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Shayera Hol, formerly known to Earth as Hawkgirl, is one of the main protagonists from the TV series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

She is a Thangarian member of the titiular group of superheroes who have the shared mission to fight against bad guys as much as possible. Later on, it's revealed that Hawkgirl had a mission behind the group to pursue planet Earth with her fellow Thangarians, which strained her relationship with the Justice League and forced herself to split from them. However, she soon decided to turn against the Thangarian goal and return to the Justice League, restoring her own moral sense once again.

She is voiced by Maria Canals-Barrera.

Biography[]

Justice League[]

Shayera Hol was a lieutenant and an instructor in espionage on the planet Thanagar, engaged to be married to Thangarian Commander Hro Talak. She was sent in advance of the Thanagarian invasion as a scout to determine Earth's weaknesses should Thanagar's enemies, the Gordanians, attack. Her cover story was that she was tracking criminals to their fortress when she was unexpectedly teleported to Earth.

Shayera eventually established herself on Earth and became known to the populace as Hawkgirl. During the Imperium invasion, Hawkgirl was telepathically summoned by J'onn J'onzz to assist in repelling the invaders. Hawkgirl teamed up with Superman to take out the aliens' factories, which propelled smoke into the air to block out the sun. They were unsuccessful and were both captured. J'onn, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern attempted to rescue the two but were themselves captured. The six heroes were held for the alien invaders' leader. After Batman had successfully infiltrated the factory and reversed the smoke process, the group was able to free themselves and destroy the factory and its duplicates around the world. In fact, Hawkgirl was responsible for destroying the Imperium when he attempted to escape on board his personal shuttle craft.

Due to her efforts during the invasion, Hawkgirl was invited aboard the Watchtower, and formed the Justice League along with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and J'onn.

However, in the three-part finale "Starcrossed", Shayera's true mission is revealed when her fellow Thanagarians and Hro Talak arrive on Earth under the surmise to build a means to attack the Gordanian homeworld directly. Swapping her Hawkgirl attire for her Thanagarian military uniform, Shayera initially aided Hro and her kind, but when she learned that the gateway would lead to Earth's demise in the process, torn between her loyalties to the Justice League and her homeworld, Shayera chose to betray Hro and her people and save the Earth. The Thanagarians leave in defeat, but Shayera's actions leave a bitter taste with the League. Meeting at Wayne Manor, a vote is called on Shayera's membership in the League, but before the final vote is tallied, Shayera offers her resignation and leaves, spending one last moment with Green Lantern John Stewart before she flies off to parts unknown.

Justice League Unlimited[]

After leaving the League, Shayera found refuge with Doctor Fate and his wife. She only makes her reappearance in "The Return" after Doctor Fate returns home with Amazo following after Amazo chose not to kill Lex Luther and went with Fate to figure out his purpose in life. When Solomon Grundy is reanimated by a dark ritual, Shayera is forced to return to action to put him down for good as her mace's Nth metal was the only way to defeat him. After she puts her old friend finally to rest, Stewart reveals that Superman had the final say on her staying in the League and voted for her to stay. However, several civilians still call Shayera out for her betrayal with before with her kind, and though Stewart stands up for her, Shayera admits she deserves it. However, when a mother and her daughter thank Shayera for saving their lives, this ray of hope convinces Shayera to return to the League, but not putting her old Hawkgirl uniform back on and remaining as Shayera Hol, putting her past as Hawkgirl behind her.

Personality[]

Hawkgirl is a very brave and fearless individual who is also known for her signature war cry.

She does have a habit of being sassy in different situations. This is used during her many quips, which can be directed towards anyone, whether they be an enemies or her own allies.

She is typically coarse and unfriendly, but it capable of deep sincerity and devotion for those she would consider friends. Most unusual was her friendship with Solomon Grundy, as they were on a team assembled by Dr. Fate to tackle an extradimensional threat. His innocent demeanour eventually endeared him to her, as she felt almost like an older sister for him; as such, she was heartbroken when the solution to defeat the Cthulhu-like entity was his sacrifice, and she comforted him as the zombie actually died.

She has a strong sense of loyalty, which led to one of her greatest and perhaps most defining struggles, as she joined the Justice League under the pretense of being an alien refugee, however, she was actually an infiltrator sent by the Thanagarian Empire. Yet through their adventures and battles, plus a romance with John Stewart, made Shayera crushed between loyalty to her people and loyalty to her new closest friends and allies. Ultimately, she chose Earth, which helped end the Thanagarian occupation; however, she was aware that her treachery would make her an outcast. While John was willing to remain in a relationship with her, Shayera ended it out of shame and guilt, even though she stilled loved him.

After the invasion was repelled, she abandoned her superhero name, merely going by Shayera; she felt both Hawkgirl and Thanagarian invader were both false faces, thus she discarded them to find her true self. Due to being a traitor, despite eventually changing back to humanity, she faced endless resentment from the Earth populace and even former League teammates, with Wonder Woman particularly disdaining her since as the only other warrior woman, she felt a kinship with Shayera, yet found it bitter from the deception. While Shayera preferred to remain out of superheroics, she would relent occasionally, even knowing that the populace would still despise her no matter what she did to atone, yet did the right thing anyway, thus reflecting her good heart.

When Solomon Grundy returned from the dead and was wreaking havoc, she went to stop him out of hopes to find her simple friend still there; however, upon finding Grundy was a mindless husk, she reluctantly used her Nth metal mace to destroy him as to put him out of his misery, and protect the memory of his previous heroic sacrifice.

Most of the Justice League gradually forgave Shayera, even the sceptical Batman, but the longest holdout was Princess Diana. The Amazon's animosity was likely boosted by the fact that they were so similar, beyond gender, they were also warriors, spent most of their lives within insular societies, and were aliens to the world of the team; with all their similarities, Diana couldn't accept any reason for Shayera's betrayal. However, when they need to cooperate in a mission to foil Felix Faust and Tala, they cross paths with Hades; the God of Death alludes to a past paramour he had with Hippolyta, Diana's mother, yet Hippolyta never revealed that he might be Diana's father. Due to realising that even someone seeming as virtuous as her mother capable of deception, Diana acquiesced to forgiving Shayera, if only in small steps at a time.

Powers and Abilities[]

Hawkgirl attacks (DCAU)

Hawkgirl displays her abilities while fighting against Brainiac's clones.

Like all modern Thanagarians, Shayera had a pair of wings growing from her back which allowed her to fly through the atmosphere of planets at least close to Earth's gravity. It isn't known how much gravity would actually ground her. Shayera didn't need to flap her wings to achieve sufficient altitude or move and in various instances is seen hovering in the air without moving them at all. As a Thanagarian, Shayera had considerable physical strength, endurance and durability, durable enough to get thrown into a wall by Grundy.

As a former member of the Thanagarian military, Shayera had extensive training in tactical strategery, military science, and personal combat skills. She is incredibly skilled in martial arts. Single-handedly, she defeated four of the Green Lantern Corps members in hand-to-hand combat. She has shown resistance to mind control and Martian Manhunter's attempts to enter her mind failed.

Despite her short fuse and often brutal M.O., Shayera has a keen mind and regularly defeated Batman at chess. Her focus in espionage can make her a difficult opponent to track and provide her teammates with an advantage when tracking villains.

Equipment[]

Shayera retained her costume but subsequently abandoned it after the Thanagarian invasion and occupation of Earth. She also possessed a standard Thanagarian military outfit with clawed gauntlets. Her signature weapon is a spiked mace made of Nth metal, which can generate electric currents and possesses enough kinetic energy to cause serious damage even to those with superhuman strength and durability. The Nth metal properties also can repel and detect magical energies. She is skilled at wielding and throwing the mace accurately. She has creatively used the mace as a shield to deflect incoming projectiles or a makeshift defibrillator unit.

Trivia[]

  • Solomon Grundy affectionately calls Hawkgirl "Birdnose".
  • In the episode "Terror Beyond", she admits that Solomon Grundy is to date the hardest person for her to airlift.
  • Whenever she's airborne, her wings sometimes to never move.
  • This version of Hawkgirl is different from her other incarnations:
    • Her wings are organic, as opposed to being made entirely out of Nth Metal.
    • She is the soulmate to John Stewart instead of Hawkman (albeit through an affair, because her husband Katar Hol was too busy leading Egyptian civilization).
    • She and her past life Chay-Ara are both Thanagarians, and thus were never reborn as humans. Although pre-DC Rebirth, Chay-Ara was the Golden Age Hawkgirl's past life, and she and Shayera were separate characters.
    • She's an atheist (or rather just doesn't worship or revered to a higher power), while in Elseworlds' Legend of the Hawkman (which takes place on pre-Crisis Earth-One) she's religious. Although it's her husband Hawkman (Katar Hol) who is the atheist until the end of the story.
  • In Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Three, the Anti-Monitors unleashed antimatter that utterly erased the DCAU. In the Watchtower, Shayera initiated a kiss with John, revealing her love was still strong, as she chose it as her last moment.

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