Why The Justice League Cartoon Used Hawkgirl As A Main Character

Hawkgirl has a comic book history stretching to the 1940s, but she's only become a silver screen star this year with 2025's "Superman." There, the character (as played by Isabela Merced) is part of a "Justice Gang" along with Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion).

The trio are relatively more ruthless in their crimefighting compared to Superman (David Corenswet), and Hawkgirl might be the most bloodthirsty of all. Her spotlight moment is when she throws the corrupt Boravian President Vasil Ghurkos (Zlatko Burić) to his death. Merced's Hawkgirl has since cameoed on "Peacemaker" season 2, so there's little doubt she'll keep popping up throughout the DC Universe. Will she get her own movie or TV show eventually? TBD.

"Superman" director and DC Studios President James Gunn has said he's looked to DC animation as an influence for the universe he's building. Him including Hawkgirl seems like a sign of that; DC fans born in the 1990s and 2000s most know the character for her starring role in the cartoon series "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited," which aired from 2001 to 2006. At the time, her initial appearance was a shocker.

Writer Gardner Fox introduced the Justice League in 1960 with seven members: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman. The cartoon used that line-up but swapped out Aquaman for Hawkgirl, voiced by Maria Canals-Barrera. Superhero fans (who've never learned the lesson of "Green Eggs and Ham") may have resisted the "Justice League" Hawkgirl at first, but she became a fan-favorite.

At the 2001 San Diego Comic-Con, "Justice League" producer Bruce Timm mentioned that he and the show's other creatives didn't want the Justice League to be six men and one woman. ("We like women, you know.") To contrast Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg), the former was written as hawkish and battle-ready yet also more worldly. Diana, who'd just left Themyscira in the series' pilot, was more naive and uptight.

Making the League less of a boys club is also why the show's team passed over including Hawkman, even though he and Hawkgirl are usually a matching set. Timm continued:

"We [also] felt that the Hawk family had to be represented, because of the icons that they are. And we decided that, 'Well, we don't want to have both of them, so let's just have Hawkgirl.' And, personally, I've always loved that Hawkgirl design, ever since I saw it when I was a kid. I think her mask is cooler."

I have to agree with Timm. While Hawkman's mask typically has a hook-beak nose guard and realistic bird wings on either side, Hawkgirl's pointed, V-shaped mask is sleeker and cooler. Timm added that the series' creatives also wrote Hawkgirl as the League's answer to the X-Men's Wolverine, i.e. the battle-hungry bruiser of the team. Their masks reflect the resemblance.

The Hawks have a convoluted history, even by the standards of DC Comics. Their original incarnations were archaeologist Carter Hall and his girlfriend Shiera Saunders, who learned they were reincarnations of ancient Egyptian nobility. They wore artificial wings crafted from the semi-magical element Nth metal. In the Silver Age of Comics (the 1960s), the Hawks were reinvented as Katar and Shayera Hol, alien police officers from planet Thanagar. Then there's a third version of Hawkgirl, another human reincarnation of Egyptian princess Chay-Ara who goes by the name Kendra Saunders.

The new live-action Hawkgirl is Kendra Saunders. Her backstory hasn't been touched on yet, but Merced previously claimed on the "DC Studios Showcase" podcast that her Hawkgirl is the reincarnation of an alien warrior, suggesting a merger of the two origin stories.

The "Justice League" cartoon went with the Thangarian Shayera Hol as its Hawkgirl (and made her wings natural, rather than part of a harness). Supposedly, she was accidentally teleported to Earth while pursuing some criminals. Stranded far from home, she became a hero.  Since there was no Hawkman on the show, that left room for Hawkgirl to fall for a different man: John Stewart/Green Lantern (Phil LaMarr). That romance became the backbone of "Starcrossed," the three-part finale of the original "Justice League" run, in which the Thanagarians invade Earth.

Hawkgirl, it turns out, was actually sent as an advance scout for this invasion and passed along info about the League's weaknesses to her comrades. But the friendships (and love) she found on Earth win out over her loyalty to Thanagar. She then spends "Justice League Unlimited" trying to find her new place in the world, all the while living with the shame and guilt of having betrayed not just one but two families.

"Starcrossed" is a high point of DC animation and without question the finest hour of "Justice League." I'm not expecting the DCU to adapt it outright, but Merced has said she'd be interested in seeing her Hawkgirl spark a romance with Aaron Pierre's John Stewart (who is debuting in the HBO series "Lanterns"). 

The bigger question for DC fans right now, though, is whether Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl can ultimately soar as high as Maria Canals-Barrera's superlative version. If nothing else, Merced has her predecessor's blessing.