Hawkgirl II
Created by Geoff Johns, James Robinson & Stephen Sadowski
|
 
|
NAME + ALIASES:
Kendra Shiera Saunders
KNOWN RELATIVES:
Mia (daughter), Cyril "Speed" Saunders (grandfather), Shiera
Hall (Hawkgirl, great-aunt, deceased), Hector Hall (Dr. Fate IV,
cousin, deceased)
|
GROUP AFFILIATIONS:
Justice Society of America, Justice League of America, The Birds
of Prey
FIRST APPEARANCE:
JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)
|
Kendra Saunders is the most recent reincarnation of Princess Chay-Ara of
ancient Egypt. Chay-Ara and her husband, Khufu were murdered
by a blade made from the Thanagarian "Nth metal." This mystical
death cursed their souls to eternal reincarnation (as well as the souls
of some of their enemies). But Kendra was different among those in
this legacy — she was not born with the soul of Chay-Ara.
Kendra was a troubled youth and was tormented by the murder of her parents.
When she was sixteen she became pregnant and gave the baby girl, Mia,
up
for adoption. Kendra stays in touch with Mia's adoptive family and
on rare occasions will visit her daughter, though the girl does not know
she is her mother. (JSA
All-Stars #2) Later in her teens, she attempted suicide — and
succeeded. But at that very moment, Chay-Ara's soul vacated its previous
host and took root in Kendra's body. It was cosmic fate that Chay-Ara's
previous host, Shiera Hall (Hawkgirl I)
died at the same moment that Kendra committed suicide. (Kendra was
also Sheira's grandniece.)
Kendra awoke from the suicide attempt with all of her own memories intact,
but with none of the memories of her past lives. She knew something strange
had happened because her eye color changed from brown to green. Her grandfather,
Cyril "Speed" Saunders immediately recognized what had happened
and began training Kendra to become the new Hawkgirl. (Sheira Hall was
Speed's cousin.) (JSA #22)
She had a rocky start at adventuring; her first mission was to protect
the infant who would become the new Dr.
Fate. Ironically, it was Sheira's reincarnated son, Hector Hall whom
Kendra was saving. This brought her into conflict with the Justice Society.
Things were soon ironed out and Kendra joined the JSA. Soon after that,
she helped recall the soul of Chay-Ara's lost beloved, Khufu, back to
life in the form of
Carter Hall (Hawkman). (JSA
#23)
But in this life, Hawkman's return did not spell a rekindled romance
for the Hawks. Partly because of her fragmented memories, Kendra
rejected her "destiny" as Khufu's soul mate and spurned Carter's
romantic advances. Regardless, they relocated to St. Roch, Louisiana
and began exploring their relationship on new terms. (Hawkman
v.4) Her prowess in battle not only gained her quick acceptance
into the JSA, but into the JLA as well. Kendra was recruited by
a robotic servant of the Batman to join
the JLA when the main team was believed dead. In truth, the JLA had
been lost in ancient Atlantis. Hawkgirl aided in finding
the core JLA and then left the team. (JLA
#69-75)
Hawkgirl suffered a couple severe injuries within a short time. First,
when the JSA encountered the undercover Justice League Elite, an accident
forced Kasumi's blades into Kendra. (JL Elite #6) Not
long after healing from this, she fell victim to a rogues gallery of
Hawkman's old foes led by the Fadeaway Man. (Hawkman
#x-46)
Infinite Crisis
Kendra and Carter eventually did grow closer together, but cosmic
events conspired to obstruct their destiny. When Thanagar went
to war with the planet Rann, the Hawks were summoned by Adam
Strange to
help stop the conflict. (Hawkman #46) Strange
hoped the Hawks could successfully mediate between sides, but Carter
and Kendra were forced to ally with Adam against Thanagar.
There, they were reunited with the Thanagarian Hawkwoman, Shayera
Thal,
who joined them against her own people. (Rann-Thanagar
War #1-2)
In the escalation, they discovered that Thanagar was being led by the
resurrected Onimar Synn and Shayera was killed by Blackfire, who sought
to claim Rann for her own people. (#5) Eventually,
the Hawks and their allies were able to defeat Synn, but they had no
time to celebrate. Not only did Thanagar intend to continue its plans
of conquest, but a great cosmic rift opened up in the Polaris (Thanagar's)
galaxy. (#6) The
Hawks enjoyed only a brief rest from battle — at which time they
consummated their feelings for one another. (Hawkman
#49)
Hawkman ultimately decided to remain on Thanagar to help
with reconstruction, and Kendra returned to Earth. En route, she
was caught alongside other heroes when the giant rift collapsed.
One group, including Kendra was returned to Earth via a Zeta Beam-like
transmission. This was intercepted in Western Australia, and when Hawkgirl
arrived, she had become 25 feet tall! (52
#4-5) She
was soon restored to normal with the help of the likes of Dr. Mid-Nite. (#33)
In Carter's absence, Kendra began delving more intently into Egyptology
for herself. She undertook all Carter's administrative
duties at the Stonechat Museum and managed to turn it into a successful
tourist attraction. Without her "other half" around, Kendra
was targeted by her ancient enemy, Hath Set, who began a campaign to
end the cycle of reincarnation for Chay-Ara for good. (Hawkgirl
#50)
In Hath-Set's most recent incarnation as Roderic
Doyle, he began by putting financial pressure on the Museum itself. (#51) Kendra,
meanwhile, was aided in dreams by the Egyptian cat goddesses, the Handmaidens
of Bast, (#52) and
by visions of her cousin, Sheira Hall. (#55) Doyle
became a victim of his own schemes and was swallowed by an otherworldly
god called "The Maw." (#56) After
this, he returned as a disembodied force capable of possessing any number
of individuals.
Hawkman's eventual return from Thanagar coincided with the arrival
of Blackfire on Earth. Unbeknownst to Kendra, Carter had returned earlier
with no word, leaving a "testament pod" with evidence against
Blackfire in Kendra's office at the museum. Blackfire learned of this
and gathered a hit squad to pursue them both. Kendra discovered
the testament pod and ran up against Blackfire herself. Together, she
and Hawkman captured Blackfire and
removed her powers with the alien Absorbascon.
(#57-59,
JSA Classified #21-22)
A true reunion was not in the cards for these ancient lovers.
Kendra was still being warned by the spirit of Shiera Hall to break the
Hawks' pattern of death and rebirth. To this end, Kendra gave Carter
the cold shoulder and the couple separated. (Hawkgirl
#60)
Independence
Both Kendra and Carter dealt with their break-up by returning to teamwork.
While Carter rejoined the Justice Society, Kendra took part in the first
case of the newly reformed Justice League and joined thereafter. (JLofA
v.2 #1-7) She now receives the unwanted (?) attentions
of her fellow JLAer, Red Arrow. She
has also signed on as a freelance operative for Oracle's Birds
of Prey.
Her first mission for Oracle involved the rescue of Ice in
Azerbaijan.
In her personal life, Kendra made it her first priority to end the threat
of Hath Set for good. She delved into her museum's records, looking for
ancient evidence of Hath Set. This led her to a museum in Gotham City
where the Batman helped her unearth more records of his past. The path
then led to Metropolis... (#63-64)
Notes
Hawkgirl was a main character on the Justice
League animated cartoon, though this character was the Thanagarian,
Shayera Hol.
Hawkgirl benefits from the antigravity
power of the Thanagarian "Nth metal." Its primary use is to permit
flight. To navigate in the air, she uses a sophisticated set of mechanical
wings. The Nth metal has other properties. Prolonged exposure to
the metal has imbued Kendra with a measure of unaided flight, as
well as extra strength and invulnerability. She can also exert mental
control over her wings
She employs a number of weapons as well, ranging from ancient to
high tech. Many of these come from Carter Hall's private collection.
The Batman has referred her to a man named Mole, who makes custom-designed
weapons.
TOP | Home | JLA | JSA | Legion | DC
Teams | Outsiders | Omega
Men | Index
of Profiles
Cosmic Teams is a non-commercial site and the
product of fan research. All characters and low resolution images © DC Comics.
All text is © 1996-2007 Michael Kooiman, unless otherwise noted.
Unauthorized duplication is a violation of copyright law.
|
52 #4, 5, 35
