Hank Hall

Hank Hall
Textless cover ofHawk & Dove#5 (March 2012), art byRob Liefeld.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	As Hawk: Showcase#75 (June 1968) As Monarch: Armageddon 2001#1 (May 1991) As Extant: Zero Hour: Crisis in Time#4 (September 1994)
Created by	Steve Ditko Steve Skeates
In-story information
Alter ego	Henry "Hank" Hall
Team affiliations	Hawk and Dove Teen Titans Black Lantern Corps Birds of Prey Justice League
Notable aliases	Hawk, Extant, Monarch
Abilities	Hawk: Superhuman strength, durability, stamina, speed, agility and reflexes Enhanced body density, healing factor and invulnerability Extant: Time travel Chronokinesis Energy blasts Flight Omniscience

Hank Hallis a fictional character that appears inDC Comics.He first appeared inShowcase#75 (June 1968) asHawkofHawk and Dove.After that, he became known asExtant,and appeared in thelimited seriesZero Hour: Crisis in Time,as well as some related tie-ins. Long after that, he became thesupervillainMonarchin thecrossovereventlimited seriesArmageddon 2001. Hawk has appeared in numerous television shows and films. He appeared in his first live-action adaptation in the television seriesTitans,played byAlan Ritchsonin thefirst,second,andthirdseasons.

Publication history

The character first appeared inShowcase#75 (June 1968), created bySteve DitkoandSteve Skeates.He latter appeared as Monarch inArmageddon 2001#1 (May 1991), created byArchie Goodwin,Denny O'Neil,andDan Jurgens,and as Extant inZero Hour: Crisis in Time#4 (September 1994), created by Jurgens.

Fictional character biography

Hawk and Dove

Main article:Hawk and Dove

Hank Hall is originally thesuperheroHawk ofHawk and Dove.Hawk represents "chaos", while Dove represents "order". His brother Don Hall dies duringCrisis on Infinite Earthsand is replaced with Dawn Granger.

Armageddon 2001:Monarch

Main article:Monarch (comics)

Monarchis an oppressive tyrant from a bleak, dystopian Earth fifty years in the future. The people are unhappy with his rule, particularly scientistMatthew Ryder,an expert ontemporalstudies, who is convinced he can use his technology to travel back in time and prevent the maniacal ruler from ever coming to power. He learns that forty years ago, one of Earth's strongest and most powerful heroes eventually turns evil and becomes Monarch, and ten years from that event he conquers the world. During a time travel experiment, Matthew is transformed into a being called "Waverider", and begins searching the timestream for the hero who becomes Monarch. Monarch follows him and comes into battle with the heroes of the present day. In the ensuing battle, he kills Dove, and her enraged partner kills him for it. Removing the villain's mask, Hank discovers that he is Monarch, and dons the armor.

The reveal of Hank Hall as Monarch led to somecontroversyamongst the fan community; Monarch was originally intended to be revealed as Captain Atom, with clues in the story pointing towards this which had to be discarded when it was changed at the last minute. This change was due to the premature leaking of Monarch's identity. While Monarch was always supposed to be Captain Atom, this was supposed to be a secret. When Monarch's identity was prematurely leaked, DC decided to preserve the surprise of the story by switching Monarch's identity to that of Hank Hall.

As many fans pointed out,Hawk and Dove(vol. 3) Annual #2 has Hank Hall fighting Monarch face to face in 2001 with Hawk being the destroyer of Monarch.Dove allows Waverider to see a multitude of futures and realize Hawk is Monarch.

Armageddon: The Alien Agenda

When hostile aliens encounter Monarch andCaptain Atomin the past (sometime between 230 and 65 million years ago), they attempt to enlist both (with each figure having no knowledge of the other involved) to assist them in creating a wormhole. The wormhole's creation would destroy the universe in which the primitive Earth existed, but would allow the aliens to travel freely.

Zero Hour:Extant

Main article:Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!

Hank Hall as Extant duringZero Hour,art by Eric Battle.

Shortly after returning to the present, Monarch confronts Waverider and uses his power to see the past and future, becoming aware of the power within him. It is explained at this point that when Monarch killed Dove, her powers went directly into Hawk. Realising this, Monarch unleashes his hidden powers and becomesExtant.Extant then removes Waverider's timetravel device and joins forces with renegadeGreen LanternHal Jordan,now known asParallax,in a plan to alter time as they saw fit.

His first act is to alter the future so that he can have ametahumanarmy at his disposal, mostly consisting of members of theTeen Titans;his plan is to amass an army so powerful that no one can interfere with his efforts to control time itself. Several armies of heroes band together to stop his plans before they began in the 30th century, and alter history so that his followers never come to exist in the future.

Down, but not out, Extant begins to strike back at the heroes at Ground Zero, the beginning of time. Parallax warps several metahumans from various time periods together for the ultimate assault, and Extant hits the Atom with a chronal blast, de-aging him into a teenager. Sensing defeat is imminent, he escapes the fight, promising vengeance at a later date.

Extant first reappears in the 1999 one-shot "Impulse: Bart Saves the Universe".In it, Extant picks a fight with the originalJustice Societyas a means of tricking theLinear Meninto saving the life of an innocent bystander who was destined to die. The man they saved would now go on to develop a nuclear weapon that, when tested, would shift the Earth out of its proper orbit, causing massive changes in the timelines of some of Earth's greatest heroes. Among these changes, Hal Jordan never becomes Green Lantern, thus he never becomes Parallax, and never stops Extant from destroying all of time. Fortunately for the citizens of time,Impulsearrives and is barely able to defeat Extant and prevent the Linear Men from saving the doomed scientist.

He engages the Justice Society again on a later date as he seeks to acquire the reality-warping power of the Worlogog, recently dismantled byHourman,who fears its power. Although Extant succeeds in his goal with the aid ofMetron's stolen Mobius Chair,Doctor Fatelearns from the imprisonedMordruthat when Hourman dismantled the Worlogog, he retained a small fragment of it, thus creating an infinitesimal flaw in the prime Worlogog that the JSA can exploit.

After the resurrected Dove sacrifices herself to distract Extant, Hourman divides his Hour of Power amongst his teammates, granting them all immunity to Extant's reality warping powers for four minutes, each of them attacking him on a different temporal plane until being able to separate him from the Worlogog. Following this setback, Extant again attempts to escape. Instead, he is teleported by Hourman and Metron, atAtom Smasher's behest, into the seat of an airplane whose crashKobracaused earlier in the timestream. Atom Smasher's mother originally died on the plane that, but he replaces her with a weakened Extant, saving her life and murdering the super villain in the process.

Hawk restored

In response to fan-criticism ofArmageddon 2001,many of whose readers felt that the character of Hawk had been severely misused in the story'slast-minute changes,DC Comics set about restoring the character as he had originally been intended; a hero. DCretconnedExtant's portion of Hank Hall's timeline in issue 14 ofJSA,dated September 2000, in whichMetronannounced his intention to erase the villain's "wretched timeline" with his Mobius Chair. This was the second issue of a 3-part story entitledThe Hunt for Extant!(the details of which are listed above). After this, DC also retcons Monarch's portion of Hall's timeline with the final issue of the 6-part miniseriesThe Battle for Blüdhaven,dated September 2006, which now depictsCaptain Atom's transformation into Monarch, as had been DC's original intention back in 1991. Hawk is restored, but he is not revived until the final issue ofBlackest Night.

Blackest Night

Hank Hall as the resurrectedWhite LanternHawk fromBirds of Prey#4, art byRyan Sook.

In theBlackest Nightcrossover, Hank Hall is reanimated as a member of the undeadBlack Lantern Corps.Theblack power ringsalso try to reanimate his brother Don, but are denied, stating "Don Hall of Earth at Peace".Hank then tracks down and attacks Dawn and the new Hawk (Holly Granger). After a short battle, Hank rams his hand into Holly's chest, ripping her heart out, and using it to charge his ring.Holly's body is then revived by a black ring, and the two attack Dawn together. Severely outmatched, Dawn retreats, with Hank and Holly giving chase.Hank and Holly follow Dawn toTitans Tower,where more Black Lantern Titans are attacking the living heroes. The two eventually overwhelm Dawn, with Holly plunging her hand into Dawn's chest. Dawn suddenly radiates a white energy that completely destroys Holly's body and ring. The other Black Lanterns, seeing Dawn as their greatest threat, attack her. However, she turns the light on them, destroying all but Hank,TempestandTerrawho quickly retreat.While battling the Black Lanterns atCoast City,Hank is later brought back to life by the power of the white light.Dawn has a vision of Don who tells Dawn that she can save Hank, and to not give up on him.

Brightest Day/Birds of Prey

At the beginning of theBrightest Dayevent, Hank and Dawn begin working together again as a crime-fighting duo. Dawn expresses worries over Hank's increasingly violent demeanor, but he simply brushes off her concerns.While stopping an army of powerful teenaged super villains inGotham City,Hank and Dawn are invited byZinda Blaketo join theBirds of Prey.The two are immediately called byOracleto helpBlack CanaryandHuntressduring their battle with a dangerous villainess known as the White Canary. Dove attempts to defeat her herself, but is surprised when White Canary is somehow able to dodge her attack and then draw blood from her.Hank and Dawn later encounterDeadmanwho Hank asks to resurrect Don.At a crater inSilver City, New Mexico,Deadman attempts to revive Don, only to be prevented from doing so by theEntity.As a number of onlookers (includingJackson Hyde) watch the Entity speak to the heroes, it instructs Hank to catch the boomerang thatCaptain Boomerangwill throw at Dove.

After being injured by the Penguin, Hank Hall is sent to a hospital while his teammates plan their next move.During his hospital stay, Hank has a vision of himself, clad in a White Lantern uniform and talking to Don. Just before the dream ends, Don assures his brother that he is at peace.Later, Dawn is transported to the Star City forest by the Entity, Hawk unintentionally went with her, but when the "dark avatar" made his presence known, the Entity tells them that they must protect the forest and withstand the ultimate savior, which isAlec Holland.

It was revealed that Captain Boomerang's mission for throwing the boomerang was to free Hawk as an avatar of war from the Lords of Chaos because his act of saving Dove would have broken their hold on him to be his own self. However, he failed to catch the boomerang and instead it was caught by Boston Brand, who ended up dying in the process and used his final act to move his white power ring toAlec Hollandand bring back theSwamp Thingto cleanse the Green of Nekron's influence.

Powers and abilities

As Hawk he possesses a "danger sense transformation" which allows him to change into a super-human with the powers of super strength, unlimited stamina, enhanced speed, increased agility, enhanced body density, extreme durability and healing factor.

His partner Dove suppresses his violent nature, and without her Hank's rage becomes boundless.

As Monarch he possesses the same powers that he had as Hawk, along with a suit of highly durable armor that is crafted using advanced technology.

As Extant, he has the powers of chronokinesis, energy projection, flight, and omniscience. After piecing together the Worlogog, he becomes nigh-omnipotent.

While being a member of the Black Lantern Corps, Hank wields a black power ring which allows him to generate black energy constructs. He is also able to perceive emotional auras. Whilst he is able to perceive Holly's aura as red for rage, he sees Dawn's as a pure white that his ring cannot identify. While wearing the black power ring, it lowers his original power by over 50%.

Other versions

• An alternate universe incarnation of Hank Hall / Hawk appears inJLA: The Nail.
• An alternate universe incarnation of Hank Hall / Hawk from a reality created byAnansiappears inJustice League of America(vol. 2) #26.

In other media

Television

• Hank Hall as Hawk appears inJustice League Unlimited,voiced byFred Savage.This version is a member of theJustice League.
• Hank Hall as Hawk appears inBatman: The Brave and the Bold,voiced byGreg Ellis.
• Hank Hall as Hawk appears inTitans,portrayed byAlan Ritchsonand by Tait Blum as a young adult.This version is a former football player and half-brother of Don Hall / Dove, with the two operating as the original Hawk and Dove to hunt down sexual predators. After Don and Dawn's mother, Marie, is killed in an accident, Hank and Dawn Granger gradually enter a relationship, with Dawn subsequently becoming the new Dove using the physical abuse she and Marie suffered at the hands of the former's father as motivation. The new duo go on to meet and team up withDick Graysonand theTitans,though tensions occur when Grayson and Dawn enter a romantic relationship. While planning on retiring, Hank and Dawn cross paths with Grayson again when he requests their help in protectingRachel Roth.This leads to Hank, Dawn, and Grayson being attacked by theNuclear Family,who were hired to retrieve Roth, and Dawn ending up in a coma due to injuries sustained in the ensuing fight. Dawn eventually awakens when she receives a vision from Roth, telling her and Hank to findJason Todd.
  • The Titans incarnation of Hank Hall / Hawk appears in theArrowversecrossoverCrisis on Infinite Earthsvia archival footage from the episodes "Trigon" and "Titans".

Video games

Hank Hall as Hawk appears as a character summon inScribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.

Miscellaneous

Hank Hall as Hawk makes non-speaking cameo appearances inDC Super Hero Girlsas a student of Super Hero High.