SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Hawkman #2 by Robert Venditti, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Daniel Henriques, Jeremiah Shipper and Richard Starkings, on sale now.


With its debut issue, the new volume of Hawkman changed everything we thought we knew about DC's winged wonder, simplifying his complicated backstory into a more streamlined and easy to understand history. We now know that every Hawkman is part of the cycle of reincarnation, one that expands to both time and space, tying together the Golden Age and Silver Age concepts of the hero and opening up his history to more personal exploration and story opportunities than ever before.

In the series' second issue, we learned more about Hawkman’s history and the Horus symbol he proudly wears on his chest, which may be more than a simple superhero logo like Batman's emblem or The Flash’s lightning bolt. There’s a warning buried in somewhere in Hawkman’s history, and his Horus symbol is the key to figuring out his future, but to do that he’s going to need to come face-to-face with his earliest known incarnation; Prince Khufu Maat Kha-Tar of Egypt.

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The Deathbringer

Hawkman as we know him didn’t always have the Horus symbol on his chest, connecting the straps to the wings on his back; there was always a red circle from the beginning but the stylized bird silhouette didn’t become standard until the Silver Age incarnation of the character in the early-'60s. Since then, it’s become a recognized part of the character incorporated into almost all version since, whether it be the reincarnated Egyptian prince or the space cop from the race of bird people.

Geoff Johns and James Robinson helped expand Hawkman’s personal history in the early 2000s by exploring more version of the character throughout time, including the Silent Knight of sixth century England and the cowboy known as Nighthawk of the nineteenth century American west. Each of these incarnations, including more introduced by Venditti and Hitch, bore the symbol of the Hawk for all to see and while Carter believed this was to represent their shared history and a representation of who he was, he has since learned that it’s something much more dangerous indeed.

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The symbol of the Hawk actually isn't Horus at all and doesn’t represent Hawkman himself, but serves as a reminder of a threat that’s coming, something known only as the Deathbringer. Carter’s knows that The Deathbringer is coming but needs to find a way to stop him, which has led him all around the world looking for clues in his own history, in the hopes of finding an ancestor or previous incarnation who knows about The Deathbringer and knows how to plan for its eventual arrival.

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Kalmoran

Carter’s search leads him to The British Museum where a previous incarnation of himself had donated a number of valuable artifacts pertaining to the era of Prince Khufu, back in 1920s.

However, being around the artifacts causes Carter to experience some sort of time-travel or consciousness jump which teleports him back to the time of Khufu who sees Hawkman and believes him to be the Deathbringer he had been warned of. The pair fight in the air until they realize they both share the visions of the Deathbringer and a mysterious word “Kalmoran” which links the two, though neither know what it means.

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The truth is, Kalmoran isn’t a what at all, but a who and that who is the greatest hero in Thanagar’s history. Introduced by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert in the form of a statue in The Brave and The Bold #43, Kalmoran was a Thanagarian who lived as a slave during a time in which his world was subjugated by the Polarians, but he broke free and returned with an army of Thanagarians to overthrow the invaders and chase them through the galaxy freeing their enslaved worlds and bringing peace to the system. Eventually, he returned home to the island on which he was born, married the love of his life and passed away, content.

It remains to see what role Kalmoran will play in Venditti and Hitch’s Hawkman. Will he serve as a hero to help guide Carter Hall on his quest to stop the Deathbringer, or is he the Deathbringer himself; a fallen hero whose legacy belies the truth of his journey across the stars. Whatever the case, Kalmoran seems integral to the mystery at the heart of Carter Hall’s quest and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the hero of Thanagar make an appearance in one form or another. For now, Carter Hall has a map hidden for him by Khufu within one of the artifacts, and it’s pointing him right to Dinosaur Island.

The First Hawkman

Hawkman #2 also poses an interesting question, though it may not mean to. In the flashback sequence narrated by Carter Hall’s journals, we learn that Khufu wasn’t the first incarnation of Hawkman, which is huge change to the character’s mythos which could have big ramifications further down the line. Originally, Khufu and Chay-Ara were killed by Hath-Set with a blade made from Nth Metal, which was partly responsible for their reincarnations through the years, but if Khufu wasn’t the first incarnation of Hawkman, it raises the question, who was?

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We now know that Hawkman’s timeline stretches beyond Earth and to Thanagar, Rann, Krypton and beyond, Khufu wasn’t the first incarnation and Earth wasn’t the first world, so where does the legacy of Hawkman begin and how far does it stretch? Is it possible the mysterious Deathbringer is a hidden aspect of Carter Hall’s own history, one that has been locked away from his own recollection due to the dark nature of its deeds. While we’ve learned a lot about Hawkman’s history, there’s still a lot we don’t know and a lot that Carter himself doesn’t know, and his quest to find out who he is and where he came from is going to take him all over the DC Universe before it’s through.