NTH METAL	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville

TECHNICAL DATA

Name: Nth Metal
Also known as: Night Metal; Ninth Metal
DCU Creator(s): Naturally occuring
First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940)
Creators: Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville

HISTORY

An element unique to the planet Thanagar, capable of governing the four forces of the universe (strong, weak, gravitational, and electromagnetic). In 1300 B.C., the Thanagarians used its properties for space travel.

One vessel crashed on Earth and was found by Prince Khufu in 19th dynasty Egypt. Calling the substance "night metal", Khufu created belts that he and Princess Chay-Ara used for flying. Soon after, they were murdered by the evil Hath-Set, but the metal had created an eternal soul-bond between the two. Through the millennia, the lovers were reincarnated time and again. Meanwhile, the Thanagarians lost the knowledge of the Nth Metal.

In the 1940s, Thanagarian spy Paran Katar befriended Carter Hall, the current incarnation of Khufu, with whom he rediscovered the Nth metal. Carter used it to become the heroic Hawkman, while Paran Katar brought it back to Thanagar and founded a police force of flying Wingmen. When two of the Wingmen, Paran's son Katar Hol and his companion Shayera Thal, visited Earth in recent years, they became known as the new Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Still later, Katar Hol merged with a Hawk Avatar, and all known Nth Metal was made part of his body until he died in another dimension.

More recently, Thanagarian conqueror Onimar Synn returned from oblivion. Synn was one of the few that still knew how to tap into the metal's true powers and control the fundamental forces of the universe, but was nevertheless defeated by the JSA and the again reincarnated Hawkman Carter Hall.

Nth metal is currently used by Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and the Thanagarian Wingmen, mainly for flying and enhancing their strength. Hawkman also owns the old Egyptian artifact known as the Claw of Horus, which is made from nth metal and can utilize a fuller range of the its properties. Drawing its power from the planet, the Claw's punch has knocked out even Superman. Carter Hall's son Hector briefly used an Nth metal armor as the Silver Scarab. Also, the Earth company Meta/Tech once managed to manufacture a synthetic Nth metal.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Nth Metal in chronological order click here