Real name: Katar Hol
Known relatives: Paran Katar (father, deceased), Naomi Carter
(mother), Paran Arvak (possibly his uncle, status unknown)
First apperance: The Brave and
the Bold #34, 1961 (original), Hawkworld miniseries, 1989 (more contemporary)
Death: Justice League America
#113, August 1996(?)
Team affiliation: Justice League America
Occupation: Former diplomat for planet Thanagar, police officer in
Chicago and Detroit
Hair color: black
Eye color: blue(?)
Height: 6'6
Residential area: Detroit, Michigan, formerly planet Thanagar,
Chicago, Illinois
Katar Hol was the son of the Thanagarian inventor Paran Katar and
Cherokee earthwoman Naomi Carter. When married, she travelled to the
planet with Paran, where together they bore Hol, but, having seen
the horrors of the Downside, plus her feeling out of place on the
planet's society, she asked to return to earth. However, Paran
prevented Hol from going as well (Thanagar suffered the problem of
being a very sexist society at the time), and Naomi returned to
earth alone where she continued her life with a career as a medic.
Hol would be raised on the planet Thanagar, learning about its
cultures, traditions, crafts and heritage that had been wiped out by
cultures taken from other worlds. As a student, he learned all about
the history of the people of the planet, and his hero was the
Thanagarian Kalmaran. He also learned how to use the ancient
weapons, and later became a member of the Wingmen corps his father
had founded. On a trip to Downside, he met a woman, Shayera Thal,
whom he later learned was the daughter of administrator Thal Polvis
and Shayera Sr, whom Paran had once romanced, and who'd been 13 when
she bore Shayera Jr, and left her in Downside in order to avoid a
scandal.
Horrified at how the Downsiders were being treated, Katar formed an
underground movement to smuggle food and medicines to the slaves,
soon joining forces with Byth of the Wingmen, who was running a
similar operation, though in his case, he smuggled weapons and even
sold narcotics to the rich Thanagarians in the floating cities.
Katar was so depressed with what his people had become like, that he
started becoming addicted to the drugs Byth was smuggling, and this
was a story development that was considered a big mistake by many
readers.
He developed a romance with Shayera Thal, and located his base of
operations in Chicago. He joined the Justice League and became quite
a respectable superhero there, perhaps influenced by predecessor
Carter Hall, whose memories he'd begun to posess (and lest we
forget, that in today's continuity, he may be one and the same!).
With their help on a journey in space, he helped save Thanagar from
aliens who were trying to conquer and colonise the planet
Later on however, 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.
Amazingly enough, however, when he sacrificed himself, as it turned
out, his soul passed into that of the first Hawkman, Carter Hall,
leaving him with a lot of the memories that he'd had over the years
himself. You could very well say that, in a manner of speaking, the
second Hawkman is, in a way, now part of the first one.
Hawkman 2
