How would you do a Hawkman movie?

[bat39]

Been thinking about this lately since the Black Adam movie. A JSA movie seems an obvious spin-off, but I feel a solo Hawkman movie, starring Aldis Hodge, is a solid option as well!

I'm skeptical of race-bending in general, but Hawkman is a character where it kinda works, and Hodge's performance, while stopping short of mind-blowing, was pretty darn good. But it also made me very curious about this take on Carter Hall and his backstory.

So here's how I'd do a Hawkman movie...titled Hawkman of course

The film would be primarily set in 2017, sometime after the events of Justice League. Carter Hall is an archeologist and a consultant to ARGUS. His speciality is in tracking and investigating alien artifacts. Carter is recruited by Waller for a covert discovery mission in Egypt, to unearth what could potentially be an alien spacecraft that crash-landed on earth in ancient times. The craft is discovered in the tomb of Prince Khufu. Within it, Carter finds a device called the Absorbascon which floods his mind with memories of an alien world of winged people and of past lifetimes in Ancient Egypt and throughout world history.

As Carter deals with these strange visions and memories, some of the alien tech recovered by ARGUS is stolen by a mysterious organization, led by Carl Sands AKA the Shadow-Thief. Carter uses the alien armor and wings he'd taken from the spacecraft, powered by the Nth metal, to attempt to stop the theft but fails. He works together with a young ARGUS agent named Kendra Saunders to attempt to discover who's the mastermind behind Sands and what they intend to do with the stolen tech.

Carter's appearance in armor also leads the media to speculate about an obscure long-forgotten hero named Hawkman, who was a member of the Justice Society. Carter starts to investigate Hawkman, and has visions of being him and fighting alongside the JSA in the 70's and 80's. At some point, he encounters one Kent Nelson who greets him as an old friend. It's at this point that Carter learns the truth from Kent.

Carter is the reincarnation of Prince Khufu, who along with his lover Chay-Ara, discovered the crashed ship from the planet Thanagar. Hath-Seth intended to use the alien tech to conquer Egypt and dethrone Khufu. However, during their battle, in which all three perish, they are exposed to the Absorbascon, which potentially lead them into a cycle of rebirth across centuries - usually with the same bodies, but sometimes with different ones. Kent takes Carter to the latter's estate, which he entrusted to Kent and the rest of the JSA, to pass on to his next incarnation. Carter finds there the prototype Hawk-cruiser, which he is able to fix and get working using his newfound understanding of Thanagarian tech.

In 1986, Hawkman battled Hath-Seth's reincarnation, Dr. Anton Hastor, but both killed each other in battle. We learn that in the present-day, Hastor was reincarnated as woman named Helene Astor, whose memories were re-awakened the moment Carter, in his latest incarnation, discovered the spacecraft and activated the Absorbascon. Helene swiftly reunited with Hastor's cult and put into motion the plans to steal the Thanagarian tech (through their agent Shadow-Thief, who'd been given some Thanagarian tech Hastor had acquired back in the 80's) and harness it to fulfill Hath-Seth's original goal of world domination.

Carter, now having embraced his identity as Hawkman goes into battle with Helene Astor, along with Kendra, who reveals herself to be a deep-cover Thanagarian agent named Shayera Hol (whom Carter vaguely believed might by Chay-Ara reborn). The Hawks battle Helene and manage to defeat her, destroying her consciousness seemingly permanently by harnessing the Absorbascon. In the aftermath, Shayera takes the Absorbascon back with her to Thanagar, with the possibility that she might one day return, while Carter goes back to working with ARGUS, but this time as a superhero and field operative, and he and Kent (and Al) get together to talk about old times and the possibility of reforming the Justice Society someday...

[krazijoe]

I'd get a competent writer that understood the character and convoluted history, a competent director that knows the character enough to take the writers vision and adapt it and some competent actors who want to be in their roles and not just a paycheck.

Add in good producers to keep things on track, but don't need to be all up in everyones business, while keeping the studio execs and accounting team at bay.

That's what I would do...

[Frontier]

Archaeologist Carter Hall meets Kendra Saunders and the two explore their past lives and history together while becoming Superheroes and contending with the vicious forces of Hath-Set.

[D.Z]

Either adapt Hawkworld or reincarnation triller.

[Cat]

I'd add a dash of Indiana Jones. Play up the archaeology angle for the mass audience, and not drown them in his complicated backstory other than the basics as Johns presented it.

[Lightning Rider]

Some good ideas in the OP but there's not much of a plot there.

I would probably set a good amount of the movie in the past with Shayera. Probably 3 distinct time periods, with lots of flashbacks and cameos of DC characters like R'as and Hippolyta. A Hawkworld reveal would be at the end for a sequel.

[Jim Kelly]

If we're going with the Egyptians, I'd like something like the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies for the first one. For the second movie, Carter and Shiera use their science to head into space in search of the alien beings that came to Egypt in their past. Finding Thanagar overrun with crime and alien invaders, they build a Hawk police force to restore order. In the third movie, they return to Earth.

[phonogram12]

Have Katar Hall visit Earth and discover Thanagarian tech from Ancient Egypt and realize that that was a life he had lived once and go from there.

[bat39]

Some good ideas in the OP but there's not much of a plot there.

I would probably set a good amount of the movie in the past with Shayera. Probably 3 distinct time periods, with lots of flashbacks and cameos of DC characters like R'as and Hippolyta. A Hawkworld reveal would be at the end for a sequel.

Yeah, I honestly just wanted to put some ideas together. But the basic plot would be Hath-Set/Hastor's plans for world domination using Thanagarian tech, specifically the Absorbascon. And hint at the Absorbascon potentially being the cause of the reincarnation cycle.

Have Katar Hall visit Earth and discover Thanagarian tech from Ancient Egypt and realize that that was a life he had lived once and go from there.

That's not a bad idea either.

Though when it comes to the Hawks, I have a bias towards Carter Hall as Hawkman, and Shayera Hol as Hawkgirl.

[Ra-El]

I would go with the Mummy or Indiana Jones aproach too.

Would start with child Carter Hall having dreams of past lives, mostly as Prince Khufu, then jump into a action scene ala Raiders of the Last to show who Carter currently is.

The movie would follow Carter and his team, maybe a girlfriend (not Hawkgirl, but the movie would trick us into believe she is). Through out the movie he would be searching for some ancient technology, competing against a criminal group.

Eventually he would discover himself as Hawkman and become aware of his reincarnation cycle.

At the end of the movie, in a post credit scene, we would see another dream sequence in ancient Egypt, but it would be Shayera having it in Thanagar, then we would learn she is coming to Earth after a dangerous criminal who killed her husband and partner, Katar Hol.

If things worked well, the audience would be really into the relationship between Carter and his girlfriend, like we are into the Mummy's main couple, so in the second movie they would have some conflict going on.

[Jim Kelly]

Y'know, I much prefer the Thanagar Hawkman--but the fact is BLACK ADAM included the Egyptian Hawkman, so it would be too confusing for audiences if they introduced another Hawkman that just happens to be called Katar Hol. The best we can hope for is that a movie about the Egyptians sets up the Thanagarians--in a continuity that isn't too confusing.

[Ascended]

Haven't watched Black Adam so I can't speak on the film or the actor.

I'd probably just do an adaptation of Hawkworld, and at the end instead of Katar and Shayera crashing on earth in modern times they'd crash in ancient Egypt, with an epilogue that sets up the reincarnation idea and maybe a post-credits zinger that introduces the present day incarnation.

Any Indiana Jones style pulp-y adventure stuff I could work in would absolutely be worked in, but for the first Hawkman movie it seems to me you should look at the best Hawkman story you could adapt, and that's easily Hawkworld....though Shadow War could make an excellent sequel.

If all that can work around whatever Black Adam did, then great. But as far as I'm concerned the DCEU is a dead end and anything that came from it can be dropped without much hassle. Let Cena, Gadot, Mamoa, and Levi finish their trilogies (or knock out a couple more seasons, in Peacemaker's case) and then have WB start from scratch.

[marhawkman]

Archaeologist Carter Hall meets Kendra Saunders and the two explore their past lives and history together while becoming Superheroes and contending with the vicious forces of Hath-Set.

i'd put in the Thanagarian stuff though. Oh and the archaeologist + remembering a past life angle as a way to find crap that's been buried for centuries.

[phonogram12]

That's not a bad idea either.

Though when it comes to the Hawks, I have a bias towards Carter Hall as Hawkman, and Shayera Hol as Hawkgirl.

I get that. We all have our favorites. My first introduction to the Hawks was the origin story from the Super Powers Collection Collector's Box that featured the Thanagarian version. That said, you could still easily fit Carter in this version of the mythos. Just have him be an in-between reincarnation life that existed in the '40s who was an archeologist.

[Thor-Ul]

Haven't watched Black Adam so I can't speak on the film or the actor.

I'd probably just do an adaptation of Hawkworld, and at the end instead of Katar and Shayera crashing on earth in modern times they'd crash in ancient Egypt, with an epilogue that sets up the reincarnation idea and maybe a post-credits zinger that introduces the present day incarnation.

I don't think that is a good idea. Even if the concept of "god was an astronaut" was popular in the past, today is seen as a form of disrespect non occidental cultures. It was one of the low points of Eternals. Let the antique egyptians be the ones who discovered the crashed spaceship and used the alien tech than modern humans still can't understand.

Any Indiana Jones style pulp-y adventure stuff I could work in would absolutely be worked in, but for the first Hawkman movie it seems to me you should look at the best Hawkman story you could adapt, and that's easily Hawkworld....though Shadow War could make an excellent sequel.

Honestly, I don't know if Hawkworld can be adapted right now, in this new DCGunn era. For start, it is a very grim story , more akin to what Snyder had built. Make an adaptation of Hawkworld would be like an step back to the grimmness critized to the present DCEU. I mean, drug addict, corrupt cop Hawkman who hides he killed a person? Not exatly a family friendly starting point for a hero.

If all that can work around whatever Black Adam did, then great. But as far as I'm concerned the DCEU is a dead end and anything that came from it can be dropped without much hassle. Let Cena, Gadot, Mamoa, and Levi finish their trilogies (or knock out a couple more seasons, in Peacemaker's case) and then have WB start from scratch.

Could be. But even if the old DCEU is dead, Hawkman still will be Aldis Hodge. He already had set up the character and is he who has becomehim. If you want to re, ok, but just remember than it must to be also an african american actor. You will want to avoid any polemic.

Personaly, I think the movie should be an origin story for Hawkgirl. Make it through the search of Hawkman for his lost love than we know his history and tring to awake his eternal love before their enemies catch them. You know, huge romantic elements to sell the movie.