Twice-Told Tale: Mental Marauders & Menacing Man-Hawks

Among the greatest inventions of planet Thanagar, besides the discovery of anti-gravitational metal, are devices known as the Absorbacron and the Electromizer. These invasive mechanisms could mentally augment those connected to them, mentally implanting potentiallyl so vast quantities of information into an individual's brain. This allowed an individual to rapidly assimilate entire languages as well as culture information, which Thanagarians could use to integrate into societies alien to their own.

The Absorbacron was originally developed on Thanagar-One by the initially benevolent inhabitants of that world. When the malicous Man-Hawks invaded and pillaged their planet, a select number of Thanagarians were tasked and trained to become the Wingmen, a global police force employing the anti-gravity belts and winged harnesses developed by Paran Hol and used by his son Katar. Eventually, Katar and his wife Shayera were commissioned to travel to Earth-One, where they would learn the policing procedures of humanity as Hawkman and Hawkwoman, a concept foreign to those of Thanagar who had previously never experienced crime on their world.

The Electromizer was originally developed on Thanagar-Two by the thoroughly malevolent Vulture King and his fellow Vultures, who sought to reclaim their people’s former glory as they ventured to Earth-Two in an attempt to conquer this world. Their avian ancestors failed to conquer humanity during the ages of Egyptian Prince Khufu and English protector the Silent Knight. Now equipped with winged harnesses enhancing their speed and maneuverability, Vulture King's minions sought to enslave human-kind into their forces.

When Thanagar-One experienced a devastating global Equalizing Plague which crippled their citizenry, followed by a conquest of the alien dictator Hyathis, the Thanagarians abandoned their Wingmen aliases and began a Shadow War on Earth-One. This led to repeated conflicts with Hawkman and Hawkwoman. 

Earth-Two experienced an invasion of Vulture King and his minions, following their fellow advanced Vulture scout Aiymer’s arrival, who had clashed with Doll Man years earlier. Although initially successful in forcibly recruiting residents of Earth into their winged forces, the Vultures were eventually defeated by Wonder Woman, the Justice Society teammate of Hawkman and longterm friend of his wife Hawkgirl.

Just as Thanagarian Vultures used the Electromizer to mentally manipulate humans, who wore enlarged bird-like winged suits, Thanagarian Shadow Warriors used the Absorbacron to mentally manipulate their former flying foes, the Man-Hawks, in an attempt to control Gotham City during the period of the Convengence (when that city and others of various universes was placed on an alien world for a year). Katar and Shayera defeated both Man-Hawks and Shadow Warriors.

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 his 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 Thanagar 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.

Thanagar: From Planetary Protectors to Interstellar Invaders

The planet Thanagar-One orbited the star Polaris in the Alpha-Centari System, a world that reached the pinnacle of peace for over two hundred years. No longer in need of a monarch or sole-authoritarian, this world was ruled by a benevolent council, and guarded by their Wingmen. These flying foot-soldiers were tasked with dealing first with invading Man-Hawks from outer space, and later thrill thieves.

One of these, the criminal known as Byth, was followed to Earth-One by a pair of Wingmen... Katar and Shayera Hol. Assuming the masked idenities of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, aided in their winged flight by the anti-gravity metal discovered by Katar's father Paran, the pair captured the shape-shifting Byth and stayed on Earth to study its crimefighting techniques.

During their time on Earth-One, Hawkman joined the Justice League of America and the married winged warriors made friends with fellow superheroes as well as residents of Midway City, where they made a home as museum curator Carter Hall along with his assistant Shiera. Meanwhile, the political climate was gradually changing on Thanagar, due to various factors which hardened its citizens. 

This began when the Thanagarian fleet and its Wingmen expanded across the galaxy and came into conflict with the Infinite Empire. This alien armada decisively defeated the Thanagarians, and false evidence indicates that Katar has betrayed his peoples’ location to the Empire. Although revealing the true betrayer and helping locate the means to neutralized the Empire, Katar and Shayera found a permanent rift between they and their fellow Wingmen. This would be exploited later when alien Empress Hyanthis cured the Thanagarians from an Equalizing Plague which crippled them, turning their planet into her dictatorship.

While the Carter Hall native to Earth-Two developed the nth metal (his universe’s version of anti-gravity metal) belt with wings based on the long abandoned Thanagarian spacecraft found in ancient Egypt, the residents of Thanagar-Two had advanced their method of winged flight in the centuries since the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs. This technology incorporated a wing harness powered by an "atom-breaking engine" to achieve both altitude and substantial speed.

These renegade minions of the Vulture King apparently originated from Thanagar-Two. Centuries earlier, an advanced armada of these Wingmen had attempted to found a colony on Earth-Two, whom the armored avenger known as Silent Knight encountered during one of his adventures. Now seeking to recruit humans into his forces, the Thanagarian Vulture King and his lieutenants used a device known as the Electromizer (their version of the more benevolent device known as the Absorbacron developed on Thanagar-One), which temporarily brainwashed the Amazing Amazon herself, Wonder Woman! Once defeated, these rogues were placed in Earth prisons.

Hawkmen & Shadow-Thieves of Thanagar and Ragnor

The existence of planet Thanagar, orbiting the star sun Polaris, was first revealed to humanity when its law enforcement officers Katar & Shayera Hol journeyed to Earth-One. Their task was to learn from the police of this third world from the sun, which would benefit their people. Adopting the aliases of Hawkman and Hawkgirl using anti-gravity metal to fly, the Hols defended Midway City and their adopted world as a crime-fighting duo, and later as members of the Justice League of America. One of their first foes was Carl Sands, a criminal inventor who became the Shadow-Thief, using his Dimensiometer to become a living shadow.

The invading alien queen Hyanthis had saved the Thanagarians from an Equalizing Plague which stymied their civilization, and demanded to be acknowledged as their sovereign. She then recruited Sands, enlisting him into creating a Shadow Squad, with devices like his own. These shadow men, along with the legion of Wingmen, subjugated this once free world under her authoritarian rule. Hyanthis was opposed by the Halls, who were then exiled from the planet of their birth until they liberated it some time after. 

However, given the loss of scientific knowledge during the plague, the Wingmen were replaced by the remaining Shadow Squad, which launched a Shadow War on Earth-One. Their goal, to steal both the anti-gravity and other technology now lost to them, which Hawkman and Hawkgirl possessed.

The inhabitants of Thanagar's dimensional twin planet ventured to Earth-Two over a thousand years before this, founding a city in the Sahara Desert near Egypt named Ragnor in honor of their homeworld. These birdmen brought with them Nth metal which had anti-gravitational properties, allowing them to glide in the air. Their queen eventually tried to initially conquer England and then the world, and so challenged its hero of the time... the Silent Knight... into battle with her hawkmen. The Knight triumphed over them, and later his descendant Carter Hall rediscovered Nth Metal, first acquired by their earlier ancestor Prince Khufu of Egypt from the birdmen's Ragnor city outpost. 

As Hawkman, he and his girlfriend Shiera aka Hawkgirl joined the Justice Society in battling evil scientist Ian Karkull. Karkull had developed shadow transforming technology after visiting the now-deserted Sahara city of Ragnor (where it was hinted he learned the secret to perform this fantastic feat). Transforming himself and his minions into shadows, Ian twice faced Doctor Fate, who defeated him each time. Later, Karkull attempted to plunge America into chaos, only to be stopped by the Hawks along with the remaining allies of the Justice Society of America. Karkull was seemingly destroyed, while his subservient shadow men merged with the Society members... granting them extended lives!

Intergalatic Forces of the Positive and Antimatter Universes

Two large intergalatic law enforcement organizations operated in the universe of Earth-One, with correspondening negative versions residing in the Antimatter Universe of Qward. Each would be equipped with state of the art weaponry and tactic guidance that made them forces to be reckoned with for those whom they faced in battle.

The oldest of these were the Green Lantern Corps led by the Guardians of the Universe on Earth-One, and the Thunderers... also known as Destroyers.... of Qward. In the 20th century, a secondary force was devised by the Weaponers of Qward to oppose their Guardian's troops, this force being the Anti-Green Lantern Corps. Coming equipped with a black lantern centeral power battery that functioned much as the green lantern central power battery, its users had a severe handicap in that the black energy required far more will power then the green energy, and so the Anti-Green Lanterns had shorter life spans than their positive universe twins. As such, their history was shorter lived.

The secondary alien police force was the Wingmen or Hawkmen of Thanagar-One, who mostly operated on their world although they sent two of their number, Katar and Shayera Hol, to Earth-One for a number of years. Later, while under military dictatorship, they would turn into an oppressive flying force much like the Thunderers of Qward although not as technologically advanced. They were ultimately vanquished.

Of note as well are the two agent forces, discontinued for thousands of years until the 20th century, in the form of the Guardians' Manhunter androids and the Weaponers' Shadow Demons. These would reappear in modern times due to the guidance of the Manhunter's leader and the Shadow Demons' master Anti-Monitor returning to lead them. They would prove potent, but also ultimately beatable.

Other universes such as Earth-Two didn't have such forces, although that particular world had Chang's ancient Green Dragon Tong and the bird people of Feithera, whom that world's Green Lantern and Hawkman met.

Feathered Furies Flee Friendly Fighting Forces

Katar Hol along with his wife Shayera were tasked with observing law enforcement protocols of humanity on Earth-One, and reporting back their findings to their native world Thanagar. Both were equipped with anti-gravity belts along with wings to guide their flight. For the next three years while living in Midway City, the pair adopted to aliases, their civilian identities as Carter and Shayera Hall and their costumed aliases of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. As the Halls, they operated Midway curator and co-curator of Midway City Museum, where they learned of ancient weaponry used by humans which they then used in their heroic careers on a number of adventures.

Eventually, the married couple were noticed by the Justice League of America, who initially invited just Hawkman to join their ranks. For the next few years, he would assist this team on various cases... common and cosmic... with his wife on occasion accompanying him on these. Katar became an integral part of the team over time, and later met his counterpart of Earth-Two, together battling Solomon Grundy. However, when the two Hawkmen's groups next met to tackle the Iron Hand on Carter's world, it was only Katar who was present!

Carter Hall along with his wife Shiera decided to adopt costumed aliases as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, inspired by memories of ancestors Khufu and Shiera of ancient Egypt. Both were equipped with nth metal anti-gravity belts along with wings to guide their flight. As part-time archaeologists for a New York City museum, the pair used a variety of ancient weaponry which they used in their heroic identities.

From the very beginning, the original Hawkman was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, serving as the team's third and permanent chairman. For the next few years, he would assist this team on various cases... common and cosmic... with his wife on occasion joining him. Eleven years later, things changed.

Framed for international espionage and suspected of treason while attempting to capture a mysterious benefactor of their satellite headquarters turned prison, the Justice Society led by Hawkman refused a request by a Senate joint hearing to reveal their secret identities in order to clear their names. Instead, all active members except Wonder Woman retired .

After donning his mask and wings along with teammate Atom while visiting their pal Edmund Blake, Hawkman and his fellow Justice Society members ended their decade long retirement during a battle with Vandal Savage. For the next several years until 1971, Hawkman was front and center in the team's affairs. However, in June of 1972. the Hall's young godson Norda arrived at their home, after having been injured during his trip to America. Tending to the lad and returning him to Feithera, this explains why the Society's leader wasn't present during its biggest crisis, as Earth-Two was in the nebula grip of Iron Hand.

In 1974, Katar and Shayera were called back to Thanagar to rejoin their fellow Wingmen, reporting on what they had learned. However, upon arriving on their homeworld, the Hols discovered that the planet's civilization was struck down with an "equalizing plague", causing all of them to be ordinary and average... and thus stagnant as a society. Seeking a cure for this, Katar returned to his adopted world and rejoined the Justice League to enlist their aid in defeating the alien Equilizer that had spread this plague.

Soon after, Shayera recovered from this condition as had the rest of Thanagar, thanks to a remedy provided by the alien dictator known as Hyathis. However, Hyanthis used this cure to enslave the people under her rule. An interplanetary war soon followed with she and her Thanagarians, versus their neighboring planet Rann, led by her old foe Kanjar Ro, who had recently conquered it as well.

After a brief war between the two worlds, a peaceful detente resulted thanks to the intervention of Katar, Shayera and Rann's  heroes Adam and Alanna Strange. However, as the Hols did not support Hyanthis' illegitimate rule of their homeworld, they were exiled back to Earth-One. 

Still, the Justice League were there as a support them, ultimately inviting Hawkgirl to join them. She would later self-identify as Hawkwoman, showing her equal stature to that of her husband. Together they were the only husband and wife members of the League.

A few years later, Hyathis would be overthrown, although a military dictatorship followed on Thanagar due to a vacuum of leadership. Again, the Hols could not support this new facsist state of their birth world. They would later face an a Thanagarian invasion force on Earth-One, backed with technology provided by their old nemesis Shadow-Thief, which they repelled.

Carter and Shiera who found a home with fellow "birdmen" in the arctic circle's Feithera as well as within the Society. Katar and Shayera sadly found themselves alienated both from the "wingmen" of their former home, and found themselves no longer members of the League following its dissolution by its chairman Aquaman following a Martian invasion. 

Still, in both cases, the Hols and Halls had one another to draw strength from one another, through both good times and bad. These twin couples became the standard for marital unity which they fellow superheroes and superheroines sought to imitate when eventually wedding their own future marriage mates.

Future Fabled Flying Fighting

In the 30th century in the planet Thanagar, a pair of Hawk Police lost their lives at the hands of an immortal villain's robotic assassin. The Legion of Super-Heroes were able to determine the culprit's identity and motive, and brought Professor Ivo to justice for his attacks against descendants of his old foes Earth-One's Justice League.

Rod Rian was an agent of the 25th century Sky Police on Earth-Two, who protected the solar system from various invading threats. For a period of time, Rod wore a costume with specialized weaponry. While stranded on a hostile alien world of Mephistos, Rian utilized other equipment native to that environment including artificial wings, allowing him to fly much like the Hawkman had centuries before. It is unknown whether he returned to his home world following his last chronicled tale.