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Official Site: DC Comics

Hawk and Dove are the names used by a number of DC Comics superhero who fight crime together as duos, despite their sharply differing methods and attitudes about violence. This difference is signified by the bird iconography: the hawk typically representing aggression, and the dove representing pacifism.

Created by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates, brothers Hank and Don Hall first appeared in Showcase #75. The pair gained their powers of heightened strength and agility from a mysterious voice (later Secret Origins #43 explained the voice was from two Lords of Chaos and Order who had fallen in love) and fought crime together as Hawk & Dove, despite their diametrically opposed opinions about the use of force. The conservative Hawk (Hank) was hot-headed and reactionary, whereas the liberal Dove (Don) was more thoughtful and reasoned (but prone to indecisiveness). Their father, a judge, displayed more balanced political beliefs and firmly disapproved of vigilantism, not knowing his sons were costumed adventurers.

Their own title, The Hawk and the Dove, ran for six issues from 1968 to 1969. Ditko only plotted the first issue, and left after the second one. Skeates was unhappy with the direction the book was taking, feeling that Don was being portrayed as an ineffective wimp, rather than a pro-active pacifist. Ditko by contrast felt that Skeates had turned Hawk into a fool whose answer to every problem was unreasoning violence, compared to the "liberal" Dove, now the only one of the two who made any sense at all. Ditko had wanted a more balanced approach, showing that both "hawks" and "doves" had valid points. Skeates would leave after the fourth issue, leaving artist Gil Kane as writer through the last issue.

After their series ended they became semi-regulars in Teen Titans, eventually joining Titans West. Writer Alan Brennert attempted to end their saga in a 1982 issue of The Brave and the Bold where, 12 years later, Hank and Don Hall are now adults coping with their 1960s values in the 1980s. After teaming up with Batman, the mysterious voice revokes Hank and Don's powers, deeming them still immature. This was later intentionally disregarded with a joke (where Don notes everyone says they look older) in New Teen Titans #50 when it was realized this real time aging of Hank and Don would affect the Teen Titans as well. Dove died in 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths while saving a young boy being attacked by the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons. The creature that killed him came from behind and Hawk was too far away to do anything about it.

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