Thursday, July 23, 2009

Who's Who Profile: Hawkwoman

Shayera Thal was born on Thanagar, a planet that has a scientifically advanced civilization and which orbits the star Polaris. As an adolescent, Shayera joined the Thanagarian police force and was assigned to assist the force's most decorated officer, Katar Hol, in capturing the Rainbow Robbers. Hol was at first furious at being assigned an inexperienced young woman as a partner, but was nevertheless strongly attracted to her almost immediately. Together Katar and Shayera captured the Rainbow Robbers in their stronghold, and a few weeks later, Katar proposed to Shayera; she accepted and the two were married.

Sometime later, Katar and Shayera journeyed to Earth in pursuit of the criminal Byth. Katar and Shayera remained on Earth battling evil as Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Later, Hawkgirl changed her name to Hawkwoman, and eventually joined the Justice League of America.

Hawkwoman art by Paul Smith

Hawkwoman can fly at great speed by means of her artificial wings and antigravity belt. The antigravity belt also enables her to lift enormous weights aloft. Hawkwoman utilizes various Thanagarian weapons and has a considerable knowledge of her homeworld's advanced science. She prefers to use duplicates of ancient Earth weapons in battle, which she creates with a Thanagarian duplicator machine.

After coming to Earth in pursuit of Byth, Hawkwoman learned all Earth knowledge using a device called Absorbascon. With effort she can retrieve any of it from her subconscious. The device also taught her how to communicate with Earth's birds. Hawkwoman is a superb hand-to-hand combatant. Her body has been treated to withstand extreme temperatures and air friction. She can survive unharmed in the vacuum of space for several minutes.

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