Ka-wing!

Our 5 favourite bird-loving superheroes.

	5: Hawkman Along with Hawkgirl (later changed to Hawkwoman), Hawkman flies around with the Justice League being an alien space cop / archaeologist / superhero. He also carries a big mace, which would definitely make drivers slow down on State Highway 1, should he ever drop in for a spot of roadkill lunch.
	4: Hawkeye A guy really good at shooting arrows doesn’t make a lot of sense in the Avengers (who have a literal god and a Hulk). But in the movies Hawkeye is the heart and soul of the team. While not having any real powers he does have incredible eyesight and aim, which surely makes him great at Where’s Wally competitions too. This makes him almost as cool as our next entry…
	3: Mockingbird She’s a marine biologist, champion gymnast, secret agent, alien abductee and ex-wife of Hawkeye, just to name a few. Yes, Mockingbird is a complete badass despite the somewhat weak-sounding name. She’s also appeared in a great recent comic series – check it out.
	2: Phoenix Yes, it’s a mystical, fictional bird. But when she becomes the Phoenix, X-woman Jean Grey shows the other heroes just what a universe-wide force of nature a fiery cosmic bird can be. It also helps that the myth of the Phoenix focuses on a bird ‘rising from the ashes’, which explains why this particular superhero keeps dying and coming back to life.
	1) Falcon  The Avengers movies, while popular, got one thing seriously wrong in our opinion. In the movies Falcon has a drone. In the comics he literally communicates with birds. Along with faithful feathered sidekick, Redwing, this high-flying hero shows just what can be accomplished with a little inter-species communication. How cool is that?

Honourable mentions

1 Howard The Duck: The Quak-Fu fighting alien duck is ok with us. However for the sake of his health he should cut back on the cigars and, of course, limit the bread intake.

2 Robin: He would have made the top 5 but apparently the popular sidekick was named not after the bird, but Robin Hood. Also, there are the highly questionable hot pants.

3 Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: Half bird, half man, and a practising lawyer? Objection? Denied.

4 Batman. I’s not because he assumes all criminals will share his fear of bats (a billionaire playboy is of course going to be a little narcissistic). No, the reason Batman is not on the list is simple – bats are mammals, not birds.

5 Birds of Prey: The popular female superhero group could have ranked higher were it not for one glaring problem. Of the original members, Batgirl, Black Canary, Huntress, none of them are named after actual birds of prey. And Catwoman once joined the team. Catwoman! How does that even work?