Nighthawk is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

, a

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

in the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

. His real name is Hannibal Hawkes and he first appeared in '' Western Comics'' #5. In his secret identity, he worked as a traveling repairman. He had a sidekick named Jim Peyton. Created by Joe Millard and Charles Paris, his later adventures were handled by writers

France Herron Francis Edward Herron (July 23, 1917 – September 2, 1966) was an Americans, American comic book writer and editor active in the 1940s–1960s, mainly for DC Comics. He is credited with co-creating Captain Marvel Jr. and the Red Skull, as well a ...

, Don Cameron, and Gardner Fox; and artists

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...

and

Carmine Infantino Carmine Michael Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creat ...

Fictional character biography

He was shown as dying during '' Crisis on Infinite Earths'', although this has been retconned twice to fit in with the later revelation that he was a

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...

of Prince Khufu — who would later be reincarnated as Carter Hall, the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

Hawkman Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...

. Current continuity has it that he was shot by a criminal named Matilda Roderic, who was presumably a reincarnation of the evil priest

Hath-Set Hath-Set is a DC Comics supervillain created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville. The character is the archenemy of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Publication history Hath-Set first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 and was created by Gardner Fox and Denn ...

, who is apparently destined to kill Khufu in every life. Roderic's descendant is the current Hath-Set. The 2002 retcon also revealed he was the partner and lover of the Western heroine

Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

, who was the reincarnation of Khufu's wife Chay-Ara. Nighthawk appears in ''Guy Gardner'' #24 during the ''

Zero Hour Zero Hour may refer to: * Midnight, or 00:00 * Zero hour (1945), the capitulation of the Nazi government at midnight May 8, 1945 * Zero Hour (military designation), the scheduled time for the start of some event, especially a military operation ...

'' incident. He sported white sideburns at this point in time. His group of allies, which includes El Diablo and

Bat Lash Bartholomew "Bat" Aloysius Lash is a fictional Western superhero character in the DC Universe. A self-professed pacifist, self-professed ladies' man, and gambler, Bat Lash's adventures have been published by DC Comics since 1968. Character or ...

, were forming to take on the villain Extant and several men Extant had brainwashed. Nighthawk calls this group the "Rough Bunch" on more than one occasion. The time-lost heroes

Steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, Supergirl, Guy Gardner and a version of

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

show up to help in the fight. A modern-day version of the character appears in the Western-themed ''Robin'' (vol. 2) Annual #6, as a mercenary. He worked with

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin **Forest rob ...

and the modern day

Pow Wow Smith Ohiyesa "Pow Wow" Smith is a fictional Western hero published by DC Comics. Created by writer Don Cameron and penciler Carmine Infantino, he is a Sioux who is the sheriff of the small Western town of Elkhorn, where he is known as a master detec ...

to track down the modern day Trigger Twins. They have a literal Main Street showdown in a Western-themed tourist attraction located near Gotham City.

''
The New 52 The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the " Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC canceled all its existing titles and debuted 52 new serie ...
''

Nighthawk appears in ''All Star Western'' in both its backups and in the main Jonah Hex story. Nighthawk's new origin is that he left home as a child and worked on a whaling boat. The captain, a former slave, became a second father to him and Nighthawk was there when the man died. This death inspired Nighthawk to fight for justice and for the oppressed. Nighthawk is teamed with

once again. Nighthawk uses a special medallion he found at an Indian burial site which gives him enhanced strength and healing abilities.

In other media

Television

* In ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

'' episode "Power Outage", a movie poster can be seen featuring Nighthawk and Cinnamon. * In the ''

DC's Legends of Tomorrow ''DC's Legends of Tomorrow'', or simply ''Legends of Tomorrow'', is an American time travel superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Phil Klemmer, who are also executive producers alon ...

'' episode " The Magnificent Eight", present Hawkgirl meets her previous incarnation

in 1871, who discusses her sorrow over the death of her husband, Hannibal Hawkes /

Other

* French-Canadian electro-rock band Judge Rock has him as a character in their 2012 song ''Westerner'', depicting scenes from the 1985/86 '' Crisis on Infinite Earths'' comics series where Nighthawk appears: "Then came Nighthawk, the sombre man / White bird on a dark shirt / Hand on his gun, boots in the dirt / He was the gravest of the clan".

References