Superman's Isabela Merced reveals Hawkgirl's DCU backstory (Hint: it's a combination of both her confusing comic book origins)

Trigger warning: A portion of this article mentions s****de. Reader discretion advised.

One of the characters in the upcoming Superman movie is Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders. Even though Kendra has been around in the pages of DC Comics since 1999, this version of the character appeared in the Arrowverse for the first time, played by actress Ciara Renée. Now, this character is going to make her big-screen debut with the upcoming DCU movie.

In the comics, Kendra Saunders is not the only Hawkgirl, there's also Shayera Hol and Shiera Sanders Hall. All three characters have appeared in a DC show in one way or another. For instance, Shiera Sanders Hall appeared in the CW Superman show Smallville, Shayera Hol was the Hawkgirl in the iconic Justice League animated series, and Kendra Saunders' version appeared in the Arrowverse.

Shiera Sanders Hall in the comics is a reincarnation of Egyptian princess Chay-Ara, while Shayera Hol is an alien from the planet Thanagar. But it is the third version of the character, Kendra Saunders, that a lot of people are aware of. Kendra is a young woman who took her life, but is reincarnated because the soul of her grandfather's first cousin, Shiera Hall, entered her body, making her the new Hawkgirl.

Now, James Gunn's upcoming Superman movie is set to feature Kendra Saunders again as Hawkgirl, but her backstory in the DCU is a combination of the other characters as well. This was confirmed by actress Isabela Merced herself.

What did Superman's Isabela Merced say about her interpretation of Kendra Saunders?

Isabela Merced recently appeared on the DC Studios Showcase Official Podcast on May 23, 2025. In that interview, the Superman actress addressed the DCU version of Hawkgirl's backstory. When asked whether her version of Hawkgirl is an alien or a reincarnation, the actress responded:

"Kendra is reincarnated, but she’s reincarnated from an alien. So, she has all those memories. The story is actually really dark, it's actually so f*cked up that I wonder how they're going to handle that when it comes to addressing that. I think she carries all of the memories and the traumas and the mistakes of her past lives in her body wherever she goes, so she has a little bit of a grumpy demeanor."

Based on these comments, it seems that Superman's Kendra Saunders retains her dark back story, but it seems that in this version of the story, it is Shayera Hol's soul that enters Kendra's body, rather than Shiera Sanders Hall. This would mean that the Gunn has streamlined Hawkgirl's complicated backstory from the comics for the DCU.

Hawkgirl's complicated DC origin explained:

As mentioned before, there have been three different iterations of Hawkgirl in the DC Universe ever since the character's first appearance in 1940. When she was introduced back then, the mantle of Hawkgirl belonged to Shiera Sanders Hall, the wife of Carter Hall, the Hawkman. Her and Carter's backstory is that they are Egyptian royalty who have reincarnated again and again for centuries, and soulmates in every life.

Over the years, the two were also a part of the Justice Society of America, or JSA, which sometimes Superman was a part of initially, and sometimes a group before Clark became the Man of Steel. Roughly two decades after Shiera's introduction, Joe Kubert and Gardner Fox introduced Shayera Hol as the new Hawkwoman / Hawkgirl.

This version of the hero isn't a human, but rather an alien hailing from Thanagar.

Much like Shiera, Shayera also has her version of Hawkman in the form of a Thanagarian man named Katar Hol. Shayera Hol's version of Hawkgirl is the version seen in the animated Justice League show, which was a part of the DC Animated Universe (DCAU).

Here is the thing, though, if you noticed, both Shiera and Shayera are just similar-sounding names, and the same can be said about their male counterparts as well. This is why it makes sense that Superman's Hawkgirl has a rather simplified backstory, where James Gunn has chosen to get rid of Shiera altogether.

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Want to learn more about Hawkgirl? Watch Superman when the movie releases on July 11, 2025.

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