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(?)
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