Hawkgirl is coming to Superman: Legacy, played by Isabela Merced. Director (and DC Films co-CEO) James Gunn announced the casting on his personal Twitter, along with the announcement of Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner and Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific.
Hawkgirl will be the second of DC's Hawk heroes to make it to the big screen, following Aldis Hodge's performance as Hawkman in Black Adam. It's unclear if this version of Hawkman will ever return, thanks to the recent DC Films reboot in The Flash.
Shiera Hall/Shayera Hol
The comic history of Hawkman and Hawkgirl is completely intertwined, dating all the way back to the introduction of the original versions of the characters in the Golden Age of the '40s. The original Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl were Carter and Shiera Hall, who both debuted in 1940's Flash Comics #1 in a story by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville.
Carter and Shiera Hall were a pair of married archaeologists who also happened to be reincarnated royalty from ancient Egypt, though at first only Carter was a superhero - Shiera debuted as Hawkgirl a year later in 1941's All-Star Comics #5, in a costume designed by Sheldon Moldoff.
Both Hawkman and Hawkgirl wear anti-gravity belts made of the mystic Nth metal and carry other archaic weaponry, and both would go on to become members of the Justice Society of America, with Hawkman helping found the team.
In the early '60s, DC had a lot of success rebooting classic Golden Age heroes such as the Flash, Green Lantern, and the Atom with new, updated origins and costumes, leading to the Silver Age of comics. Among the heroes to receive new, updated reboots were Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who were relaunched by their original co-creator, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Joe Kubert.
Like many of DC's Silver Age heroes, the new Hawkman and Hawkgirl had a sci-fi themed origin to reflect the updated interests of the '60s. In this case, they were Katar and Shayera Hol, two alien police officers from the far-flung world of Thanager, whose wings were standard issue tech on their home planet rather than being ancient magical artifacts.
In their secret identities, Katar and Shayera Hol were Carter and Shiera Hall, a pair of married museum curators who would often 'borrow' the ancient weapons housed in their museum. Like the original Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the Silver Age versions became long running teammates in the Justice League.
Kendra Saunders
In the '80s, the landmark comic story Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the entire DC Universe, altering and updating many heroes' origin stories as well as the timeline of events in the DCU. Two of the heroes most affected were Hawkman and Hawkgirl (whose name was briefly updated to Hawkwoman). In their rebooted post-Crisis identities, they were still police officers from Thanagar, but they had no human secret identities.
Hawkman and Hawkwoman went through a tough time in the '80s and early '90s, fading mostly into DC obscurity thanks to the convoluted changes to their origin and history following CoIE. But in the late '90s and early '00s, they finally got a somewhat more solidified backstory that attempted to reconcile the different threads that had come before - and along the way, Hawkgirl finally got a chance to break out on her own.
Introduced in 1999's JSA: Secret Files & Origins #1, Kendra Saunders, a distant relative of the original Hawkgirl Shiera Hall, took up the mantle of Hawkgirl. Kendra's backstory is a bit strange. She becomes Hawkgirl after attempting to take her own life - which allows the spirit of Shiera Hall to enter her body and bond her to the legacy of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
Kendra joins a newly rebuilt JSA as its sole Hawk, with no Hawkman around to join her - at least at first.
A little while into Kendra's stint on the team, the original Carter Hall is resurrected, retaking his mantle as Hawkman just like in the Golden Age. This complicates things for Kendra, as Carter believes that Kendra is the reincarnated spirit of his wife Shiera (and she technically is), but she has no interest in a romantic relationship with him.
The falling out between Kendra and Carter leads to the explanation of the origin of Hawkman and Hawkgirl that has largely stayed in place since. In this version of the story, which ties together bits of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's various origins over the years, Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders are the reincarnated spirits of ancient Egyptian rulers who were murdered by their trusted advisor using a dagger made of Thanagarian Nth metal. The psychoactive properties of the metal trigger their cycle of resurrection, with the pair finding each other in each of their new lives.
The properties of the Nth metal also ensure that Carter has all the memories of all his previous lives - though Kendra does not, thanks to the strange nature of Shiera Hall's soul being bonded with her body. As a result, Carter has many lifetimes worth of memories of being in love with Kendra, though she has none of this. Eventually, Kendra would regain Shiera's memories and rekindle a relationship with Carter, though not without much tension.
Kendra has been the main Hawkgirl of DC's roster since, going on to join the Justice League (and surviving even more strange changes to DC's Hawkman and Hawkgirl continuity). Kendra has recently relocated to Metropolis for a new Hawkgirl title by writer Jadzia Axelrod and artist Amancay Nahuelpan.
For now, we don't actually specifically know which Hawkgirl Isabela Merced is actually playing - though it's a safe bet she'll be Kendra Saunders, who shares Merced's Latina heritage. We'll see exactly how Hawkgirl fits into the DC Films universe when she debuts in 2025's Superman: Legacy.
Read up on the best DC stories of all time.
