Green Lantern

:For the DJ, see DJ Green Lantern.

Biographies of the Major Green Lanterns

Golden Age Green Lantern (Alan Scott)

Main article Alan Scott

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Thousands of years ago, a mystical "green flame" fell to Earth. The voice of the flame prophesied that it would act three times: Once to bring death, once to bring life, and once to bring power. By 1940, the flame had been fashioned into a metal lantern, which fell into the hands of Alan Scott, a young engineer. Following a railroad bridge collapse, the flame instructed Scott how to fashion a ring from its metal, to give him fantastic powers as the superhero Green Lantern. He adopted a colorful costume and became a crimefighter.

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Silver Age Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Main article Hal Jordan

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The second Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, who in 1959 was a second-generation test pilot (having followed in the footsteps of his father, Martin Jordan) who was given the power ring and battery (lantern) by a dying alien named Abin Sur. When Abin Sur's spaceship crashed on Earth, the alien used his ring to seek out an individual to take his place as Green Lantern: someone who was "utterly honest and born without fear."

Related Topics:
1959 - Test pilot - Alien - Abin Sur - Spaceship - Earth

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Modern Age Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)

Main article Kyle Rayner

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Kyle Rayner was a struggling freelance artist when he was approached by the last Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet, to become a new Green Lantern with the last power ring. Ganthet did not choose Rayner for any particular reason; he simply needed to find someone to fill the role. Despite not being cut from the same cloth of bravery and fearlessness as Hal Jordan -- or perhaps because of that -- Kyle Rayner proved to have his fans.

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Other Green Lanterns

The Green Lantern Corps has 7200 soldiers (previously 3600). Some of the more notable ones:

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• Abin Sur was an alien (whose planet, like Earth, is also located in Sector 2814), who incongruously travelled using a spaceship, rather than the power of his ring. The Post-Crisis explanation for this was that a psychological attack by a group of exiled demons caused him to lose faith in his ring and sometimes use a ship instead. His ship crash-landed on Earth; as he lay dying, he passed his ring on to Hal Jordan.
• Kilowog of Bolovax Vik (Sector 647) was an alien who recruited and trained new members of the Green Lantern Corps. His most illustrious student was Hal Jordan. When Jordan went insane, Kilowog was one of the last Green Lanterns to try stop Jordan from destroying the central battery. He was killed by Jordan, but his spirit was summoned by a group of ex-Green Lanterns bent on avenging the destruction of the Corps at Jordan's hands. He has subsequently been restored to life by Kyle Rayner. His is the only ring that makes a sound, as revealed in Green Lantern: Rebirth #6 (May 2005).
• Sinestro was the Green Lantern from the planet Korugar (in Sector 1417); however, he believed that the best way to maintain order on Korugar was by using his ring to become the planet's dictator. The Guardians convicted him of criminal actions and banished him to the antimatter universe of Qward, where he was given a yellow power ring, and returned to our universe to become Hal Jordan's greatest enemy. He was apparently killed in action, helping defend the central power battery on Oa from the insane Jordan. However, he was recently seen during Green Lantern: Rebirth, where he revealed that he had somehow faked his death as part of a ploy to drive Hal Jordan mad. In a battle against Jordan, he fled to the Anti-Matter Universe.
• Katma Tui led the Korugarian rebellion against Sinestro, and became his successor after the Guardians arrested him. She eventually married John Stewart and served with him in the Darkstars, but was later murdered by Star Sapphire.
• John Stewart (Earth's Green Lantern III) is an architect who was Hal Jordan's backup after Gardner was seriously injured and served with the JLA on occasion. After Jordan gave up being Green Lantern in the 1980s, the Guardians called Stewart to full time duty as the sector's main Lantern. Stewart filled that role for some years, during which time he married Katma Tui, the Green Lantern of the planet Korugar. After Tui's murder, Stewart became the administrator of the "Mosaic World", a patchwork of communities from multiple planets that had been brought to Oa by an insane Guardian. From this position, Stewart eventually ascended to Guardianhood, which he later relinquished. During the collapse of the Corps he was a member of the Darkstars. After a brief period of paraplegia, he became Green Lantern once again and is currently a member of the latest incarnation of the JLA.
• Guy Gardner (Earth's Green Lantern IV) is a former schoolteacher whom Abin Sur's ring selected as an alternative to Hal Jordan, but Jordan was closer so Sur chose him instead. Gardner later suffered brain damage, and was unbalanced when he recovered enough to function. He was awarded a ring by a rogue faction of Guardians during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Eventually, forced to abandon his Green Lantern Ring, Guy acquired the yellow power ring of Sinestro and his own comic series began with him using that ring. The yellow ring did not use a battery to recharge but actually needed to be used against Green Lanterns to restore power. Gardner found this out by accident when a member of the GLC fought him while he had absolutely no power. As the yellow ring of Sinestro spoke Sinestro's native language, Guy was entirely unable to communicate with the ring, although it seemed to understand him to a degree. He served in Maxwell Lord's JLI until all Green Lantern rings lost their power when Hal Jordan (as Parallax) destroyed Oa. Finding himself powerless, he went on a quest for a mythical source of power deep in the jungle. This power source activated dormant extraterrestrial DNA in him, providing him with the ability to morph his body into various different forms -- mainly in the form of weapons. He then adopted the identity of Warrior. Gardner has since been purged of his extraterrestrial DNA and is currently a Green Lantern once more.
• Mogo is not only a Green Lantern, but is also an entire planet. Most notably featured in the Alan Moore story "Mogo Doesn't Socialize" from Green Lantern (2nd series) #188. Mogo itself is powered by Green Lantern energy and has control over its own surface and natural defenses. Mogo was also the site of the DC/Dark Horse Comics crossover miniseries Green Lantern Versus Aliens - the Green Lantern Corps during Jordan's time encountered the predatory creatures, and felt that Mogo was the best chance for containment.