History ComicBook / WrathOfTheFirstLantern

''Wrath of the First Lantern'' is the second BatFamilyCrossover of the ComicBook/{{New 52}} Franchise/GreenLantern, and the final one written by Creator/GeoffJohns' run. Also, running from his start to his finish, this serves as a GrandFinale for Johns' work in making and working through the MythArc of modern Green Lantern comics since ''Green Lantern: Rebirth''.

* DistantFinale[=/=]FramingDevice: Green Lantern #20 is told from the perspective of a young Lantern being told the story of the fall of Volthoom and the Guardians by an elder, in the vein of ''Comicbook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' or ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader''.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:While Volthoom restored the Guardians' emotions and they felt genuine remorse for their misdeeds, it's kinda hard not to root a little for Sinestro when he massacres them all barring [[OnlySaneMan Sayd and Ganthet.]]]]
** For that matter, Hal Jordan killing Volthoom. Hal was one of the few Lanterns that still followed the ThouShaltNotKill policy from before the Sinestro Corps War, and went out of his way not to kill anyone in the time leading up to this event. In any other context, this would be a grievous hypocrisy...except Volthoom ''really was that awful.''

** Hal Jordan [[spoiler:and Carol Ferris married and had a son named Martin in their old age.]]

** There is also the comparison between [[spoiler:Sinestro & Kilowog. The both of them loved their worlds & their people, but would later lose both to Sinestro's own vanity: Kilowog when Sinestro destroyed the new Bolovax Vik to try to destroy the Lanterns on it, and Sinestro who refused help against the First Lantern. Both events lead to major events in Sinestro's life as well: after destroying Bolovax Vik, Sinestro was tried and killed by the Corps, only for his soul to enter the Power Battery & meet the Parallax entity; and after Korugar's loss, Sinestro bonds with Parallax & kills most of the Guardians, and leaves for unknown space]].

* RealityWarper: Volthoom, when he is at full strength. When he's not, he can show how peoples' lives would be if their past [[ForWantOfANail took a different turn]]. This is actually a plot point, as his imprisonment by the Guardians weakened him to the point he needed to go around finding emotionally diverse victims to charge his power back to full strength to remake the world in his image.

** Likewise, the finale closes out with a four page gatefold courtesy of ''Green Lantern: Rebirth'' artist Ethan Van Sciver. The Johns-era began with his artwork and it closes with his artwork.

** For that matter, Hal Jordan killing Volthoom. Hal was one of the few Lanterns that still followed the ThouShaltNotKill policy from before the Sinestro Corps War, and went out of his way not to kill anyone in the time leading up to this event. In another other context this would be a grievous hypocrisy...except Volthoom ''really was that awful.''

* RealityWarper: Volthoom, when he is at full strength. When he's not, he can show how peoples' lives would be if their past [[ForWantOfANail took a different turn]]. This is actually a plot point as his imprisonment by the Guardians weakened him to the point he needed to go around finding emotionally diverse victims to charge his power back to full strength to remake the world in his image.

* HannibalLecture: Volthoom proves to be adept at this trope combined with his reality warping powers to dissect the lives of his victims and point out their worst failures or create what-if scenarios showing how much better or worse their life could be if they acted differently.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:While Volhoom restored the Guardians' emotions and they felt genuine remorse for their misdeeds, it's kinda hard not to root a little for Sinestro when he massacres them all barring [[OnlySaneMan Sayd and Ganthet.]]]]

[[ComicBook/RiseOfTheThirdArmy Immediately after being freed from captivity by the corrupt Guardians of the Universe]], [[RealityWarper Volthoom]], the entity who taught the Guardians about the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum to begin with and can manipulate it by himself without a RingOfPower, destroys the Third Army and goes about a plot to attempt to remake reality how he wants it to be, beginning with demoralizing every Corps leader. The ensuing struggle pits every single Corps against the Guardians of the Universe and the First Lantern, including some rejuvenated enemies and allies, and serves to create a new status quo.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:In the final battle over Oa, Sinestro, when controlling Parallax, kills almost every single Guardian, leaving only three alone: a rejuvenated Sayd, Ganthet, and only other one, the latter just so that Atrocitus can sate his vengeance once and for all in his epilogue.]]

* HeroicWillpower: Aside from the usual from the Green Lanterns, we have an example that goes UpToEleven: [[spoiler: Black Lantern Hal Jordan manages to summon enough willpower to not only [[DarkIsNotEvil remain heroic despite being a member of the Black Lanterns]], but also [[HijackingCthulhu hijack Nekron]] for the final blow on Volthoom]].

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Volthoom is this trope for the Guardians. Both wished to remake the universe in their own egotistical image, but while Guardians despised emotions and tried to annihilate free will, Volthoom revels in emotions as they feed his power and uses his understanding of emotion to mentally torture the protagonists in ways the Guardians couldn't imagine.

* MortonsFork: If the Corps don't kill Volthoom, then he'll re-write space-time and wipe out life as they know it. [[spoiler: But they ''can't'' kill him because he's bonded to the white light of creation and the released energies would wipe out all life anyway.]] It gets averted when [[spoiler: Black Lantern Hal is able to drain his connection to the spectrum using a Black Power Ring -- thus softening Volthoom up for the kill]].

* RealityWarper: Volthoom, when he is at full strength. When he's not, he can show how peoples' lives would be if their past [[ForWantOfANail took a different turn]].

** Likewise, [[spoiler: Volthoom's ring returning to his Earth following his death. This thread continues into ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil''.]]

* NotSoDifferent:
** While it's not acknowledged in the finale, [[spoiler:Sinestro and Atrocitus are now quite alike following Korugar's destruction. Both men have lost their homeworlds to the stupidity, evil, and insanity set in motion by the Guardians.]].
** Likewise, [[spoiler:Sinestro's role in the destruction of Korugar is not unlike John Stewart's role in the destruction of Xanshi. If both men hadn't been so egotistical and intent on ending the crisis by themselves, then both worlds might have been saved.]]
** There is also the comparison between [[spoiler:Sinestro & Kilowog. The both of them loved their worlds & their people, but would later lose both to Sinestro's own vanity: Kilowog when Sinestro destroyed the new Bolovax Vik to try to destroy the Lanterns on it, and Sinestro who refused help against the First Lantern. Both events lead to major events in Sinestro's life as well: after destroying Bolovax Vik, Sinestro was tried and killed by the Corps, only for his soul to enter the Power Battery & meet the Parallax entity; and after Korugar's loss, Sinestro bonds with Parallax & kills most of the Guardians, and leaves for unknown space]].

** Atrocitus [[spoiler: continued to lead the Red Lanterns in their quest to avenge those who've been wronged by others, though he does it with the knowledge that he'll never truly be free of the pain of the past, and is implied to make his peace with that.]]

** Atrocitus [[spoiler: continued to lead the Red Lanterns in their quest to avenge those who've been wronged by others, though he does it with the knowledge that he'll never truly be free of the pain of the past.]]

* Atrocitus [[spoiler: continued to lead the Red Lanterns in their quest to avenge those who've been wronged by others, though he does it with knowledge that he'll never truly be free of the pain of the past.]]

* Fanservice: Out of all the mindgames that the various Lanterns are forced into by Volthoom, only in John Stewart's and Fatality's were the hard-light costumes removed; not to mention the R-rated scene the two have in the epilogue.

* BigBad: Volthoom

* FriendlyEnemy: Sinestro and Hal Jordan

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:While Volhoom restored the Guardians' emotions and they felt genuine remorse for their misdeeds, it's kinda hard not to root a little for Sinestro when he massacres them all barring [[OnlySaneMan Sayd and Ganthet]]]]

** Likewise, Volthoom blowing up [[spoiler: Korugar ''really'' pissess off Sinestro and leads to him siccing Parallax and his Corps on the First Lantern]].

** While it's not acknowledged in the finale, [[spoiler:Sinestro and Atrocitus are now quite alike following Korugar's destruction. Both men have lost their homeworlds to the stupidity and insanity set in motion by the Guardians.]].

** [[spoiler:Once Volthoom is defeated, Hal has one more battle, against Sinestro, who wants to murder the Guardians. However, Hal wasn't trying to save the Guardians, he was actually trying to prevent Sinestro from crossing a line.]]

** Guy Gardner [[spoiler:becomes a BadassGrandpa in his old age, shown getting into bar fights and hitting on space furries as a gray-haired veteran.]]

* ImmediateSequel: Kicks off right after ''Rise of the Third Army''.

* NotSoDifferent: While it's not acknowledged in the finale, [[spoiler:Sinestro and Atrocitus are now quite alike following Korugar's destruction. Both men have lost their homeworlds to the stupidity and insanity set in motion by the Guardians.]].

*** There is also the comparison between [[spoiler:Sinestro & Kilowog. The both of them loved their worlds & their people, but would later lose both to Sinestro's own vanity: Kilowog when Sinestro destroyed the new Bolovax Vik to try to destroy the Lanterns on it, and Sinestro who refused help against the First Lantern. Both events lead to major events in Sinestro's life as well: after destroying Bolovax Vik, Sinestro was tried and killed by the Corps, only for his soul to enter the Power Battery & meet the Parallax entity; and after Korugar's loss, Sinestro bonds with Parallax & kills most of the Guardians, and leaves for unknown space]].

* LampshadeHanging:

* TheReveal
** On a light note, [[Characters/GLOrangeLanternCorps Larfleeze's oath]] is finally mentioned in Green Lantern 20. It's as [[{{Greed}} silly]] as one might think.

'''[[spoiler:Nekron]]:''' [[spoiler:[[PreMortemOneLiner You are nothing... but a ghost!]]]]

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Volthoom tries to feed off of Larfleeze's emotions when he shows him how his life would be with his family back. Larfleeze is too greedy and resistant for it to work and Volthoom just gives up and leaves him alone.