Blackest Night is coming. In the weeks leading up to the release of the much-anticipated Blackest Night #1, CraveOnline has decided to take a look at the various Corps that now exist in the DC Universe, to gear up our readers for the impending event spectacular. Each week, we'll post a convenient little summary of a different Corps of the emotional spectrum, throwing you headfirst into the intense epic that will be Blackest Night. This week: the long standing mainstay of the DCU, the Green Lantern Corps.
Emotion: Willpower
Home Planet: Oa
Creation: After the massive failure that was the Manhunters - emotionless, logic-based machines that rebelled against their creators, the Guardians went on to create the Green Power Rings, intended to be used as a force for good by recruiting the most strong-willed beings across the universe. The Green Lanterns were created as an intergalactic police force, each Lantern assigned to their own sectors of space. Throughout their history in the DCU, the Green Lantern Corps has been splintered, destroyed, lost, and reconstructed, but the same principles always remain: Green Lanterns are fearless, and their willpower is what has kept them in the fight for thousands of years. In the time following Sinestro Corps War, the Guardians created the Alpha Lanterns - a group to watch the watchmen, so to speak. The Alpha Lanterns also seem more similar to the Manhunters in the way they are nearly void of emotion, not to mention that they are made cyborgs by the Guardians using Manhunter technology.
Key Players: Hal Jordan, The Guardians, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Sodam Yat, Guy Gardner
Powers/Weakness: As can most Lanterns, the Green Lanterns are able to use their imagination and willpower to form constructs from the Green Power Rings, be it a giant hammer to hit someone with or a schoolbus to save a bunch of trouble-prone teenagers. Their rings also give them the ability to fly, as well as communicate with each other. Perhaps more importantly, the rings are also a valuable information resource, as they each contain the vast teachings that are contained within the Guardian's Book of Oa. Aside from having to recharge their batteries within 24 hours, the most daunting weakness the Green Lanterns face is the Yellow Impurity, which represents fear. Meaning, in the simplest of terms, their rings have difficulty working against the color yellow. More experienced Green Lanterns may bypass this weakness, but giving into fear will cause even the more resourceful Green Lanterns to fall.
Potential Role in Blackest Night: The Green Lanterns are the nexus of the entire Blackest Night event. Everything that is happening in today's DCU building towards this series all harkens way back to Green Lantern: Rebirth, which started its release in 2004. Though Geoff Johns has since introduced a Corps for every piece of the emotional spectrum, there is no doubt that the Green Lanterns still hold the biggest role in the story to come. Individual Green Lanterns, in particular Hal Jordan, will surely be instrumental in the outcomes. However, the aspect of the Green Lanterns that holds the most excitement is the role in which their creators, the Guardians, will play. We have seen them splinter - Guardians Ganthet and Sayd left to create the Blue Lanterns - as well as corrupted, with the one who became known as Scar manipulating events leading to the creation of the Black Lanterns.
Interestingly, many of the reasons the leaders of the newer Corps have for the formation of their respective clans all have one thing in common: disdain for the Guardians and their self-empowered role in the universe. The Manhunters they created all those billions of years ago rose up against them, and now it seems that the universe, and thus the emotional spectrum, are fracturing right before them. The supposed "heroes" thrust into the new light of self-important beings is always a fascinating one, and I hope that Blackest Night is able to explore this concept with the Green Lanterns.
