Shayera Thal II is the illegitimate daughter of Shayera Thal and Andar Pul, Thanagar's Administrator of Protection and close friend of Shayera's father Thal Porvis. Andar Pul had seduced the then 13-year-old Shayera I and the resultant pregnancy became quite the political scandal that threatened that could put her father's political activities to a hold. To avoid further scandals Shayera II was abandoned in Downside by mother shortly after birth. By the age of ten, while still a nameless resident of Downside the young girl first met her future Wingman partner Katar Hol during his first mission to the Thanagarian ghettos [Hawkworld Vol. 1 #1 (1989) "Flashzone"].

     When Shayera lost her Downside guardian as a result of police action she was sent to an orphanage in the High Towers. Here she was found and adopted by planetary administrator Thal Porvis, whose grief over the loss of his own daughter, Shayera, in a terrorist bombing had led him to find and reclaim his granddaughter. Shayera herself was not to learn that she was really Porvis' granddaughter until much later.

     As a young woman Shayera became an officer in the Thanagarian Wingman corps and eventually she came into contact with Katar Hol once again. While on a mission she discovered that Katar was running an illegal smuggling operation Downside and believing it to be the gunrunning conspiracy she had been tracking she confronted him in order to shut him down. Face to face with Katar she learned that he was in actuality running a clinic that smuggled medicines to the Downsiders and that the real leader of the gunrunning operation was planetary hero, Byth Rok, who had also framed Katar for murder ten years earlier. Forming an uneasy alliance with Katar, the two were able to expose Byth and bring his operation down. Byth managed to escape using a shape shifting drug called Kortan, but as a result of their efforts Katar Hol's record was cleared and he was reinstated as a Wingman. Both he and Shayera were allowed to wear special winged helmets as a sign on honor. [Hawkworld Vol. 1 #3 (1989) "Phoenix Flight"]

     Eventually Byth fled to Earth. Following their unsuccessful participation in the Invasion, Thanagar had established diplomatic relations with Earth and on the request of Darl Klus, the Thanagarian Ambassador on Earth, it was decided to send Shayera and Katar to Earth to accompany a Thanagarian cultural exhibit on a goodwill tour in order to be able to apprehend Byth. Unknown to Katar, Shayera was ordered to spy on Katar and report back to her superiors who feared Katar's increasingly independent nature. [Hawkworld Vol. 2 #1 (June, 1990) "Predators"] When they actually reached Earth they found a society very different to that which they had just left. After an initial encounter with Byth they discovered that Earth police had very different limitations and powers, a solution was found by where Shayera and Katar would be allowed to operate legally but without their Thanagarian weapons.

     Shayera even joined the Chicago Police force and began dating police officer Verzell K. Jones. Byth discovered this and used the information to frame her for his own murder as she hunted him down and seemingly killed him after Byth killed her new lover. To preserve diplomatic relations Shayera was handed over to Earth authorities by Katar before he was ordered back to Thanagar himself. Katar disobeyed orders to return home and exposed Byth's plan and in the process proved Shayera's innocence. [Hawkworld Vol. 2 #9 (March, 1991) "Hawkwoman Caged"] Shayera then returned to Thanagar with the captured Byth.

     Katar grew increasingly distant from Thanagar until the point where he and Shayera actually started helping refugees from Downside escape to Earth to a community in Chicago called Netherworld where meta-humans, mutants and aliens formed their own society away from the normal world. When they were discovered Shayera and Katar applied for diplomatic refuge on Earth. Initially they were accepted but Thanagar offered the secret of Nth Metal in exchange for them. Eventually they withdrew the offer and Ambassador Klus applied for refuge himself. After a battle in Netherworld with Count Viper, Shayera was seemingly killed and Katar badly injured. Katar was found by Hawkman I who took him to Naomi (Katar's mother) to be healed. From her Katar learned much about himself and his abilities as the next Hawk Avatar after Carter Hall, began to develop.

     Katar would later learn that Shayera had not died and that Count Viper was now possessing Shayera's body while she languished in a mental asylum in his last body. Katar managed to bring Count Viper out in the open, but instead of beating him Katar ended up switching bodies with Count Viper, and as a result Katar now found himself in the body of Shayera. Freeing his partner, he with the help of the Wonder Woman and the Justice League managed to capture Viper. Then in a spiritual quest the two Hawks defeated Viper and returned to their own bodies.

     During the event known as Zero Hour, Katar, Carter and Shiera were fused physically into one being, a true fully awakened Hawk Avatar. The transformation of Katar was difficult for his friends to handle, particularly for Shayera who had become his lover. The change in personality that it caused in Katar alienated Shayera and she left for Detroit where she continued being Hawkwoman without the wings.

     Trouble began to set in when the demon Neron awoke the spirits of all the past Hawk Avatars in Katar's head. The increasingly militant voices began to rule his life and they pushed him after Vandal Savage who had killed many of them, but when Katar refused to kill Savage the vengeful spirits became angry and decided to punish him by taking control of his body and murdering innocent people. During a time when Katar was in control he sought the help of the Justice League but instead of being saved from the Hawk Spirits they jumped into the Martian Manhunter and had taken him over in their bloody quest for vengeance. The Hawk Spirits then sought out and attacked Shayera seeking to get their revenge on Katar but they were stopped by the intervention of Katar.

     Using the Martian weakness of fire Katar managed to get himself a breathing space as he tended to Shayera. As they declared their love Katar re-entered battle but was seriously injured. He was only saved by the intervention of Arion who used his magic to allow Katar to reclaim the Hawk Spirits into himself. Knowing that the Spirits were too dangerous to be left on Earth he allowed Arion to transport him to the Realm of the Hawkgod with the Hawk Spirits. Shayera, Naomi and all of Katar's other friends were then left to carry on their lives knowing that he is still alive, somewhere in some forgotten dimension and that one day he will return to those that he loves.