Hath-Set

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Hath-Set
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceFlash Comics #1
(January 1940)
Created byGardner Fox
Dennis Neville
In-story information
Notable aliasesDoctor Anton Hastor, Hector Hall, Helene Astar, Matilda Dunney Roderic, Kristopher Roderic, Vandal Savage[1]
AbilitiesContinuous cycle of reincarnation; possesses his descendants

Hath-Set is a DC Comics supervillain created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville. The character is the archenemy of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

Publication history[]

Hath-Set first appeared in Flash Comics #1 and was created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville.

Fictional character biography[]

Hath-Set, a cruel Egyptian priest, first appeared in Flash Comics (issue #1, January 1940). He leads a rebellion and captures and murders Prince Khufu and Priestess Chay-Ara. He kills them with a cursed dagger which has been forged from . This results in a cycle where all three are reincarnated together. In many different incarnations over the centuries, Hath-Set murders the Prince and Priestess.

Doctor Hastor[]

In the World War II era, Hath-Set is reincarnated as the evil Doctor Anton Hastor. Hawkman (the Prince) and Hawkgirl (the Priestess) are reunited while facing Hastor. Hastor (Hath-Set) is Hawkman's first foe. In 1941, Hastor kidnaps some prominent scientists. He pools their talents and knowledge to build a flying mechanical eye airship, with weaponry capable of leveling whole cities. His plans for world conquest are foiled by Hawkman and the All-Star Squadron. However, Hastor kidnaps Hawkgirl and then is killed by Hawkman with a crossbow.

Infinity Inc.[]

Infinity Inc is a story line set in the 1980s. Using a curse, Hath-Set takes over an Infinitor called Hector Hall, aka the Silver Scarab. Hall is the son of the Prince and Princess (who are now called Carter Hall and Shiera Hall). With Hector Hall under his control, Hath-Set attacks the team. The team defeat Hath-Set but Hector Hall dies. However, he is subsequently resurrected in the guise of Sandman in the Dream Dimension, taking over from the previous user of that name, Garrett Sanford.

Helene Astar[]

In his most recent incarnation, Hath-Set is a spirit who can take control of the minds and bodies of his own descendants. The Hawks travel to the Himalayas to search for Speed Saunders. Hath-Set has taken over a woman called "Helene Astar". In attempting to kill the Hawks, Astar dies. The Hawks believe that Astar was a reincarnation of Hath-Set and that Hath-Set has been permanently killed. Hath-Set goes on to make a plot with the villainous businessman Kristopher Roderic to kill Hawkman.[2]

Alliance with Khea[]

In the "Brightest Day" storyline, Hath-Set is living in the jungles of Peru.[3] He is allied with "Queen Shrike" the ruler of "Hawkworld", who is Hawkgirl's mother, Khea. Hath-Set and Khea were lovers in ancient Egypt. They created their own immortality using the blood of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, together with the Nth dagger. Hath-Set has collected the remains of all of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's past bodies. He has used them to build a mystical gateway.[4] Hawkman and Hawkgirl follow Hath-Set through this gateway to Hawkworld. Hawkgirl is captured by Hath-Set and Khea. The Entity (White Lantern Corps) tells Hawkgirl she must prevent Hath-Set from killing Hawkman.[5] Hath-Set ties Hawkgirl to the mystical gateway. Following Khea's orders, Hath-Set strikes Hawkgirl in order to lure Hawkman. Hawkman arrives and distracts Hath-Set. Hawkgirl then uses her legs to kill Hath-Set by snapping the evil priest's neck.[6]

DC Rebirth[]

In "DC Rebirth" as part of the "Dark Nights: Metal" storyline, Hat-Seth was born in prehistoric times. His life was a mixture of lies and half-truths woven by Barbatos. After an encounter with a time-displaced Batman, Hat-Seth founded the Judas Tribe which was also called the Bat Tribe. Hath-Set led it into war against the other tribes including the Bird Tribe.[7] The Judas Tribe caused this war to bring Barbatos to Earth. Hath-Set made a weapon out of Nth Metal to slay the Chieftain of the Bird Tribe and his wife. After doing that, the Nth Metal weapon caused them to confront their reincarnations following his unseen death. In Ancient Egypt, Hath-Set was the servant of Prince Khufu and Chay-Ara. Using Nth Metal from a crashed Thanagarian ship, Hath-Set killed Prince Khufu and Chay-Ara. Using sorcery, he had made sure that they did not remember their lives before Ancient Egypt when they next reincarnated.[8] Carter Hall had a vision of Hat-Seth in Ancient Egypt while experience visions of the future that revolve around Batman.[9]

Hath-Set returns in the pages of Hawkman. When Hawkman and Hawkwoman are reincarnated for a final time as their Golden Age incarnations, Anton Hastor realises that the cycle of reincarnation has been broken and he will be able to finally kill his ancient enemies for good and pass on to the afterlife. He steals his Nth Metal dagger from the JSA Brownstone and uses it to telepathically contact Hawkman. He murders the passengers of an entire train and raises them as zombies via necromancy. Hawkman is initially paralysed by his fear of death, but overcomes it and disarms Hastor by stabbing himself with the dagger. He destroys the dagger and Hastor commits suicide by standing on a collapsing railway bridge. Hath-Set continues to be reincarnated throughout the centuries and attack the Hawks, each time he is defeated.[10]

Powers and abilities[]

Hath-Set can reincarnate into different descendants. he is also shown to be an expert at armed combat.

In other media[]

  • Hath-Set appears in Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Héctor Elizondo. This interpretation is a loyal subject of the Hawks. In the episode "Ancient History", he sees Hawkman (Katar Hol) seeing Hawkgirl (Chay-Ara) kissing top military general Bashari. When Hawkman wishes "[the two] were dead", Hath-Set takes this as an order and poisons Hawkgirl and Bashari. Hawkman discovers what Hath-Set has done, ordering Hath-Set to get out before Hawkman commits suicide by drinking Hath-Set's poisoned wine.
  • Hath-Set appears in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Casper Crump. He was an ancient Egyptian priest in the service of Ramesses II who became ambitious and desired power for himself. He was also in love with the priestess Chay-Ara, who only had eyes for Prince Khufu, and Hath-Set learned of this and was consumed with a jealous rage. After Hath-Set attempted to murder the lovers, all three were exposed to a mutative element during a meteor shower (which was actually a product of futuristic technology from the planet Thanagar); Chay-Ara and Khufu were reincarnated each time the two died while Hath-Set developed the power of immortality,which he would need to maintain by killing both the priestess and prince in each lifetime they lived. At some point, Hath-Set assumed the name of "Vandal Savage" and began his lifelong quest to kill each of his enemies' incarnations in each lifetime, managing to do so 206 times over the next 4000 years to maintain his own immortality. Hath-Set became more ambitious and sought not to only rule Egypt but the entire world, and over the course of time gradually began to manipulate world leaders into starting wars to prime the world for his own eventual rule. Hath-Set succeeds in conquering the world by 2166 which leads to Time Master Rip Hunter assembling a team to stop his reign of terror before Hath-Set's mechanizations begins. When he attempts to reset the timeline, he temporarily renders himself mortal and is killed by the renegade team of time-travelers.
  • Hath-Set appears in the DC Super Hero Girls episode "#TheBirdAndTheBee", voiced by Sean Rohani. He was the reason why the romance between Hawkman and Shiera always ends in ruins, he attacks him. Hawkman and Bumblebee fight Hath-Set and prepares to put them to death, but Hawkman comments that he has yet to date Shiera. Disappointed, Hath-Set leaves, not before warning Hawkman that he will one day return to continue with destiny.

References[]

  1. ^ Simonson, Walt (w), Chaykin, Howard (p), Chaykin, Howard (i). "We Who Are About to Die..." Hawkgirl 56 (November 2006), New York, NY: DC Comics
  2. ^ Simonson, Walt (w), Chaykin, Howard, Joe Bennett, Renato Arlem et al (p), Chaykin, Howard, Joe Bennett, Renato Arlem et al (i). Hawkgirl 50–66 (May 2006–September 2007), New York, NY: DC Comics
  3. ^ Johns, Geoff, Peter Tomasi (w), Reis, Ivan, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf et al (p), Cifuentes, Vicente, Mark Irwin, Oclair Albert et al (i). "Second Chances" Brightest Day 1 (July 2010), New York, NY: DC Comics
  4. ^ Johns, Geoff, Peter Tomasi (w), Reis, Ivan, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf et al (p), Cifuentes, Vicente, David Beaty, Mark Irwin (i). "Revelations" Brightest Day 3 (August 2010), New York, NY: DC Comics
  5. ^ Johns, Geoff, Peter Tomasi (w), Reis, Ivan, Scott Clark, Joe Prado (p), Cifuentes, Vicente, David Beaty, Mark Irwin et al (i). "The Secret of Life, Part One" Brightest Day 7 (October 2010), New York, NY: DC Comics
  6. ^ Johns, Geoff, Peter Tomasi (w), Reis, Ivan, Ardian Syaf, Joe Prado (p), Cifuentes, Vicente (i). "Under a Blood Red Sky" Brightest Day 13 (January 2011), New York, NY: DC Comics
  7. ^ Batman: Lost #1. DC Comics.
  8. ^ Dark Days: The Casting #1. DC Comics.
  9. ^ Dark Days: The Forge #1. DC Comics.
  10. ^ Hawkman (vol. 5) #27-29. DC Comics.
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