HAWKGIRL II (Kendra Shiera Saunders)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Geoff Johns and James Robinson

Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Kendra Shiera Saunders
Occupation: Film school student
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Michael Saunders (father; deceased), Trina Saunders (mother; deceased), Speed Saunders (grandfather), Carter Hall (great uncle), Shiera Hall (third cousin), Mia (daughter, deceased)
Base of Operation: St. Roch, Louisiana
Group Affiliation(s): JSA
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
First Appearance: JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)
Creators: Geoff Johns and James Robinson

HISTORY

Kendra is the granddaughter of Golden Age adventurer "Speed" Saunders and related to the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Kendra had a troubled youth spending much of her childhood in various youth facilities, following her parents death when she was sixteen. Rather than staying in the facilities, Kendra often took refuge on the streets until she was eventually found by her grandfather, Speed Saunders, who became her guardian and helped put some stability in her life and Kendra entered film school following an old dream of hers.

However, her troubles were not over and at age seventeen she cut her wrists trying to commit suicide. Speed found her in the bathroom and quickly rushed her to the hospital where she died. Ten minutes after being pronounced dead she suddenly began breathing again, having somehow miraculously been brought back to life. When she opened her eyes Speed noticed that her eyes were no longer green but brown. Upon seeing this Speed realized that he was no longer looking at his granddaughter but the reincarnation of Shiera Hall and Egyptian princess Chay-Ara. Kendra still believed herself to be Kendra Saunders and believing that a reincarnation of Khufu or Carter could not be far behind Speed decided that revealing the truth to Kendra was probably not meant for him. Instead he told Kendra of her family history and began training her to take the mantle of Hawkgirl.

Six months after her training began on the night of her nineteenth birthday she got a frantic phone call from her grandfather who told her to get the wings. Speed had just witnessed the death of Wesley Dodds at the hands of Mordru the Dark Lord and knew that in order to stop the Dark Lord the Justice Society would be forced to reform and he knew that Kendra's future destiny was closely tied to the JSA [JSA Secret Files #1].

The following day Kendra donned the wings of her relative and took flight for the first time. As per instructions by her grandfather she then traveled to Vancouver to find and protect a newborn baby boy no matter what. The baby, who was the reincarnation of Hector Hall and heir to the mantle of Dr. Fate, was being hunted down by Mordru so that he could kill him and assume the power of Dr. Fate himself. Although Mordru was able to kidnap the baby, the JSA and Kendra eventually found him and before he was able to kill the child, and the second Star-Spangled Kid managed to bond the child to the Fate power. Using his vast powers, the new Dr. Fate was able to imprison Mordru in his amulet and save the JSA. The heroes then returned to the JSA headquarters and decided to reform the JSA on a permanent basis. Kendra joined the group as Hawkgirl and has been a valuable asset to the team ever since [JSA #2-#4]

When Carter Hall returned from the dead, Kendra learned that her suicide attempt at age 16 had been successful, and that the soul inhabiting her body was actually that of her relative, Sheira Hall, the original Hawkgirl. However, she still retains Kendra's memories and personality, finding it hard to connect to the Sheira part of her identity. When Carter Hall returned to life, she moved with him to St. Roch in Louisiana, but the two have not become lovers (unlike all their previous lives), just good friends.

Kendra has a daughter named Mia, whom she put up for adoption some time ago. She has recently made contact with Mia, but has not revealed her relationship to the young girl.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Hawkgirl can fly at great speed by means of the artificial wings made of "ninth metal" that her third cousin used before her. Kendra also has her love of archaic weaponry and is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, skilled in a number of martial arts techniques.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Hawkgirl in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)

JSA Secret Files #2 (September 2001)
Hawkman Secret Files #1 (October 2002)