She was created by writers James Robinson and David S. Goyer and artist Scott Benefiel, and first appeared in JSA: Secret Files and Origins #1 (August 1999).

Her grandfather, former OSS agent and globe-trotting adventurer Speed Saunders, recognized this, in part due to a change in eye color, and encouraged his granddaughter to embrace her destiny as the "new" Hawkgirl.

Kendra has been presented as a very troubled young woman, haunted by the murder of her parents by a corrupt cop and confused by her jumble of memories and feelings.

Following the events of Infinite Crisis, a Zeta Beam transporter malfunction injured many of the superheroes in space, including Hawkgirl, causing her to grow over twenty feet tall.

Some time later, her proper stature restored, Kendra was shown living in St. Roch, Louisiana, working in Stonechat Museum and protecting the city as Hawkgirl.

[5] In the Hawkman ongoing monthly comic book series, Hawkgirl was presented as a very afflicted young woman, seeking clarity regarding the murder of her parents by a corrupt cop and confused by her jumble of memories and feelings.

[7] Kendra eventually meets with the police officer Hawkwoman, who was searching for her missing partner Katar Hol, previously possessed by a creature known as the Hawk Avatar.

[8] Hawkgirl felt that she wasn't the first person Hawkman would turn to in a moment of crisis, treating her as a damsel in distress incapable of holding her own, and degrading her position in both the eyes of the Justice Society of America and in their partnership.

[13] After declaring her guilty, one of the rogues ties her hands behind her back, covers her mouth with a piece of duct tape, and attempts to execute her by hanging — whereupon Kendra finds that she can hover without her wings, and is thus able to fake her death and defeat the criminals.

Red Arrow's constant pain due Cheshire's absence, and Hawkgirl conflicted feelings regarding Hawkman brought stress in their romance, causing the couple to fight regularly.

[23] While in a mission with the Justice League inside the Prison Planet, Hawkgirl discovered another ability provided by the Nth Metal, the power to weaken forces drawn from the fabric of space-time.

As the two heroes quarrel, the reanimated corpses of Ralph and Sue Dibny, now members of the Black Lantern Corps, enter Hawkman's sanctuary.

There, the couple, happy for finally defeating the curse, start to take off their clothes to make love, but they are suddenly interrupted by the apparition of Deadman, brought there by his white ring.

They were transformed by the Entity to become the element of air and protect the Star City forest from the Dark Avatar, which appears to be the Black Lantern version of the Swamp Thing.

With the story taking place right after the events of Shadow of War miniseries, Hawkman and Hawkgirl have been captured inside a domed Gotham City.

[38] They are featured working as curators in the city's museum, while also fighting crime against hidden Thanagarians that had the original intent of conquest over the Earth, admitting later that they abandoned it when the dome came down.

[41] Kendra Saunders made her DC Rebirth debut in Dark Nights: Metal #1, she is introduced as the leader of the current Blackhawks, an anti-apocalyptic team.

She now boasts an altered physiology reminiscent to her past life as a Thanagarian, which resulted in the grafting of Nth Metal wings to Hawkgirl's back.

After finding Hawkman's Nth Metal mace, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl travel through a portal to Earth, where they battle corrupted versions of the Justice League.

[47] Searching for answers related to her new Nth Metal wings, Hawkgirl went on a mission to Thanagar Prime with Martian Manhunter and John Stewart.

Kendra reveals that Shayera is indeed her previous life and Starman says that the two are existing at the same time is because of Perpetua and the Totality breaking the chain of resurrection and splitting the two.

[49] After the conclusion of Dark Nights: Death Metal, Hawkgirl is once again core member of the new Justice League series, written by Brian Michael Bendis.

[50] The character's connection to the Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman legacy differs dependent on continuity; originally, an attempted suicide was the catalyst that allowed the spirit of ancient Egyptian princess Chay-Ara to inhabit her body and add Saunders into the line of reincarnation cycles.

[1] Although the character has served in the same teams as her predecessors, she is noted to having a sisterhood with fellow female superheroes, an opportunity absent from other Hawkwomen due to often being in male-dominated societies.

[52] In both comic continuities, the character is consistently depicted as having human family members which includes Michael and Trina Saunders as her respective parents.

Following this, a reimagined Kendra Saunders version of Hawkgirl features in the comic book Earth 2, set in the parallel reality of that designation.

Green Lantern then returned to Earth after removing the danger of the nuclear missiles that the World Army launched under the advice of Terry Sloan.

Together with Kendra, Alan manages to learn much more about Sam, and within the span of a few hours the treasure huntress has completely outclassed all of the detectives earlier hired by Mr. Zhao.

[63] In 2015, the follow-on series called Earth 2: Society showed the survivors of Earth-2's war with Apokolips, such as Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and The Flash, finding themselves on a new world having to create a fresh life there.

She informs the Justice League that Captain Atom is about to self-implode, giving Black Canary's green lantern ring just enough time to shield them from the blast.