Hank Hall/Hawk – Titans

[Meg]

Born the eldest son to a single mother, Hank had always looked after his little brother Don. Only half-brothers, they acted more as twins, being the ying to the others yang, and balancing out each other very well. With no father in their life, and a mother who worked multiple jobs to keep bills paid and ends met, the brothers learned to rely on each other.

Though they grew up poor, the little family got along well and their mother always was looking for ways to better her sons’ lives. Anything free or anything to do with grants or scholarships, she signed up for. Finally, that paid off and both boys were enrolled in a prestigious academy. Here, Hank developed his love of football and showed great aptitude at the sport right off, and joined the team right away. His brother Don wasn’t as tough as he was, and joined the glee club instead.

Both handsome boys, though very different in looks, it didn’t take long for the football coach to notice the Hall brothers. Hank could tell the coach was not the sort of man you wanted to be alone with, but Don was more trusting. However, before the coach could lure Don away alone, Hank stepped in, and changed the course of his life by taking Don’s place and submitting himself to years of routine, systematic abuse. Through mental manipulation, the coach forced Hank’s silence and compliance for years. Even though it was terrible, to save and spare his brother, Hank would have done it all over again.

Rising in the ranks at school and on the team, Hank eventually aged out of his coach’s interest range and, thankfully, the man retired, hopefully to never abuse anyone else again. Hank was nearing graduation – a rising star on the field and not bad at academics – when he was dealt another serious emotional blow. His mother was diagnosed with cancer and, with little money for treatment or the expensive medicines, passed away, leaving young Hank to raise Don on his own as best he could. Thankfully, their school was sympathetic and continued to let Don attend after Hank graduated.

Though he had a wide range of colleges wanting to recruit him, Hank chose a school close to home so he could work a small job doing construction when he wasn’t at class or on the field, and take care of Don. Once Don graduated, the two moved into the same dorm on campus, and that is when their lives took another strange turn. One night, coming home from a late practice, and Don coming along after a long day of classes, the brothers happened upon a mugging. Hank wanted to jump in and come to the person’s rescue, but Don held him back, urging caution, to make sure the assailant didn’t have a gun. Both wished they could do something, and suddenly, shockingly, they could.

Both heard voices urging them to only say the name, say the words ‘Hawk’ and ‘Dove’, and that they would be granted powers to be able to do something, to make a difference. Years later, the brothers would learn they were an experiment conducted by a Lord of Chaos and and a Lord of Peace – two entities who had fallen in love and wanted to prove to their fellows that opposites combining were the true epitome of wholeness. Each entity bestowed upon one brother their avatar – Hank, of Chaos, the Hawk, and Don, of Peace, the Dove. Calling upon the names, both brothers transformed – they looked different, red and silver for Hank, with superhuman powers of super strength, unlimited stamina, enhanced speed, increased agility, enhanced body density, extreme durability and a healing factor. Later on Hank learned he did not even need to say ‘’Hawk” to transform, but that a sort of ‘danger sense’ would kick in and he could become Hawk at will.

Now students by day and crimefighters by night, it did not take long for a group of fellow vigilantes to recruit the brothers. Hank and Don joined the Titans, and fought alongside them for a few years before Hank graduated college and was recruited into the pro-leagues of football. Don went on to become a counselor for abused youth, as a silent repayment for the fate Hank had saved him from years before. Though some of the oldest Titans, Hank and Don kept up their combined crusade for many years. Between pro-football and crime fighting, Hank’s activities began to take a toll on his body. And though Don urged him to hang up their personal and retire, Hank soldiered on.

Around this time, he and Don saved a mother and daughter from being hit by a police chase of cars. The daughter, Dawn, was breath-taking, and Hank called dibs straight away. He went out with her a few times, but when things started to seem to be getting serious, Hank ditched, unable to become close to someone just to have them leave or die or hurt him. Don, knowing the strange connection Hank felt to Dawn, urged him not to cut and run, but Hank was too far gone in his bad habits by then to take heed and never planned to see the girl again.

That is, until one terrible night, a few years ago, when during a seemingly routine mission, Don was tragically killed. For all their lives, Don had tempered Hank, even more so as ‘Hawk and Dove’. Without Don, Hank’s life spiraled into a tempest of drunken rages, violent acts, drug-induced benders, and bloody (sometimes lethal) attacks as Hawk. The Titans could not control him without his brother to even out his personality, as Hank nor as Hawk. They forced him into a sort of sebatacle a few months ago and Hank has been continuing his downward spiral ever since, culminating in the very self-destructive search for his old football coach and abuser, who he somehow thinks killing will solve all his problems.

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