The crossover between The CW shows Flash and Arrow combined the heroes of both shows, including (from left) Speedy (Willa Holland), Green Arrow (Stephen Arnell), Black Canary (Katie Cassidy), Flash (Grant Gustin), John Diggle (David Ramsey), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) and Hawkman (Falk Hentschel). Katie Yu/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Hawkgirl (from left, Ciara Renee) and Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) were introduced in The CW crossover that also starred The Flash (Grant Gustin). Katie Yu/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) has a history going back to 1944 as one the most implacable and lethal villains in DC Comics. Katie Yu/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
The crossover between Flash and Arrow Dec. 2-3 on The CW network was an early Easter for longtime DC Comics fans, thanks to all the eggs sprinkled throughout. But why should comics fans alone have all the fun? Let’s review:
HAWKMAN AND HAWKGIRL
The characters introduced in Flash might as well have flown in from Flash Comics in the 1940s.
The original Hawkman, introduced in Flash Comics #1 in 1940, was Carter Hall, one of the many idle playboys in early comic books, who had an interest in archaeology. Contact with a “glass knife” from ancient Egypt – similar to the one on the TV show – revived memories from a previous life as Prince Khufu of Egypt’s golden age. His girlfriend Shiera Sanders, introduced in the same issue, was Khufu’s inamorata Shiera (later Chay-Ara), both killed by jealous priest Hath-Set. (The 1940s Shiera would gain her wings and nom du combat in All Star Comics #5 in 1941.)
That first story, appropriately titled “The Origin of Hawkman,” also introduced the theme of Hath-Set being continually reincarnated with Khufu and Shiera; Hath-set in the 1940s was Egyptology professor Anton Hastor. Later comics – many of them decades later – established that Khufu, Chay-Ara and Hath-Set had been reincarnated many times, often as characters in DC’s long pantheon of C- and D-listers set in previous eras, such as Silent Knight (5th century Britain) and Nighthawk (Wild West).
That includes the Hawkman and Hawkgirl (later Hawkwoman) introduced in 1961, who are perhaps the best known Hawks – and who aren’t ever from this planet! As part of their ongoing effort to re-invent DC’s classic 1940s characters with a more scientific bent, editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox (who had co-created the original Hawkman) created a new pair of Winged Wonders, Katar and Shayera Hol. They were married law officers from the planet Thanagar, where all law enforcement wore wings, sent to Earth to study our investigation methods. That pair had a good long run, even joining the Justice League in 1964 (Hawkman) and 1977 (Hawkgirl). Both were wiped out by one or the other of DC’s periodic re-inventions.
The current Hawkman in comics is again Katar Hol, going by the name Carter Hall on Earth. The latest Hawkgirl is Kendra Saunders, just like on the TV show.
Other bits of business:
* Hawkman making his debut in TV’s Arrowverse on Flash is, perhaps, a nod to the original Hawkman making his debut in Flash Comics. That title was an anthology, starring Flash, Hawkman and numerous other characters. The Winged Wonder was popular enough that he alternated the cover spot with the Scarlet Speedster for the bulk of the book’s run.
* Hawkman has appeared in live-action TV before, on the unrelated Smallville. Best to forget that one.
* If it looks like Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s wing movements don’t correspond to their flight, there’s a reason for that. In the original story, Hawkman wore a belt of “ninth metal” that had anti-gravity properties. Eventually renamed “Nth metal,” this mysterious substance has been worn by all the Hawks to fly. The wings are just for guidance and thrust. And, yes, uber-nerd Cisco Ramone mentioned “Nth metal” in the crossover.
* The Hawks say they are going to settle in St. Roche, Louisiana, at the end of the crossover. One set of comic book Hawks was set in that city, which is a stand-in for New Orleans.
* The Kendra Saunders introduced in 1999 was the granddaughter of Cyril “Speed” Saunders, a G-man who debuted in DC’s Detective Comics #1 (1937) – two years before Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27.
* The current Kendra “Hawkgirl” Saunders is from Earth 2, appearing in the title Earth 2: Society. Like her TV counterpart (and previous iterations of Kendra Saunders), she is African-American.
* Vandal Savage attains great power in the TV crossover by getting his mitts on the Staff of Horus. There isn’t a comics equivalent, but it should be noted that Horus was one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt, usually depicted with the head of a falcon – IOW, a hawk.
VANDAL SAVAGE
In the TV crossover, Hath-set was replaced by another villain without so much as by-your-leave. But his replacement is no lesser character; he’s one of DC’s most implacable and lethal bad guys.
Vandal Savage, the immortal villain, first appeared in Green Lantern in 1944, and the 1940s Flash and Green Lantern were among his chief enemies. But he also challenged the entire Justice Society, the first superhero team in comics, which counted Flash and Green Lantern among its members.
It turns out he had been up to no good for quite a while. According to his origin, Savage was Vandal Adg of a Cro-Magnon tribe some 50,000 years ago, when he was exposed to the radiation of a mysterious meteorite. This granted him great intellect and immortality (and in some stories, an incurable cancer he has to endure forever). Savage can’t be killed, but he can be injured, and in some stories he sires and imprisons numerous children to have a ready organ bank with the proper DNA.
In various stories, Savage has claimed to have been, or to have advised, pyramid-builder Cheops, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Erik the Red, William the Conqueror, Blackbeard, Vlad Dracul, Otto von Bismarck and Adolf Hitler. Followers of the Crime Bible believe Savage to have been Cain, the first murderer, but he doesn’t specifically remember killing Abel. (Hey, he’s really old. You can’t expect him to remember everyone he’s killed!)
In short, he’s not a very nice man.
FLASH/ARROW
Despite being jam-packed with the above, the two episodes gave other characters a little love, too.
* Oliver discovers he’s got an illegitimate son. One of the comics versions of the Emerald Archer made the same discovery, leading to the debut of another Green Arrow, Oliver’s son Conner Hawke. Part white, part black and part Asian, Hawke was the son of Shado, a character killed on the TV show a couple of seasons ago.
* The Flash episode was titled “Legends of Today,” while the Arrow episode was titled “Legends of Yesterday.” These two titles hint at the upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow, which will star, among many other characters, Hawkgirl.
* Harrison Welles (of Earth 2) devises a serum to enhance speedsters called Velocity 6. In the comics, Vandal Savage invented a serum called Velocity 9, that gave its users super-speed but eventually killed them.
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Replies
iirc, Conner Hawke's mother was Sandra Hawke. Oliver also fathered a kid with Shado in the comics, but I don't recall that child ever actually popping up in Ollie's life, unlike Conner, and possibly the Cissy King Arrowette, who may or may not be Oliver's daughter by the original Miss Arrowette.
For a TV show that had the Flash, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Black Canary in it, I was underwhelmed.
I didn't like Hawkman's portrayal and he should have been bigger. And he's been a loser for 4000 years!
The Hawk helmets just don't translate well in 3D.
How many times can the Flash change history before we stop caring when he does?
I did laugh when Hawkman was trying to take charge when he'd lost to Savage 270 times! I was glad when someone else -- Cisco? -- brought up that maybe the guy who was 0-270 might not be the best strategist.
Carter Hall, you ARE ... The Biggest Loser.
Dave Elyea said:
iirc, Conner Hawke's mother was Sandra Hawke. Oliver also fathered a kid with Shado in the comics, but I don't recall that child ever actually popping up in Ollie's life, unlike Conner, and possibly the Cissy King Arrowette, who may or may not be Oliver's daughter by the original Miss Arrowette.
Ollie was very busy and apparently never heard of birth control.
What was Sandra Hawke's ethnicity? Conner was white-black-Asian, but she sounds Native American.
In the comics, she was half korean, half african-american. And Oliver was at the time said to be part Irish.
Thanks, Luis. I evidently did conflate Sandra and Shado.
It's interesting that Flash returns on January 19 followed by Arrow on January 20 and Legends of Tomorrow on January 21.
I hope they don't force a crossover.