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 HAWK I (Hank Hall)BIOGRAPHY
Created by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates

The Original Universe


PERSONAL DATA


Real Name: Hank Hall
Full Name: Henry 'Hank' Hall
Aliases: Monarch, Extant
Identity: Secret
Occupation: Former college student, later Overlord and temporal agent
Status: Active
Place of Birth: Elmond
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Donald "Don" Hall (brother, deceased); Irwin Hall (father), Rae Hall (mother)
Group Affiliation(s): Teen Titans; Titans West
Gender: Male
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 181 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
First Appearance: (as Hawk): Showcase #75 (June 1968): "In the Beginning..."
(as Monarch): Armageddon 2001 #2 (October 1991); (as Extant): Showcase '94 #9 (August 1994)
Creators: Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates


OVERVIEW

Hank and Don Hall were chosen by the Lords of Order and Chaos to act as heroes in the world, each embodying one side of their eternal duality. Hank was the more aggressive, impulsive of the two, and as the Hawk he embodied chaos. Don was the more peaceful and level-headed of the two, and as the Dove he became the embodiment of order. As a team, the Hawk and the Dove completed each other and made for a superb crimefighting unit. When his brother died, Hank went completely out of control, and was only reigned in by the introduction of a new Dove, Dawn Granger. When she, too, was killed, by a future incarnation of Hank himself, he went completely over the edge into madness, taking on his future persona as Monarch, a despotic madman. He later gained control of time-altering abilities and remodelled himself as Extant, and was apparently killed after a confrontation with the JSA. After the event known as the Blackest Night, he was brought back to life by the Light Entity, and is a hero once more.

HISTORY

Hank and Don Hall were chosen by the Lords of Order and Chaos to act as heroes in the world, each embodying one side of their eternal duality. Hank was the more aggressive, impulsive of the two, and as the Hawk he embodied chaos. Don was the more peaceful and level-headed of the two, and as the Dove he became the embodiment of order. As a team, the Hawk and the Dove completed each other and made for a superb crimefighting unit.

Hank and Don Hall gained their powers as teenagers, when they tracked down some criminals who had attempted to murder their father Irwin Hall, a superior court judge. Helplessly observing the crooks, Hank and Don heard mysterious voices who offered them superpowers if they agreed to utetr the words "Hawk" and "Dove", respecttively. They later learned that they were part of an experiment initiated by T'Charr, a Lord of Chaos, and Terataya, a Lord of Order who had fallen in love and who were convinced that opposites completed each other. Don and Hank uttered the words and were transformed into superheroes and were able to apprehend the criminals who had tried to kill their father.

For a few years, the Hawk and the Dove fought crime as a duo and as a part of the Teen Titans. When the Titans fist disbanded, the brothers went their separate ways for a while, Hank joining the Navy while Don was off to college. When Mr. Esper attacked Hank's ship, he was stopped by a number of young superheroes, who banded together as the Titans West. Hank tried to lead the team, but failed. The Ttans West disbanded and became a footnote in history.

During the event known as the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Dove was killed in action. The Lords T'Charr and Terataya had decided to strip Don Hall of his dove powers, but in doing so they accidentally caused his death as the Dove was in the process of saving some childen from a collapsing building.

After his brother died, Hank went completely out of control, and was only reigned in by the introduction of a new Dove, Dawn Granger. When she, too, was killed, by a future incarnation of Hank himself, he went completely over the edge into madness, taking on his future persona as Monarch, a despotic madman. He later gained control of time-altering abilities and remodelled himself as Extant, and began the first of several attempts to remodel the entire world. During his most recent attempt, he came up against the new incarnation of the JSA, who held a grudge against him since he had killed three of their original members earlier during the Zero Hour event. It seemed that the only way to stop him was to kill him, and this was the course eventually taken by Atom Smasher, whose mother had recently been killed in a plane crash: he substituted Extant in his mother's place mere seconds before the crash, ending his threat once and for all.

During the event known as the Blackest Night, a black ring placed itself amidst his remains, downloaded his memories and created a duplicate of his body that rose from the grave as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. He was brought back to life by the Light Entity, and is a hero once more.


CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Hawk in chronological order click here (1968-2011) and here (2011-present)

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #10 (December 1985)

Who's Who in the DC Universe #1 (August 1990)
JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)