Comic book readers often have to deal with unnecessarily complex continuity problems and contradictions. When DC Comics rebooted with the New 52, readers were confused as to how long Bruce Wayne was Batman and how he could have had so many Robins during that time. If you're a fan of Cable, you know that he's the son of Cyclops, but raised in an alternate future, only to return to the present (which is his past) as a man who's older than his father. Just when you thought things couldn't be more confusing, Hawkman shows up and says, "Hold my drink!" and gives you backstory that is as awesome as it is contradictory.

Hawkman was an archaeologist named Cater Hall, who one day finds out he's the reincarnation of an Egyptian Prince named Khufu. Oops, what we meant to say was that Hawkman is actually a law enforcement officer named Katar Hol from the planet Thanagar and is powered by a mysterious substance called Nth Metal. Or, is he an angel from Heaven? It turns out, he's actually all of these things... and more, and we here at CBR have made a list that gives you a definitive rundown of the wondrous powers Hawkman's body possesses. You better have a seat for this one as we explore the 15 secrets only real DC fans know about Hawkman's body!

* Swole Hawkman in feature image by Graphic-Muscle.

15 WHO IS HAWKMAN?

In The Avengers, Hank Pym has taken on a lot of different superhero aliases. He's most famous for being Ant-Man, but after shrinking, he went the opposite route and became Giant-Man, then went under the name Goliath. He's also been known as Yellowjacket and even took on Janet van Dyne's identity of the Wasp after she died. We don't know how he keeps his aliases straight! It seems like Hawkman has the literal opposite problem.

The Hawkman name stays the same but the man behind it seems to be in almost constant rotation.

Hawkman was once Carter Hall, an archaeologist who was an Egyptian Prince named Khufu in a former life. Another radically different version of the character places him not in Egypt but on the planet Thanagar, as an alien police officer named Katar Hol. Did you know that he was also Captain John Smith, the same who was saved by Pocahontas in the 16th century? He was also Koenrad Von Grimm, the son of a blacksmith living in Germany in the 1500s. Before that, he was Brian Kent, a Knight living in 5th century Britain! Believe it or not, there are many books available to purchase online that deals with avoiding reincarnation! Perhaps Green Arrow can get him a copy!

14 NTH METAL

In Marvel Comics, the Asgardians made most of their weapons out of the fictional metal Uru, which had the ability to absorb magic. Wakanda made their prized possessions out of Vibranium, a metal which has the ability to absorb vibrations. In DC Comics, Thanagarians were in possession of the heavy iron isotope Fe676, also known as 9th metal or Nth metal. What's so special about this stuff? For one thing, it negates gravity, so if you put this stuff in your clothes you'll have the ability to fly. You can stop yelling for Hawkman to put on a shirt because it's cold outside; the metal also protects the wearer from the elements.

Nth metal goes beyond just something you wear. It can also bond with the user, and when that happens it starts to do truly miraculous things. Nth metal can be commanded by thought to shape itself into armor or weapons, and not only can the metal drastically increase a person's ability to heal, it also can regrow a lost limb. Besides healing the wearer, it can nullify the recovery abilities of the opponent the Nth metal owner is attacking. It doesn't stop there: if you're truly bonded to Nth metal it won't let you die... the metal will resurrect you! This metal can do it all!

13 SAVAGE DEATHS

Vandal Savage is one of the oldest villains in DC comics. He started out as a caveman named Vandar Adg over 50,000 years ago! Exposure to a mysterious meteorite gave him immortality as well as increased intelligence. He's been an evil figure for thousands of years and technically committed the first murder ever on record. Vandal Savage made his first appearance in season 2 of The Flash television show and this version is not quite as old. Instead of being born before recorded history he's an Egyptian priest named Hath-Set, and his immortality is a price that must be paid for with the life of Hawkman.

For Vandal Savage to have immortal life, he must kill Hawkman and Hawkgirl during every single one of their reincarnations.

This began back in Egypt when Vandal was Hath-Set, Hawkman was named Khufu and Hawkgirl was named Shayara. Hath-Set murdered the two of them in Egypt during a meteorite storm that destroyed ancient Egypt. Before being destroyed, Hath-Set placed a curse that would have him hunting Shayara and Khufu throughout time, killing them after every incarnation. Vandal Savage has killed Hawkman over 200 times! In the television series Smallville, Hawkman was killed by Slade Wilson.

12 GOT WINGS?

Let's face it: Hawkman has some weird powers. He can grow lost limbs, reincarnate after dying and breathe underwater. Don't worry, he's got some regular "hawk" powers, too, like the ability to fly. What gives him his power to fly, however, depends on the version of Hawkman that you're dealing with. The Hawkman that comes from the planet Thanagar can fly due to the Nth metal in his costume. Those that have bonded with the material can control it mentally and one of its amazing properties is its ability to negate gravity.

In the DC series Identity Crisis, Deathstroke was able to cut Carter Hall's harness off of him and without it, his wings stayed in the air while Hall came crashing to the ground. In this instance, his actual ability to fly only came from the metal in his harness and his wings helped propel him through the air (as well as just kinda looking cool). In the television series Smallville, Hawkman had actual wings that sprouted from his body and they were strong enough to protect him from a nearby explosion. In the New 52, Thanagarians lost their wings due to a disease spread by the Daemonites. After bonding with Nth metal, Katar Hol's wings grew back. Hawkman can fly at speeds of over 200 mph!

11 HAWK-EYE

If you're going to get your superpowers derived from an animal, why not a hawk? They're birds of prey with excellent hunting abilities. One attribute that allows them to swoop up their target is their excellent vision. Birds of prey can see anywhere between two to eight times better than a regular person. Their eyesight is so good they can even see such things as ultraviolet light and magnetic fields, things that normal humans cannot detect with the naked eye. When it comes to night vision, it's nothing special and on par with humans.

So when he's tracking down villains, just how good is Hawkman's vision?

During the DC event Identity Crisis, several of the heroes from the Justice League are having a clandestine meeting after the death of Sue Dibney. Among them are Zatanna, Green Arrow, Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man and Hawkman. Before they leave, Hawkman is able to detect that they are being spied upon. With a random glance, Hawkman was able to see Flash vibrating ultra-fast in order to appear invisible. Considering that Wally West is no slow poke, that's pretty impressive that without trying, he was able to spot the Fastest Man Alive hiding in the shadows. The Silver Age Hawkman had some help: he wore special contact lenses that helped him detect radiation.

10 HAWKGOD

To tell the story of Hawkman, you also need to tell the story of Hawkgirl. The two characters have both their pasts as well as their destinies intertwined with each other, which made for some difficult storytelling over the years. An attempt was made to resolve the contradictory histories of both characters during the DC crossover Zero Hour. The series had transformed Green Lantern Hal Jordan into the villain Parallax, who was attempting to rewrite the DC universe timelines. Zero Hour was considered somewhat of a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, a massive crossover that did an equally massive rewrite of DC Comics.

In Zero Hour, Shiera Hall, along with both Carter Hall and Katar Hol, were merged into one entity that became a vessel for a Hawkgod entity. Eventually the spirit of Shiera went into the body of her great-niece, Kendra Saunders, after Kendra committed suicide. Once her spirit left the joined entity, Hawkman went insane and was banished to Limbo. Kendra Saunders became the new Hawkgirl, went to Thanagar, and was able to once again reincarnate the spirit of Carter Hall (who also possessed the knowledge of the past lives of Katar Hol as well). If this all made sense to you, pat yourself on the back!

9 CURSES!

There are a number of great comic book couples throughout history. Reed Richards and Sue Storm are not only married, they also save the universe together as part of the Fantastic Four. Even androids can fall in love, as we saw between Vision and the Scarlet Witch in the pages of The Avengers as well as Avengers: Infinity War. The good news is that Hawkman has a soulmate in Shiera Hall and he's fated to fall in love with her with every reincarnation.

The sad news is that they're also cursed to die together as well.

Golden Age Hawkgirl first met Hawkman in ancient Egypt. At the time, Hawkman was a prince named Khufu and she was named Chay-Ara. An Egyptian priest named Hath-Set killed them both with a knife forged from Nth Metal, and the metal's amazing properties caused the two of them to be in a perpetual cycle of reincarnation, in which they're destined to find each other and then die. Eventually the two would have a son named Hector, who fought crime as the Silver Scarab, the Sandman and also as Doctor Fate. Hector died after being possessed by the spirit of Hath-Set. Just like his parents, Hector also reincarnated after he died.

8 UNDERWATER HAWK

Every once in a while, you hear about a superhero having an odd power that you wouldn't normally associate with them. You may envision the Hulk and immediately think of super strength and stamina, but the green giant also has the ability to detect ghosts. The Hulk has also been able to see Doctor Strange when he's astrally projecting. In the film X-Men: Days of Future Past, it appeared that Kitty Pryde, who had the ability to phase through solid matter, now somehow possessed the ability to send a person's consciousness through time! So what strange and unusual secondary power did Hawkman possess?

Flash Comics #9, printed in September 1940, featured a story on Hawkman. An evil race of aquatic beings called Kogats appeared from beneath New York Harbor and kidnapped Hawkman's friend, George. When Hawkman was overwhelmed by the apelike creatures, he was thrown down a chasm and left to die. However, at the bottom of the pit happened to be Poseidon, god of the sea! He granted Hawkman the ability to breathe underwater and he used his new ability to defeat the Kogats. We're not sure why that addition to his powerset was needed, but it just gives us one more reason to dunk on Aquaman! Bro, even the guy with wings can breathe underwater! 

7 HAWK METAL

Although Hawkman has been depicted as a cop from outer space, as well as a former ancient Egyptian priest, there are a number of incarnations of Hawkman in which he had godlike abilities. After the events of Zero Hour, the various forms of Hawkman (including Hawkgirl) were merged into one character that was the vessel for an entity that was part of the Red, the source from which Animal Man draws his superhuman abilities.

In the limited series Dark Nights: Metal, Hawkman returned to DC comics in a way that no reader expected.

In Dark Nights: Metal, Batman learned that "underneath" the DC multiverse was a dark multiverse that was connected via mysterious metals. Inside the Dark Multiverse was a Forge of Worlds that created universes from the hopes and fears of living creatures. When Batman and Superman went to the Forge of Worlds to stop it from being corrupted, they encountered Carter Hall, who had been transformed into a monstrous hawk creature and now served the dark god Barbatos. He's a gigantic Hawk-Monster that guards the Dark Forge, wielding a giant hammer with metallic wings on his back. Kendra Saunders was also discovered to be working for Barbatos, ditching her Hawkgirl persona and operating under Lady Blackhawk.

6 WHO IS ZAURIEL?

When you have Grant Morrison writing a comic book, expect the unexpected. It was his genius that revolutionized Animal Man, resulting in Animal Man becoming self-aware and actually having a conversation with Morrison himself about being a comic character. His work on All-Star Superman was an instant classic, pairing Morrison's writing with the art of Frank Quitely. When Morrison had the chance to write Justice League of America in 1997, he was ready to get to work and make some changes, but the editors at DC had put up some unexpected roadblocks for his plans.

Editors at DC told Morrison that he could increase the JLA roster to over a dozen heroes, but among them couldn't be Hawkman. After multiple attempts at retconning the character, editors thought that there was too much confusing backstory to even make an attempt to use Hawkman. Even when Morrison said he wanted to create a new version of the character with no ties to previous continuity, DC brass still said no to it, so Morrison took his ideas for what Hawkman was going to be and placed it in a brand new character named Zauriel. Zauriel was an angel from Heaven that wore magic armor and could fly thanks to giant wings on his back. Sounds kind of familiar, right?

5 HOLY HAWK

You may not think of Hawkman being as good of a fighter as Batman or Deathstroke, but the fact is that he's been alive for hundreds of years and has hundreds of years worth of fighting experience. His complex character history prevents him from being used more frequently, but Hawkman in the past has fought Batman and even Superman, emerging victorious. His curse is a double-edged sword: although he's stuck in an endless cycle of reincarnation, he retains the memories and sometimes abilities of his previous versions.

We haven't seen Hawkman make the attempt, but he still should be able to breathe underwater, thanks to the god Poseidon.

In previous lives, Carter Hall was Hannibal Hawkes, a gunfighter known as Nighthawk in western America in the 1800s. He was also a Pinkerton detective named James Wright in the early 1900s. Carter Hall (or Katar Hol, depending on what version you look at) at one point was a priest, and because of this experience he still retained his ability to bless objects. Instead of having to retrain himself how to do it, the skill is innately a part of him. Who knew that reincarnation would be so handy to a superhero?

4 STRENGTH OF A HAWK

In the 2012 film The Avengers, Captain America asked Tony Stark what kind of a man would Tony be without his Iron Man armor. When it comes to Hawkman, he's got a lot of things assisting him. For one, he's loaded with Nth metal, and thanks to bonding with this stuff he can fly, grow lost limbs and even come back from the dead. In the series Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Hawkman was able to knock out Superman with the Claw of Horus, a magical artifact that drew its power from the magnetic core of the Earth. So without these items, what kind of a man is Hawkman? A pretty tough one.

If we look at the "alien cop" version of Hawkman, he was a law-enforcement officer on the planet Thanagar. On his planet, the gravity was much stronger than that of planet Earth, so when he came here his strength was amplified. So even without his Nth metal upgrades he's still stronger than the average human. However, due to his bonding with Nth metal, his strength, reflexes and stamina are all considered to be greatly enhanced. When you're a superhero who wears less clothing than He-Man, you need to look shredded every day.

3 SWAWK TALK

There is a long list of fictional characters over the years that had the ability to speak with animals. Doctor John Dolittle had the ability to communicate with such animals as dogs, cats, monkeys, ducks, mice and even owls. Even Mark Wahlberg (as an impression by Andy Samberg) spoke to animals in an (in)famous Saturday Night Live sketch. Maybe you didn't know that Hawkman could breathe underwater, but you'd be a fool not to guess that Hawkman has the ability to speak with birds. Does he communicate telepathically with winged creatures the way Aquaman communicates with fish?

Does he know some sort of secret bird language? Actually, yeah...

Remember that there are lots of different versions of Hawkman. The Golden Age version of the character learned how to speak to birds thanks to a bird named One-Eye, who taught Hawkman the bird-language. The Silver Age Hawkman had the ability to communicate with birds on a telepathic level similar to Aquaman, but in Aquaman's case he's less speaking to them and more commanding them. It makes sense that it's easier to bully a fish into doing your bidding than a bird.

2 HALF HUMAN/HALF THANAGARIAN

Are there editors at DC Comics that brainstorm and go: "You know what Hawkman's origin needs? More complexity!" As if his background wasn't complex enough, Katar Hol learned that he actually wasn't a full-blooded Thanagarian: his mother was a Cherokee woman! His mother, Naomi, was a medicine woman that was introduced to a man named Perry Carter by Carter and Shiera Hall. It turns out Perry Carter's real name was Paran Katar and was an alien from the planet Thanagar. Naomi and Paran fell in love, got married and moved back to his home planet. When they got there, Paran told his wife to lie and not say she was human. This was the start of their rocky life on Thanagar.

While on Thanagar, Paran was made a chief scientist, and although things were looking up for Paran Katar, Naomi Carter felt that her life on the alien planet would not be a good one. She wanted to have children and had no interest in raising a child in a world that she thought was racist and oppressive. Naomi wanted to go back to Earth and although he initially agreed, Paran changed his mind when he found out she gave birth to a son. He had her banished to Earth and told his son that his mother died in childbirth.  Many years later, Naomi and Katar would reconnect and she would educate him on his unknown heritage.

1 THE WHITE LANTERN

In the DC crossover series Blackest Night, Hawkman and Hawkgirl aren't killed by Hath-Set but by Ralph and Sue Dibny while Ralph and Sue were members of the Black Lantern Corps. Eventually they are resurrected with the power of the White Lantern. After destroying a portal to Thanagar that was constructed from the bones of their previous bodies (gross!) they encountered Deadman, who was sporting a White Lantern ring. Hawkman refused the ring's offer to have Carter and Shiera live separate lives from each other, and Hawkman and Hawkgirl were turned to dust by the ring. The ring refused Deadman's command to bring them back to life.

In the follow up crossover Brightest Day, the destinies of Hawkman and Hawkgirl proved to be joined together once again.

They were transformed into air elementals and now protect the forest located in Star City. Their duty was to defend Star City from the Black Lantern version of Swamp Thing known as the Dark Avatar. After the Dark Avatar was defeated, Swamp Thing brought Hawkman back to life... and only Hawkman. Shiera stayed as an air elemental, much to the extreme anger and sadness of Hawkman, who was powerless to bring her back. It seems fate, yet again, must bring agony and despair to the couple.