Hawkwoman

Costume worn by Sharon Parker. Art by Jan Duursema.

Years before the events told in the Invasion story arc, Fel Andar, a Thanagarian spy, was sent to Earth to infiltrate among humans. Eventually he met and married an Earth woman, Sharon Parker, who would soon give birth to Charley Parker, later known as the Golden Eagle.

When Charley was four years old, Thanagar called Andar to active duty, so he joined the Justice League International claiming to be Carter and Shiera Hall's son Carter Hall, Jr. Andar never told the Thanagarian Empire about Charley, so he mindwiped Sharon, forcing her to take the identity of Hawkwoman Sharon Hall, wife of Carter Hall Jr.

When Sharon learned about the masquerade she exposed the truth to J'onn J'onzz and Maxwell Lord. Confronted by both, Andar escaped back to Thanagar and Sharon perished.

Shayera Thal II is the illegitimate daughter of Shayera Thal I and Andar Pul, Thanagar's Administrator of Protection and close friend of Shayera I's father Thal Provis. Andar Pul had seduced the then 13-year-old Shayera I and her pregnancy became a political scandal that threatened to put her father's political activities to a hold. As a result, Shayera II was abandoned in Downside by her mother shortly after her birth.

When she was ten, she first met Wingman ensign Katar Hol during his first mission to the Thanagarian ghettos. Her mother was killed in a terrorist bombing.

When Shayera lost her Downside guardian as a result of a police action she was sent to an orphanage in the High Towers. Here she was found and adopted by Thal Provis, whose grief over the loss of his own daughter, had led him to find and reclaim his granddaughter. She was unaware Provis was really her grandfather until much later.

As a young woman, Shayera became a Wingmen and eventually meets Katar Hol again. She helped him stop Byth's drug smuggling.

In the early 1990s, Thanagarian policemen partners Katar Hol and Shayera Thal arrived on Earth (following an attempted Thanagarian invasion of Earth) with the mission to capture the Thanagarian shapeshifting criminal Byth. They were part of a force which used the hawk as their symbol, and also had a winged, gravity-defying harness. Together they fought crime on Earth and corruption on Thanagar for some time, eventually falling in love and deciding to remain on Earth and build a life there rather than return to their homeworld. Then came the events of Zero Hour where Katar was merged with Carter and Shiera Hall in a new Hawkman version, who was then possessed by a creature from the red known as the Hawk Avatar. Fundamentally changed, he swore off his relationship with Shayera, and she retired from superhero work to become a cop in Detroit. The "new" Hawkman adventured for a brief time before going insane and being banished into limbo.

Shortly after that, Kendra Saunders became the new Hawkgirl, and Carter Hall, the original Hawkman, was resurrected. Shayera met them during her final battle against Byth when the three Hawks, aided by Animal Man, defeated the Thanagarian criminal for good.

In the Rann-Thanagar War miniseries, Shayera Thal reappeared as a reinstated soldier of the Thanagarian Army, last seen fighting with the invasion force of Polara. She considered reborn Hawkman Carter Hall and Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders friends of Thanagar, but grew angry with their ally Adam Strange blaming Rannian science for the destruction of her birth world. Despite this, she reluctantly served alongside him as a comrade-in-arms during the war.

Shayera was betrayed and murdered by Tamaranean Queen Komand'r. Her body was sent on a trajectory into Thanagar's sun, Polaris, the heroes' resting place in Thanagarian tradition.[2]

Following DC's 2011 relaunch, Shayera Thal is revealed as the princess of Thanagar and the former lover of Katar Hol. Initially, she is depicted as a villain, after erroneously believing her lover Katar Hol has killed her brother, Emperor Corsar, vowing vengeance upon him.[3] But after it is discovered that Corsar survived and was manipulating the situation Shayera betrays him and saves Katar's life, seemingly sacrificing her own for it,[4] although, it is later revealed that she survived.[5]

Hawkwoman (right) as she appeared in Young Justice.

A hybridization of the Shayera Hol and Shayera Thal incarnations of Hawkwoman appears in Young Justice, voiced by Zehra Fazal.[7][8] This version is a member of the Justice League along with her husband Hawkman and primarily makes minor recurring appearances. During the second season, she and the Justice League fall under the Light's control and are forced to attack the planet Rimbor. The Leaguers are later forced to return to Rimbor to stand trial. They are eventually found guilty, but Superboy, Miss Martian, and Adam Strange present new evidence and force the Rimbor Tribunal to reverse their verdict.

• Shayera Hol makes a cameo appearance at the end of Justice League: The New Frontier.
• An unidentified Hawkwoman appears in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, alongside Hawkgirl and Hawkman.