Thanagar is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe. Thanagar is the original home of the humanoid Thanagarian race, noted for the discovery of gravity defying Nth metal. The planet is in orbit around the star Polaris. DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... The Thanagarians are a technologically advanced civilisation from the planet Thanagar. ... Nth Metal (also called Ninth Metal) is a fictional metal found in the DC Universe. ... Polaris (α UMi / α Ursae Minoris / Alpha Ursae Minoris) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. ...

History

Pre-Crisis

In pre-Crisis history, Thanagar was a peaceful scientifically-advanced world, in which crime was virtually unknown. It was run by a single government and there wasn't any need for a police force. That is until an alien race called the Manhawks, who instigate the practice of stealing for the thrill of it, invaded. As a result, Paran Katar established the "Hawk-Police" (or "Wingmen"). Amongst the first Wingmen was Paran's son, Katar Hol. Order was restored, but not completely, as a few Thanagarians also became involved in thrill-stealing. Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue comic book limited series (identified as a 12 part maxi-series) and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 in order to simplify their fifty-year-old continuity. ... The Wingmen are the Thanagarian police force with roles of judge, jury and executor that exists in the pages of DC Comics publications. ... Katar Hol is a DC Comics superhero, the Silver Age Hawkman. ...

Katar and his wife Shayera Hol, also a member of the force, later arrived on Earth pursuing a shapeshifting villain named Byth. Katar and Shayera decided to remain on Earth and study human police methods. They became superheroes as Hawkman and Hawkwoman. ShapeShifter is a Preference Pane for Mac OS X developed by Unsanity that applies themes to the operating system. ... Byth Rok is a DC Comics supervillain who is a recurring foe to the Silver Age Hawkman. ... Cover to Hawkman v4 # 1. ... Hawkwoman is the name of a fictional characters, superheroines in the DC Comics universe. ...

Following a plague, Thanagar entered an expansionist phase, and began a war with Rann. This was eventually resolved, but Thanagar made several covert attempts to take over Earth. Katar and Shayera sided with Earth in this conflict. The Shadow War of Hawkman continued up to the Crisis. Rann is the fictional planet visited by DC Comics explorer Adam Strange by way of a transportation device called the Zeta Beam. ...

Post-Crisis

In Post-Crisis history, established in Timothy Truman's Hawkworld miniseries, Thanagar was portrayed as already being an expansionist planet which plundered other worlds, and the Hawk-Police became corrupted. Thanagarian noble classes used to live in floating cities, with aliens in the "Downside" ghettos. Timothy Truman (born February 9, 1956 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia is an American writer, artist and musician best known for his stories and Western Movie-style comic book art. ... Hawkworld was a comic book from DC Comics that explored the origins of Hawkman and Hawkwoman. ...

Thanagar was one of the planets which united to invade Earth in the Invasion! storyline. Prior to the invasion, a Thangarian agent was sent to Earth and posed as a new Hawkman. Invasion was a three-issue comics crossover event published in late 1988-early 1989 by DC Comics. ... Cover to Hawkman v4 # 1. ...

As in the original history, Katar Hol and Shayera Thal came to Earth in pursuit of Byth, now a corrupt Wingman, and remained to establish a relationship between the two planets. The media dubbed them as Hawkman and Hawkwoman, due to their similarity to the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Thanagar later developed the Elite Hawkmen Force, an elite squad of Wingmen. The planetary government continued to be expansionist and corrupt, and eventually Hawkman and Hawkwoman claimed sanctuary on Earth. Cover to Hawkman v4 # 1. ... Hawkwoman is the name of a fictional characters, superheroines in the DC Comics universe. ... Superman, catalyst of the Golden Age: Superman #14 (Feb. ... Cover to Hawkman v4 # 1. ... First and foremost, the term hawkgirl orignates from her being part Hawk, part Girl, and full idiot. ... The Elite Hawkmen are the elite force of Thanagar, in DC Comics publications. ... The Wingmen are the Thanagarian police force with roles of judge, jury and executor that exists in the pages of DC Comics publications. ...

Thanagar's government was subsequently overthrown by Onimar Synn, who had taken control of Nth Metal. He was defeated by a resurrected Hawkman, but returned in the Rann-Thanagar War. Onimar Synn is a DC Comics supervillain. ... Rann-Thanagar War #1; cover by Ivan Reis and Marc Campos. ...

Infinite Crisis

In the Rann-Thanagar War miniseries, part of Infinite Crisis, the planet was destroyed after the leader of a rogue group of Thanagarians, during a battle with Adam Strange, teleported the planet Rann to the Thanagarian system, hoping to create a dictatorship between the two worlds. At first it was believed that the sudden appearance of Rann caused Thanagar's orbit to change and it passed too close to that system's sun. A large number of Thanagarian refugees fled to Rann and a war began between them and the Rann. Infinite Crisis was a seven-issue comic book limited series published by DC Comics. ... Adam Strange is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. ...

During a battle between the factions, the forces of Rann and Thanagar were faced with a fracture in space that resembles those that were seen during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue comic book limited series (identified as a 12 part maxi-series) and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 in order to simplify their fifty-year-old continuity. ...

Tigorr of the Omega Men later discovered a stray Thanagarian surveillance satellite, which had documented footage of Superboy-Prime forcing Thanagar out of orbit. Though the satellite was soon lost in the chaotic environment, Adam Strange gathered the heads of each faction so that they might stop fighting amongst themselves and work together against the new cosmic threat. On the barren surface of Thanagar, he soon found the evidence to convince all the warring groups: handprints deep within an enormous crater, created by Superboy's interference. L.E.G.I.O.N., Thanagar, Rann and New Cronus combined their forces to make a full assault on the force behind the rift, with Ion (Kyle Rayner) in the lead. The Omega Men are a team of alien comic book superheroes in the DC Comics universe. ... Superboy-Prime is a fictional superhero turned supervillain in the DC Universe. ... L.E.G.I.O.N. was a DC Comics science fiction comic book. ... Kyle Rayner is a fictional comic book superhero from the DC Comics universe, known for most of his publication history as Green Lantern, a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. ...

Green Lantern Corps members Kilowog and Kyle Rayner later terraformed Thanagar, making it again suitable for habitation. The Green Lantern Corps The Green Lantern Corps is a fictional, intergalactic police force of Green Lanterns that existed in the pages of DC Comics, chosen to patrol the vast reaches of the Universe, fighting evil wherever it could be found. ... Kilowog is a fictional character from DC Comics, a member of the Green Lantern Corps. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in three stages of development. ...

Thanagarian weaponry has recently begun appearing on Earth, smuggled by the Secret Society of Super Villains. The Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a group of comic book villains that exist in the DC Universe. ...

Other media

In the Justice League animated series, Hawkgirl Shayera Hol described Thanagar as "a war-like world—there one must strike first or die".^[1] Justice League is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. ... First and foremost, the term hawkgirl orignates from her being part Hawk, part Girl, and full idiot. ...

In the episode "The Terror Beyond," it is learned that in ancient times, the people of Thanagar worshiped a pantheon of extradimensional entities known as The Great Old Ones. At that time, Thanagar was a hard world. Theirs was a primitive and savage culture; in return for offerings made to Ixthultu, the Old Ones leader, he gave them agriculture, mathmatics, and philosophy—the foundations of their entire culture. As they matured, however, the Thanagarians stopped worshipping them; modern Thanagarians bow down to no higher power. Their knowledge of the Great Old Ones was used in the creation of their personal weaponry. For this reason, their weapons (such as Hawkgirl's mace and Hro Talak's battle-axe) have mystical properties and can work against Green Lantern's power ring or Superman's invulnerability. A Great Old One is a type of fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. ... Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space and change. ... Philosopher in Meditation (detail), by Rembrandt. ... Assorted maces For its symbolical derivative, see ceremonial mace. ... Cover to Green Lantern: Rebirth #6, art by Ethan Van Sciver. ... Superman is a fictional character regarded as one of the most famous and popular comic book superheroes of all time, and one of the first to embody several qualities associated with them. ...

In the later episodes entitled "Starcrossed", an emissary of Thanagar, the army commander Hro Talak, declared to Earth that, "For generations, we on Thanagar have been locked in a bloody war with these monsters [the Gordanians, referred to as 'our mortal enemies']." It was revealed that Hawkgirl was actually not a policewoman sent through a wormhole as she had earlier claimed, but a lieutenant with the army.^[2]

Ostensibly, Shayera's duty was to be ambassador to the Earth (similar in capacity to her fellow Leaguer Wonder Woman's role for Patriach's World and the Amazonian culture); she was to ensure mutual co-operation between Thanagar and Earth. Thus, she set up the alliance between the two planets when it seemed the Gordanians were about to invade the Earth. Wonder Woman is a fictional DC Comics superheroine co-created by William Moulton Marston and wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston. ...

The Thanagarian army claimed they would set up a planetary force field to help the inhabitants of Earth. After gaining the go-ahead and acceptance of world governments and the Justice League, they forcefully imposed martial law and stated they were establishing a garrison on Earth. The Justice League, sometimes called the Justice League of America or JLA for short, is a fictional DC Universe superhero team. ...

Lt. Hol believed that she was doing the best thing for Earth. However, not even she knew that the Thanagarians actually intended to build a hyper-space bypass network that they would use to assault the Gordanian homeworld. Hro Talak stated: A wormhole, also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that is essentially a shortcut from one point in the universe to another point in the universe, allowing travel between them that is faster than it would take light to make the journey through...

For decades, the Gordanian homeworld has been protected behind an impregnable defensive line. But this chain of hyperspace bypasses will allow our armada to jump their defenses and make a direct assault on their empire. Earth is the last link in that chain. Once that chain is completed, we can attack and wipe out the Gordanian threat forever!

Lt. Hol protested that "if we open a hole in hyperspace, it will destroy this entire planet!" To which Talak replied, "Sadly, yes. For Thanagar to live, Earth must die." At this point, Lt. Hol betrayed her homeworld to save her adopted homeworld, for which she was exiled and stripped of her rank. The Thanagarian military, under Cmdr. Talak's orders, retreated from Earth. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

Justice League Unlimited showed that Hro Talak's task force returned too late to stop the main force of the Gordanian invasion. In a suicide mission, Talak committed kamikaze out of patriotism as well as despair over his failed relationship with Lt. Hol. Justice League Unlimited (or JLU) was an American animated television series produced by and aired on Cartoon Network. ... Kamikaze pilot Hachiro Hosokawa during World War II. He survived the war, because he belonged to a covering fighter squadron. ... Defense of the homeland is a commonplace of military patriotism: The statue in the courtyard of École polytechnique, Paris, commemorating the students involvement in defending France against the 1814 invasion of the Coalition. ...

Thanagar was completely conquered by the Gordanians, although an underground Resistance exists (such as the one on Korugar); the former army command operatives Paran Dul and Kragger mention having been part of it.

The Thanagarian response to their final fall appears to be a general consensus blaming the action of Shayera Hol. As a member of the Justice League's founding council, she admits her faults and justified her actions to the Justice League:

I came to this planet as a patriot. I had a mission, and I carried it out. What I couldn’t know, was that I would come to care for the Earth, and her people. That I’d come to care for all of you. I’ve spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty.

The final fate of Thanagar under Gordanian rule remains unknown. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

References

1. ^ Justice League episode "Secret Origins"
2. ^ "Five years ago, we secretly sent an advance agent to Earth to learn more about your people and to study your defenses. That agent was Lieutenant Shayera Hol, better known to you as Hawkgirl." —Hro Talak