Sinister Shadow Squads Fight Feathered Furies

Carl Banks and Ian Karkull both used technology developed by others to become a pair of problematic Shadow-Thieves who plagued not only their arch-foes, Hawkman and Doctor Fate, but their enemies' teammates in the Justice League and Justice Society. 

When Banks was offered an early release from prison if he accepted being a test subject on a government sponsored space flight, he was recruited orbiting above Earth-One to join the Thanagarian Queen Hyathis' , where Carl would mass produce his Dimensiometer. Elite Thanagarian used these gadgets as the Shadow Squad, Hyathis' collective army launched an attack on the neighboring planet of Rann-One, then ruled by the Justice League's old foe and Hyathis' adversary Kanjar Ro. With Adam Strange of Rann,  Hawkman and Hawkgirl aka Katar and Shayera Hol helped end the war of those worlds, ending with their banishment from Thanagar.

Karkull discovered the ancient advancements of the Saharan city of Ragnor, which including the ability to transform oneself into a shadow. It was later revealed that a ship from Thanagar-Two crashlanded on Earth-Two during the time of the Pharoahs, with the Thanagarians anti-gravitational nth metal being adopted by the Egyptian Prince Khufu. The Thanagarian Birdmen then living in Ragnor once battled Khufu's descendant Brian "Silent Knight" Kent, and centuries later another in the line of Khufu named Carter Hall utilized this Nth metal as the Hawkman.

Confronting Doctor Fate, who intercepted an's henchmen in shadow form, Karkull himself used the device to become a shadow which the Doctor then trapped him in for eternity. Once he gained the ability to control his shadow-nature, he plucked various individuals from the future of Earth-Two in their own shadow-forms, through which he could see the present-day world through their eyes. Collecting them together to gain greater power, Ian recruited a variety of supervillians to assassinate the current and future presidents of the United States. Members of the Justice Society successfully thwarted the villains' schemes, culminating in their attacking Karkull, causing him to fracture into several shadows.

Years after the Rann-Thanagar War, the Thanagarian Shadow-Squad now sought both revenge against Katar and Shayera, as well as to steal their anti-gravitational devices. It seems that once Hyathis departed their planet after she was deposed as its ruler, the people of that world succumbed to the effects of the Equalizing Plague which she had cured them of earlier. This plague caused all Thanagarians residing on that world to be mediocre, without exceptional physical nor mental attributes that had elevated their civilization. The Shadow War they initiated, using the Absorbascon to tap into the minds of humanity, caused Hawkman and Hawkgirl to pull away from their fellow Leaguers who were susceptible to its effects. The Hols eventually triumphed over the Shadow-Squad.

Decades earlier, the after-effects of Karkull's body exploding, releasing his shadow-force captives, caused the Justice Society and its close friends present to gain added life. This gave Hawkman, Hawkgirl and their allies added youth and vitality for decades. The future humans who’s shadows were stolen probably included Andre Voisin, Olive Morell, a Mongolian bandit, a window washer and other individuals in early 1966 by the evil ruler of the psycho-matter universe of Dis (in Showcase #61). These became their world’s unwitting version of the Shadow-Squad, although their sacrifice in decreased lifespan inadvertently helped their world by giving its protectors in the Justice Society the strength to protect Earth-Two from a variety of threats from space in the years to come*.

Regrettably, just as the former Wingmen of Thanagar-One “lost their wings” and their way when the Shadow Squad took its place when Hyathis’ defeat motivates them to attack Earth-One, so too had the ancient Wingmen of Thanagar-Two who settled Ragnor on Earth-Two had long since faded away. A new group of Thanagarians led by Vulture King tried to invade Earth-Two in the 1940s, this time quashed by Wonder Woman. In the end, their legacy was carried out by the Hawkmen and their wife’s the Hawkgirls/Hawkwomen.

* This dark radiation also influenced the genetics of Alan “Green Lantern” Scott’s son Todd Rice, who could transform his body into a shadow form like Karkull’s.