Hank Hall

Hank Hall (born c. 1989), is the vigilante Hawk. He is the son of a late unnamed woman, the older half-brother of the late Don Hall, and the boyfriend of Dawn Granger.

Early life
Hank was born around 1989 in Washington, D.C. and raised, alongside his half-brother Don Hall, by a single mother. His biological father was never involved in his life.

Despite living in a poor district, the Hall brothers were pushed academically to gain a scholarship that offered them the chance to attend a prestigious private school where, in 1999, Hank became a top star for the school football team, The Hawks.



After a game, Hank exited the locker room and saw his little brother, Don, with his coach, Vincent. Oddly persistent, Coach Vincent offered Don a chance to be "shown" the weight room. Hank who didn't feel comfortable with the situation, did everything he could to get he and his younger brother away from Vincent, but to no avail. Even swearing after becoming frustrated, Coach Vincent took it as the opportunity to threaten to blackmail them and to have their scholarships taken away. Due to his own history with Coach Vincent, Hank knew that he intended to sexually abuse his brother. Hank offered to take his place and proceeded to be molested by his coach after having sent Don away.

Sometime after that, their mother developed cancer and passed since she could not afford the proper medical attention. He eventually graduated and made it to college. While at University, Hank played for the Kesel Lions and suffered numerous head injuries, including a recent one during a football game. While at a frat party to celebrate his team's victory, he was approached by Don, who was concerned, and although he insisted that he was fine, he suddenly collapsed and was taken to see a doctor. The doctor advised him to take time to recover with the addition of painkillers, but he refused and claimed that he was determined to finish the season.

Eventually, Hank learned that Don had enlightened the athletic director of his current condition, thus suspending him from participating in upcoming competitions. Enraged, Hank confronted his brother the school library, eventually starting a fight with another student. Summoned to the Dean's office, Hank was asked to write a formal apology, seeing that there was evidence that he engaged the fight, but more so because he was one of the school's best players. Don, outraged that Hank's injuries are so simply overlooked, sternly suggested to have the both of them expelled. Hank, however, was unopposed to his brother's speech even after initially wanting to still play games.

The birth of Hawk and Dove


Using football as an outlet to release his anger, Don began to feel guilty for the time he had to sacrifice himself in the locker room. However, Hank lied, promising that nothing happened. Suggesting a different method for taking out his anger, Don proposed the idea to penalize the sexual offenders in their neighborhood. Disgusted by the fact that there were so many unpunished offenders in his neighborhood, Hank accepted. Therefore, on April 24, 2009, Hank and Don patrolled their street as Hawk and Dove for the first time, assaulting an alleged pedophile, Dwayne Wainwright. They forced him to admit his crimes, all while beating him up and recording it with a camera.

On December 14, Hank and Don brought a newspaper at a newsstand, where they made the front page of The Washington Post as Hawk and Dove; being credited for taking down a child pornography ring. Distracted and elated, they accidentally bumped into Dawn and Marie Granger. They graciously helped pick up their personal items and became slight preoccupied with one another. In that exact moment, before a car could nearly run into he and Dawn, another swerved in and took the hit and fatally ran into Don and Marie.

Dawn Granger


Sometime later, Hank and Dawn crossed paths again at a support group. After a few sessions, Hank offered to get Dawn a drink with the intention of getting to know more about each other's loved one. They eventually socialized more often and bonded to a point where they became close friends. Hank was taken to Marie's favorite restaurant and tried scones, whereas he took Dawn to Don's favorite pizza parlor.

After a long night of spending time together, he persuaded Dawn to sleep over at his house. While searching for blankets, she happened to find the original Hawk and Dove suits, causing Hank to show her footage of the times he and Don fought together. When questioned on his motives for being Hawk, Hank opened up for the first time and confessed about his molestation as a child. Hank revealed that he and his brother never punished Coach Vincent, seeing that it would make things "too real".



That same night, Hank was startled awake by the slamming of his apartment door. He Investigated and found Dawn missing along with his laptop left opened, with information on his childhood coach's location. Hank followed her and arrived at Vincent's house just as he was seconds away from attempting to murder Dawn. While Hank beat him senselessly, Vincent began to plead and swore he was a changed man after all those years. Yet, Dawn found explicit pictures of underage children on his laptop. Before proceeding to beat Vincent to death, Hank demanded Dawn to return home. However, Dawn made the staunch decision to stay with Hank and punish Vincent alongside him.

Afterward, they returned back to Hank's apartment and shared an intimate moment with one another. They stripped in front of one another just before making love. The next morning, Dawn told him that it was better to keep their relationship strictly professional and to keep it a secret.

At some point, before 2014, Dawn took on the mantle as Dove and they both started to operate as vigilantes in Gotham City. Their actions even attracted another vigilante, Robin, who was advised by Batman to stay away from the pair. During their careers as vigilantes, the trio would then reveal their true identities to each other, even being introduced to Donna Troy. Dawn and Hank eventually entered a relationship and moved away from Gotham in order to resume their vigilante careers in their hometown Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, Hank learned of a love affair Dawn was having with Dick behind his back. He has since then had a strong resentment toward Dick.

Rachel and the Nuclear Family


One night, Hawk was taken captive by some thugs, chaining him up. Before he could be further tortured, he was rescued by Dove. They returned home, where Hank took a bath, which Dawn helped him out of. In order to celebrate three and a half years together, Hank gave her a key belonging to the cage holding his pet doves. They attempted to have sex, but Hank was unable to due to his wounded hip. The following day, Hank returned home to find Dawn on the roof with Dick Grayson. Before he could get angry, Dawn pointed out that Rachel Roth was Dick's reason for being there. That night, with Dick having shown up, Dawn suggested to Hank that they have him help them on their final vigilante mission, but Hank was hesitant. The following day, Hank once again walked in on Dawn and Dick, assuming the worst eventually leading to a physical altercation between them, only to be stopped by an uncontrollable power from Rachel. That night, Hank and Dawn headed out on their mission. At first, things seemed to be going well but were overwhelmed. Before they could be killed, Robin showed up and rescued them, exposing his merciless capabilties. When they returned home, they found Rachel on the roof with an envelope of money used to compensate Dawn and Hank for keeping Rachel for the time being. They were suddenly joined by a family, who instigated a severe battle, ultimately leading to Dawn being thrown flying over the edge of the roof and kidnapping Rachel.



Hank sat nearby Dawn as she laid comatose in the hospital. When Dick arrived, Hank angrily questioned him before Dick promised to find the people responsible for her injury. Hank began to spend every day at Dawn side in the hospital. While inebriated, he was awoken and told that they needed to find someone named Jason Todd, claiming that Rachel needed their help.

Abilities

 * Master hand-to-hand combatant: Hank possesses impressive fighting skills, having been a prolific football tackler for over twenty years before assuming the mantle of Hawk.

Equipment

 * Hawk suit: Hank wears a protective suit whenever he's out fighting crime as Hawk.

Season 1

 * "Hawk and Dove"
 * "Origins"
 * "Doom Patrol" (mentioned)
 * "Hank and Dawn"
 * "Dick Grayson" (fake reality)

Behind the scenes

 * In the DC comics, Hank Hall is the first Hawk. His first appearance in the comics was Showcase #75 (June, 1968).