Carter Hall, an independently wealthy archaeologist, had recently obtained an ancient Egyptian knife. As a result he realised that he was the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian Prince Khufu. Khufu had been murdered in his first life by a priest of Hath-Set, but vowed that he would avenged his death upon his murderer in another life. Dazed and confused by this realisation, Carter wandered the streets of the city. As he passed the subway he noticed a large number of people fleeing what had apparently been some sort of rail disaster. It was there that he met Shiera Sanders, the reincarnation of Khufu's sweetheart. The two investigated the subway only to discover that some one had sent an extremely high voltage of electricity through the tracks, thus causing the deaths of several passengers on the subway trains.

Determined to learn the culprit in this act of terrorism, Carter Hall put on a hawk's head mask, a pair of wings, and a belt made of Nth metal, a discovery Carter had made which could defy gravity. Eventually Hawkman learned that the man behind the subway killings was Dr. Anton Hastor, the reincarnation of Khufu's murderer. Hawkman attempted to apprehend Hastor, though the villain escaped. Hastor vowed that he would have his revenge on Hawkman for his interference

Hawkman returned home only to find Shiera missing. He grabbed a cloak made of Nth metal for Shiera to use, then returned to Anton's castle hideout. There Dr. Hastor was about to sacrifice Shiera to Anubis. Hawkman threw the cloak of Nth metal over Shiera to protect her and proceeded to do battle with Dr. Hastor once more. In the process they knocked over much of the equipment in Hastor's lab, setting the castle ablaze. At last Hawkman ended Dr. Hastor's life with a crossbow. He rescued Shiera and fled the burning castle.