Warhawk (Batman Beyond)



Warhawk (Rex Stewart) is a fictional character created for the DC Animated Universe, voiced by Peter Onorati.

Batman Beyond
Based on Hawkman and created specifically for Batman Beyond two-part "The Call", Warhawk is a member of Justice League Unlimited (the Justice League of the future). He was initially at odds with Batman (Terry McGinnis) because he had been recruited onto the team by Superman without the rest of the JLU's consent. But after Batman proved himself to be a competent and trustworthy member against Starro, Warhawk's attitude shifted from reluctant ally to devoted teammate. They would eventually become close comrades and colleagues.

In the animated series' related comics, Warhawk appeared in Batman Beyond issue # 21 ("The Blackest Day - Part 1") when Batman teams up with the JLU in a high-voltage adventure as they battle new villain Blacklight.

Justice League Unlimited
Warhawk's next appearance was the Justice League Unlimited season one finale "The Once and Future Thing, Part II: Time Warped". In the episode, Warhawk met the modern-day Green Lantern John Stewart, the original Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Wonder Woman (Diana of Themiscyra) after three Justice League members had been sent into the future by Chronos. At that time, he was a member of the future JLU alongside Static and Batman II (Terry McGinnis). Warhawk later revealed that he was Rex Stewart, the son of John Stewart and Hawkgirl (Shayera Hol) at the time his father was involved with Vixen after having broken up with his mother since the traumatic events of "Starcrossed". After the cyclical causality erased memories of the team-up from the future JLUers and Wonder Woman, only John and Batman retained knowledge of Warhawk's existence. Learning Warhawk's future existence made John suffer indecision between the two women. John decided to keep this information a secret from Shayera to which Batman agreed.

Warhawk's second Justice League Unlimited appearance was in the second season finale "Epilogue". He is still a member of the JLU that works alongside Batman (Terry McGinnis), Green Lantern (Kai-ro) and Aquagirl (Marina).

In the third season episode "Ancient History", John finally informs Shayera that she is to become the mother of his child. This information briefly gives Shayera an ecstatic feeling of hope. But despite knowing that he still loves Shayera, he decides to stay with Vixen and "refuses to be destiny's puppet", preferring to let things work themselves out. After this, Shayera asks Batman to tell her what he knows about her son.

In the Batman Beyond Unlimited comic books, Warhawk's origin is finally revealed, explaining that Vixen was murdered by The Shadow Thief and that John was discharged from the Green Lantern Corps for contributing to the Thief's eventual demise. Stewart and Shayera decide to resign from the Justice League and settle down together, conceiving their son and raising him in Africa.

Fictional character biography
The creative team used for Warhawk's design used his father John Stewart's face from model sheets in the pre-production process of the Justice League animated series.

But unlike his mother Shayera Hol's organic wings, Warhawk's are made of Nth metal. Producer Dwayne McDuffie gives this explanation: "Shayera's wings are organic; like all modern-day Thanagarians she was born with them. ... Not explained on the show (but according to Bruce Timm) Thanagarians used to make their wings, only in the past several hundred years have they genetically engineered themselves to grow organic wings. ... For many generations now, Thanagarians [have been] born with natural wings. Warhawk (Rex Stewart, future son of Shayera Hol and John Stewart) was born without wings, this is as a result of his half-human heritage. Warhawk's wings are artificial. Shayera and a Thanagarian male would produce organically-winged offspring, like any other Thanagarian couple."

Bruce Timm has stated on the Justice League Season 2 commentary that Batman Beyond was deliberately ambiguous as to its existence, and that while he knows some fans are upset with him for not giving the John/Shayera romance a set-in-stone conclusion "you can put two and two together and imagine what happens."

Dwayne McDuffie commented that "John and Shayera have the child, exactly as before. The time-traveling that has occurred is already part of the timeline that produces Warhawk as are the edicts to that timeline, including those we haven't yet seen on the show. The important thing to remember is that Warhawk isn't even 30 in Batman Beyond years [...] a few things are going to occur in that time period to change the current status quo. [Also], it's dramatically more interesting for Green Lantern to believe it's the actual future. If he believes it's only one possibility it doesn't carry any more weight than a particularly vivid dream."

Powers and abilities
Warhawk has powers similar to Golden Eagle which include enhanced strength, stamina, and speed. He wears a suit of remote controlled armour which has razor-talons and the ability to cover him in protective liquid-metal plates, along with flight capabilities of artificial set of wings and thrusters.

Other versions
In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #25, the trickster god Anansi creates an alternate version of the DC Comics universe with many altered heroes. One of these heroes is an alternate version of Hawk that wears a red version of Warhawk's costume.

In The New 52, the Warhawks are the Thanagarian military force. They are sent to earth to kill Hawkman and invade the planet.