DC’s winged hero Hawkgirl has been featured several times outside of the comics, but her biggest media appearance yet will be in The CW's upcoming team-up series Legends of Tomorrow. Played by Ciara Renée, she’ll be one of the many heroes whom time traveler Rip Hunter will recruit to help defeat the millennia-old evildoer Vandal Savage. Rather than go the alien route with the character, Legends of Tomorrow will delve into the Hawkgirl’s mystical background from the comics, and this could result in fans seeing several versions of the superheroine.
In reference to the various retcons in Hawkgirl’s comic book history, Renée explained how Hawkgirl’s TV origin has been “streamlined” and touched on how the show will be able to explore all the different incarnations of her character through time. According to ScreenRant, Renée said:
We’re definitely doing the reincarnation version. So she used to be an Egyptian priestess and has been reincarnated with Hawkman for centuries. So that’s kind of where we’re going with it. At present, that’s the storyline we’re working on, but I think what’s great is that they’ve created something where they have a lot of possibilities. Like we can go backwards and forwards in time and find all different kinds of Hawkgirls; we also have a different universe in Flash – we have a different world – we brought Earth-2 into it. So I think the possibility to have more of the complicated storylines later on is available.
When Hawkgirl was first announced for Legends of Tomorrow, she was described as a reincarnated young woman whose warrior personality would emerge when provoked, causing wings to grow from her back. Months later, it was announced that Carter Hall, a.k.a Hawkman (played by Falk Hentschel) had been added to the show, and just like in the comics, he and Hawkgirl have been lovers throughout their various lives stretching back 5,000 years. However, unlike Carter, Kendra has no memories of their intertwined love, which will result in uncomfortable arguments between the two.
Because Legends of Tomorrow features the protagonists traveling through time to stop Vandal Savage, presumably one of the periods they will visit will be home to one of Carter and Kendra’s previous incarnations, whether it’s in ancient Egypt or closer to the 21st century. Plus, like Renée alluded to, The Flash recently introduced Earth 2 into the continuity, so who’s to say that at some point we won’t see a Kendra from an alternate universe appear in the DC TV universe?
Kendra made a cameo in The Flash Season 1 finale, and viewers will officially meet her later on during Season 2. She’ll also be one of the Legends of Tomorrow players that will appear in the Arrow/The Flash crossover this December, alongside Hawkman and Vandal Savage. While it hasn’t been revealed what role she’ll play in the crossover, these episodes may be when her powers finally awaken.
Legends of Tomorrow is scheduled to premiere on The CW in midseason 2016, but keep your eyes peeled on The Flash Season 2 (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST) to catch Kendra’s first full appearance.
