Horus, God of the Nth Metal

Green Lantern Corps No. 3 (June 2025)

   Horus, the Egyptian god of the sky, has been an important part of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's story ever since their very first appearances in Flash Comics No. 1 (January 1940). Over the years, Horus has changed and evolved in many ways. This year, Horus has suddenly made a couple of interesting appearances so let's take a look at the god who has a very important connection to Hawkman and the Nth Metal. 

Flash Comics No. 1 (January 1940)

   Gardner Fox created Hawkman in Flash Comics No. 1 and in the very first story, a hawk-god is mentioned. However the god is referred to as Annubis, the hawk-god. In Egyptian mythology, there are many gods who represent the good and evil of the world. A quick check shows that Anubis was the god of the dead, and was often depicted as having the head of a dog or a jackal. The hawk-god in Egyptian mythology is Horus and it is often shown to have the head of a falcon or hawk. So what happened here? 

   In "Forgotten All-Star: A Biography of Gardner Fox," author Jennifer DeRoss mentions this "error." 

"More than any other character, Hawkman gave Fox a chance to use his vast knowledge of history and geography. It also gave him a chance to include educative factoids regarding folklore and mythology, which became common in much of his work. The Hawkman origin is even more fascinating as a piece of the Fox canon considering the errors he makes. 
Repeatedly, Fox states that Snubis is a hawk-god, which is incorrect. The Egyptian god Anubis has the head of a jackal, not a hawk; it's Horus who sports a hawk head. Fox must have been rushed or he wouldn't have made this mistake."

Secret Origins starring Hawkman and Power Girl (February 1987)

   So even though Anubis is mentioned almost a dozen times in the first Hawkman story, Horus is the god who he styled his costume after and would get his powers from. Fox was writing numerous stories at the time, probably with extremely tight deadlines, so as DeRoss says in her biography, we can easily understand how the two gods could have been mixed up. To my knowledge, Hawkman's connection to the Egyptian gods didn't really resurface again Roy Thomas rewrote Hawkman's Egyptian origin in Secret Origins starring Hawkman and Power Girl No. 11 (February 1987). 

Hawkman Vol. 3 No. 13 (Sept. 1994)

   Since Thanagar first appeared in the Silver Age, several gods and angels have appeared. In the Hawkworld/Hawkman Vol. 3 series (1989-1996), there was a hawk-god who was thought to be the source of the power of the Nth Metal. Paran Katar, Katar Hol II's father, discovered a way to capture the creature, chain it in hell or another dimension and by capturing it, the creature became the source of the Nth metal's ability to control gravity. The creature finally escaped and came after Katar Hol on Earth after destroying Thanagar's floating cities. It tried to reclain its power as Katar Hol II, Carter Hall I, and Shiera Saunders-Hall tried to stop it, but in the process, they were merged (except for Shiera who was killed) and Katar became a multi-hybrid with the hawk-god's powers and Carter's consciousness and memories. Although the god was in the form of a hawk, I don't recall it being referred to as Horus at this time. 

Hawkman Vol. 3 Annual No. 1 (Oct. 1994)

     

   Just over a year later, Horus finally returns in Hawkman Vol. 3 Annual No. 2 (October 1995). In a flashback story starring the Golden Age Carter Hall, we see Horus giving Prince Khufu his powers of the "Night Metal." Khufu takes on the form of a Hawk to fight Hath-Set, who calls Khufu the "Avatar of Horus." In this version, Khufu is the one who defeats Hath-Set and as he dies, Hath-Set places a curse on Khufu and Chay-ara. 

  About a year before this issue came out, we had the Zero Hour Crisis in Time event where Carter Hall and Shiera Saunders appeared. It seems that the Carter Hall is the same man who would appear years later in the Zero Hour event. I wonder if he saw the hawk-god and wondered if there was a connection between it and Horus. It would be an interesting story to fill in the gaps someday. 

   This Hawkman could not handle the merger with the hawk-god and it started to make him go insane. To save his soul, he was sent into the Hawk-god's realm (Horus there maybe?). He would remain there for years. 

Legend of the Hawkman No. 3

(November 2001)

   We got another form of Hawk-gods in Legend of the Hawkman #3 back in 2000. This was a non-continuity story based on the early silver age Hawkman and it is one of the best Hawkman stories ever written. Shayera has faith in her religion and gods, while Katar doubts their existence and has no faith in them. A evil creation of the Hawk-god escapes from his prison and in the ensuing battle, Shayera is wounded so badly that she will never be able to have kids. In desperation, Katar goes to the temple and the three Hawk-gods appear before him. Their names are never mentioned, so there is no real connection to Horus. They give Katar the courage and strength he needs to defeat the evil god. There is potential in tying the stories together someday I'm sure. 

JSA No. 22 (May 2001)

   

   In the JSA series (2001), the connections began to be revealed. We saw the Thanagarian Hawk-god in the Hawkman Vol. 3 series, and now Horus makes a comeback. A Thanagarian ship crashed thousands of years ago and it was discovered by Prince Khufu, Nabu (the future Doctor Fate), and Teth-Adam (the future Black Adam). The ship carried Nth metal and with it, they formed different weapons, such as the flight belt and the Claw of Horus. 

JSA No. 23 (June 2001)

   Thousands of years later, Kendra Saunders is transported to Thanagar by the Thanagarian priests to help them rescue Hawkman from the "Well of Spirits," a gateway to the Hawk realm. The priest mentions that Thanagar and Egypt are linked by the Nth metal. Which would also mean that the hawk-god and Horus are linked in some way. 

Superman/Batman No. 4 (Jan. 2004)

Hawkman Vol. 4 No. 42 (Sept. 2005)

Brightest Day No. 1 (July 2010)

DC K.O. No. 2 (Jan. 2026)

   After the mention of Horus in JSA No. 22 (May 2001), the god pretty much disappeared from the comics. There have been a few Hawkman or Hawkgirl series, mini-series, or one shots over the last twenty-plus years but Horus has taken a back seat in Hawk stories. The only time that the name has been mentioned has been when the Claw of Horus appeared in stories over the years. The Claw of Horus is Hawkman's most powerful weapon and it draws on the power of Horus. It literally brings his powers up to Superman-level. DC can't be having that so they rarely ever let him use it. 

   Then suddenly, without warning, Horus showed up again in a massive way in early 2025. The Green Lantern Mogo went Red and destroyed Thanagar. Seriously, how many times this planet have to be destroyed? The Green Lantern Corps was helping with the rescue effort when Shayera Hol (Hawkwoman, Empress of Thanagar, Wife of Carter Hall/Hawkman) asked John Stewart for assistance. They arrived to find Thanagar completely destroyed with only the core remaining. Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns show up to drill what's left when they find what appears to be a huge amount of Nth Metal. 

Green Lantern Corps No. 2 (May 2025)

   

   Shayera and Stewart head off to investigate when things go all-out crazy as the sphere starts twisting and bulging and suddenly, a gigantic golden Hawk-creature emerges from the sphere like it was an egg. It's Horus. 

Green Lantern Corps No. 3 (June 2025)

   Shayera says that Horus is THE god to Thanagarians, although he was now only considered a myth. It's not entirely clear why this is Horus and not a Thanagarian diety, unless we just went ahead and connected all the dots in one fell swoop and combined the Thanagarian and Egyptian dieties. And Horus is insanely powerful. 

Green Lantern Corps No. 3 (June 2025)

   Atrocitus then commands his ship to fire on the god and Horus says something what looks like Egyptian Hieroglyphs. But the blurb says "'Who dares attack a god?' 'Translated from ancient Thanagarian.'" At this point, I'm going into full culture shock confusion. Horus then easily rips the huge battle cruiser spaceship straight in half. Shayera pleads with the god to spare them and tells him that there are still Thanagarians alive. Horus tells her that he will appear to her in a dream when he finds a new home for the Thanagarians. With that, he flies off into space. Shayera decides to gather the remaining Thanagarians together until a new planet is found

Aquaman No. 12 (February 2026)

   Eight months later, Horus suddenly appears again. This time it is during the DC K.O. battle between Hawkman (Carter Hall III) and Aquaman. In a best-of-3 match, Aquaman wins easily of course, since it's an Aquaman book. He also has something called the Blue which looks like just taking Mera's powers and giving them to Aquaman but Ⅰ digress. After the first match which Aquaman won easily, Horus appears before Carter. 

Aquaman No. 12 (February 2026)

   Horus says that Carter will be his guardian and gives Carter his powers. He also mentions Shayera as Carter's wife, which was a bit surprising since DC is currently all over the place with the Hawks. However, the power boost didn't change a thing because Hawkman loses the next fight even more easily than the first to end the matchup. So I guess it was too difficult to overcome this Blue power and the plot armor that comes with the fight being in Aquaman's own book. 

   So Horus currently maybe might kinda have a big part in the Hawks' story. It would be interesting to see Carter and Shayera team up together again. Does Carter get to keep that power? Or was it another one-issue gimmick that DC used to make the interlude between the two beatdowns more interesting? I've heard that the writer Jeremy Adams wants to do a Hawkman comic but DC apparently has no interest. So maybe we'll see Horus pop up again in a few months time in some random comic. 

   Horus is connected to the Nth metal now, so if you want to read what kind of powers it has, check out my article on Nth metal. 

   There is still a lot of info to fill in about Horus. We'll try to stay alert for the next surprise appearance.