last body. Katar managed to lure Viper out in
the open, but instead of beating him Katar ended up switching bodies
with Count Viper, and then Katar found himself in the body of
Shayera. Freeing his partner, he managed to capture Viper with the
help of the Wonder Woman and the Justice League. Then in a spiritual
quest, both Katar and Shayera managed to defeat Viper and return to
their own bodies.
During Zero Hour, Carter and Katar were physically fused into one
being (it sounds pretty weird, doesn't it?) and Sheira was killed.
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. They were
eventyally defused, but the change in personality Katar developed
alienated Shayera, and she left for Detroit, Michigan, where she
continued being Hawkwoman without the wings.
Later on, the demon Neron awoke all the past Hawk Avatars in Hol's
mind. The spirits were angry that he hadn't put an end to Vandal
Savage and took vengance upon him by controlling his body and
causing him to murder innocent people, which was decidedly another
huge writing error. When he turned to the Justice League and Martian
Manhunter for help, the spirits overwhelmed the Manhunter, and after
eventually overcoming any posession of the Hawk Avatar spirits, Hol
sought to stop them in their tracks, coming upon them as they were
trying to attack Shayera in J'onn J'onzz's body. He was able to save
her, but reentering the battle with the spirits after he and Shayera
declared their love for each other, he was seriously wounded while
saving the Manhunter from the spirits as well. It was Arion's
intervention that enabled him to reclaim the Hawk spirits. Knowing
that they were too dangerous to be kept on earth, he had Arion
transport himself to the Hawkgod Realm with them, where he perished,
leaving Naomi, Shayera and their friends to mourn his loss.
Today, she's continuing her career as a police officer on earth.