Shadow Thief

Shadow Thief
Shadow Thief from Hawkman vol. 2 #2, artist Richard Howell
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Carl Sands) The Brave and the Bold #36, (July 1961) (Carl Hammer) Vigilante #14 (February 1985)
Created by	(Carl Sands) Gardner Fox (writer) Joe Kubert (artist) (Carl Hammer) Marv Wolfman (writer) Trevor Von Eeden (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	-Carl Sands -Carl Hammer -Aviva Metula
Team affiliations	(Carl Sands) The Society Injustice League (Aviva Metula) Mossad The Society
Abilities	(Carl Sands) Dimensiometer grants: Ability to shift his body into a two-dimensional, and intangible, shadow state and draw strength from the shadows around him (Carl Hammer) Shadow suit grants: Ability to become invisible in shadows (Aviva Metula) Trained martial artist Shadow armor grants: Intangibility Flight Teleportation Limited shapeshifting

Shadow Thief (or Shadow-Thief, currently spelled with a hyphen) is the name of three fictional supervillains published by DC Comics. The first is a recurring foe of Hawkman named Carl Sands.

The Carl Sands version of Shadow Thief first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #36 (July 1961) and was created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert.

The Carl Hammer version of Shadow Thief first appeared in Vigilante #14 (February 1985) and was created by Marv Wolfman and Trevor Von Eeden.

Carl Sands was a career criminal who was conducting experiments on shadow projection while in jail . Because his shadow betrayed him to a policeman while he was robbing the safe in a store at night he was trying to make his shadow work for him. The experiments allowed him to make contact with an alien explorer named Thar Dan from the Xarapion dimension. In return for saving the creature's life, Sands was given a device known as a Dimensiometer and a pair of ebony gloves that allows him to hold objects while in shadow form.

Hawkman eventually defeats him, but Shadow Thief would come into conflict with him many times after that. He would later become a member of the Injustice Gang which came into conflict with Hawkman and his allies, the Justice League of America. Eventually, the Phantom Stranger had him permanently stripped of the Dimensiometer.

While growing up in Japan, American Carl Sands learns ninjutsu techniques and became a rather undistinguished industrial saboteur, accepting unremarkable sums to hinder and eliminate his clients' rivals.

His pre-Crisis history remained canon, including his brief membership in the Injustice Gang. However, he has instead fought with the Golden Age Hawks rather than the Silver Age Katar and Shayera Hol.