On This Day in Hawkworld History: Hawkman Clobbers Batman and Superman

 On September 29, 2009, the animated film Superman Batman Public Enemies was released. Of all of Hawkman's TV and movie appearances over the years, this 2-minute 10-second scene is probably my all-time favorite. 

Superman and Batman are fugitives, and President Lex Luthor gets Hawkman and Captain Marvel to bring them in. During this fight, Hawkman is the only one who never gets beaten. Batman gets caught in Hawkman's net, but right after he escapes the net, he gets a mace full in the face (plot armor alert!). 
Superman and Captain Marvel beat each other around for a while, and Captain Marvel even gets a face full of heat vision. Then the real fun starts. 

Jaw should be shattered, but....no.

After switching opponents, Batman shoots Captain Marvel with an until-now-unnoticeable teeny-tiny missile strapped to his wrist, which for some reason is able to take him out when Superman's punches couldn't. But then Batman then gets a full blast of Captain Marvel's lightning. Meanwhile, Superman grabs Hawkman, never punches him but just tries to fly him up into the stratosphere. Did he forget that Hawkman can survive in outer space for a while? Hmm... This gives Hawkman the chance to pull out his Claw of Horus. If you are not familiar with this weapon, it's been around since 2001 but rarely used, probably because it would level up Hawkman and we can't be having that. I wrote an article about it so check it out! 

Hawkman hits Superman with the force of a PLANET.

Anyway, Hawkman just hauls off and clobbers Superman with the Claw, sending him crashing into a mountain. The comic version shows Superman and Batman out cold. But in the next scene, Superman and Batman are wearing Captain Marvel and Hawkman's outfits to trick Lex Luthor and capture him. Neither the comic nor the film shows us how they overcame Hawkman and Captain Marvel. Perhaps Hawkman and Captain Marvel were later convinced that they were being tricked by Lex Luthor, and they decided to switch sides. However it happened, Hawkman still ends up being the only one unscathed in this battle. Let me enjoy that fact since they are few and far between. To be honest, I'm rather surprised that DC allowed Hawkman to have such an outstanding moment. I'm still wondering how Batman's face or jaw wasn't shattered by Hawkman's mace. Again, plot armor.

This movie was based on Superman Batman No. 4, which came out in January 2004. It came out of nowhere and I never even bothered to pick up the comic until I saw the movie. I wish we had more scenes like this, but at we got this one. 

There are even some figures based on the film. I picked up the Hawkman figure a few years ago. It comes with a Claw of Horus, which is just awesome beyond words. If you ever get a chance to pick one up, I would definitely recommend it. 

So September 29, 2009 was a day when Hawkfans got a rare and special treat. It's almost 20 years ago, and we'll keep waiting for unexpected but brilliant moments for Hawkman.