Evil Versions of Hawkman

 

   Over the last few decades. DC Comics has published some events that depict our favorite heroes as evil versions of themselves. The first version we saw was the Crime Syndicate in Justice League of America No. 29 (August 1964). There were evil versions of Superman (Ultraman), Wonder Woman, (Superwoman), Batman (Owlman), Green Lantern (Power Ring), and Flash (Johnny Quick). Since then, we have seen many versions of heroes turned evil, such as Superman in the Injustice Gods Among Us series (2013-) or Green Lantern as Parallax (1994).

   Hawkman has had his own share of evil versions over the years, and because of his appearance in the popular Absolute Universe series, there have been many articles and discussions about the new evil Hawkman. Many fans seem to like it for various reasons, so I thought I'd take a look back at the various evil versions of Hawkman that we have seen over the years. At the time of this writing, I was able to remember nine different versions that have appeared in the past. So let's take a look at each and see how many you remember. If I've left anything out, let me know in the comments and I'll add it to the list. 

1. Fel Andar/Imposter Hawkman (1987-2005)

    This first one is a bit controversial. It is a retcon of a character that DC Comics used to fill a huge gaping hole in Hawkman's continuity. Some fans have accepted it as canon in Hawkman's history, while some fans dislike it intensely.
    Fel Andar first appeared in The Shadow War of Hawkman No. 1 (May 1985). He was a commander of the Thanagarian army and led a team to Earth to begin the secret invasion, but was killed by the Absorbascon device.

    Another Fel Andar appeared in the Hawkworld Vol. 2 series. He claimed to be Carter Hall Junior, but was actually a Thanagarian spy. He married an Earth woman named Sharon Parker and mind-controlled her into thinking she was his Thanagarian wife. When she found out the truth, he mortally wounded her. She died, but not before revealing the truth to the Martian Manhunter (Hawkworld Vol. 2 No. 23, May 1992). Fel Andar escaped, only to try to impersonate Hawkman again with Shayera Thal, but he was defeated by Katar Hol. They sent him back to Thanagar, and he didn't appear again until The Rann-Thanagar War series in 2005. In this series, he finally met his end when Blackfire killed him on Thanagar. 

    After the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985-1986, Hawkman (and many other DC characters) was in limbo, so DC used this version of the rebooted Fel Andar to fill in his history and connect the dots. It was rather forced, but John Ostrander did his best with what he had in the Hawkworld series. You can read about Fel Andar impersonating Katar Hol in the Justice League International series here. 

Justice League America No. 73 (April 1993)

2. Hawkman of Dr. Destiny's Dreamverse (1993)
    The Hawkman who appears in Justice League America No. 72-75 is not real, but a part of the Dreamverse created by Dr. Destiny. But this version is particularly brutal. In this reality, he is the Chief of Security. Sinestro gets his arm broken in a fight with the Martian Manhunter, and when he tries to escape, he gets Hawkman's mace right in the face, breaking his nose. Hawkman orders for Sinestro's arms to be amputated at the shoulder. and takes Sinestro's power ring for himself. Sinestro manages to escape, but Hawkman finds him and kills him with a sword created with the power ring. He also kills Green Arrow later without a second thought. This Hawkman was a particularly nasty piece of work.

JLA No. 112 (May 2005)

3. Blood Eagle (2005)
    This character never actually appears. He is only mentioned. In JLA No. 112 (May 2005), Hawkman and the other heroes end up on the Earth in the Anti-Matter Universe, and when the people there see him flying, they scream in terror that Blood Eagle is back and run to hide. Apparently, this universe's version of Hawkman was pretty bad, but the Crime Syndicate killed him for whatever reason. This is the only time I have seen this character mentioned. 

Art by Joe Prado

4. Black Lantern Hawkman (2009)
    In the Blackest Night series, Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders were killed by Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny. They are resurrected as Black Lanterns themselves and appear a few times in the series before they are brought back to life, although Shiera Saunders returns instead of Kendra Saunders. 

Convergence Nightwing and Oracle No. 1 (June 2015)

5. Convergence Hawkman (2015)

    Convergence was a difficult series to figure out exactly what was going on, but basically, Braniac has captured Earth's cities from Pre-Flashpoint. and placed them in domes. In one domed city, a Hawkman and Hawkwoman from an alternate reality have defeated the heroes of that city and look for other heroes and cities to conquer. Braniac allows them to enter the city where Nightwing and Oracle reside. The Hawks try to take over the city to rule it, but Nightwing and Oracle are able to defeat them with help from Black Canary. They admit defeat, so Oracle allows them to live in the domed city if their intentions are good. 

Injustice Gods Among Us Year Five No. 15 (Oct 2016)

6. Hawkman - Injustice Gods Among Us (2016)
     He reneged on his deal with Batman, shows no respect for the other heroes, and is basically a wife-beater. In another alternate reality, Superman becomes a dictator after he is tricked into killing Lois Lane and their unborn child, as well as watching Metropolis destroyed in a nuclear explosion. The heroes split into two groups: Superman's regime and Batman's rebels.
    The Hawkman wasn't a major part of this series, but he was a complete louse. Hawkgirl joins Superman's regime, and this infuriates Hawkman. He arrives from Thanagar to take her back by force, but Hawkgirl refuses. She defeats him in a fight, and he leaves without her. He later strikes a deal with Batman to get some Kryptonite. He wins a bet against Mongul to acquire some Kryptonite for their plan. However, instead of delivering the Kryptonite to Batman, he makes a mace with it and attacks Superman on his own. He is almost successful in killing Superman, but Flash and the others show up and take the mace away from him. Though weakened, Superman then punches Hawkman to death. 

Hawkman Vol. V No. 18 (January 2020)

7. Sky Tyrant (2019)
    Across time and space, Hawkman had many lives, including a life on Earth-3, where everything is backwards. Heroes are villains and vice versa. The Hawkman of Earth-3 in this reality was Sky Tyrant. His sole purpose was to take as many lives as possible to prolong his own reincarnation cycle. However, the heroes of Earth-3 defeated and killed him. After death, his consciousness remained with the other past lives of Hawkman. When the Batman Who Laughs emerged from the Dark Multiverse, he corrupted Carter Hall of the mainstream universe, and Sky Tyrant was able to slowly take over. Carter Hal's consciousness wrestled with Sky Tyrant, and Hawkwoman also showed up and defeated him in battle. As Hawkwoman looked for a way to cure Hawkman, a stone from the monolith in their first lives triggered an explosion and sent Hawkwoman and Sky Tyrant into the realm of the Lord of the Void. When they awoke, Sky Tyrant was gone, and Carter Hall's consciousness had returned. Sky Tyrant was not seen again. 

DCeased: Hope at World's End Chapter 1 (May 2020)

8. Zombie Hawkman (2020) 

    An anti-life equation or virus was triggered on Apokolips, and the virus traveled to Earth through Cyborg. Anyone who looked at a cell phone or computer screen was immediately transformed into a raging zombie. Hawkman and Hawkgirl fought off an attack, but Hawkman was attack by the zombies led by Zombie Black Adam and he was turned as well. He was seen flying with Black Adam a couple of times, but as so often happens with DC Comics, he kind of just disappears, and we have no idea what happened to him. 

DC vs. Vampires (2020)

9. Vampire Hawkman (2022)
    In a story on an alternate Earth, vampires start a war against the humans, and several DC heroes are turned, including Hawkman and Hawkgirl. I don't believe there is a scene that shows how they were turned, unless it's in a spin-off issue. Green Arrow leads a resistance force and is deliberately captured by Hawkman to learn how to destroy them. In the final battle, Green Arrow shoots Hawkman with a bunch of arrows. Hawkman shrugs them off as nothing at first, but the arrows are from Swamp Thing, so the arrows grow and rip the vampire Hawkman apart. 

Absolute Superman No. 16 Variant (June 2026)

9. Absolute Hawkman (2025)

   In the Absolute Universe, Hawkman was an archaeologist who discovered a magical mace in the tomb of Teth-Adam. It gave him the ability to fly, super-strength, and apparently a long life. He became a superhero of sorts, but eventually sold out. He gave away the identities of other heroes, helped kill several of them himself, including Green Arrow, and now works for the evil Lazarus. You can read more details about this Hawkman here. 

I remembered two more as I was writing, so I added them to the article, but there may be more out there that I've forgotten about. To be honest, DC has been telling stories like this constantly over the last decade or so. Five of the nine have come out since 2015. The Absolute series is apparently selling well, so there's probably no end in sight for a while. It's good to be good, but it's more fun to be bad. Sign of the times we're living in, I suppose. Personally, I want to read about the heroes doing heroic deeds and being inspirational, but I suddenly feel extremely old-fashioned. I do believe that the heroic, inspirational heroes will outlive the evil versions, but sometimes I wonder. But as long as the DC's Holy Trinity remain good, a warped good but good nonetheless, the rest is all cannon fodder. Hawkman being turned evil this often, over and over again, makes one think that this is now the plan for DC going forward. We'll have to just watch and see what's ahead. May the Hawks keep soaring in the right direction.