SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Hawkman #6 by Robert Venditti, Bryan Hitch and Jeremy Skipper, on sale now.

In his current incarnation, Hawkman is a superhero, but in previous lives he has been a police officer, a scientist, a pharaoh, an archaeologist and so much more. Now, we can add pioneer to his lengthy resume. Carter Hall has discovered many secrets about himself, but in Hawkman #6 the truth changes everything we thought we knew about a major DC Universe locale.

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Hawkman and Atom venture into the Microverse in order to locate the next clue in Carter's journey to discover his true origin. During their battle again Moz-Ga, a living planetoid, the duo uncover information that adds to the legend of Hawkman, and changes everything we thought we knew about the Microverse (sort of).

Hawkman Has Always Been a Superhero

As we know, Hawkman's reincarnations are more complicated than initially believed. He is being reborn across time and space, meaning he has experience living on many different planets, leading very different lives. He has been an Old West gunman, a medieval knight and a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. However, he has also been an intergalactic police officer and a scientist from a far off world. Until now, though, it was believed that Hawkman was the first and only superhero identity he ever held.

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The spaceship that Carter and Ray find reveals a new truth about Hawkman's past, and it sheds a light on who he was and the kind of impact he made on the universe. At some unspecified time, the winged warrior was a bird-themed superhero and explorer named Avion, who used anti-gravity boots to fly instead of wings. What's more is that the Atom reasons his chosen title, being rooted in the Latin language, means he had been to Earth prior to this life.

While we don't learn much more about who this hero was in his time, we are able to figure out where he likely came from. The spaceship Hawman and Atom find stashed away in the Microverse is fitted with Zeta beam technology, allowing them to teleport to safety. Eagle-eyed readers will know that this tech comes from the planet Rann and is used by Adam Strange in his adventures. It would seem Avion is Hawkman's Rannian incarnation from the past.

The Truth About the Microverse

Another revelation is the fact Hawkman -- or at least one of his former incarnations -- actually discovered the Microverse. Given the fact that Carter's old spaceship was buried on Moz-Ga, it would mean Avion had previously visited the Microverse, and the implication is this all happened a very, very long time ago. This would mean Carter Hall found the diminutive dimension, not Ray Palmer.

Of course, it's hard to say who actually discovered a world inhabited by millions of lifeforms, but that's a discussion for another day. As it were, though, it seems Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch have effectively turned Ray into the Microverse's Christopher Columbus, while Carter has become its Leif Erikson (or whoever got there "first").

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Perhaps no one will care about this fact besides the Atom, who offers a terse "agree to disagree" regarding this new fact. The really important part is what this means for the future of the DC Universe. As a man who has lived countless lives, it's impossible to know just how many famous destinations he has visited, and what key events he may have manipulated, knowingly or not. We now know that his Rannian incarnation discovered the Microverse, so what does that mean for his Kryptonian self? Perhaps we'll find out next issue, which is ominously titled "Origin!"