Why did they use Hawkwoman instead of Hawkman in the Justice League animated series?

[Chastain86]

Is it because they didn’t have enough female heroes? Is it because Hawkwoman (or Hawkgirl) is more fun to draw?

I mean, I get why they decided to use John Stewart – an all-white League would certainly raise some eyebrows. But this seems arbitrary at best.

[CandidGamera]

Speculatively? To add an extra pair of… X chromosomes.

[cmkeller]

It’s because they didn’t want Wonder Woman to be the only female.

[JThunder]

I’m pretty sure that they didn’t want John Stewart to make his moves on Katar Hol.

[Otto]

@Chastain86

I mean, I get why they decided to use John Stewart – an all-white League would certainly raise some eyebrows.

All white? What about Martian Manhunter?

[Zebra]

My guess is that they wanted a second female character that could fly.

The fact that she is not from earth also adds to possible story lines.

Supergirl probably wouldn’t work.

Off hand I can’t come up with another female who flies but I’m sure somebody else will.

[Wolfian]

Bruce Timm: She’s the second most controversial member of the cast. People were saying, “Why Hawkgirl? Why not Hawkman?” Well, she’s cooler! Again, we felt that we needed to have another woman in the group—we like women, you know. And we [also] felt that the Hawk family had to be represented, because of the icons that they are. And we decided that, “Well, we don’t want to have both of them, so let’s just have Hawkgirl.” And, personally, I’ve always loved that Hawkgirl design, ever since I saw it when I was a kid. I think her mask is cooler. I think she’s got an overall better shape.

from here

Bruce Timm on Hawkgirl #1: “We didn’t want to have both Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and I always loved the Hawkgirl design…when I was a kid and read my first Hawkman comic, I liked Hawkman fine, but I had a huge crush on Hawkgirl! Her design and helmet shape were better, and she’s a girl, so she’s sexier. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have another female in the group besides Wonder Woman (courtesy of Starlog Magazine).”

from the same website as above

[Bryan_Ekers]

Well, they could have thrown in Zatanna easily enough, though I think the characterization of Hawkgirl is hysterical (her idea of celebrating is to start a barfight, for example).

It’s not clear, though, if her wings are actually part of her or not.

On a semi-related note, in the episode in which Superman “dies” (“Hereafter”), J’onn sadly comments that Supes’ power had allowed the Leauge to win many battles “simply because he was there.” From my observation, though, Supes never turned the tide of battle by himself. He’d invariably end up in an endless slugfest with someone of comparable strength, or taken out by telepathy, magic, kryptonite, energy blasts, etc. Many of the episodes were written in such a way that Supes’s power gets neutralized almost immediately, leaving the actual victory to some clever ploy of (typically) Batman.

I can understand the problem, though. After all, if Supes went all-out, why would he even need the others?

[Wolfian]

@Bryan Ekers

It’s not clear, though, if her wings are actually part of her or not.

[hijack]That’s bugged me for awhile. In “Starcrossed” she wears a t-shirt and the wings come through it. In the comics are Thangarian [sic?] wings detachable?[/hj]

[Askia]

Thanagarian wings are detachable in the comics.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

I think Hawkgirl’s popularity would be improved if she wore Hawkman’s costume.

[rjung]

Any excuse to let Bruce Timm draw wimmen is fine by me!

[Kaitlyn]

@Bryan Ekers

Well, they could have thrown in Zatanna easily enough, though I think the characterization of Hawkgirl is hysterical (her idea of celebrating is to start a barfight, for example).

It’s not clear, though, if her wings are actually part of her or not.

On a semi-related note, in the episode in which Superman “dies” (“Hereafter”), J’onn sadly comments that Supes’ power had allowed the Leauge to win many battles “simply because he was there.” From my observation, though, Supes never turned the tide of battle by himself. He’d invariably end up in an endless slugfest with someone of comparable strength, or taken out by telepathy, magic, kryptonite, energy blasts, etc. Many of the episodes were written in such a way that Supes’s power gets neutralized almost immediately, leaving the actual victory to some clever ploy of (typically) Batman.

I can understand the problem, though. After all, if Supes went all-out, why would he even need the others?

It could be argued that this is exactly what Jonn meant. Without Superman there, it might take the whole league to stop just the one guy that Superman spends the whole time fighting. By occupying the most powerful member of the opposition, Superman frees the rest to deactivate bombs or whatever they need to do.