Gold Hawk of Andrino! Remember him?

Justice League Unlimited No. 12 / Hawkman Vol. V No. 4

Great Gentleman's Ghost! This was an unexpected surprise! I was watching the Comic Boom video where they go over all the releases each week. With all this DC K.O. tie-in stuff going on, I've been on the lookout for any news about the Hawkman vs. Conner Hawke matchup and I was rather surprised at what turned up this week!

Justice League Unlimited No. 12 (December 2025)

I haven't been really keeping up with what exactly all this K.O. stuff is about, to be honest. I figure if Hawkman by some miracle does make it to the later rounds, then I'll take a deeper dive, but the first issue was rather all over the place. I just didn't have the energy to discect every panel but apparently while a bunch of heroes are fighting it out for the right to challenge Darkseid, Mr. Terrific has to go to Hell for comic book reasons. And to do that, again for comic book reasons, he pulls out versions of several heroes from different timelines, alternate universes and long-forgotten one shots to go into Hell. 

Hawkman Vol. V No. 4 (November 2018)

Jace of The Comic Source just passingly mentioned Gold Hawk in the video. Wait, back up. Gold Hawk? I had to pull out my Hawkworld blackbook (yes I have a blackbook of top secret Hawk-info) and checl my list of the different versions of Hawkmen. Oh! THAT Gold Hawk! We haven't seen this version since 2018. Heck, we've barely seen the mainstream Hawkman for the last five years. So Mark Waid DOES read up on past Hawkman comics! After the New History of the DC Universe, I was having my doubts but ok, cool! 

Hawkman Vol. V No. 11 (June 2019)

Who is Gold Hawk? He first showed up in Hawkman Vol. V No. 4. Or his statue did. In issue No. 4, the name of the planet was not mentioned, but then later in issue No. 11 and No. 12, he shows up for the big showdown against the Deathbringers. 

The Peace Statue in Nagasaki, Japan

In Hawkman Vol. V No. 4, there is a giant statue of Gold Hawk that reminded me of the giant statue in Nagasaki's Peace Park. I've been there many times so the similarities were surprising. Gold Hawk is long gone, but apparently he is revered by the people of the planet. The Deathbringers show up and completely destroy the statue along with the planet. Rather brutal scene. 

We see Gold Hawk in the last battle against the Deathbringers, but we find out some stuff about him. He speaks Interlac, but a version of Doctor Fate uses magic to make him understood. He then talks about his planet. The people of Andrino apparently have a heightened spiritual level and it has given the power to see the the hopes, desires, and pains of others. Kinda like, Vulcans! Yeah! Of course there's gotta be this Owlwoman who calls Gold Hawk creepy and demands that he stays out of her head. Stop flattering yourself, Owl. He's not interested in you. 

Justice League Unlimited No. 12 (December 2025)

Mr. Terrific called him an ancestor of Hawkman but that's completely missing how reincarnation works. Even Miss-Self-Flattered knew he was a past life. It's interesting how some Hawkman live through life with no clue of their past lives, while some do. That brings me to my memory-trigger theory, like the Nth metal knife in Flash Comics No. 1. When they come into contact with an item or place from a past life, their memory is awakened. It appears that Gold Hawk has not had that until now. He also does not have huge hawk-like wings but something more compact that spreads out from his arms. 

Hawkman Vol. V No. 12 (July 2019)

If you want to read more about memory triggers, I wrote about it in the first chapter of the History of Hawkman. Just scroll down a bit and it's under The Ocean Theory and Memory-Triggers.

So now we have the mainstream Hawkman in the K.O. tournament and Gold Hawk going into Hell on a suicide mission. Who do you think will last longer? Stay tuned!