Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman Is A Corrective Measure
After what Aldis Hodge thought was a prank phone call, Dwyane “the Rock” Johnson confirmed for him what would later be confirmed for us all. Aldis Hodge, the Underground actor will portray one of DC Comics’ longest-running heroes, Hawkman, in the film adaptation of Black Adam, who will be played by Dwyane Johnson.
Who is Hawkman?
There is no one answer to this, given the publishing age of Hawkman and how many writers through the decades have taken liberties with his story, so I’ll slim this to his Golden age origin and talk a bit about his cameo in the Justice League Unlimited animated series.
Hawkman is one of the few golden age superheroes that has maintained staying power into the 21st century. The Golden age of comics began with the powerful debut of the son of Krypton, Superman in 1938, and lasted until the late 1950s’.
The Thanagarian Hakwman, most commonly depicted as an archeologist, Carter Hall, or Prince Khufu, has graced comic book pages for over 80 years and will now be brought to life in his first film adaptation. In his first comic appearance, Flash #1, 1940, Hawkman was a New York-based archeologist going by the name Carter Hall. His friend, Professor Jim Rock, gifted him an uncovered dagger unbeknownst to either, manufactured with Nth metal. When Cater touched the dagger he drifted into a trance, seeing his former life in the third person- He was a Prince of ancient Egypt, in love with a woman named Shiera (Hawkgirl), and murdered by a foe, Hath-set. Preceding his murder at the hands of Hath-set, Hawkman promised to avenge his death, in another life, which set forth an everlasting loop of reincarnation and romantic tragedy.
It was only when he stumbled across the Nth metal dagger, that he realized through a vision that he was the murdered Prince reincarnated. With the realization that he is Prince Khufu reborn, a new hero emerged and would be ‘entangled’ with his foreordained love, Chay-Ara, or Hawkgirl.
Hath-set did not know that the dagger was cursed when he plotted to murder the Egyptian monarchy. In doing so, he created an ongoing cycle where all three are reincarnated but destined to face the same fate.
The Casting Issue
Racebending of characters has been a personal bane of mine, but in this case, I see Hodge’s casting as a corrective measure. White Hollywood and DC Comics have lived in a warped fantasy that imagines white people as the architects of society by portraying them as the ancient Kemites, more commonly referred to as ancient Egyptians. No reputable historical record corroborates this theory; nonetheless, it is a sad trope that has played out in nearly every Hollywood production depicting ancient Kemites excluding Dreamwork’s The Prince of Egypt (1998). As a kid, I can recall family gatherings to view Charlton Heston’s Ten Commandments( 1956) and even screening Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra (1963) in a Baltimore Junior High School classroom.
DC Comics has, until now, been an active participant in this racial whitewashing of Egypt. Nabu, the Lord of Order and Egyptian sorcerer who conjures magical ankh symbols and arrived in Egypt around 3500 b.c.e (He is billions of years old), is depicted as a white man in the few comic depictions of him. To further whitewash the Black history of Egypt, every host of Nabu’s helmet, which transforms the wearer into Dr. Fate, has never been of African descent (to the best of my comic knowledge).
In season three, episode 11 of Justice League Unlimited Ancient History villain, Shadow Thief, kidnaps The Green Lantern, John Stewart, who dated Hawkgirl during the Justice League animated series. Stewart’s kidnapping prompts Hawk Girl and Vixen to come to his rescue at the Midway City Museum, where Carter Hall works as an archeologist. When all parties arrive, Shadow Thief forces Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and the Green Lantern to touch an ancient Thanagarian device called an Absorbacron. Their touching allowed for a vivid flashback where all three could see the tragic love story that led to their reincarnations. The problem with this flashback is not that the Egyptians were not depicted as Black, but Pharoh Katar and Queen Shayera were ostensibly white. Though, they are technically alien. At any rate, the Black Egyptians were depicted as primitive until the white-winged aliens showed up, brought them out of the ashes of primitiveness, and ruled over them. Effectively crediting everything noteworthy about Egyptian culture to whiteness- seems like a lazy loophole to me.
Aldis Hodge portraying the winged hero, boldly self-corrects all the recent mishandling of Egyptian depiction in mainstream comic culture. Do not get me wrong, I understand and support the argument that we should not lazily race bend white characters in the name of diversity and neglect the wonderful Black characters that have saved the world in comic pages, thus saving a stable place in our hearts. We should pressure the DCEU to make plans to introduce Vixen, Black Lightning, Static Shock, Aqualad, Mister Terrific, and more into their theatrical phases. In another piece, I argue that Vixen is the Black woman comic-hero the silver screen Deserves! Until then, this corrective measure symbolizes progress in presenting Black history in science-fiction dominated by non-Black people. Ancient Egyptians are Black people- full stop! Hollywood should portray them as such in their representative entirety. Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman portrayal will achieve that feat.
