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In the Golden Age, Hawkman was originally designed as Carter Hall. Carter was an archaeologist, and the reincarnation of the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu.

Hawkman has had a long and complicated history. There are two primary versions of Hawkman with completely different identities.

History

Introduction

In the Golden Age, Hawkman was originally designed as Carter Hall. Carter was an archaeologist, and the reincarnation of the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu.

In the Silver Age, Hawkman was redesigned as alien hero Katar Hol. Katar was a police officer on the planet Thanagar who came to Earth and adopted the secret identity of archaeologist Carter Hall.

These were originally separate characters, existing on Earth-One (spaceman Hol) and Earth-Two (archaeologist Hall). Their continuities were merged during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and further confused by events such as Hawkworld and Zero Hour.

Timeline

Hawkman 0038

Carter Hall in 1940

  • 1940: Carter Hall is created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville and debuts as Hawkman. The character is presented as a socialite and archeologist who is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.[1]
  • 1961: Katar Hol is created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert and debuts as Hawkman. This version is a Thanagarian police officer who visits Earth. Elements including the Anglicized version of his alter ego and the character's costume design are taken from the Golden Age character.[2]
  • 1963: A crossover story establishes that Katar lives on Earth-One, and Carter lives on Earth-Two.[3]
  • 1975: Charley Parker is created by Cary Bates and Dick Dillin and debuts as Golden Eagle. The character is presented as a normal teen of Midway City who is a fan of Hawkman and is accidentally empowered with a copy of Hawkman's uniform by Matter Master. The story is set on Earth-One.[4]
  • 1985: Fell Andar is created by Tony Isabella and Richard Howell. The character is presented as a high ranking member of the Thanagarian military and one of the primary individuals behind the "Shadow War" Thanagar launches against Earth.[5] Andar dies during the initial arc of that story.[6] Due to the date the story was published and the science fiction elements of the story, the character is assumed to have been part of the Earth-One continuity.
  • 1986
    • Earth-One and Earth-Two are merged into the same reality by Crisis on Infinite Earths. The histories of Carter Hall and Katar Hol were maintained separately in the timeline on New Earth at this time.[7][8] Hall was a hero during the 1940s and Hol came from the planet Thanagar to Earth in a relatively recent but undated time.
    • Carter Hall, along with the Justice Society, is merged with the Norse gods and consigned to fight an endlessly repeating version of Ragnarok. This eliminated him from appearing in stories set on New Earth after the end of Crisis.[9]
  • 1989
    • A revised history is introduced for Katar Hol by Tim Truman.[10] This sets the background and character for Katar in the New Earth continuity. This story was originally meant to be simply a Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn-like origin revision.
    • A revised version of Charley Parker is introduced by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. This version is presented as a drifter from California with no past connection to Hawkman and no solid origin given.[11][12] Aside from losing the linkage to Hawkman, most of the previous stories featuring the character are not contradicted by this new version. This brings most of the Earth-One continuity for the character into New Earth.
  • 1990
    • The revised Katar first visits Earth. This story is set in the present and puts the continuity retained for Katar Hol from prior to Crisis and his appearances from between 1986 and 1990 in question.[13] The Katar Hol that appeared in stories during this four year period is sometimes referred to as the Katar Hol of Earth-85.[14]
    • Stories are also published that imply and state that Carter Hall has been retconned into some of the stories featuring Katar that were retained from the pre-Crisis continuity, mostly Hawkman's participation on teams such as the Justice League of America[15]
  • 1991: The revised version of Parker is killed by the Wildebeest Society.[16]
  • 1992
    • A revised version of Fel Andar is introduced by John Ostrander and Graham Nolan. This version is presented primarily in flashback sequences as a spy from Thanagar who was sent to infiltrate Earth. To do so he poses as "Carter Hall, Jr.", son of the original Hawkman. This was used to retcon the character into some of the stories that previously featured the original Katar, such as Justice League International #1922.[17] The stories imply that Fel devised the cover based on the disappearance of Hall at the end of the "Red Sky Crisis".
    • Carter Hall, along with the rest of the Justice Society, is retrieved from Ragnarok and returned to the present.[18]
  • 1994: The Zero Hour event happens and all incarnations of Hawkman are merged into a single Hawkman.[19]
  • 1997: Grant Morrison relaunches the Justice League in JLA (Volume 1) and is not allowed to use Hawkman due to his muddled history. He creates Zauriel as a stand-in, debuting in JLA #6.
  • 2001: Flashback stories establish that Carter Hall served as a liaison between the Justice Society and the Justice League.[20] These retcons have Carter replacing Katar in the Justice League stories from prior to 1986 that still fit into current continuity. An exact list of which stories cannot be squared with the New Earth continuity has never been given, nor has an full explanation of how Carter could provide Thanagarian scientific expertise and technology that were prominent elements of some of the pre-Crisis stories.
  • 2005: A second revised version of Parker is introduced by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Joe Bennett.[21] This version provides multiple retcons that replace the character's previous appearances. Aside from surviving the attack from the Wildebeest Society, the character is revealed to actually be named Ch'al Andar, the son of Fel Andar and Sharon Parker with his equipment coming from his father. His intent is to replace Carter Hall as Hawkman.[22] While the previous appearances of Golden Eagle can essentially be retained, timing becomes an issue. The stories that establish Fel was a spy on Earth do not make it a long term plot. To support Golden Eagle's new back story, Fel had to have been on Earth well prior to Carter Hall's disappearance as well as the then current wave of costumed heroes appearing.
  • 2011
    • During the middle of the year, DC releases Flashpoint, a line wide event that allows them to revise, reboot, and retool many characters. As part of this, the histories of both Carter and Katar are altered for the new continuity which is referred to Prime Earth or Earth-0.
    • Carter is eliminated from continuity along with the other golden age characters.
    • A revised version of Katar Hol is introduced by Tony S. Daniel and Philip Tan. This version retrieves some of the elements of the previous Earth-One version. Unlike the final New Earth version, we are introduced to this Katar after he had arrived on Earth and taken the "Carter Hall" secret identity. It is also after he has retired his Hawkman identity.[23]
  • 2017
    • Katar Hol is killed defending his home planet Thanagar.[24]
    • A revised version of Carter Hall is introduced by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Jim Lee. For the most part this version incorporates most of the aspects of the Earth-Two version, this includes being a reincarnation of an Egyptian pharaoh and an archaeologist. It also includes some of the elements of the New Earth version, such as having been reincarnated multiple times and that the source of his Nth metal was a Thanagarian ship that had crashed in ancient Egypt.[25]
  • 2018: The returned Carter Hall's origins are looked at closer in Hawkman (Volume 5). It is revealed that Katar is also a resurrection of the same pharaoh, despite being an alien. This is because the soul was not simply resurrected across time, but also across space. Just like the pharaoh could be reborn in the American Wild West, medieval England, and modern America, it could also be reborn on other worlds, such as Thanagar, or even Rann or Krypton, and these reincarnations could even overlap.[26]
  • 2019: Katar Hol is partially resurrected by Shayera Thal and attacks the Justice League.[27] This version is created by the Martian Keep, who is held captive by Shayera.[28]
Roy Harper Cry for Justice
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