As one of its longest-running heroes, Hawkman almost always has a presence within the DC Comics universe – but he doesn’t always have his trademark wings. With his penchant for reincarnation, Hawkman has been fighting evil for most of his lives. But whether his famous wings are organic or technological has varied in each one.
Wings may be the first things that some fans think of when it comes to Carter Hall, but the so-called Winged Wonder has had plenty of distinctive visual designs over the course of his history. While his hawk imagery is almost always present, the same can’t always be said for his wings. And thanks to Hawkman #4 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch, fans know just why that’s the case.
As he is confronted by his past self, Katar Hol of Thanagar, Hawkman learns just how stubborn he can be. Initially, Katar suspects his future self is his shapeshifting foe Byth, but after some skybound shenanigans, Carter convinces his predecessor to see reason. When Hol calls Hawkman out for his shapeshifting and disappearing wings, Carter corrects him by saying, “My wings are Nth metal. I designed them to retract when I don’t need them.” But while that explains Hawkman’s randomly appearing wings in this lifetime, that doesn’t necessarily explain their varying presence in his past lives. After all, flight is one of the main traits that most of his identities share, and there’s a very specific reason for that.
In issue #1 of the same series, Hawkman thinks to himself, “There remains only one truth that I know to be certain – that I am made to soar. I can’t remember a life when I wasn’t enthralled by flight.” Later in Venditti’s Hawkman run, readers learn that the Winged Wonder was born with natural wings as the warrior Ktar Deathbringer. As such, in each of subsequent resurrections, his soul has manifested itself into identities that lend themselves to flight through any means necessary.
Over the course of his countless lifetimes, Carter has had access to all sorts of ancient and alien technologies that have granted him the power of flight in one way or another. While his various reincarnations across space and time have frequently placed him in bodies with biological wings – with his Arrowverse counterpart following suit – Carter has frequently needed to employ this technology to pursue his aviary passions in his lifetimes on Thanagar or even Superman’s birth-world Krypton.
Carter Hall is one of the DC Universe’ longest-running heroes, but he’s also got one of its most convoluted backstories. Even so, his iconic avian imagery is present in pretty much every lifetime, and it all goes to reinforce one simple fact. In any life, DC Comics’ Hawkman is going to fly high one way or another.