Hawkman vs Hawkgirl: A split Fandom

[Samm]

I’ll start off by saying that my first exposure to the Hawks was through the very iconic JL animated series and Hawkgirl easily became a favorite of mine as the series progressed. I didn’t learn about Hawkman until digging into comics later on in life and it was an absolute shock to discover that not only was Hawkgirl not a founder but that her male counterpart, at the time (mid 2000’s), had more history with the League than his female counterpart.

Anyway, something I’ve noticed is that I wasn’t only fan to be shocked by that revelation, many who grew up on JL:TAS were. Something I’ve noticed is that while Hawkman fans like Hawkgirl and see her as an extension of the Hawk mythos, the reverse isn’t true. A lot of Hawkgirl fans, especially on social media, either have a hatred or indifference towards Hawkman. They seem him as holding her back as a viable property and would prefer her as the centerpiece of the franchise. When Aldis Hodge was announced as Hawkman for the Black Adam film I saw a lot of “Who cares! Where is Hawkgirl?” posts on social media (Twitter, Instagram, YT). Why do you think that is? Do you think DC shows a preference for one Hawk over the other, as some like to claim? Discuss...

[SecretWarrior]

1. Hawkgirl has a bigger mainstream fanbase because no interpretation of any of the Hawks rivals her adaptation in the DCAU.

2. Women/girls only had two choices for representation on the Justice League cartoon before JLU: WW and HG, who had different personalities, with Hawkgirl by and large being considered the more interesting, better written of the two--even though WW is more iconic.

3. JL(U) showed her fans she can be interesting without Hawkman.

4. Hawkman is given more attention in the comics due to history.

These four points taken together should answer your question.

[MadFacedKid]

Honestly I feel like when it comes to those Hawkgirl fans it’s hard to know how much of them really actually read the comics. It’s baseless but i feel like you go on stuff like Twitter or tumblr you run into more people who follow more of the external media stuff whether it’s cartoons and movies and less of the comic book stuff.

There’s still a good bit of people who get confused when they see Green Lantern and he isn’t black and Kyle appeared in Superman TAS so they didn’t even follow the Animated Series too closely.

You’d possibly probably get more shippers to John Stewart and Hawkgirl being together as well because of the JL cartoon.
Before The Flash tv show there was probably a lot of people who might of been more familiar with Wally West than they are Barry.
Most people probably don’t know about the original Aqualad, and would be surprised on how young justice was actually formed.

As comic fans I think it’s best to see a lot of the external stuff as alternate universes which I think a lot of people do. But visa versa coming into comics from media adaptions or changing stuff because of media adoptions seems to be the thing that causes a fan tear. Overall people are going to be more attached to what they know. Reason why you’d have more interest from the general media about Hawkgirl at this point maybe up until we actually see what Aldis does in the role. Then we might get the same fan cries for him if he doesn’t show up somewhere.

[bat39]

Actually so far, I'd argue that Hawkgirl has got more attention in adaptations than Hawkman has. The JL/JLU of course. But also the Arrowverse - Hawkman does make appearances, but Hawkgirl was a main character on Legends of Tomorrow. Hawkman has appeared a couple of times on Smallville (which I admittedly haven't seen), a few times on Legends, and that's pretty much that...until the Black Adam movie of course.

Definitely DCAU nostalgia plays a role in fuelling the Hawkgirl fandom (and I count myself among them). Because of the DCAU, Hawkgirl is one of the most recognizable female characters in the DCU to general audiences and casual fans. Contrast this with Hawkman - people can recognize him and know who he is, but they either jump him in with the JSA (if they know about the JSA) or as some background Justice League character.

[John Venus]

I think it has to do with the enduring popularity of the show and DC not following up on the success of their fan favorite characters.

Imagine watching JLU, you love Hawkgirl and John Stewart, then the show ends, the two are nowhere to be seen or they appear in minor roles in other projects but you still get a half dozen Superman or Batman movies.

Or you grew up watching Teen Titans. You love Raven, Beastboy, Starfire, Robin and Cyborg. A few years later, you get Young Justice, Dick Grayson Robin is still there but none of your favorites are there. This lead to demands to seeing those fan favorites again hence Teen Titans Go and the Nu52 Titans movie. Its a great show but I'm not a fan of how they shuffled generations and though I'm not a big fan of the Nu52 movies, I did like their set up of having an older Dick Grayson and Starfire mentoring a younger group of Titans.

Now I don't think new shows should be beholden to the continuity of older shows but I do think they need to do a better job of synergizing and capitalizing on the popularity of their existing characters instead of expecting us to just forget about what came before.

[Sutekh]

Hawkman has occasionally been portrayed as a bit of a hardliner, and not very fun or friendly or 'nice,' which can make him a harder sell and less 'likable' or 'identifiable' for some. Hawkgirl doesn't get that, and doesn't generally come off as some sort of Ann-Coulter-with-a-mace stereotype.

And then there's the gender thing. The Satellite era League had Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Atom, Elongated Man, Firestorm, Red Tornado, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Zatanna. Four girls out of sixteen members. I could see why someone wanting a *slightly* less sausage-fest lineup might look at 'the big six' and then Black Canary or Hawkgirl as the 'floating seventh.' (In place of J'ohn or Cyborg or Plastic Man or whomever else tends to get slotted into that floating seventh slot.)

[John Venus]

Actually so far, I'd argue that Hawkgirl has got more attention in adaptations than Hawkman has. The JL/JLU of course. But also the Arrowverse - Hawkman does make appearances, but Hawkgirl was a main character on Legends of Tomorrow. Hawkman has appeared a couple of times on Smallville (which I admittedly haven't seen), a few times on Legends, and that's pretty much that...until the Black Adam movie of course.

Definitely DCAU nostalgia plays a role in fuelling the Hawkgirl fandom (and I count myself among them). Because of the DCAU, Hawkgirl is one of the most recognizable female characters in the DCU to general audiences and casual fans. Contrast this with Hawkman - people can recognize him and know who he is, but they either jump him in with the JSA (if they know about the JSA) or as some background Justice League character.

Yeah, but that was the Kendra Saunders Hawkgirl. The Shayera Thal Hawkgirl was primarily an alien who may or may not have been a reincarnated alien Egyptian queen.

[John Venus]

Hawkman and Hawkgirl also have the same backstory and power set which often makes one of them redundant in team settings. Even with a shared origin they have to find a way to make them both different from one another.

[Ra-El]

Why would anyone intreduced to the Hawks in the DCAU like Hawkman? I didn't. In the JL/JLU he was just a deluded stalker trying to get between her and John Stewart.

It took me an Iron Forge statue to make me realize Hawkman was cool, and read stories where he wasn't stalking anyone helped too.

[Riv86672]

Why would anyone intreduced to the Hawks in the DCAU like Hawkman? I didn't. In the JL/JLU he was just a deluded stalker trying to get between her and John Stewart.

It took me an Iron Forge statue to make me realize Hawkman was cool, and read stories where he wasn't stalking anyone helped too.

Ha, man they did Hawkman dirty in the animated series.

They did Hawkgirl a service though; she was really interesting and fun to watch.
The comics version has never really capitalized on the groundwork the animated series laid down.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, but that was the Kendra Saunders Hawkgirl. The Shayera Thal Hawkgirl was primarily an alien who may or may not have been a reincarnated alien Egyptian queen.

They're different reincarnations of the same character. However, during Snyder's Justice League run, it was revealed that the resurrection cycle was broken, and somehow, two incarnations of her were now able to co-exist. Kendra as Hawkgirl is a member of the Justice League and is able to have other love interests (Martian Manhunter), and Shayera is now Hawkwoman and is with Hawkman. Thus solving this split fandom problem.

[Ra-El]

Ha, man they did Hawkman dirty in the animated series.

They did Hawkgirl a service though; she was really interesting and fun to watch.
The comics version has never really capitalized on the groundwork the animated series laid down.

But you seen they didn't had to crap on Hawkman to do the amazing work they did with Hawkgirl.

My hope is that Black Adam makes Hawkman really cool, enough for DC greenlight a HBO Max show. A tv show about Carter basically writes itself, it's Indiana Jones meets Assassins Creed.

[Riv86672]

But you seen they didn't had to crap on Hawkman to do the amazing work they did with Hawkgirl.

My hope is that Black Adam makes Hawkman really cool, enough for DC greenlight a HBO Max show. A tv show about Carter basically writes itself, it's Indiana Jones meets Assassins Creed.

Hawkman as an a-hole was the simpler way to go, in terms of Hawkgirl/John Stewart being a couple. I mean, they could have made him cool, and done a legit love triangle...

[Ra-El]

Hawkman as an a-hole was the simpler way to go, in terms of Hawkgirl/John Stewart being a couple. I mean, they could have made him cool, and done a legit love triangle...

But they didn't have to use him at all. I didn't even know Hawkman existed until they used him. But the chose to bring in the character and crap all over him, that's just bad, imo.

[Lightning Rider]

Honestly I feel like when it comes to those Hawkgirl fans it’s hard to know how much of them really actually read the comics. It’s baseless but i feel like you go on stuff like Twitter or tumblr you run into more people who follow more of the external media stuff whether it’s cartoons and movies and less of the comic book stuff.

Yeah, I think that's the issue. There's nothing wrong with preferring Hawkgirl as a character, but it's annoying when casual fans of tv/film incarnations insist on having those versions replicated while being totally irreverent towards the broader history of comics.

But I also see the point that there's no reason not to capitalize on well-known characters in other media either.