Lionmane

Lion-Mane
Lion-Mane fighting Hawkman on the cover of Hawkman vol. 1 #20, artist Murphy Anderson
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Hawkman #20 (July 1967)
Created by	Gardner Fox (writer) Murphy Anderson (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Ed Dawson
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Supervillains
Abilities	Were-lion with super reflexes and strength.

Lion-Mane is the name of 4 characters in DC Comics.

The Ed Dawson version of Lion-Mane first appeared in Hawkman #20 and was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson.

The first Lion-Mane resided on Earth-Two. This version was a human with feline features and heightened strength. He was initially a henchman of that world's Catwoman who betrayed him and buried the loot in the forest. Lion-Mane was captured after that. Years later, Lion-Mane orchestrated a prison riot and took the guards hostage.Huntress infiltrated the prison and challenged Lion-Mane into 1-on-1 fight. If she could win, Lion-Mane would release the hostages, or if Lion-Mane won, she would have to reveal the location of the treasure Catwoman buried in the forest. The fight was tough and almost a draw, but eventually Huntress was able to defeat Lion-Mane. In the meantime, police had arrived and with nobody leading the prisoners, they were easily captured.

Archaeologist and lion-hunter Ed Dawson touched a mystical meteor called Mithra which transforms him into a were-lion. He retained his mind, but as he saw some lions in captivity, he couldn't control his killing urges. While being feral from the lion's presence, he battled Hawkman. But the first meteor wasn't pure; the transformation would eventually kill him. Hawkman saved him by smashing the Mithra stone and Edward reverted to human. Hawkman theorized that the Mithra Meteor contains some radiation that transforms the one who touches it into Lion-Mane who then represents an alien race who wants to terraform this planet. Days later, Dawson continues his criminal career as the Lion-Mane when he found another Mithra stone in a museum. He didn't know that Hawkman was his friend standing next to him. Edward again sensing that a lion is in captivity, attacked civilians. Hawkman tried to stop him but failed and was knocked out. Edward wanted to be super-powered human. With this goal he sought other meteor pieces to increase his power and also to stay alive as Lion-Mane. With each meteor rock he touched his powers grew. Hawkman and Hawkgirl managed to find him again and defeat him; the Hawkman thought that he might still carry some pieces of the first meteor rock in his pockets, and smashed them with a stone, reverting Edward back to human once more.

Ed Dawson later had a nightmare of him turning into Lion-Mane again and killing Hawkman. Edward Dawson was invited to the museum where Hawkman worked, and he was considered to take Katar's place. When the Hawkman chairmen take their time to discuss Hawkman's issue, Edward Dawson was kidnapped and dragged to the basement. There he was made to touch one of the Mithra Meteor pieces, Edward tried to resist but he was overpowered by the strength of Thanagarians and he transformed into Lion-Mane. He first killed the two musclemen who forced him to touch the stone and then he turned to Coral Shilak, who orchestrated it. He didn't got far, as Hawkman and Hawkgirl heard Coral's scream and arrived shortly after that. In the fight, Lion-Mane managed to grab a spear from Hawkman's hands and thrust it through him. Lion-Mane then takes his leave and starts to remold the world in his image. Lion-Mane powers were still growing. He even affected people miles away and started to transform selected few into Lion-Men. Hawkgirl tried to fight him but her efforts were useless. In her last result, she grabbed him and flew high up. The cold at that height turned Lion-Mane back to Ed Dawson. Ed was then carried away to a hospital after that.