History ComicBook / BlackestNight

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: The murder of Firestorm's girlfriend mentioned under StuffedInTheFridge gets pretty weird if you remember that Gehenna learned to {{teleport|ation}} before even learning to walk. Subverted in that she is mentioned as trying to teleport but the power of Black Lantern Firestorm currently holding her by the throat is preventing her from doing so.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge:
** A flashback in BN #1 to the {{Trope Namer|s}}. And again later when the girl appears as a Black Lantern (complete with fridge construct ''and'' a Black Lantern Corps fridge magnet!).
** The series also features at least one genuine example, and it's a pretty bad one: Gehenna, who was killed in the most horrific manner possible, turned into salt, just to torment her boyfriend. Though this was the point as Ronnie was continuously feeding Black Lantern Firestorm emotions since they were fused together and it ''would'' have happened to anyone else who was fused with Jason to make Firestorm (such as Jason's best friend Mick if he didn't cease to exist during ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', or even Professor Stein).

** There's even some internal variation of types: partway through the story Nekron manages to zombify all the heroes who have previously returned from the dead like Superman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman etc. by forcing black rings onto their hands, thus instantaneously "killing" and transforming them into Black Lanterns. However, these "living" Black Lanterns are apparently not really dead so much as "possessed" by their black rings (as evidenced by returning to a living state upon their removal like Connor, rather than becoming an inanimate corpse as with regular vanquished BL's). Thus they effectively qualify as a different category of zombie within the larger zombie ranks. This is partly indicated by these possessed-BL's not looking like decaying reanimated corpses like all the other BL's, but instead just have pallid gray skin, although this varies slightly DependingOnTheArtist. As a result you get a "sexy undead goth [[http://namtab.com/aquablog/blackestnightWW02pg1.gif Wonder Woman"]] (plus Donna Troy, and Ice, who doesn't appear in the picture) instead of the "heinous rotting cadaver Wonder Woman" you might have expected/feared. Again DependingOnTheArtist, some of the already dead female Black Lanterns do give off some Fetish Fuel as of their appearance (e.g. Jade).
* PeoplePuppets: Most Black Lanterns are puppeteered corpses. The handful that aren't are still puppeteered, just not quite dead yet - [[http://cdn.quotesgram.com/small/91/25/60057564-konbltrapped.jpg A "living" Black Lantern's soul is quite literally trapped]]; they can feel their body moving and hear the [[BreakThemByTalking Breaking Speeches]] the ring spouts out, but cannot do anything to stop it.

* TwistEnding: To issue 7. [[spoiler:A White Lantern]]? IKnewIt! [[spoiler:White Lantern SINESTRO]]? ... Well, ''that'' was unexpected. It's even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d on [[http://comicrelated.com/graphics/pages/dc/032410/gl52/gl52-2.jpg this cover]].

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Mera deduces on her own that the Black Lanterns kill by first triggering strong emotional reactions from their prey and ripping their hearts out, and concludes the best way to evade them is to conceal one's emotions. That she does this for a while is remarkable given her frequent hotheadedness.

* CharacterisationClickMoment: Before BN, Mera was a mostly a neutral if more than competent leading figure who mostly served as a source of relationship angst for Aquaman. From this point on, she becomes a key DC superhero in her own right, taking part in many major conflicts including this one, in equal standing to Aquaman who himself gets a major level of badass both here and [[BrightestDay the subsequent]] arc. Her fiery, no nonsense personality also takes root here.

* ChekhovsGunman - Lantern Ermey, Kilowog's old drill sergeant; he is introduced in "Tales of The Lanterns" as being responsible for Kilowog becoming the hard-nosed drill instructor he is today. So of course, he returns as a Black Lantern.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The Indigo Tribe's staffs look suspiciously similar to cannabis pipes. It doesn't help that the Indigos themselves are rather [[EruditeStoner spiritual, wise, and out-there]].

** The couples at Smallville drive-in cinema are watching ''[[Film/FridayThe13th2009 Friday the 13th]]''.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge:

* UndeadChild: Aquababy in Green Lantern #50.

* NightmareFetishist: Black Hand and Scarecrow, though they have different tastes. The former has a rather unhealthy [[ILoveTheDead obsession with death]] and the latter is obsessed with experiencing fear. Ironically, this becomes a point of contention between the two when Black Hand states that once [[KillEmAll everyone is dead]] they won't be afraid anymore. To which Scarecrow retorts (while attacking him with a pitchfork) "What if we want to be afraid?!"

** Nekron also One-Hit KO's ''the Anti-Monitor'', who it took [[TheMultiverse five universes]] worth of superheroes to defeat in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. Mind, he ''did'' take quite the beating during the Sinestro Corps War, allowing Nekron to capture him in the first place. (Being crushed by the ''Warworld'', having it and the Yellow Central Power Battery detonate in one's face ''and'' getting a hole punched in one's chest by Superboy-Prime cannot be very good for one's general health)

* EldritchAbomination: The various alien entities that are incarnations of the various colors of the emotional spectrum, which has led to some fan speculating that these beasts may be like infant Chaos Gods from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' in training, all except for [[spoiler:The Entity, which was born on Earth]]. Nekron especially counts; born from the original darkness of the universe itself to consume life and the Emotional Spectrum it created, Nekron had been subtly moving pieces to his advent since ''Hal Jordan'' first became Franchise/GreenLantern, and it has tried on one or two occasions to expand it's realm into ours. Nekron fits the bill of an E.A. so much, '''''it shouldn't be able to exist in the physical universe.''''' It is only able to do so through an avatar, a link to the Living World: Black Hand. Arguably a subversion, since Nekron is displayed as being mostly powerless on his own. He needs Black Hand to exist in the physical universe (and actually have a body), and needed to use the power of the Anti-Monitor (who was trapped inside the Black Battery at the time, and was what powered it) in order to create the Black Rings, control dead heroes and villains, and (temporarily) keep Comicbook/TheSpectre at bay. Without those things, he's reduced to being an empty spirit locked at the bottom of whatever hole he was tossed down in ''Blackest Night'' #8.

** Before Geoff Johns took some CharacterDevelopment to him, Black Hand was a seldom used character who had turned into more of a joke in his later appearances. His original shtick was as the "cliche villain". He based his plans on trite sayings. Like the Riddler without being ''remotely interesting.'' While Nekron has always been taken seriously, the number of appearances he's made since his debut in the 80s could literally be counted on one hand and even most hardcore fans had never heard of him. Geoff Johns is now in the process of turning him into one of the DCU's ultimate Big Bads. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by the Flash in issue 5.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Nekron, according to Johns. Let's just say fans tend to disagree.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: A meta example occurs in the ''Justice League of America'' tie-ins. A villain tells B-list heroine Doctor Light that once he kills her, the superhero community will briefly mourn but quickly forget about her. He then cites several superheroes (such as Triumph) who were all quickly forgotten about by both writers and fans after their deaths.

!!Provides Examples Of:

-->'''Ring''': [New Lantern] of [Native Planet]. '''''RISE'''''

* TheChosenMany: There are eight Corps, the seven that feed off one part of the emotional spectrum and the Black Corps, who… don't. [[spoiler: There's a ninth, at least temporarily.]]

-->'''The Flash''': I still don't get why you don't do more to protect your identity. This new Lantern? Kyle? His mask covers most of his face. Smart kid.\\
'''Hal''': Clark hides behind a pair of glasses and you're worried about me?\\
'''The Flash''': Clark slouches, wears clothes two sizes too big and raises his voice an octave.

* [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale Comic Book Writers Have No Sense Of Scale]]: According to BN, life originated on [[spoiler: Earth. However Earth is only 5 billion years old, while the universe as a whole is about 13]]. Many other lifeforms besides the Guardians already existed by then - the Old Gods from the ComicBook/NewGods saga for example.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Scar]]; she's been dead and serving Nekron ever since she was [[spoiler: scarred by the Anti-Monitor]].

* DyingDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Kendra]] gives one to [[spoiler: Carter]] when they are dying after being stabbed and bludgeoned and after their killer [[spoiler: zombified Ralph Dibny]] claims she always hated him.

* HeroicDog: Comicbook/KryptoTheSuperdog saves Ma Kent and ''blasts the living hell'' out of a Black Lantern. And he helped Superboy's BatmanGambit to [[spoiler: get free from the black ring controlling his body, while preventing Conner from killing Wonder Girl]].

** Speaking of Hal, [[spoiler: his merging with the White Entity to trigger the creation of White Rings. Sure, it stops Nekron and brings back a lot of deceased characters. But one of those resurrected is Barry's arch-enemy, the Reverse-Flash. That means Hal's indirectly responsible for the events of ''The Flash: Rebirth'' and the murder of Barry's mom at Thawne's hands]].

* RasputinianDeath: Not as elaborate as ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}'s in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', but the way that Nekron was stopped was [[spoiler:by having the White Lanterns bring Black Hand to life, which caused Black Hand to vomit up White Rings. After one of them managed to destroy the Black Central Power Battery by resurrecting the Anti-Monitor, the rest of the White Rings vanquished Nekron completely]]. Even then, [[spoiler: it doesn't really kill Nekron - it just sent him back to the Land of the Unliving]].

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Earth has been targeted because it is where the Entity, the source of the White Light of Creation, first arrived in the universe and where it's hiding, meaning that life began on Earth, not Maltus (the Guardians' homeworld) and the Guardians tried to keep Earth off other races' radar to prevent them from threatening the Entity. Abin Sur learned this, but the Guardians' cover-up meant everyone thought he had lost it. Learning that his best friend was right when believed insane, Sinestro took this revelation poorly]].
* ReviveKillsZombie: Averted -- being blasted with the white light of creation didn't do jack to Nekron. [[spoiler: Played straight in the finale: Nekron is undone after his link to the physical world (Black Hand) and his power source (the Anti-Monitor) are revived.]]
* SaveTheVillain: In the end, [[spoiler: the day is saved by Black Hand being brought back to life]].

** In issue 5, the various Corps leaders all charge up their rings, having a roll call of their oaths - except for Larfleeze, who's hungry again. The Indigo Tribe oath can count, too; this is the first time we've heard it, but it's in [[{{Fictionary}} an alien language]]. Unlike Larfleeze's, though, the Indigo Tribe one DOES come with a reveal. [[spoiler: Abin Sur's name is part of the oath.]]

** [[spoiler: Nekron has a minor one when he realizes that the Lantern Corps are about to win.]]
** [[spoiler: Black Hand also has a minor one, but has periodical flashes back to sanity as the attacks wear on his psyche. In the aftermath, he's braindead and led about by the Indigo Corps.]]

** [[spoiler: Black Hand also has a minor one, but has periodical flashes back to sanity as the attacks wear on his psyche. In the aftermath, he's braindead and lead about by the Indigo Corps.]]

* YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead: The comic is all about this. When the Black Lantern Corps is created, rings reanimate the dead (mostly meta-humans as well alien races) and the carriers gaining a quick regeneration and NighInvulnerability. [[spoiler:Discovered during the series that the only way to kill Black Lanterns are [[AllYourPowersCombined combining two or more Lantern powers]], one of which ''must'' be Green, or [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine being a White Lantern]].]]

* YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead: The comic is all about this. When the Black Lantern Corps is created, rings reanimate the dead (mostly meta-humans as well alien races) and the carriers gaining a quick regeneration and NighInvulnerability. [[spoiler:Discovered during the series that the only way to kill Black Lanterns are [[AllYourPowersCombined combining two Lantern powers]], one of which ''must'' be Green, or [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine being a White Lantern]].]]