Summary: Carter Hall, an archeologist and unabashed Hawkgirl fan, approaches Shayera Hol to request her assistance in the excavation of an Egyptian tomb, one that houses the bodies of two ancient Thanagarians who became stranded on Earth in 6600 B.C.E. Smitten by the handsome stranger, she agrees, despite the misgivings of Batman and Green Lantern, who consider Hall to be a stalker. Rejecting their concerns, Shayera travels to Egypt, unaware that Hall has an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, both are shadowed by two figures—one a friend, the other an enemy.
JL Mission Roll Call: Batman, Green Lantern, Shayera Hol, Vixen
EX Mission Roll Call: Dreamslayer, Gorgon, Lord Havok, Tracer
Featured Characters: Shayera Hol, Hawkman
Villain: The Shadow-Thief
Supporting Villains: The Extremists
Cartoon Network on “Shadow of the Hawk”: “Batman is suspicious of Shayera’s new boyfriend, a mysterious archeologist with sinister ties to her Thanagarian past (courtesy of The World’s Finest).”
DarkLantern on the connections between Thanagar
and
Dwayne McDuffie on the Hawk’s wings: “Shayera’s wings are organic; like all modern-day Thanagarians she was born with them. Carter Hall, [however], is human, [and] his wings strap on. He learned how to make them from the Thanagarian tech in the tomb he was studying. Not explained on the show (but according to Bruce Timm) Thanagarians used to make their wings, only in the past several hundred years have they genetically engineered themselves to grow organic wings.
“Their culture had great respect for hawks […] and they developed winged, Nth Metal flying harnesses thousands of years ago. […] The pre-Egyptian history era Katar and Shayera Hol had artificial wings. […] When their technology advanced far enough, they genetically engineered themselves to have natural wings. For many generations now, Thanagarians [have been] born with natural wings.
“Warhawk (Rex Stewart, future son of Shayera Hol and John Stewart) was born without wings, this is as a result of his half-human heritage. Warhawk’s wings are artificial. Shayera and a Thanagarian male would produce organically-winged offspring, like any other Thanagarian couple.
“Oh, and in my opinion, on Thanagar ‘Shayera Hol’ is about as common a name as ‘John Smith’ (courtesy of DwayneMcDuffie.com).”
Dwayne McDuffie on the ancient Egyptians in “Shadow of the Hawk”: “On JLU, the Egyptians did build their own society without any input from the space aliens [...] the Thanagarian ‘utopia’ discussed in ‘Shadow of the Hawk’ occurred in Egyptian pre-history, 3,000 years before the rise of the Pharaohs, and fell less than twenty years after the Thanagarian’s deaths (courtesy of DwayneMcDuffie.com).”
Dwayne McDuffie on John Stewart, Shayera Hol, and Warhawk: “John and Shayera have the child, exactly as before. The time-traveling that has occurred is already part of the timeline that produces Warhawk as are the edicts to that timeline, including those we haven’t yet seen on the show. The important thing to remember is that Warhawk isn’t even thirty in Batman Beyond years […] a few things are going to occur in that time period to change the current status quo.
"[Also], it's dramatically more interesting for Green Lantern to believe it's the actual future. If he believes it's only one possibility it doesn't carry any more weight than a particularly vivid dream (courtesy of DwayneMcDuffie.com).”
Commentary
"I have a confession to make: I haven’t been completely honest with you. I brought you here under false pretenses. Or, should I say…destiny brought you."
"What do you think you’re—"
"You and I are the reincarnation of lovers who died here, thousands of years ago. My real name is Katar Hol, but you can call me Hawkman."
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I’m sorry; I’m not laughing at you…exactly. I just…I’ve got the worst taste in men!"
"I’m serious, Shayera!"
"I know you are. And I’m in a lost Egyptian tomb with my stalker!"
An exchange between Carter Hall and Shayera Hol from "Shadow of the Hawk"
Commentary coming soon!
Image courtesy of Toon Zone.