Known Background: Larry Carter enlisted in the Air Force directly out of high school hoping to find some direction for his life and earn some money for college. What he learned was the thrill of being a helicopter pilot. So when his time was up, he decided to work part-time as a helicopter courier and go to business school with hopes of opening his own company. His plans were sidelined, however, the day he was assigned to transport millionaire Ronald Lexington from JFK to a business meeting in Empire City. What he didn't know was: a) kidnappers knew his flight plan and intended to capture his passenger, and b) Ronald Lexington was the mentalist superhero Mindmeld. In an attempt to protect his passenger, Carter pulled off truly impressive aerial stunts while Lexington did his part by taking out the attackers. Through the adversity, the two men struck up a friendship, leading Lexington to hire Carter as his personal pilot and helping him establish a superhero identity of his own: The Golden Eagle.

This partnership led to Carter relocating to Chicago, joining the Warriors, and eventually led to him meeting his wife Darlene, better known to the public as Bombshell. He was quite happy with his life until the team's final battle with the Outcasts. Larry doesn't remember much of what happened after Darlene was killed, but Ron told him that he had saved the day. It didn't help, though, as Larry withdrew into himself and began just going through the motions. He followed Lexington to D.C. and agreed to be the new team's pilot, but did little else. It took his friend's very public outing to snap him out of his internal turmoil. As Lexington decided to remove himself from the public eye, he appointed Larry the new CEO of his multimillion-dollar corporation in spite of his lack of experience, forcing Carter to step up.

Once in charge, Larry once again relocated back to Chicago, finishing construction on the headquarters that had been intended for the Warriors atop Lexington Tower and recruiting a new group of heroes to become The Hawk, as well as continuing funding for the D.C. team. He also pushed the computer science division to complete work on the AI project while also increasing expectations on the aviation division, scoring governmental contracts that gave LI the boost it needed after the controversy. Larry used these boosts to accomplish a personal goal by constructing a new Golden Eagle helicopter, complete with its own AI system. Junior quickly adapted its programming to both serve as a pseudo-member of the team and as a son for the lonely Carter. The team went through its ups and downs, and eventually was absorbed into the larger Champions of Justice. As part of the merge, Larry assumed the role of business administrator for the CoJ.

Personality: Larry Carter takes life seriously. He knows firsthand how quickly you can tumble from the top of the world to the depths of a personal hell, as well as what it takes to crawl back out again. As such, he works very hard to protect those around him from having to take that journey, but at the same time knows that without heroes in this world, many will suffer. Therefore he strives to ensure that the heroes that work with him don't have to worry about the day-to-day things, keeping their attention honed on the important business of being a superhero. Larry has been known to take time off, but usually it is under duress. Once you get him out of the office and away from his worries, though, he's a fun guy to be around and makes friends easily.

Powers/Tactics: When Larry was doing the "superhero thing," he often stayed in the cockpit of his Golden Eagle helicopter providing air support for his teammates. When he was forced into combat, he was equipped with not only razor-sharp talons and a taser gun, but also enough military training to handle himself in hand-to-hand combat.

Once Larry hung up the costume, his attention to detail and dedication to the job served him well in the boardroom and on the work floor. His business sense is uncanny for a man with little previous training (there are some who question how he knows so much so naturally; as if he gained a lifetime of experience overnight).

Appearance: Larry is a man in his mid-forties, 5'9" tall and 185 pounds. When he was in peak fighting condition, he had a lean, athletic build, but has gone slightly "soft" between the lack of regular excursion and the onset of age. His hair is dark brown with a fair amount of salt-and-peppering and graying over his ears. His dark brown eyes have a haunted look when he's tired.

The Golden Eagle costume, which hangs in a display case in his office, is made of a brown padded jumpsuit covered with gold-colored segmented armor. The wrist gauntlets have retractable talon blades. A charged taser pistol hangs in the holster on the hip. The backplate of the armor contains a compact glider system that can be ejected and retracted with the touch of an eagle-shaped button on the belt buckle. The beaked visor helmet enhances his vision when worn.