History Franchise / GreenLantern

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': The Corps, particularly John, Hal, and Guy, play minor roles in the series. [[spoiler:Season 4 also adds a version of the events of ''Green Lantern: The Animated Series'' to its canon by picking up its story.]]

** ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson.

** ''VideoGame/LEGODCSuperVillains'': Appears as a playable character, oddly enough. Her connection to the villainous Power-Ring from Earth-3 might serve as some rationalization as to why she is in a game centred around evil characters

** ''VideoGame/LEGODCSuperVillains'': So far, his only appearance outside of comics.

* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternBewareMyPower'': Set in the ''Tomorrowverse'', the film sees Hal Jordan killed and the Corps slaughtered, leaving the fate of a devastating war between Rann and Thanagar in the hands of John Stewart--a man at a crossroads in his life and not eager to fight another war.

** ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'': Though never stated outright, the ''Series/Elseworlds2018'' crossover hinted that Stewart exists in the world of ''Series/TheFlash1990'' and that he's an AlternateSelf of John Diggle from ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Besides Diggle's basic similarities to Stewart (a black ex-military man named John), the Flash of that world comments on Diggle not wearing a ring. A later episode of ''Arrow'' further strengthens the connection by establishing that Diggle's stepfather is named Stewart. [[spoiler:And then the ''Arrow'' finale goes one step further, having a meteor containing an "unidentified glowing green box" crash land next to Diggle.]]

** ''[[VideoGame/LegoBatman Lego DC Super-Villains]]'': Appears as a playable character, oddly enough. Her connection to the villainous Power-Ring from Earth-3 might serve as some rationalization as to why she is in a game centred around evil characters

** ''[[VideoGame/LegoBatman Lego DC Super-Villains]]'': So far, his only appearance outside of comics.

** A ''Green Lantern Corps'' film project is currently in [[invoked]]DevelopmentHell (which may or may not be this way because of the below HBO Max series).

* ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' (2009)

* ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' (2014): A crossover between ''ComicBook/RedLanterns'' and ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}''.

* ''VideoGame/GreenLanternRiseOfTheManhunters''

* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternFirstFlight''
* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternEmeraldKnights''
* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries''
* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternBewareMyPower''

** ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternBewareMyPower'': John will serve as the main protagonist of this film, showing how he gets recruited into the corps.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern:Godhead'' (2014-2015)

* ''ComicBook/GreenLanternGodhead'' (2014-2015)

* A "Green Lantern-inspired" series from producer Creator/GregBerlanti (the Series/{{Arrowverse}}) was announced to be in development for Creator/HBOMax in October 2019.

** ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' has a few references to Hal. The Ferris Air field makes an appearance several times in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', one time making reference to a test pilot going missing. In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' a flashback taking place in Coast City shows a man in a bar wearing a flight jacket with the name Jordan on it.

** ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'': Though never stated outright, the ''Series/Elseworlds2018'' crossover hinted that Stewart exists in the world of ''Series/TheFlash1990'' and that he's an AlternateSelf of John Diggle from ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Besides Diggle's basic similarities to Stewart (a black ex-military man named John), the Flash of that world comments on Diggle not wearing a ring. A later episode of ''Arrow'' further strengthens the connection by establishing that Diggle's stepfather is named Stewart. [[spoiler:And then the ''Arrow'' finale goes one step further, having a meteor containing an "unidentified glowing green box" crash land next to Diggle.]]

ComicBook/GreenLantern is a character appearing in various Creator/DCComics media.

Creator/GreenLantern is a character appearing in various Creator/DCComics media.

Green Lantern is a character appearing in various Creator/DCComics media. You may be looking for:

[[folder:Storylines]]

[[folder:Other Titles]]

[[folder:Media Appearances]]

[[/index]]

* ''Film/GreenLantern2011'' (2011), featuring Hal Jordan (played by Creator/RyanReynolds).

** An alien Green Lantern helped repel the first invasion of the Earth by the Apokoliptian New God Steppenwolf several millennia before present-day and got killed by him in ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' (2017).

* ''Larfleeze'' (2013-2014)

** In ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' (2021), the same alien Green Lantern helped repel the invasion by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} instead of Steppenwolf. There is more footage of him in this version, as well as [[spoiler:a dead Kilowog in the BadFuture.]] Creator/ZackSnyder shot a post-credits scene that included a cameo from John Stewart played by Wayne T. Carr but Warner Bros [[ExecutiveVeto vetoed it]].

** Creator/HBOMax ''Green Lantern'' series portrayed by Creator/FinnWittrock.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=lrfesw8hcdbk3bl3jcwpkfe0
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/75fc93bc_5327_4495_b2e5_8b63a016d4ba.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz, Guy Gardner, Alan Scott, Charlie Vicker, Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, Jessica Cruz, Keli Quintela, and Sojourner Mullein. By Creator/PhilJimenez]]


->''"In ComicBook/BrightestDay, in ComicBook/BlackestNight\\
No evil shall escape my sight\\
Let those who worship evil's might\\
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!"''
-->-- '''The Green Lantern Oath'''

The Emerald Knights. The Ring-Slingers. The Cosmic Cops.

'''[[TropeCodifier The]]''' SpacePolice.

Outer space isn't as dark as you think.

''Green Lantern'' is a classic Creator/DCComics SuperHero and one of the first to embrace the concept of a LegacyCharacter. Green Lantern has the unique ability to create objects out of solid green light, whose forms are limited only by the character's imagination. In addition, he can fire energy blasts, fly in deep space, generate force fields, and translate (almost) any alien language. All this is provided by a quasi-technological Power Ring, that must be recharged every 24 hours with a lantern-esque Power Battery. Oh, and it can't work on the color yellow (usually).

Created in 1940, the original Green Lantern was a railroad engineer named Alan Scott. The train he was traveling in wrecked when the bridge it was on collapsed due to sabotage. Alan was the only one who survived the wreck, thanks to the green lantern he was holding at the time. He fashioned his ring from a part of the lantern, which unknown to him at the time was constructed out of a magic metal made from a meteor that fell to Earth, later retconned into the Starheart.

Alan used his fists as often as he used his ring, and was more of a pulp hero than a sci-fi one. Along the way he picked up comic sidekick Doiby Dickles who accompanied him on his adventures, and he became one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America. Like most of the other DC characters of the time, he had adventures against regular criminals as well as super powered adversaries, and then his comic ended as super-heroes fell out of fashion in the late 40s. Alan was one of the mainstays of the All-American anthology series, as well as his own Green Lantern title. His solo series was cancelled in 1949, and his last Golden Age appearance was in issue 57 of All-Star comics in 1951.

However, in 1959, after the successful reinvention of the Flash, DC Comics revamped the title with a sci-fi bent, reimagining the hero as test pilot turned space cop Hal Jordan, who was given a Power Ring by a dying alien who crash landed on Earth (and was just one of many extraterrestrial peacekeepers serving the wise Guardians of the Universe). What most people know of the character originated during this era: the villainous Lantern renegade Sinestro, the living planet Mogo, alien drill instructor Kilowog (though those last two only came into the picture in the 80's), and aerospace entrepreneur/love interest Carol Ferris. Other characters were brought in as Green Lantern during this time. Lovable jerk Guy Gardner first appeared, was PutOnABus, then came back full time during the Crisis. Stoic architect and former U.S. Marine John Stewart became a backup Green Lantern during the well-known "relevant" Green Lantern/Green Arrow issues, and then the main Green Lantern in the 1980s when Hal Jordan gave up the title. Alan Scott would also return, first as an Earth-2 counterpart to Hal, then after continuities got merged in the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' as a respected elder hero with only the loosest connection to the Corps.

Over the years, the Green Lantern title would gain infamy for being taken in a few controversial directions:
* In the '70s, Green Lantern shared his title with fellow DC Comics hero ComicBook/GreenArrow for a more socially-aware series that dealt with realistic topics. Notably, it featured Hal Jordan facing his ignorance about the plight of African-American oppression, and helping Green Arrow cope with his young sidekick becoming a drug addict. Although its activism seems outdated from a recent perspective, at the time it was groundbreaking to tackle such subjects in a superhero comic.
* In the mid-'90s, Hal Jordan became a supervillain called "Parallax" due to witnessing the destruction of his hometown, Coast City. After Parallax obliterated the entire Green Lantern Corps, a single new replacement was chosen in geeky graphic artist Kyle Rayner, who brought in a whole new generation of readers with his nerd-chic attitude and more imaginative use of his Green Lantern powers. Unfortunately, the new status quo overrode the old supporting cast, driving a wedge between Hal Jordan fans and Kyle Rayner fans.
* In the mid-2000s, DC Comics would return Hal Jordan to his former glory, by explaining that "Parallax" was actually the name of an imprisoned cosmic parasite that fed on fear and corrupted Jordan through his Power Ring. Furthermore, Parallax was blamed as the source of Green Lantern's infamous weakness towards yellow, by revealing that emotions of fear are attuned to the color yellow, as per a pseudo-mystical "emotional color spectrum" shared by all living creatures, with "green" attuned to the neutral emotion of "willpower". Later developments would merge the Jordan and Rayner eras, have the Guardians descend further into KnightTemplar-hood, and introduce the rest of the spectrum and their corresponding Lantern Corps, such as Agent Orange or the Sinestro Corps.

The Green Lanterns are also frequent members of versions of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, with Hal, John, Kyle and Jade part of different incarnations of the main team, Guy in the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational, and Simon in a secondary JLA team. Alan Scott is also a founding member of the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, which is either the League's predecessor or its Earth-2 counterpart depending on the era, as well his daughter Jade, who was part of the Earth-2 counterpart of Teen Titans, ComicBook/InfinityInc, and one the formations of the [[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders Outsiders]]. Also see ''ComicBook/TheNewGuardians'' (not related to the current title), which was tangentially related to the Lantern franchise (founded by the Guardians and including Hal's friend Tom as a member).

Outside of comics, associated Green Lanterns has appeared a number of times:

[[folder:Media Appearances]]
* '''Hal Jordan'''
** The ''Green Lantern'' and ''Justice League'' segments of ''The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure'' (the 1960s Creator/{{Filmation}} show), voiced by veteran voice actor Gerald Mohr.
** ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' voiced by Michael Rye
** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' voiced by Creator/AdamBaldwin, a cameo in an episode featuring timeline disruptions where he replaced John Stewart for two scenes. Previously, in Kyle's introductory episode in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', he is thrown against a jet fighter with the name Jordan on it.
** ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' (yes, really) in an episode where a mix-up at the laundromat leaves Duck Dodgers with Hal's costume and ring. Hal is voiced by Creator/KevinSmith.
** ''Film/GreenLantern2011'', played by Creator/RyanReynolds as an origin story.
** WesternAnimation/DCUniverseAnimatedOriginalMovies
*** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheNewFrontier'' voiced by David Boreanaz, an origin story coinciding with the major events of the plot (turning out to be something of a DeusExMachina at the end).
*** ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternFirstFlight'' voiced by Christopher Meloni, a loose origin story played more as an intergalactic police procedural.
*** ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternEmeraldKnights'' voiced by Creator/NathanFillion, a collection of short stories featuring a number of lesser known Lanterns.
*** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' voiced by Creator/NolanNorth.
*** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'' voiced by Creator/NathanFillion.
*** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'' voiced by Justin Kirk.
*** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueThroneOfAtlantis'' voiced by Creator/NathanFillion.
** ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' voiced by Creator/JoshKeaton.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' voiced by Dermot Mulroney.
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' voiced by Loren Lester.
** ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' has a few references to Hal. The Ferris Air field makes an appearance several times in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', one time making reference to a test pilot going missing. In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' a flashback taking place in Coast City shows a man in a bar wearing a flight jacket with the name Jordan on it.
** He is a supporting character on the ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' TV series, voiced by Jason Spisak.
* '''Kyle Rayner'''
** ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "In Brightest Day" voiced by Michael P. Greco. He's mentioned in a later ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode as being in training on Oa while John Stewart is the primary Green Lantern for the series, and he appears in the episode "The Return" voiced by Creator/WillFriedle.
* '''Guy Gardner'''
** ''Film/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', a television pilot for a proposed TV series that never took off. Gardner was played by Matthew Settle, [[InNameOnly and bore no resemblance to his namesake]].
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' voiced by Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor.
** ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' voiced by Creator/DiedrichBader, a rival to Jordan recruited while he was having extended adventures in deep space in the first season.
** Creator/HBOMax ''Green Lantern'' series portrayed by Creator/FinnWittrock.
* '''John Stewart'''
** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', voiced by Creator/PhilLamarr. A [[DarkhorseVictory surprise choice]] by the producers, despite Kyle already being established in the DCAU, this version of John Stewart has had the most exposure of any other Green Lantern, and for a time was considered THE Green Lantern to general audiences. A former Marine and ByTheBookCop, he had a [[RetCanon massive impact on the original character]] as well.
** ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson.
** ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'': Though never stated outright, the ''Series/Elseworlds2018'' crossover hinted that Stewart exists in the world of ''Series/TheFlash1990'' and that he's an AlternateSelf of John Diggle from ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Besides Diggle's basic similarities to Stewart (a black ex-military man named John), the Flash of that world comments on Diggle not wearing a ring. A later episode of ''Arrow'' further strengthens the connection by establishing that Diggle's stepfather is named Stewart. [[spoiler:And then the ''Arrow'' finale goes one step further, having a meteor containing an "unidentified glowing green box" crash land next to Diggle.]]
* '''Jessica Cruz'''
** ''Franchise/DCSuperHeroGirls'': Jessica had her origin loosely adapted in the [[WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls web series]] where she is voiced by Cristina Milizia, and also acts as one of the leads on the [[WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls TV series]] where she is voiced by Myrna Velasco.
** ''WesternAnimation/LegoDCComicsSuperHeroes'': Jessica was featured prominently in the DTV-movie ''Lego Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis'', again voiced by Milizia.
** ''[[VideoGame/LegoBatman Lego DC Super-Villains]]'': Appears as a playable character, oddly enough. Her connection to the villainous Power-Ring from Earth-3 might serve as some rationalization as to why she is in a game centred around evil characters
** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVsTheFatalFive'' voiced by Diane Guerro.
* '''Simon Baz'''
** ''[[VideoGame/LegoBatman Lego DC Super-Villains]]'': So far, his only appearance outside of comics.
* '''Other'''
** Kilowog is the most depicted alien Green Lantern. If there's a storyline involving the Corps, you can bet Kilowog will be there and prominent, including the DCAU, ''First Flight'' and ''Emerald Knights''. Tomar-Re would be second behind him, and of course Sinestro.
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' had an original character portraying a future Green Lantern, a young Tibetan boy named Kai-Ro, voiced by Creator/LaurenTom (coming before Justice League, he is in fact the second Green Lantern introduced in the DCAU). Though an original character, he's named for Green Lantern's alien sidekick from the Filmation cartoons, Kairo.
** ''VideoGame/LEGOBatman 3: Beyond Gotham'' featured WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck as a "Green Loontern" alongside the normal Green Lanterns, based on the crossover episode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers''.
[[/folder]]

With a Corps of over 7,000 alien enforcers, you better believe there's a [[Characters/GreenLantern Character Sheet]]. And if you're still confused about why there's so many Lanterns or how willpower tastes like green, feel free to read the [[Recap/GreenLantern Synopsis]].
----
!!Related Storyline Pages

* ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' (1992-1993): While officially a ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' event, the destruction of Coast City in the process would have massive ramifications on ''Green Lantern''.[[index]]

* ''ComicBook/GreenLanternANewDawn'' (1994): In the wake of ''Emerald Twilight'', this is the debut of Kyle Rayner as the new and now ''only'' Green Lantern.[[/index]]

* ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'' (2001-2003): Hal Jordan's soul is the Spectre's host during this run (after being set up in 1999's ''Day of Judgement'' event).[[index]]

* ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' (2009)[[/index]]
** ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'' (2010-2011): A line-wide branding featuring the fallout from ''Blackest Night''.[[index]]

* ''ComicBook/GreenLanterns'' (2016-2018): Part of the ComicBook/DCRebirth initiative, this stars rookie Lanterns Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz as they learn to work together to defend the Earth.
* ''ComicBook/TheGreenLantern'' (2018-2021): Creator/GrantMorrison and Liam Sharp's run centered around Hal Jordan.
* ''ComicBook/GreenLanternInfiniteFrontier'' (2021 - present): Part of the ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier initiative that sees John Stewart thrust into the leadership position as Corps and the rest of the DC Cosmic Universe undergoes a political re-shuffling.
[[/index]]

!!SpinOff Titles
* ''Green Lantern[=/=]ComicBook/GreenArrow'' (1983-1984)[[index]]

** ''ComicBook/HalJordanAndTheGreenLanternCorps'' (2016-2018): Part of the ComicBook/DCRebirth initiative, this focuses on Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner in wider space opera type stories while Simon and Jessica defend Earth in the main book.[[/index]]

* ''Guy Gardner'', later ''Guy Gardner: Warrior'' (1992-1996): An attempt to retool Guy outside the Corps as a NinetiesAntiHero, first with Sinestro's ring and then with his own power to create weapons.[[index]]

!!Green Lantern Adaptations
[[AC:Film]]
* ''Film/GreenLantern2011'' (2011), featuring Hal Jordan (played by Creator/RyanReynolds).[[/index]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]
[[index]]

[[/index]]

----
!!No tropes shall escape my sight:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A - D]]
* AbortedArc:
** The ''Emerald Warriors'' series had several arcs. The mapping of the Unknown Sectors, Sodom Yat organising a Daxamite rebellion against the Guardians, an ancient telepath manipulating the selection process for Green Lanterns, and then running off with Sodom himself... all completely ignored after ''War of the Green Lanterns''. Jeez.
** The Krona and Relic arc from Lost Army seems to have been forgotten, Not to mention an answer to who sent the Green Lanterns to the previous universe in the first place. At least the whereabout of the Templar Guardians was finally addressed.
** Lord Malvolio of the Green Flame, a half-human Green Lantern, dressed like Alan Scott, who was hundreds of years old and who manipulated Hal into taking his ring. Malvolio planned to use Hal in his war against the Old Timer, but this plot thread remains unresolved.
** Evil Star was implied to be behind Black Hand's [[TakeALevelInBadass death touch upgrade]], was definitely behind the Shark's upgrade, and was stated to have destroyed a Blue Lantern's homeworld. When he turned up in Grant Morrison's Green Lantern run, none of this was addressed.
* AbusiveParents:
** Guy Gardner's father was an abusive alcoholic who favored Guy's older brother Mace over Guy.
** One of Hal Jordan's minor villains, The Crumbler, also had an abusive father. That was largely his motivation to turn to crime, mainly sabotaging his father's business as a means of revenge.
* AgeDownRomance: Green Lantern Corps member Arisia has herself aged up with the help of her Green Lantern ring so that she would be a suitable romantic partner with Hal Jordan, who originally saw her as too young.
* AIIsACrapshoot:
** Zigzagged. Before forming the Green Lanterns, the Guardians tried a lil' automated help with the android Manhunters, who were so good at their job... [[spoiler:they annihilated all life in Sector 666]]. After dispossessing the Manhunters, the Guardians proved they never learn by creating the cyborg Alpha Lanterns.
** [[spoiler:During "War of the Green Lanterns" it is revealed that the Manhunters didn't go bad at all, but were reprogrammed by Krona to commit the massacre.]]
** [[spoiler:The Alpha Lanterns are a subversion. They never turn evil of their own volition, so far it's only been when under the control of an outside force (such as Cyborg Superman or Krona). Mind you, the idiotic decision to deaden their conscious minds via a direct link to the Book of Oa makes the manipulation a cakewalk.]]
** On the other hand, some Lanterns, such as RRU-9-2 and Stel, are fully robotic; the latter even comes from a planet populated entirely by robots.
* AkashicRecords: The Book of Oa and the GL Archives on Mogo store all the universal knowledge. In [[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth "The Killers of Krypton"]], John Stewart tells Supergirl that "If it is not in the archive, it likely didn't happen."
* AllYourColorsCombined: The ultimate objective of ''Blackest Night'' is to get all seven corps of the light of the emotion spectrum together to find their source and get the white light of creation recreated to finish off the Black Lantern Corps.
* AncientAstronauts: Earth's ''very first'' Green Lantern, a Chinese man named Jong Li, received his Power Ring during the Qin Dynasty (between 221 and 206 BC). Being a Chinese peasant living before the birth of Christ, Jong Li naturally thought the ring was a gift from the gods and his mission as a divine command.
* AngryBlackMan: John Stewart in UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks. He cooled off thanks to later writers, becoming more contemplative, but he still has his moments.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Each of the seven shades associated with the Emotional Color Spectrum gets a physical manifestation of its power, which usually requires a sentient host to "bond" with. Parallax was this for fear (and the color yellow), and there's now one for every color, including Ion the SpaceWhale for the Green Lanterns.
** On a broader note, all emotions are represented by the crystal-white "Entity" that allegedly seeded life throughout the universe, until [[spoiler:hibernating in Earth]]. In practice, Nekron acts as its opposite number, despite christening Black Hand as the personification of Death.
* TheAntichrist: Since an early age, Black Hand had an unnatural obsession with the dead and death, and was long destined to provide the "door" for the Black to enter our world. [[spoiler:He just had to blow his own brains out and start licking Bruce Wayne's skull to do it.]]
* AntiClimacticUnmasking: This happened to Alan Scott, courtesy of some thugs. Having captured Green Lantern, they're all eager to learn who he is, only to have no clue once they remove his mask. However, Doiby Dickles learns that Alan is GL because of this incident.
* ArtAttacker: The Tattooed Man has the power to bring his tattoos to life.
* ArtifactDomination: The rings are actually sentient quantum-computers created by one of the most technologically advanced races in the universe. It's generally stated that the further away from the middle (Green) that a ring is, the more control it has over its user.
** The Star Sapphire Corps actually captures and brainwashes foes in crystal "Conversion Chambers" and then indoctrinates them into the corps. The rings also attempt to take over the minds of their users; only very strong-willed Star Sapphires (like Carol Ferris) can resist being "...put on auto-pilot."
** Red Lanterns are little more than rage-driven war machines. Most of them can only use the most basic functions of their rings (flight, life support) and very few of them act on anything other than pure rage. [[spoiler:This is in fact deliberate on Atrocitus' part, and can be turned off. He just never bothered doing so.]]
** The Indigo Tribe is shown to take violent criminals and chain them to their staves until the Indigo light forces them to become loyal and compassionate servants.
** There can only be one Orange Ring of Avarice, because anyone who experiences its power becomes irrevocably rapacious; seeing to posses its power exclusively. It makes them incredibly greedy and gluttonous, desiring to own all they survey.
* AscendedExtra: A number of lanterns featured in Creator/AlanMoore's one-short shots became full out recurring characters. Most notably, Mogo the Planet Lantern, whose immense size, power, and memorability (due to being, well, a planet) have made him a critical player in many of the major sagas despite his debut being a silent role as the punch line in a 4-page joke short.
* AssholeVictim: Sure, the Sinestro Corps' invasion of Daxam in order to enslave the inhabitants is beyond reprehensible but the Daxamites are violently xenophobic assholes with an intense hatred for anything not them, which makes feeling any sympathy for them a difficult task.
* BackForTheDead / BackForTheFinale: Sinestro's return during Emerald Twilight part 3. The character had not been seen for years, apart from an appearance as a spirit possessing John Stewart in Mosaic. Yet in what was meant to be Hal Jordan's final issue as Green Lantern, the Guardians seemingly resurrect Sinestro from his imprisonment inside the Central Power Battery in an attempt to stop Hal Jordan's rampage. It doesn't work, as Hal kills him by breaking his neck. Later stories would reveal that the Sinestro that died [[ActuallyADoombot was a Parallax-created illusion]] to help break Hal Jordan's will, but at the time this was meant to be the final showdown between Hal and Sinestro.
* BackFromTheDead: Hal Jordan's timely resurrection during the climax of ''Rebirth'', thanks in no part to the Guardians preserving his corpse. ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' serves as a huge lampshading and deconstruction of the whole thing.
* BadassCreed: Every lantern corps' oath, and all the variations thereof (with the exception of the Orange Corps' oath, which is more a child throwing a tantrum than it is a "badass" anything).
* BerserkButton: Don't try to pry into Larfleeze's past. It won't end well. And don't even think about either mentioning Mongul's name in front of Arkillo.
* TheBerserker:
** The entire Red Lantern Corps, save their leader Atrocitus, who can at least socialize (to an extent).
** In the ''Red Lantern'' series of the DCU reboot, he tries to get a lieutenant, saving at least one more corpsman from this trope.
** As ''Red Lanterns'' goes on, more and more of them get their minds back. Problem is, without the ring feeding their rage, and with the chance to socialise, some of them start loosing their anger.
* BeyondTheImpossible:
** The Guardians made sure that it would be physically impossible for a lantern to kill one of them. When [[spoiler:Hal Jordan kills Krona]] they are shocked and afraid.
** Simon manages to use his ring to [[HeroicSpirit will]] his brother-in-law out of a coma. The Green Lantern accompanying him says this should be impossible, as the rings cannot cure illness or raise the dead. He concludes that the ring probably chose Simon for a greater purpose. However, even he cannot [[spoiler:bring back the planet Korugar and its inhabitants from the dead when the First Lantern destroys them]].
* BigGood:
** The Guardians of the Universe used to be this for [[Franchise/TheDCU the DC Universe]] but [[DependingOnTheWriter the more cynical modern take on them]] has them acting aloof and manipulative instead.
** As of the ''Blackest Night'' arc, the Big Good for the DC Universe is The Entity, the embodiment of the Light (as in "let there be") that created the universe.
*** LightIsNotGood as it turns out -- the Entity's unforgiving of deviation from its plan.
* BigWhy: In Issue 40 of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'', the Guardians of the Universe tell Hal Jordan to [[TurnInYourBadge turn in his Power Ring and uniform]], since he being replaced by [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Alan Scott]]. Hal reacts with a BigWhat and rants about how invaluable he was for the Guardians up until then, ending with three consecutive "Why?"s, each bigger than the last.
* BizarreAlienBiology: ''Truckloads'' of it. Most of the second-fiddle Lanterns (not limited to the Green Corps) aren't remotely humanoid ([[RubberForeheadAliens even if it's just from the neck down]]), except maybe for the communication capabilities. Amongst the odder examples, Bzzd is a sentient fly-like Green Lantern, Rot Lop Fan is blind alien living in a vast lightless expanse of space (he conceptualizes his job as being a member of the F-Sharp Tuning Fork Corps, swearing "In loudest din or hush profound / My ears catch evil's slightest sound. / Let those who toll out evil's knell / Beware my power, the F-Sharp Bell!"), Leezle Pon is a sentient smallpox-like virus (wearing a very small ring), and Dkrtzzy RRR is a sentient abstract equation conceived by a mad scientist who intended to prove the existence of willpower mathematically.
* BodyHorror: The process that creates Alpha Lanterns is... not pleasant. Especially not when an insane cyborg has subverted them for their own purposes.
* BodyToJewel: The Red Lantern Batteries and Rings are made out of crystallized blood.
* BoisterousBruiser: Guy Gardner (post-CharacterDevelopment), and Kilowog.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: A disturbing number of Green Lanterns have fallen victim to this trope at some point.
** Anyone possessed by an emotional entity tend to follow the emotion in charge rather than their own logic. Parallax in particular loves turning decent people into terrorizing monsters.
** Happens to the Alpha Lanterns just after ''Blackest Night'', thanks to Cyborg Superman.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: John Stewart, throughout the "Mosaic" series. He's constantly addressing the reader, and once even notices that he's been drawn by a fill-in artist.
-->John Stewart: ''Why do I suddenly look so different?"
* BreakTheBadass: Kyle Rayner once related to Green Arrow how Guy Gardner (a Franchise/GreenLantern notable for not just being able to "overcome" great fear, but being honest-to-God ''fearless'') used to tell funny stories about some of the truly ridiculous villains Hal Jordan used to fight. But, Rayner notes, "Guy never told any funny stories about Sinestro", the one villain who ever scared the crap out of Gardner.
* BreakTheCutie: Kyle Rayner survived this, Hal Jordan not so much.
* BreathWeapon: Red Lantern can spew blood that burns like napalm from their mouths.
* ButtMonkey: In crossover adaptations, Green Lantern is often the butt of jokes by other characters, replacing ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} as the default snark target.
** ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder: Everyone else became DarkerAndEdgier to an absurd degree, but GL was just made fun of by everyone. Then had his throat crushed. By Dick Grayson ([[MemeticMutation age 12]]).
** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'': He's a NoRespectGuy and a SmallNameBigEgo. While he is heroic, he's almost constantly being taken down a peg.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'': He's just a clingy fanboy of ComicBook/{{Superman}}.
* TheBusCameBack: This happens a lot during Grant Morrison's Green Lantern series as Morrison delved into Silver and Bronze Age storylines. Characters not seen for decades return such as Hal's old girlfriend Eve Doremus, former business rival Olivia Reynolds, and some of Hal's relatives like cousin Doug and uncle Titus. Even some Geoff Johns-era characters return, such as General Stone and Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman.
* CallBack: In ''Rebirth'' after Hal gets his ring back, he knocks Batman down with one punch. This is a throwback to a famous incident where Batman did the same thing to (an admittedly annoying) Guy Gardner. Gardner is practically giddy when Hal decks Bats.
* TheCape: As far as ComicBook/PostCrisis DC continuity is concerned, Alan Scott was amongst the first to exist.
* CaptainEthnic: John Stewart, although he has outgrown it. Simon Baz has some vibes of this, as well.
* CartwrightCurse: Kyle. His ''first'' girlfriend was {{targeted to hurt|the hero}} him, and then... (Of course, DeathIsCheap and the superpowered ones came back)
* CatsAreMean: Red Lantern Dex-Starr, who's a blue housecat, and like all of his Red Lantern fellas is full to the brim of murderous rage and red-hot plasma that annihilates everything it touches. Before he got the ring, however, he was a sweetie.
* TheCavalry: Sometimes things get too bad for one Lantern to handle. When they do, a call for help is made, and just in the nick of time any number of bright green dots will appear in the sky. It makes sense; they're effectively cops, so they would call for backup from time to time.
** Taken to extremes in "Blackest Night," where the cavalry was every other Corps.
* CharacterInTheLogo: ''Green Lantern'''s logo has had either his lantern or his ring's symbol in the logo. UsefulNotes/{{The Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} Green Lantern (Alan Scott) also had his face inside the lantern in his logo.
* CharacterShilling: Widespread shilling for Kyle Rayner appeared when he replaced Hal Jordan. Turned right back around when Hal fans grew up and took over the mantel as writers. Suddenly Hal's the greatest lantern who has ever lived.
* ChekhovsBoomerang: Sodam Yat was officially created by Creator/AlanMoore as part of a prophecy detailing the end of the Corps. It took around twenty-five years for him to make his official comic book debut. Mogo got a similar deal.
* TheChooserOfTheOne: The Rings individually seek those who can overcome great fear, and Mogo helps them determine moral individuals.
* TheChosenMany: The Green Lantern Corps is the former TropeNamer.
* ChristmasEpisode: A story had Larfleeze (an Orange Lantern who represents avarice) discovering Christmas and attempting to celebrate it. HilarityEnsues. It ends with a bit of a TearJerker, however...
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** Sodom Yat was built up to be a big character. He was capable of fighting Superboy-Prime, wielder of Ion, an utter badass, a major player of the ''Emerald Warriors'' series... and then he just vanished after the New 52 reboot.
** Anya Savenlovich, a Russian woman chosen by Kyle to help form a new Green Lantern Corps during the 90s, only for it not to work, before disappearing off into space.
** Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman, Hal's fellow pilot and love interest prior to Blackest Night. She's disappeared without any explanation.
** Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku, Hal's mechanic sidekick and chronicler of his Green Lantern adventures has not been seen or heard from in years.
* ClarkKenting:
** Hal Jordan in UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks.
** Kyle Rayner attempted some form of this during his time as Green Lantern, except EVERYONE close to him figured it out in record time. A tiny little domino mask like that really isn't much of a disguise, you know! Guy Gardner and John Stewart don't even bother.
*** This happened to Kyle AGAIN in the first issue of ''Green Lantern: New Guardians'', where [[spoiler:rings from every Corps identified him by name in front of a crowd of people]].
* CloseOnTitle: Every issue of the John Stewart-centric ''Green Lantern: Mosaic'' has the story title on the last page.
* ColdSniper:
** Sinestro Corps member Bedovian, who can snipe targets from ''three Space Sectors away''.
** Green Lantern John Stewart can become this, when needed.
* ColorCodedEmotions:
** [[RedIsViolent Red = Rage]]... specifically the kind spawned from injustice (seriously, you can't help but feel bad for Atrocitus when you know his backstory).
** Orange = Avarice... manifested as an all-consuming greed and hunger (hence why only Larfleeze represents it, and wrestles ComicBook/LexLuthor for its control).
** Yellow = Fear... including (pretty much specifically) the terror instilled in others.
** Green = Willpower... as a sort of neutral zone between all emotions.
** Blue = Hope... which, while powerful, is useless without willpower to enact it.
** Indigo = Compassion... but it brainwashes you into a zen-like trance.
** Violet = Love... except sometimes it's more of a [[{{Yandere}} psychotic devotion]].
** Black = Death... or the vampiric absence of any emotion.
** White = Life... the overwhelming extreme of all emotions.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Saint Walker asks that he not be treated as special by the Blue Lantern recruits just because he was the first, they start talking about how even his humility sets him apart.
* ConservationOfNinjitsu: One Green Lantern is powerful enough to pacify Superman, but all four of Earth's Lanterns together are a lot weaker than they should be (though still not easy to beat). The Green Lantern Corps as a whole, however, get their butts handed to them on a weekly basis, often leaving the last remaining Lantern to save everyone else.
** Subverted in the Sinestro Corps War, where the Green Lantern Corps get utterly trounced, until the Guardians [[spoiler:revoke the "no-kill" policy.]]
** Played straight with the Manhunters, who have no problem crippling a single Lantern like Hal, but are destroyed in droves if they ever fight a GL in packs.
* CoolOldGuy: Alan Scott.
** Guy Gardner becomes one in the "WhereAreTheyNow?" epilogue of Geoff Johns' run.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Larfleeze is quite possibly one of the more goofier characters in the books, and while the other Corps all agree with this to a fault, they also realize that when his greed kicks in, it is not a pretty thing to deal with.
* CustomUniform: When the SpacePolice concept was developed, every Green Lantern wore the same uniform, with only the domino mask optional (Katma Tui didn't wear it, while John Stewart did). Since about the mid-80's and the original dissolution of the Green Lantern Corps after the Crisis, most Lanterns wear different outfits, which is justified by them being formed by the Ring's energy around the user's body, the only things identifying the uniform being the Corps' symbol and the prominent use of green. The same applies to other Corps.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Played straight with the Alpha Lanterns at first. Once, great and loyal Lanterns, after being robotisized, they don't even act like their former selves, doing whatever the Guardians command, even expelling Laira on their order or committing murder. Ultimately subverted, since their minds still exist, just buried under layers of Guardian programming, and with that gone, they start acting like they used to.
* DaddysGirl: Jade to Alan Scott.
* DangerDeadpan: Hal Jordan in the ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier miniseries.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The modern take on Sinestro explores this, as far as him wanting to instill "order" throughout the universe as the motive for his villainy, which often plays out like an EvilPlan.
** Technically, the Black Lanterns fulfill this as well. As evil as they appear, there is no intelligent malevolence in their motives. Nekron is beyond good and evil, and just wants to [[spoiler:end all life because it's trespassing on his territory.]]
* DastardlyWhiplash: Sinestro in his [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] appearances.
* DatingCatwoman: Borderline, as Carol Ferris had a SplitPersonality that turned her into Star Sapphire.
** John Stewart is NOT dating Fatality, despite her borderline obsession with all things John Stewart; even BEFORE she was in the Star Sapphire Corps and still out to kill him she had no problem with stripping near/completely nude and grinding against his lap... while he HAD a girlfriend!
*** They do eventually begin dating after ''ComicBook/WrathOfTheFirstLantern''.[[spoiler:According to the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue in ''Green Lantern'' #20, John & Yrra get married & grow old together]].
** Alan Scott married Rose Canton, knowing that she had an alternate personality of the Thorn, but believing at the time that she had been cured. She became the mother of Jade and Obsidian. She killed herself and Alan later married Molly Mayne, who had been his enemy the Harlequin. Alan seems to have a propensity for this trope. Both of these were retcons from the 80s. During the Golden Age, the Thorn was a Flash villain, and the relationship between Alan and Harlequin was more FoeRomanceSubtext than DatingCatwoman.
* DeathByOriginStory: Abin Sur's impending death on Earth led the Green Lantern ring to choose its first human bearer (not counting Alan Scott, whose ring is of a different origin.) He's managed to stay dead and his death has even recently given Hal Jordan the nemesis ''Amon'' Sur, who blamed Hal for his father's death.
* DeathIsCheap: Deconstructed in ''Blackest Night''. It turns out it was Nekron all along [[spoiler:that has been allowing heroes to return from the dead, which effectively makes them sleeper agents for his cause.]]
** [[spoiler:But Hal one-ups his claim by affirming that, while Nekron ''did'' allow them another shot at living, it was him and his resurrected friends - like Superman and Green Arrow - who decided to accept a second chance, meaning they could as well refuse to come back and stay dead.]]
** [[spoiler: That, and there are numerous other characters who died in some way but came back, and Nekron has yet to take credit for those resurrections. Most of the characters whom he claims responsibility for, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow, are just the most well known cases.]]
* DeathSeeker: The Cyborg Superman was an astronaut named Hank Henshaw, whose consciousness was bonded with technology after a deep space catastrophe. Now, all he wants from life is for it to put him out of his misery, something he's denied over and over again. Needless to say, he's extremely pissed about it.
* DerelictGraveyard: Alan Scott discovers one in the middle of the Atlantic in ''Green Lantern'' #3. It's filled with ships from across the centuries who have become trapped there, and the descendants of the original crew still live in and around the ships. Things are great until the Nazis try to take over the area...
* {{Determinator}}: '''NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!!'''
** Guy Gardner is singled out by the Oans to be Lantern #1 of the Honor Guard for this reason. He's not the most imaginative, not the most heroic, and definitely not the brightest, but he has no fear whatsoever.
** The Green Lantern Corps' ring may be powered by willpower.... [[http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2007/05/the_highlight_r_1.html But Alan Scott wrote the BOOK on willpower!]]
* DistaffCounterpart: Star Sapphire. With the advent of the other "Emotion Corps", they're everywhere. Take your pick.
* DressedInLayers: Jordan used to wear his Lantern uniform under his clothes, but eventually realized it's not worth the bother when he can simply use his power ring to change his clothes into his uniform instead.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Kilowog, to new members of the Corps. Justified, since the average lifespan of a Green Lantern is a few years, at most.
** Prior to him, there was Ermey, who was blatantly a version of the TropeNamer in space, who was even harsher than Kilowog.
* DyingToBeReplaced: How most Green Lanterns get their rings.

[[folder:E - J]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In Hal's original Silver Age stories, his uniform was not made of the ring's energy, but was instead taken from Abin Sur after Abin died. Hal himself came up with the Green Lantern moniker, naming himself after the power battery. Hal's ring didn't automatically translate alien languages, he had to figure out that the ring could translate and then make it happen. And he actually designed and built the flight simulator he was operating when Abin Sur's search beam found him, so he was a lot more technically adept than he's become in modern stories.
** Hal created the oath he recites when he recharges his ring, based on three early adventures he had as a rookie.
** The Green Lantern Corps is structured quite differently in early Silver Age issues. The first Green Lantern Hal ever meets apart from Abin Sur is Tomar-Re, who tells him that no one knows where the Guardians of the Universe live, and that most [=GLs=] work in isolation, receiving orders through the power batteries. A few issues later we see the first ever meeting of multiple Green Lanterns, and this time they do go to Oa in order to stop Sinestro. Every time the series deals with the Corps, the concept evolves just a little bit more.
*** The isolation part was retained in ''Secret Origin'', where the Lanterns aren't allowed to go into another's sector without permission from the Guardians. Sinestro breaks the protocol under orders from Ganthet to find Abin Sur. On arriving at Oa, Hal asks why this rule even exists. The Guardians just yell at him not to question them.
** For those who only know the Guardians for their modern, emotionless characterization, the sight of Guardians crying at the death of Hal Jordan at the hands of Dr. Polaris in ''Green Lantern'' #46 (Silver Age series) would seem very strange. The Guardians are as overcome with emotion at Hal's death as the rest of the Lanterns are.
* EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse:
** Actually, Oa is the center of the universe, but Earth is the center of the ''multiverse'' and would trigger the end of all reality if it fell. As of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', our little backwater planet is the vacation home of [[spoiler:the Entity that created all life.]]
** Earth is also considered the most diverse planet in the universe, for some reason, with more variety in flora and fauna than most entire solar systems. May be [[LampshadeHanging hanging a lampshade]] on the fact that most alien worlds in the DCU are a SingleBiomePlanet [[PlanetOfHats Of Hats.]]
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Happens with some regularity:
** Sinestro (with Sector 3600) destroys the rebuilt Bolovax Vik (Kilowog's home planet), along with the spirits of Kilowog's race.
** John Stewart's failure to save Xanshi in ''Cosmic Odyssey''.
** Kyle Rayner destroying Oa during his fight with Parallax.
** During ''War of the Green Lanterns'', [[spoiler:John kills Mogo, the sentient planet, in order to stop Krona from using him to recruit any more mindless soldiers to his army.]]
** During ''ComicBook/WrathOfTheFirstLantern'', [[spoiler:Volthoom destroys Korugar, to leech off of Sinestro's emotions. Mogo, incidentally, manages to rebuild himself thanks to John & Fatality. The only Korugarians who survived were Sinestro & his daughter Soranik, and a handful of others scattered across the galaxy]].
** And then, Oa was destroyed AGAIN in ''Lights Out'', thanks to Relic draining the central power battery.
* EldritchAbomination: Subverted. All of the emotional personifications like Parallax and Ion very well seem to be creatures beyond mortal comprehension, except they're all really [[spoiler:the ascendant forms of the first organisms to ever "feel" their respective emotions. Parallax really was a locust-like bug once, Ion was some kind of primordial fish, etc.]]
** Played straight with the Entity and Nekron, who are the seed of all life, and the void between it.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Sort of. Each of the rings seen has different powers, and interacts with other rings in different ways. For example, Orange can absorb Green constructs but not Violet or Blue. Blue supercharges Green and nullifies Red, but is close to useless on its own. Yellow is devastating to a Green Lantern that hasn't figured out how to overcome fear (and can be dangerous even afterwards), and so forth and so on.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Guy Gardner's middle name of Darrin.
* EmeraldPower: Well, ''duh''.
* EnemyMine: You will get a migraine from trying to keep up with the number of villains that have teamed up with the Green Lantern Corps over the years, either to stop a greater evil, or just because it made more sense to have them as a partner at that time than an enemy.
** Since ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', this has almost become the status quo. First all the corps came together to fight off the Black Lanterns, then Sinestro's put back on the Green Corps and goes to Hal Jordan for help, plus there's the "New Guardians" team...
* EvilCounterpart:
** Sinestro for Hal, and later [[ThePsychoRangers the Sinestro Corps for the Green Lantern Corps as a whole]].
** Nero for Kyle
** Arkillo for Kilowog
** The Controllers for the Guardians
** The Green Lantern archetype has also had an EvilCounterpart from another universe named Power Ring.
** The Black Lanterns are the Evil Counterpart of ALL the other corps.
** Kyle's first evil counterpart was Effigy, a troubled youth who used the fire powers given him by the Controllers for his own pleasure. Writer Ron Marz said he was intended to be Kyle's "Sinestro" but not just "The guy with the yellow ring"... which Nero ended up being!
** [[spoiler:The Guardians of the Universe to the Templar Guardians, due to subtly going mad due to their removal of the emotions & their inability to deal with the shocking current events]].
* EvilCripple: Hector Hammond; Baron Tyrano.
* EvolutionaryLevels: The origin of Hector Hammond and the Shark.
* TheExile: Hal Jordan was exiled from Earth for a year by the Guardians, as punishment for not responding to a distress call from Ungara because he was helping Carol Ferris with business problems. Normally such an offense would have meant expulsion from the Corps, but his exemplary record saved him from that fate.
** He was later expelled from the Corps much later due to his cavorting with "known enemies of the Corps" (read:the New Guardians) and [[spoiler:managing to will his ring into killing Krona, who was then like a Guardian in all but name]].
** Post-Convergence, Hal was on the run without his ring for a year's worth of issues during the aptly-named "Renegade" storyline, though this time it was his idea in order to take the fall for the rest of the Corps, whose reputation had suffered after the events of the Third Army and the Durlan war. Kilowog is in on the plan, so Hal has someone to vouch for him. As of "Rebirth", Hal has forged a new ring and is back in uniform.
* {{Expy}}: Sort-of. [[http://mortari.tumblr.com/post/16223837356/the-green-lantern Apparently]], the "model" for Hal's looks was Paul Newman and the one for Sinestro's was Creator/DavidNiven.
* EyeScream: Kyle Rayner freaking LOVES this trope. During his first fight with Major Force he had no problem gouging out his eye with a thumb. When depowered and fighting a Cthulhuian horror, he slammed a sharpened bone into its eye. When he fought Major Force again he picked up a shard of glass and gouged his eye out AGAIN! When Parallax taunted him inside his own mind, he picked up a pencil and gouged out its eye. In a fight with Kyle Rayner he ''will'' go for the eyes.
** Ironically, Batman's plan against him should Kyle go rogue is to blind him. If Kyle can't see, he can't properly "draw" constructs.
* FaceHeelTurn:
** Sinestro used to be the single most respected member of the Green Lantern Corps, until he took a shortcut in his work by enslaving his home planet.
** The Manhunters were also the Guardians' original fighting force, until they decided they worked better alone, and without morals.
** As of ''ComicBook/RiseOfTheThirdArmy'', [[spoiler:the Guardians themselves]].
* FaceYourFears: Green Lanterns "possess the ability to overcome great fear", so this is a big theme at some points. Nowadays, doing so will also allow a Green Lantern to now directly affect the color yellow, which means any villains trying to attack with yellow weapons to a new Lantern so strengthened in spirit is in for a ''big'' surprise!
* FallenHero:
** Hal Jordan, during ''Emerald Twilight'' and ''Zero Hour'', though some things were changed during ''Rebirth''.
** Sinestro was one of the greatest Green Lanterns until he used its powers to take over Korugar.
** Yalan Gurr, in one story explaining the origins of Alan's Lantern, was like Sinestro, the greatest and most well-regarded Lantern alive, until the Guardians removed his ring's weakness to yellow. Gurr quickly went mad with power, and tried to take over medieval China.
* FanserviceModel: By the time Kyle met her, Jade was a model and photographer. Because of her sensuous personality, she's more considerated as this instead of a Fashionmodel.
* FiveManBand: Considering how many Lanterns there are, there are several:
** The Earth Lanterns and their friends:
*** TheHero: Hal Jordan
*** TheLancer: Guy Gardner
*** TheSmartGuy: John Stewart
*** TheBigGuy: Kilowog
*** TheChick: Jade, Soranik Natu, Arisia Rrab. Soranik doubles as a [[TheSmartGuy Smart Girl]] by way of being a medical doctor.
*** TheSixthRanger: Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz
** The Lost Lanterns:
*** TheHero: Ke'Haan
*** TheLancer: Laira
*** TheSmartGuy: Graf Toren
*** TheBigGuy: Hannu
*** TheChick: Boodikka
*** TheSixthRanger: Jack. T. Chance & General Kreon
** The "New Guardians" alliances - face it; they're practically {{Sentai}} teams:
*** TheHero: Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner
*** TheLancer: Sinestro, Bleez
*** TheBigGuy: Atrocitus, Arkillo
*** TheSmartGuy: Indigo-1 (as she knows more about the emotional spectrum than the others), Munk
*** TheHeart: Saint Walker in all incarnations
*** PluckyComicRelief: Larfleeze, Glomulus
*** TheChick: Carol Ferris, Fatality
* {{Flanderization}}: The Guardians Of The Universe have always been distant and aloof, but were once wise and respected, having created [[SpacePolice an organization of star-patrolling peacekeepers]] that has survived for eons. With each passing year though, they become more incompetent, single-minded, and corrupt, lying to their members, holding their own mysterious agendas, and constantly having their mistakes blow up in the faces and inevitably needing to be saved by the Earth Lanterns (and then clearly resenting the aid). One comic even had a Guardian admit he didn't remember why they started the Corps in the first place. By this point, it's a genuine curiosity how they got an organization as advanced and well-functioning as the Green Lanterns working outside of dumb luck.
** Well, they had been doing this for several billion years. They'd hit their limit
* FlyingFirepower: The entire Green Lantern Corps can do this. A notable example is Kilowogg; despite having the ability to [[ShapingYourAttacks construct objects with green energy]] like other Lanterns, he prefers using raw, unshaped blasts.
* GeniusBruiser: Even without his ring, Kilowog is both superstrong and a technological genius..
* GloriousMotherRussia: Kilowog helped create the Rocket Red Brigade for the Soviet Union, due to his then-interest in Communism.
* GodForADay: When Franchise/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner became Ion, a being with all the power of the entire Green Lantern Corps, he tried to use his new might to feed starving children in Africa, heal his friend's back-injury, restore his girlfriend Jade's powers, etc, until Superman advises him to back down because people around the world have started to worship him as a god. Soon after he sacrifices the power so that the Guardians of the Universe and the Corps can live again.%%Also Hal Jordan as Parallax tried to use his godlike power to destroy and remake the universe.
* GoodIsNotNice: Even the Entity, the embodiment of life itself, isn't morally conventional, given the fact that part of its plans to preserve life, it revived powerful villains and tasked one of them with a murder and another with an assault. It's also become clear that for some of the revived heroes, the second chance given to them is by necessity not a gift but a ''loan''.
* GoodOldFisticuffs: Alan Scott's preferred method of taking down the villains early in his career. In any given Green Lantern story, he's far more likely to throw a punch at a gangster than to use his ring to stop them.
* GratuitousAnimalSidekick: Streak the Wonder Dog. A HeroicDog sidekick for Alan Scott. Who has internal monologues so the audience knows what he's thinking.
%%* {{Greed}}: The Orange Light.
* GreenRocks: Despite all the differences between Alan Scott and all the other Green Lanterns that would follow, it's interesting to note that even in his 1940 origin story, the source of Alan's power is extraterrestrial GreenRocks. A burning green meteor crashes in China, and it is first formed into a lamp, then a lantern, and finally comes to Alan Scott to grant him power.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Most female aliens. Ironically, the only one with green skin is Jade, a human.
* HandsomeLech: Hal Jordan, at his worst. Guy Gardner, though mostly in his own mind.
* HeartOfTheMatter: The Starheart, source of the Golden Age Green Lantern's power.
* HeelFaceBrainwashing: The Indigo Tribe can take individuals of dubious morality and turn them into peace-loving hippies, whether they want to be or not. [[spoiler:This includes themselves, at least until Indigo-1 eventually proves that one can go about wielding the Indigo light with genuine compassion.]]
* HeroicWillpower: All Green Lanterns have this, as their rings are quite empowered by it.
* HerosEvilPredecessor: Sinestro is the Evil Predecessor to either Hal Jordan (greatest Lantern) or Soranik Natu (Lantern of Sector 1417). Also, the Manhunters were basically robots that were built to police the galaxy before the Green Lantern Corps were founded. [[AIIsACrapshoot They decided to]] try to kill everyone.
* HeterosexualLifePartners:
** Kyle and Guy; so much so that when it looks like [[spoiler: Kyle has died in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', it crosses the DespairEventHorizon for Guy and he accepts a red ring, then goes completely AxCrazy {{berserk|Button}} on just about everyone around him]].
** Vath Sarn and Isamot Kol, in spite of the two of them being from two different ''[[JustForFun/{{Egregious}} species]]''. Two species who ''hate each other''.
** Hal Jordan and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]]
** The Lanterns also get along famously with Franchise/TheFlash family:
*** Alan Scott and Jay Garrick
*** Hal Jordan and Barry Allen
*** Kyle Rayner and Wally West
** Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} technically count for this list. Apart of being this trope already, both had been Green Lanterns in {{Elseworld}}s (''Last Son of Earth'' and ''In Blackest Knight'' respectively), both became White Lanterns in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' and both became part of Sinestro Corps for a short time (Batman first before rejecting the ring but later embraced it for a short time in ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013'', and Superman also became one for the Elseworld of ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'').
%%* HiveMind: The Orange Lantern Corps.
%%* HiveQueen: Agent Orange.
* HolyHalo: Green energy shields, at that. Occasionally, the GL insignia on each member's chest will project a holographic logo, which is meant to emulate the police sirens during a chase.
* HomeFieldAdvantage: The living planet Mogo is a planet sized Home Field Advantage.
* HowDoIShotWeb: The Corps has training facilities that are optional in the older stories and mandatory for the modern ones.
** Utilised during ''Rebirth'', when Green Arrow tries to use Hal's backup ring... and it doesn't work, not only because he doesn't know how to use it, but because he's so cynical.
* HumanAlien: Green Lanterns Sodam Yat (from Daxam) and Zale (from Bellatrix) look exactly like a Caucasian and African human respectively. Fatality (currently of the Star Sapphires, from Xanshi) also looks like an African human.
** In fairness this trope is OlderThanTelevision. The Daxamites are actually the descendants of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Kryptonians]], who have been human aliens since UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks.
* HumanAlienDiscovery: An inversion occurs in the {{Elseworld}} ''Franchise/{{Superman}}: Last Son of Earth'', in which the human baby Clark Kent crashes on the planet Krypton and was adopted by Jor-El and renamed as Kal-El, later becoming the Green Lantern of his planet and sector, and recovering his memories from the Earth.
* HumansAreSpecial: The Guardians hold this opinion, even if publicly they talk about humans being "barbarians."
-->''"Savage brutes? You call them savage brutes, Salakk? Shame on you. To say that the Humans from Earth are nothing more than savage brutes is to ignore their legacy of heroism, their ability to overcome, and their absolute willingness to die for the benefit of others. In the hundred thousand years since the human species arose on that planet, Earth has produced over thirty different Green Lanterns, and all but two of them were members of the ''Homo sapiens'' species. Tell me, Salakk, can you name a single species in all the galaxy that has done the same? Can you name a single ''world'' that can say the same?" -- Ganthet'', revealing the '''''real'''' opinions of the Guardians regarding humanity.
* HumorlessAliens: The Guardians, so much that at the end of ''In Blackest Night'' (not [[ComicBook/BlackestNight that one]]), we get this gem:
-->...and four cycles later, in the recreation complex, Katma Tui realized that for the first time in many years' service, she had heard a Guardian make a joke. She felt vaguely uneasy for the rest of that day.
* IconicLogo: It's varied from person to person over the years, but the one used by the Corps itself is the best known.
* IdiotHero: G'nort.
* IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance: Larfleeze of the Orange Lantern Corps was this, locked away in his own filthy paradise in Vega System for eons until the Guardians and Lanterns came a'knockin'. Now free to roam the cosmos, Larfleeze is too in love with his self-indulgence to realize he could probably take down every Lantern Corps by himself.
* IMinoredInTropology: In ''All-Star'' #2, Alan Scott suddenly has the medical knowledge to both perform an autopsy and fabricate a cure for a drug that is turning men into very strong and obedient soldiers for an (implied) Nazi agent. The explanation? He took a few years of pre-med in college.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: Green Lantern Rings make anything you imagine happen by the power of will.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Well, Bolphunga the Unrelenting fits the first and last part since there is no 'Joke Villain'.
* InNameOnly: What Green Lantern Hal Jordan was to Green Lantern Alan Scott. The two characters shared some common elements (the name, the power ring, the oath and the basic power set), but were otherwise conceptually very different. Alan's power came from a centuries-old magic lantern while Hal was a member of an intergalactic peace-keeping force. Later writers like Denny O'Neil would retcon Alan's power as being linked to the Guardians via the Starheart, which the Guardians had sent to another dimension where Earth 2 happened to be. DC finally just {{retcon}}ned Alan Scott's history altogether in New Fifty Two, making his power something linked to the Earth and green, growing things.
* InspirationNod: With Creator/DCComics being based in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] the name Green Lantern is likely a reference to the New York City Police Department's [[http://forgotten-ny.com/2013/02/green-lantern-hunters-point/ use of green lights]] on either side of the main entrances to all of their precinct houses. According to the NYPD's website:
-->"It is believed that the Rattle Watchmen, who patrolled New Amsterdam in the 1650′s, carried lanterns at night with green glass sides in them as a means of identification. When the Watchmen returned to the watch house after patrol, they hung their lantern on a hook by the front door to show people seeking the watchman that he was in the watch house. Today, green lights are hung outside the entrances of police precincts as a symbol that the ‘Watch’ is present and vigilant."
* IntercontinuityCrossover: Hal once fought the Incredible Hulk in the "Ultimate Access" mini-series. Then there's the Star Trek/Green Lantern crossover between DC and IDW.
* InternalAffairs: The Alpha Lanterns, cyborg investigators who mirror the tactics and perspective of the Manhunters a bit too much. Or at least, that was the Guardian's plan. In practice, the Alpha Lanterns are much, ''much'' more of a hindrance to the Corps than a help.
* {{Invocation}}: Green Lantern oaths, which are traditionally said when charging Rings from a Power Battery. Ones also exist for all the other corps known, save the White Lanterns (since at present the only White Lantern is Kyle).
* ItsBeenDone: In-universe, the Controllers and the Zamarons have tried their hand at making knock offs of the Green Lantern Corps. The Zamarons have been more successful with the Star Sapphires then the Controllers have been with any of their attempts. In fact, most of them were killed when they tried to make a Lantern Corps using the Orange Power Battery, promptly being torn apart by Larfleeze's Orange Lanterns the moment they tried to take it.
* {{Jerkass}}: Guy Gardner in the '80s.
** Some of the Black Lanterns, due to the fact that they use the personalities from their former lives to induce emotion in their targets before killing them.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Guy Gardner in the '90s, and beyond.
** Hal is this, too, though not quite to the same extent.
* JiveTurkey: John Stewart in his early appearances.
* JokeCharacter: G'nort. Bolphunga the Unrelenting.
** In G'nort's case, he's regarded as a joke in-universe, and the other Lanterns usually can't stand him, often sending him on long missions, in isolated sectors. When the Justice League meet G'nort on an alien planet, Hal just silently groans and facepalms through the whole encounter.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Guy Gardner. And Sodam Yat.
** It goes deeper than that. The other [=GLs=], when they lose their rings, get all mopey and feel useless. Gardner, when he lost his ring, went out and ''stole'' a yellow one from the vault of the Oans (a ring that could only be recharged by ''fighting other Green Lanterns''), which got him his own ongoing, then when he broke that ring fighting Parallax, he unleashed his [[AssPull hidden alien DNA]] to become Warrior, then briefly joined the Corps' secret black-ops squad, and eventually got a new green ring. Gardner doesn't just jump, [[GotTheCallOnSpeedDial he knows where The Call lives and he will]] ''[[GotTheCallOnSpeedDial hunt it down.]]''
** Hal Jordan in issue 4 of "The Road Back". He's spent the previous three and a half issues wandering around, taking odd jobs and trying to find some purpose in life in the absence of the Green Lantern Corps, which didn't exist at the time. When he finds out that an insane Guardian is taking cities from all over the universe and relocating them to Oa, he mans up, recites the GL Oath, and heads out into space to deal with the problem.

[[folder:K - O]]
* KickTheDog:
** Though he is being portrayed more sympathetically, Sinestro does occasionally do this to remind readers that while he might be justified in questioning the Guardians' authority, he is still a villain. [[spoiler: He killed Red Lantern Laira just when it seemed like Hal might have calmed her down and ''taunted Hal about it'']] and then he later [[spoiler: stabbed Ganthet]].
** During The Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns, Cyborg-Superman makes one Alpha Lantern hold their power ring to their head in order to make Ganthet do as he says. When Ganthet complies, [[spoiler:Henshaw has the Lantern blow their own head off anyway.]] And later on, when Ganthet's performing surgery on another, [[spoiler:Henshaw rips out several of it's organs, just because.]]
* KryptoniteFactor: Infamously, [[WeaksauceWeakness the color yellow]]. This was later [[RetCon retconned]] to be caused by [[spoiler: Parallax, a cosmic entity that embodies fear, which in turn is locked to the color yellow. Eons ago, the Guardians trapped Parallax within the Central Power Battery that fed all Power Batteries and Power Rings in the GLC. Over time, the entity was able to exert enough influence to cripple any Green Lanterns in contact with its favorite hue.]] Currently, Green Lanterns still have trouble with yellow objects, but it's no longer impossible to affect, just more difficult.
** Since that discrepancy has been taken care of, each Lantern Corps have inherited a weakness against some other color of emotion. For example, Blue Lanterns have the only rings capable of quenching the flaming blood of the Red Lanterns, Green Lantern rings suck against Sinstro's custom yellow rings, and Indigo Lanterns can use any other color against its user.
* LastOfHisKind: Kilowog is the last survivor of his race after his home planet, Bolovax Vik, was destroyed during the ''[[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Crisis]]''. However, it was briefly restored by Kilowog, only for Sinestro to destroy it once again. Currently, the remnants of the race exist within Kilowog's psyche due to Kilowog's BizarreAlienBiology, but can only really communicate with them while he is on Mogo.
** Fatality is the last survivor of Xanshi, which John Stewart kinda-sorta helped to destroy.
** Finally, Kyle for awhile was the last remaining Green Lantern and Ganthet was the last Guardian.
** And according to the modern take on the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, [[spoiler:Sodam Yat will be the last Green Lantern in the 31st Century]].
* LawfulStupid:
** The Guardians occasionally cross into this realm.
** Up until ''Brightest Day'', the Alpha Lanterns lived here. For example, when the Black Lanterns are trying to feed on the Central Power Battery, Kyle comes up with a plan to release a Red Lantern prisoner on them, if only to buy time. And it works... until Alpha Lantern Chaleson sees the loose prisoner, and promptly executes him.
** Justified, slightly, since the Alpha Lanterns were forced to obey the Laws of Oa by their programming, with no room to think independently.
* LightDarknessJuxtaposition:
** The Green Lantern Corps' oath tends to go something along the lines of "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight", and other oaths tend to have light/dark (or some other juxtaposition) in them as well.
** This becomes literal in the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' saga with the [[Characters/GLOtherLanternCorps White Lanterns and Black Lanterns]], who also overlap with LifeDeathJuxtaposition. The Black Lanterns devour the other Lanterns' light, and their entity is Nekron, who is the shadow cast by the light of life and emotion. He believes that the natural state of the universe is darkness and death. Naturally, this is countered by the White Entity, who empowers White Lanterns.
* LightIsNotGood: Played straight with the Red Lantern Corps, Agent Orange, and the Sinestro Corps, who are all part of the light of the emotional spectrum.
** Almost ''none'' of the Corps are straight-up good guys. The Green Light is held by the Guardians, who have a reputation of causing as many problems as they solve. The Star Sapphires are getting better, but have a history of LoveMakesYouCrazy. The Indigo Tribe is believed to be largely made up of sociopaths who have to have emotions ''forced'' on them by the Indigo Light (and even if they're not they're creepily detached anyway). Only the Blue Lanterns haven't made any dick moves so far, but they're also shown to be utterly ineffectual without piggybacking on another light.
** Invictus is an angel ([[SadlyMythtaken not the mythological kind; an alien]]).
* LivingMoodRing: The Phantom Ring is a special Lantern Ring that grants access to all parts of the Emotional Spectrum [[ArtifactOfDoom at the risk of draining your life force]], and incidentally turns its wearer into this. The wearer's powers and appearance shift to what emotion they're experiencing at the time -- so, for instance, if someone is scared their costume becomes yellow and they gain the powers of the Sinestro Corps.
* LoveCannotOvercome: Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris have done this to each other repeatedly over the years, since his identity as Green Lantern and hers as the domineering, villainous Star Sapphire frequently complicate their underlying mutual love.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: The de facto trouble with the Star Sapphire and its Corps. The Star Sapphire itself is a symbiotic crystal that bonds with women in desire, at the cost of making them psychotic. Things got a bit better when the Zamarons started filtering the violet light of love through Power Rings, except now there's [[spoiler: the Predator, the emotional entity of love, whose nature, despite the name, is actually somewhat benevolent. According to Carol it's the host that makes the Predator's love evil not the other way around.]]
** It's worth noting (and is noted in the comics) that love is on the far end of the emotional spectrum (along with Rage) and the further along you are, the more power the emotion has over you.
* LovesMyAlterEgo: [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Carol Ferris.
* LoyalPhlebotinum: At certain times in Green Lantern history, and DependingOnTheWriter, the power ring will only work for the Lantern who is currently in possession of it. Kyle Rayner's ring only worked for him the vast majority of the time, so when someone would try to steal it, they were unable to make it work. Hal Jordan was the exception to this rule, since Kyle's ring was constructed from the fragments of his old ring.
** Some thugs once subdued Alan Scott and stole his power ring after figuring out that it was the source of his power. One of the thugs tried the ring on, and the ring killed him for doing so.
** Power rings will choose their successors when their wielder dies. Though more recently it has been revealed that Mogo actually helps direct this process. Hal Jordan is one of the notable exceptions. Abin Sur actually triggered the search mechanism as he was dying and had a chance to introduce himself to Hal.
** Kyle Rayner managed to be a total exception to this rule, as his selection for being a ring bearer was totally random, and a simple case of being in the right place at the right time. Not that it mattered.
* LukeIAmYourFather: ''Green Lantern Corps'' reveals that [[spoiler:Soranik Natu's father is Sinestro. Apparently, Natu's mother thought that being the daughter of their planet's dictator would screw her up, so she was put up for adoption]].
* MadScientist: Krona, who's even called the "Mad Guardian".
* MagicMeteor: Hector Hammond found meteor rocks and used their powers for evil.
* MeaningfulName: [[BilingualBonus Sinestro]]. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Atrocitus, Nekron]].
* MetaphysicalFuel: Lantern rings draw their power from the emotions of all life in the universe.
* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: Powerfully telepathic arch-villain Hector Hammond's body is imprisoned (he's serving multiple life sentences) and is supposedly under the effects of a psionic inhibitor... but Hammond's mind is so powerful that he can still telepathically control people hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the prison without ever leaving his cell.
* MilitarySuperhero: Both Hal Jordan and John Stewart are former military, but except for his ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'' incarnation, it's not a big aspect of Hal's background. John, however, is VERY much this trope. He's a [[SemperFi retired Marine]], and you better not forget it.
** In fact, John's status as this has pretty much overtaken every other aspect of his personality. Rare is the occasion when John's background as an architect gets brought up any more.
* MindRape:
** Done to [[spoiler:Ganthet by the other Guardians]] after ''War of the Green Lanterns'' to rid him of his emotions and personality.
** Done by [[spoiler:Volthoom on the Lanterns]] to gather up emotions relating to the seven colors to rebuild his power.
* MisplacedRetribution: One story's antagonist is the Aerialist, who's under the delusion that someone at Ferris Aircraft murdered his beloved (the death was in fact a freak accident) and therefore seeks revenge against the company. It's notable for being one of the few times Hal Jordan thought the InsanityDefense would actually work, even citing the M'Naughten guideline.
%%* MissedTheCall: Guy Gardner, initially. In ComicBook/BoosterGold, this is revealed to have been due to Booster and his time traveling.%%How did he Miss the Call?
* MostCommonSuperPower: If you're a humanoid female of any alien race, and have the option to join the illustrious Green Lantern Corps, you will have these. It's practically a minimum job requirement.
* MrFixit: Kilowog.
* MultipleChoiceChosen: When then-Green Lantern Abin Sur is dying on an alien planet (Earth) he finds two men exactly equally qualified to be the next Green Lantern. The only reason he chooses Hal Jordan instead of the other one is that Jordan is nearer. Later, that other one (Guy Gardner) becomes Earth's "backup Green Lantern" and still later a Lantern in his own right.
* MustMakeAmends: In The DCU, we had Hal Jordan completely lose his sanity and decide to fix his failure to save Coast City... by killing the Green Lantern Corps [[spoiler:(They came back)]], killing Sinestro [[spoiler:(He came back)]], and then killing the universe [[spoiler:(it came back)]]... so he could remake reality "right". Fittingly, after all this nonsense, he got better and went on to try and make all of that right, and ended up sacrificing himself to save the world (of course, he came back). Then a few years later, Geoff Johns retconned the whole thing to Jordan being possessed by a killer space bug made out of fear, but...
* MyGreatestFailure: Hal (Coast City), John (Xanshi) and Kyle (Alex [=DeWitt=]) all have one.
** Alan Scott has a lengthy monologue in the JSA series about how his greatest failure, and indeed that of many JSA members, is how they relate to their children. In his case, his son Obsidian was trying to kill him and destroy the Earth at the time, so Alan had a point. His is one of the few cases where he's able to correct his failure and restore his relationship with his son.
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Happened to Guy Gardner in the ''Emerald Fallout'' arc in ''Guy Gardner: Warrior'', when he sees a vision of Oa's destruction, and Hal killing Sinestro, after his yellow Power Ring begins to malfunction.
* MysteriousBacker: The Guardians of the Universe.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Sinestro and Atrocitus.
** Subverted with Sinestro's former ally on Korugar, Arsona (geddit?), who's actually a good person. Just understandably bad tempered, after having trusted Sinestro before he took over his home planet.
* NemesisWeapon:
** The renegade Lantern SelfDemonstrating/{{Sinestro}} originally wielded a ring that was composed entirely of the "yellow impurity" in the standard-issue GL rings. In more modern continuity, Sinestro and his Sinestro Corps wield rings that tap into fear, the antithesis of the willpower the modern Green Lantern rings tap into. Further, under Creator/GeoffJohns's tenure, this was expanded into six other Lantern corps that tapped into other emotions, some of which were Nemesis Weapons to one another, including Black Hand and the Black Lantern Corps, whose rings drive them to ''consume'' emotion on the grounds that the blackness of death is the absence of emotion.
** And in the old days, Hal Jordan also contended with Evil Star, whose weapon contrasted Hal's ring by making its wielder evil and insane while Hal's ring reflected Hal's supposed fearlessness.
* NestedMouths: Parallax has nested jaws.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: In UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: To quote [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]], so much of the Corps' problems can actually be pinned as the Guardians's fault.
* NinetiesAntiHero: Guy Gardner as Warrior, though that might have been a StealthParody.
** Also, Jack T. Chance, whom Hal describes as "being reprimanded more than Guy Gardner".
* NonHumanSidekick: Streak, the Wonder Dog, Alan's pet... who had human thoughts and eventually took over the book, right before it was cancelled!
* NonMammalMammaries: Occurs with a considerable frequency and in many alien races. Particularly notable in the case of the Guardians and the Zamarons. Both are descended from the Maltusian race, which may have been the first sentient organic race in the universe. The Guardians were originally the males of the race, and the Zamarons the females (although this has since been retconned somewhat). The [[OneGenderRace two split up billions of years ago]]. In that time, both have individually diverged physically. The Guardians, who pretty much fly at all times, have become small and possess very short legs, much as one would expect. But the Zamarons, who have not borne any children in aeons, still have fairly impressive cleavage. This is all the more striking when one considers that the new female Guardians are barely distinguishable from the males.
** Although [[ComicBook/BrightestDay recently]] it's been revealed that current forms of the Guardians aren't natural for them at all, but rather a result of some weird process that makes them ultra-powerful midgets. Most exemplified by [[spoiler: Krona]], who was tall and buff mere years ago, but now [[HollywoodEvolution has evolved himself]] into a Guardian form. If the Zamarons did the same, they would probably look like the female Guardians.
* NonUniformUniform: Members of the Green Lantern Corps are allowed to customize their uniform pretty much however they choose so long as they keep the green-black-white color scheme and the Lantern badge is clearly visible.
* NoodleImplements: The Controllers have been cited as responsible for the creation of the Darkstars, but also the invention of the Beta Men and the Effigy Platoon, which seem to be knockoffs of the Omega Men and another knock off of the Green Lantern Corps specifically.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Black Hand, who was just a creepy necrophile before ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' (at least once Geoff Johns retconned him).
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Alan Scott's villain The Fool would act like a silly, harmless pranker who knew all his stupid plans just couldn't work against GL, but there was always a twist that made his silly pranks dangerous for awhile.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Guardians have shades of this at times.
* ObviouslyEvil: C'mon, he's named Sinestro and has a Snidely Whiplash mustache, along with the red skin and pointy ears! [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans Not that he really admits to being evil, though.]]
** The leader of the Red Lanterns is called Atrocitus. As in ''atrocity''.
* OddCouple: A number of the Lantern partnerships. From Vath and Isamot, originally hailing from opposite sides in a war, to Mogo, a planet, and his partner Bzzd, a tiny fly-like insect.
* OneGenderRace: The Zamarons and the Guardians could be considered this. They're really from the same race, the Maltusians, with the Zamarons being the females who decided to defend and fight for love and the Guardians being the males who decided to maintain order, but they live in totally separate societies and don't interact unless it's to butt heads. Kyle Rayner, when resurrecting the Guardians, chose to make half of them female in the process, and they've been that way in the comics since (although Geoff Johns retconned it so the Guardians were always half-female).
** On a lesser level, the Star Sapphires, started by the Zamarons, only have female members. Geoff Johns says men ''can'' join, "but most are not worthy."
* TheOnlyOne:
** At one point things got so bad for the Green Lantern Corps that the last Guardian teleported to Earth and threw a ring at a random person. Eventually they got better.
** This happens to the Corps every so often. When Hal Jordan was still a rookie, the villain Legion had defeated the entire corps with its gigantic yellow suit of armor, but Hal figures out that if he covers Legion in mud, his ring will work on him. When cracking the armor open turns out not to have been the best idea, Hal flies into the central power battery and supercharges his ring, giving him the strength to defeat the villain on his own.
** After the ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths, the GLC is reduced to the three Lanterns of Earth and a small handful of others spread around the universe. When the sole remaining Guardian is driven mad by solitude, it's pretty much up to Hal to save the day again.
** In ''[[WesternAnimation/GreenLanternFirstFlight First Flight]]'' Sinestro has destroyed Green Lantern battery, all of the remaining Green Lanterns are left powerless. Only Hal was able to get green elements power working again and fight Sinestro one on one.
* OnlySaneMan: Among the Guardians it's Ganthet and then his lover Sayd, the only ones to value emotions and not ignore an "end of existence" prophecy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P - S]]
* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: Sinestro. Hal pre {{Retcon}}.
* PassionIsEvil: The coda of the Guardians. The Green Light is the center of the spectrum and the most stoic. The other lights are further from the spectrum (with red and violet being the extremes). Red Lanterns and Star Sapphires represent Rage and Love, specifically, and since their colors are on the far ends, their emotions control them. The more powerful the emotion, the more it controls the Lantern. A frequent theme in the mythos, especially when the Guardians became despotic and started condemning emotions and the other Lantern Corps turned up as {{Foil}}s.
* PhlebotinumBattery: A Green Lantern ring is charged by a lantern connected to the central battery on Oa. The ring has a limited power life span and they have to recharge it every so often (the exact time changes based on the continuity).
* PinkIsErotic: The Star Sapphire Corps wear {{Stripperiffic}} pink outfits. They are driven by lust in one of their more negative phases and are often featured in sexual imagery. For example, Carol Ferris stripping naked in front of Hector Hammond while giving a speech about how [[AllMenArePerverts perverted men are]] and Fatality having sex with John Stewart in an open field).
* PlanetBaron: [[WellIntentionedExtremist Thaal Sinestro]] had his homeworld of Korugar locked up like a safe before he met Hal Jordan, thanks to his [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Green Lantern abilities]] giving him both the opportunity and power to do so.
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: In a 1987 issue of ''Green Lantern Corps'', Arisia subconsciously uses her Power Ring to age herself to adulthood to get Hal to like her, due to her crush on him.
* PluckyComicRelief: Doiby Dickles, Alan Scott's sidekick. He's actually often fairly stalwart for a comic relief sidekick.
* PsychicSurgery: Star Sapphires can heal two lovers this way.
* PsychoactivePowers: Lantern rings of any color respond to the wearer's corresponding emotion.
** PsychosomaticSuperpowerOutage: Or fails to respond to a lack thereof. For example, Kyle Rayner loses his powers when his confidence is shattered by Megaddon.
* ThePsychoRangers: The Sinestro Corps. In some cases, more literal than others, with Sinestro Corpsbeings chosen to deliberately mirror members of the GL Corps.
* PteroSoarer: The first alien animals that Hal encounters (on {{Venus}}, no less) are giant alien YELLOW pterosaurs.
* PutOnABus: Guy Gardner wasn't just put on a bus from 1977 to 1985, he was ''hit by'' a bus and rendered comatose for years.
** Charlie Vicker was put on a bus, only occasionally returning for backup stories featuring Corps members. Who? Vicker actually predates Guy Gardner as Green Lantern, having made his first appearance in GL #55, September 1967 as opposed to Guy Gardner's first appearance in GL #59, March 1968. Vicker was made Green Lantern of a sector that didn't contain Earth, which may be one reason he faded into obscurity.
** Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman, Hal's love interest for the first three or four years of Geoff Johns' run on the title. She disappeared with no explanation from the cast come ''Blackest Night''. Turns into ChuckCunninghamSyndrome when she disappears completely after ''Brightest Day''.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: One or more of the [=GLs=] face deadlines like this from the Guardians or some local authority often enough; in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', for example, they are given 24 hours ''to save the universe.''
** In the 1981 miniseries, ''Tales of the Green Lantern Corps'', the [=GLCs=] only had 24 hours to stop Krona and Nekron, after the Central Power Battery was destroyed.
** In ComicBook/BlackestNight, Ganthet reveals that any Lantern's Power Ring can deputize someone for 24 hours.
* RainbowMotif: The emotional spectrum.
* Really700YearsOld: Arisia
%%* ReallyGetsAround: Hal Jordan.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Guardians, originally. Subverted in recent years as they have become cold and distant at best, and {{Manipulative Bastard}}s at worst. Thankfully, straight examples still exist with Ganthet and Sayd.
* {{Reconstruction}}: ''Green Lantern: Rebirth''
* RedIsViolent:
** Atrocitus and in general all Red Lantern Corps are represented by this color, being the rage their main emotion.
** Also Guy Gardner, who's a FieryRedhead. And he's covered by red as Warrior and as a Red Lantern.
* RedShirtArmy: Due to ConservationOfNinjitsu, masses of any lantern are pretty much cannon fodder.
* ResetButton: Again, ''Green Lantern: Rebirth''
* RetroactiveLegacy: Jong Li, an ancient Chinese monk, was the first human Green Lantern ever. He was the star of ''Green Lantern: Dragon Lord'', a 3-issue limited series by [[ComicBook/JLAActOfGod Doug Moench]].
* RogueDrone: Scar, the rogue member of the Guardians. A physical disfiguration -- a scar on her face by an enemy -- is what triggers her deviation from the rest of her race. [[spoiler:Dying and becoming an undead will do that to you.]]
* {{Ruritania}}: Sonar's homeland.
* SaveTheVillain: Blue Lantern Saint Walker is introduced by him telling Hal Jordan that they need to save Sinestro, who is either going to be executed by the Green Lanterns or murdered by the Red Lanterns.
* TheScapegoat: Hal takes on this role after the Guardians severely damaged the reputation of the Corps by trying to create the Third Army, and after the Durlans made things worse. He steals the gauntlet of Krona and "goes rogue", planning to take the fall for the rest of the Corps, so they can regain their reputation as stalwart and trustworthy lawmen.
* SecretKeeper: Tom Kalmaku in UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks.
* SeriesContinuityError: Used deliberately. During Emerald Twilight, when Hal Jordan is on his rampage towards Oa, the Guardians are seemingly powerless to stop him. They send out the various other Green Lanterns to intercept him,and finally release Sinestro from the main power battery. In the end, they sit there and watch as Hal flies into the battery to steal all the power for himself. And yet, not that many issues earlier, one of the Guardians had completely depowered John Stewart's ring, and in the classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow run, the Guardians at one point weakened Hal Jordan's ring so his power was much more limited. The Guardians have long been shown to have near complete control over the rings when they choose, and should have been able to stop Jordan dead in space or on Earth, long before he ever got to Oa, a fact that was ignored so that the plot of Emerald Twilight could play out the way the editors wanted it to.
* SexyJester: The various incarnations of the Harlequin.
* ShapingYourAttacks: The bulk of the Green Lantern powers.
* ShellShockedVeteran: The Green Lantern Vath Sarn seems to show some signs of PTSD, more-so than his partner, and fellow veteran from the Rann-Thanagar War, Isamot Kol.
** Vath discovered his greatest fear through Mother Mercy: the planet Rann without war or strife, rendering soldiers like Vath redundant. He was drawn holding a gun to his head, about to kill himself because he felt he had no other use.
* ShoutOut:
** Kyle Rayner once created [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Gurren]] with his Power Ring in ''Countdown To Final Crisis'' [[http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6590/gurrenlanternlu8.jpg]]. He also created a Anime/{{Patlabor}} in ''Sinestro Corps War''.
** During Kyle's tenure on the Green Lantern series, a lot of his constructions were shout outs to Anime, video games, and cartoons. He enjoyed making Mecha and on at least one occasion he made a [[Franchise/StreetFighter Chun Li]] {{Expy}}. Apparently Kyle Rayner is a HumongousMecha {{otaku}}.
*** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''JLA'' (vol. 2) #3:
--->'''Green Lantern:''' I'm your worst nightmare, pal. A manga nut with a power ring.
*** And this itself is probably in reference to Steve Gerber's infamous "Elf with a gun" subplot during his run on ''Defenders''.
*** Also, Creator/EddieMurphy's "Nigger with a badge" line in ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop''.
** Allegedly in ''Green Lantern'' (Vol. 4) #25, the sound effect "EEEPAAAA" can be found. This is a shout out to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', in which Comic Book Guy says that "EEEPAAAAA" is a sound effect from a Green Lantern comic book.
** The names of two GL Corps members, Arisia and Eddore, are also Literature/{{Lensman}} shout-outs -- specifically, to the home worlds of that series' two {{Precursor}} races.
** In one [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]] story, Kyle's mind wound up in the body of the ComicBook/MartianManhunter. Upon mastering the Manhunter's shapechanging powers, Kyle transformed himself into various other fictional Martians, such as [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Marvin The Martian]] and [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars Tars Tarkas]].
** The form taken by a host of the Butcher bears more than a passing resemblance to [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Khorne]].
** Isamot's name is a SdrawkcabName of one of the writers of the series (Peter J. ''Tomasi'').
** A yellow-lantern named [[SdrawkcabName Imecsub]] appears for a couple panels before getting crushed to death, bearing a passing facial resemblance to an [[Creator/SteveBuscemi actor]].
** One issue of Secret Origins told the origin of the Golden Age Franchise/GreenLantern; three sailors are shown bringing the lantern from China. The sailors are quite obviously from ''ComicStrip/TerryAndThePirates''.
* SigilSpam: The members of the various Lantern Corps usually have their Corps sigil across their chest.
* SinisterScythe: Nekron, the BigBad of ''Blackest Night'', wields a scythe that has a Power Battery built in.
* SkyscraperMessages: The residents of Coast City tint all their lights green to show support to Green Lantern.
* SolarCPR: Blue Lanterns can rejuvenate dying stars.
* SpacePolice: The Corps are a classic example, as were the Manhunters before their FaceHeelTurn.
* SpectralWeaponCopy: This is Green Lantern's while shtick. He can form a HardLight version of anything he can imagine. Guns, bombs, nuclear missiles, you name it. Or hit you with a spectral truck or literally [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drop a bridge on you]], he's flexible like that.
* SplitPersonality: Carol Ferris (has since been retconned as the Star Sapphire influencing her).
** Also occasional foe Dr. Polaris.
* TheSpock: DependingOnTheWriter, the Guardians are either this played straight or deconstructed. Most recent characterizations show their coldly intellectual designs as badly flawed due to completely misunderstanding emotion.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: The Green Lanterns are capable of creating anything they can imagine. Weapons are easy to imagine.
* StarKilling: The Sun Eater, created by the Controllers.
* StarfishAliens: A few members of the Corps, most notably Dkrtzy RRR, a sentient ''mathematical equation''.
** One of the Sinestro Corps recruits was a literal one of these, a spawn of Starro. WordOfGod says Starro was not happy about this.
* TheStarscream:
** Mongul of the Sinestro Corps. Subverted in that Sinestro had a backup plan in case of an insurrection or attempted leadership coup. It doesn't end well for Mongul.
** And before Mongul came onto the scene, Superboy-Prime was the Starscream, planning to betray the Sinestro Corps' "guardian", the Anti-Monitor, and kill him in revenge for the Anti-Monitor's destruction of Prime's ''entire universe''.
** Sinestro ''himself'' played the Starscream as well, back when he was still a Green Lantern. He had major plans to dethrone and murder his superiors, the Guardians, due to his belief they were doing a poor job running the universe ([[JerkassHasAPoint which]], [[ComicBook/BlackestNight all things considered]], [[JerkassHasAPoint probably isn't far off]]).
** Bleez began sowing seeds of discontent among the Red Lantern horde once the ongoing series started, which partially resulted in Atrocitus restoring her intelligence. She's made her ambitions much more apparent since then.
* StarSpangledSpandex: Kyle's second Ion costume.
* StarterVillain:
** Alan Scott had Albert Dekker, a corrupt businessman who destroyed a railroad after losing a contract and died of a heart attack when Scott showed up to seek vengeance.
** Hal Jordan has a group of unnamed saboteurs attempting to destroy an experimental plane, who get arrested at issue's end.
* StateSec: The Alpha Lanterns of the Green Lantern Corps fit this trope. Created to act as an Internal Affairs force for the [=GLs=], they are armed with two power rings, made into cyborgs with Manhunter technology that allows them to drain other rings of power, have built in power batteries to negate the need to recharge, and have their personalities erased in favor of a direct mental link to the Book of Oa and Central Power Battery, thus removing any impurities which may color their interpretation of the Guardian's laws. Which may prevent them from becoming KnightTemplar {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s powerful enough to take down the entire GLC (seriously, with the rest of that description they're practically asking for it), but [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill doesn't make the Guardians look particularly heroic]]...\\
\\
As it turns out, the Alpha Lanterns hasn't prevented that at all, especially not with [[spoiler: Cyborg Superman taking control of them]]. Earth's [=GLs=], quite understandably, gave a collective [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell Guardians]] somewhere between "Manhunter technology" and "personality erased". (Although the Alpha Lanterns themselves insist their personalities haven't been erased, just intensely focused; but then, they would think that, wouldn't they?) Their extreme resemblance to the Manhunters shows that even when you are semi-omniscient and immortal, you can't learn from history.
** In ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', [[spoiler: Granny Goodness possesses Alpha Lantern Kraken, captures Batman, and tries to steal the Central Power Battery]]. Real infallible, and Hal Jordan points it out.
* StoryReset: Often....very often...
* StrawVulcan: The Guardians have been used this way in recent stories, with their rejection of emotion being emphasized at the same time as their inability to run their own corps.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: The uniforms of the Star Sapphire Corps. This applies across [[NonMammalMammaries all member species]].
** Carol herself finds this irritating. She may wonder why some of the others in her corps wear comparatively conservative Silver Age versions of the outfit. For example, Miri Riam wears a distinctly [[RaygunGothic "50's space girl"]] style costume, thus averting the [[AllWomenAreLustful somewhat naughty]] implications regarding Zamaron attitudes about the role of women in the universe. Unfortunately, and perhaps validated by their past histories, this may suggest something about the relationships that certain Star Sapphires such as [[BeAWhoreToGetYourMan Carol and Fatality]] have with the men in their lives.
** Also, possibly the Zamarons themselves, who have recently abandoned their [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece Ancient Greek]] knockoff armor in favor of a less-restrictive and slightly updated Series/IDreamOfJeannie look. Guy Gardner seemed [[AllMenArePerverts very pleased]].
** Lampshaded at one point when the four human lanterns found themselves forced to double-up and don rings from the other corps. Guy gets a violet ring and grumbles when putting it on that he doesn't want to find himself suddenly wearing a pink thong!
** This was changed after the ComicBook/{{New 52}} reboot. Fatality now sports a much more modest update of the Star Sapphire uniform, complete with pants; and Carol changed to a full bodysuit.
* SuddenNameChange: Carol Ferris's father was originally named Willard, but from his second appearance onward, he was renamed Carl.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Guardians. You have to admire a race that can make a starship capable of flitting across the galaxy in an afternoon, with integrated offenses and multispecies life support, in the form factor of a ''ring''.
** At least until they do something [[DitzyGenius equally, breathtakingly STUPID]].
* SummonToHand
* SuperheroesInSpace: The basic premise of the series starting from the 60's on.
* SuperheroTeamUniform: The Green Lanterns wear similar green and black costumes, which are extensions of the rings themselves.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire, also Dr. Polaris.
* SurvivalMantra: When Green Lanterns are hard pressed and in danger of succumbing to their fear, they can draw strength from remembering their oath and often, the worshipers of evil's might will once again learn the hard way to beware their power.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T - Z]]
* TheSymbiote: All the color entities.
* TakeAThirdOption: The Zamarons capture Carol Ferris and Jill Pearlman, two of Hal's girlfriends, and try to make him choose which of the ladies will be his mate... which will make the chosen girl be possessed by the Star Sapphire symbiote (again). What does Hal do? He plants a kiss on ''the Zamaron Queen'', which makes Star bond with ''her'' instead.
* TapOnTheHead: Hal Jordan is infamous for this.
* TargetedToHurtTheHero:
** Major Force kills Kyle Rayner's girlfriend Alexandra [=DeWitt=] and leaves her remains in the fridge for the hero to find, as revenge for Kyle getting in his way.
** Major Force would enact the same tactic a few years later, murdering former Green Lantern Arisia Rrab by suffocation in order to torment her friend Guy Gardner (who at the time operated as the hero Warrior). However, due to her alien physiology, Arisia did not actually die, but rather entered into a state of dormancy that she later recovered from.
* ThematicRoguesGallery: The emotional spectrum in general.
* ThisLoserIsYou: The whole point of removing Hal Jordan in the 1990s and replace him with Kyle, a completely clueless novice without the faintest idea of how to be a superhero, was to write stories of this type.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Arkillo in the New Guardians.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: The Sinestro Corps has the Book of Parallax, which contains everything every Sinestro Corpsman has ever done or will do in the name of causing fear.
** Later on we see the Book of the Black, penned in the tainted black tears of Scar, an undead Guardian. It tends to react if anyone tries to read it, usually by dragging them inside and making them re-live old memories.
** Likewise, the Red Lanterns have a Book of Rage.
** There is also the Book of Oa which predated both of the above appearance-wise which tells the story of every Corps member, prophecies concerning the Corps, and the new Ten Laws. Of course, it's more of a GreatBigBookOfEverything as it isn't ominous... usually.
* TooDumbToLive: During ''Emerald Twilight'' (when Hal Jordan became Parallax), Jordan was on his way to Oa to take nearly limitless power from the Central Power Battery. After stranding several Green Lanterns in space (where they probably would have died), Hal arrives on Oa. Jordan removes his power ring, effectively making him a normal human, and the Guardians, who have power on a cosmic scale (give or take) just let him walk into the central power battery. They knew Jordan would kill them if he had the chance, and they practically let him. The central power battery explodes, revealing Hal Jordan as Parallax. All but one of the Guardians died, and for no good reason.
** It's supposed to be because the Guardians [[AlienNonInterferenceClause don't directly interfere in anything.]] They tried that with the Manhunters and it didn't work out so well, which is why they give their powers to local mortals throughout the universe instead of doing everything themselves. It's still taken to the extreme here and later stories show the Guardians occasionally willing to get involved (at least some of them). Most times, it seems like no matter what they do, the writers make it backfire on them. Get involved, don't get involved, they will choose whichever is the wrong option and get a lecture from beings they are supposed to be vastly superior to.
** Especially problematic since, only 48 issues earlier, the Guardians had directly and personally fought and killed the Old Timer.
** Not to mention that the Guardians had often been shown as perfectly capable of weakening a power ring or removing all the energy from it immediately. They could have stopped Hal dead in his tracks any time they liked.
* TookALevelInBadass: Johns has pulled this with a number of characters. Sinestro went from being a good arch-enemy to Hal and already badass to becoming a full-blown MagnificentBastard. Sodam Yat gaining the powers of Ion, even Black Hand gaining his own superpowers pre-Blackest Night was a nice level up in bad ass.
** Prior to this, Sinestro rarely had speaking roles in comics, and was often depicted as a PaletteSwap variant of the Joker. Now, he's straddling the line between AntiVillain and AntiHero, despite WordOfGod saying much of his characterization is based on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
* TrampledUnderfoot: During a fight with some Green Lanterns, [[{{Sizeshifter}} Chun Yull]] grows to [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever monstrous size]] and tries to stomp on two lanterns. He misses Jruk, and Feska protects herself with a pyramid-shaped shield, leaving Yull screaming in pain with [[AgonyOfTheFeet a hole in his foot]].
* TranslatorMicrobes: One of the powers that the rings grant users is the ability to translate between any sentient being and the wielder of the ring.
** It doesn't always work. The language of the Indigo Lanterns, for example, can't be read by them.
* TrappedInThePast: In a blatant homage to Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt, Alan and Doiby were once transported to Arthurian England. They were there long enough that Alan's ring ran out of power, leaving the two of them apparently stranded. Thankfully, Alan's lantern was centuries old, and existed in that time period, so he was able to charge his ring and return to his own time.
* TroubledFetalPosition: Happened to Hal Jordan (as Parallax) in ''Green Lantern'' Vol. 3 #62, after Ganthet allowed Hal to absorb him.
* TwoPersonLoveTriangle: Poor Silver Age Hal Jordan... in love with Carol, who won't give him the time of day, but who loves Green Lantern... who is, of course, Hal Jordan. Hal constantly moans that he wants Carol to love him as himself, and yet he continues to make out with Carol while in his GL uniform, sabotaging his own efforts.
* TyrannicalTownTycoon: During one Pre-Crisis tale by Denny O'Neil, Green Lantern and Green Arrow come across the town of [[DyingTown Desolation]], ruled over by the tyrannical Mine Owner [[CorruptHick Slapper Soams]]. His mine being the only employer in the area, grants Soams power to the point that the towns police are not only his goons but mercenary [[FormerRegimePersonnel former Nazis]]. When a worker, Johnny, starts singing protest songs, Soams has him arrested, put through a show trial and sentenced to hang. Soams even sparks his workers to rebel, solely so his guards can kill a third of them and thus cow the remainders into permanent unquestioning obedience to him.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: After ''Blackest Night'', the Alpha Lanterns go on a recruitment drive. This is the result. It also nearly happens to John Stewart, but he's lucky enough to avoid that one.
* VerySpecialEpisode: The "relevant" period in the '70s with Green Arrow. Showed up again during Judd Winick's run as writer in the Modern Age, though Winick's versions of said stories were widely panned for being way more {{Anvilicious}} than the O'Neill/Adams stories, which used science fiction allegory for their stuff.
** The series originally had tendencies toward this anyway, though lapsed into ValuesDissonance now. Carol was originally unambiguously Hal's boss, and was never shown to be less than competent at this. Tom Kalmaku was an Inuit, not only entrusted with Hal's secret identity, but also the source of his power and, in one story, fills in as a replacement Green Lantern. Both of these characterizations date back to the late 1950s. The dissonance is due to Carol being most known for being a crazy stalker to Hal when she was Star Sapphire, and Tom for being called (what is now an ''extreme'' slur) '''Pieface'''.
* VillainousVow: Just as the Green Lantern Corps, the other Color Lanterns have their own oath to invoke the power of the Corps, specially Sinestro Corps, Red Lanterns and Black Lanterns are the most fitted to this trope, since these three factions are eviler than the other Corps, especially the latter Corps.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Hal Jordan and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]].
* WalkingTheEarth / TheDrifter: Hal Jordan during the first half of "The Road Back" storyline. Guy Gardner can't take the fact that Hal is doing this and keeps antagonizing him. Hal eventually snaps out of it.
* WeaksauceWeakness:
** The ''colour yellow'' for modern Green Lanterns. Fortunately it's not really as much of an issue since experienced [=GLs=] can easily overcome it.
** For Alan Scott, it was wood. As [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Raj]] puts it:
---> "So I can take out both [Alan and Hal] with a no. 2 pencil?"
** Alan's weakness started out as a counterpoint to his immunity from metals, with {{flanderization}} taking hold over time. At first it was a case of being able to shrug off bullets, while at the same time being unprotected from organic items like a club or a fist. Later issues of his [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] series would describe wood as "Green Lantern's greatest enemy!" Later issues retconned this, explaining his Lantern belonged to a legendary Green Lantern and Earth's first Green Lantern who was nearly killed by a yellow monster, so the Guardians removed his ring's weakness to yellow, making him invincible. He soon went drunk with power and started tyrannizing the people he was to protect, so the Guardians made him weak to wood so the villagers could club him to death.
** The reason for the weakness to yellow varies over the years. Usually it's a result of an impurity in the power source's battery, but some issues claim it's there deliberately to keep Green Lanterns from getting too full of themselves. Other issues claim it's a mental construct for rookies which can be overcome by experienced [=GLs=].
* WeaponizedOffspring: There's a villain called Evil Star who makes Starlings that are dwarf copies of himself.
* WeaponsOfTheirTrade: Butcher, the embodiment of the Red Lantern Corps, may use an axe most of the time but [[ChefOfIron true to his profession]], he also has a belt full of cutlery tools, including a rather menacing cleaver.
%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Guardians tend to dip into this trope more often than not.
%%** Thanks to Geoff Johns, Sinestro counts big time
* WhamEpisode:
** "War Of The Green Lanterns" - [[spoiler:Fallen Guardian Krona re-corrupts the central battery with Parallax, turning the entire Lantern Corps (Save Ganthet & the 4 human Lanterns) into his slaves, and infecting the Guardians with the other emotional entities; John kills Mogo to stop anymore brainwashed Lanterns being recruited, which leads to Sinestro losing his yellow ring and rejoining the Green Lantern Corps, whilst Hal kills Krona (Which shouldn't be possible due to the Guardians using failsafes to prevent the Lanterns from turning on them) to free the other Guardians, who dismiss him from the Corps to protect themselves in case he went rogue]].
** The 2012 Annual - [[spoiler:The Guardians give Black Hand a power boost so that he can kill Hal & Sinestro, getting the two of them out of the way before they use their Third Army to destroy the various Lantern corps]].
*** ''"ComicBook/WrathOfTheFirstLantern"'': [[spoiler:Korugar is destroyed, Mogo is back in business, Hal ''dies'', becomes the new Black Lantern and gets Nekron to kill Volthoom, Sinestro takes Parallax into him and ''slaughters'' the Guardians save for Ganthet & Sayd and leaves Oa for parts unknown, the Templar Guardians emerge from their eons long entombment]], and the following #21 issues all have new creative teams.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever happened to Hal's girlfriend, Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman? Her last appearance was before Blackest Night began to ramp up, and she hasn't been seen since. The nature of her relationship with Hal remains unresolved.
* WhatIf: A story from ''Comic Cavalcade'' #6 features an AuthorAvatar of writer Alfred Bester, who tells the reader that his wife insists that Green Lantern and Doiby Dickles are just lucky, not smart. To disprove it, he offers a "hypothetical story" that shows three different encounters with a group of gangsters, dependent on which way Alan and Doiby turned at an intersection. So there are three WhatIf scenarios put forward. In the end it's revealed that it was all hypothetical, and that Alan and Doiby never left the apartment building at all.
* WhatMightHaveBeen: Shortly after the emotional spectrum reveal, ads circulated showing a grinning Mongul collecting and wearing rings from across the spectrum. [[WildMassGuessing Fans noted]] that Mongul was one of the few characters who could conceivably master each emotion in the spectrum, albeit [[EvilVirtues twisted versions of some]]. This storyline never came to pass, however, and Mongul only ever wore yellow rings.
** The original "Emerald Twilight" would have been vastly different to the published storyline. Ads were actually published soliciting the original storyline, in which Hal has to choose between two groups who both claim to be the true Guardians of the Universe, and in which he absorbs the power of the central power battery and leaves the Green Lantern Corps without going insane and trying to remake the universe.
* WhenTreesAttack: In one of Alan Scott's stranger adventures, he and sidekick Doiby Dickles shrink down to microscopic size and discover a world of walking, talking trees called Mossboles. The Mossboles are stealing food from the other inhabitants of the micro-world, who had been stealing Doiby's goldfish in order not to starve. Yeah. Anyway, in the end, Alan discovers that the trees just want to eat some dirt, which doesn't exist in the micro-world, so he enlarges them to full size and turns them loose in the forest. Problem solved.
* WingdingEyes: Corps. men of every color often have their Lantern symbol reflect in their eyes when using their power of strongly feeling the emotion they represent.
* WomenAreWiser: The author's reason why the Star Sapphires are all female. Then again, the Sapphires use energies at the far end of the spectrum and are more likely to act crazy as a result.
* TheWorfEffect: In ''Green Lantern: Rebirth'' and ''Sinestro Corps War'', the first thing Sinestro does upon showing up is beat the hell out of Kyle Rayner, even on the latter occasion when Kyle has a huge power boost. This is done just to make Sinestro look badass.
** Alan Scott was often a victim of this during the modern day JSA series. Theoretically he should be the most powerful man on the team, but he was often the first to go down when the villain attacked. Occasionally justified since anybody with a lick of sense would plan to take Alan out fast.
* {{Yandere}}: The Star Sapphire takes advantage of emotionally-troubled women and turns them into this. Some are better about it than others... and some seal entire planets in crystal to stay with their loves ''forever''.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Arisia artificially aged her body, to make her relationship with Hal more acceptable. Her species was later {{retcon}}ed to age more slowly than humans, so in terms of year count, she's technically legal. The relationship is still a little suspect, since she's clearly portrayed as an adolescent.
* YourMagicsNoGoodHere:
** When GL and ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} travel to the pocket dimension of Ys, they're initially handicapped by the fact that neither GL's power ring nor Zatanna's magic operates correctly under that dimension's rules.
** Green Lantern Rot Lop Fan comes from an area of the galaxy without light, so there is no concept of "green" or "lantern." He becomes F-Sharp Bell instead.
* ZombieApocalypse: The Blackest Night.
* ZombiePukeAttack: Red Lanterns can vomit "corrosive plasma". Note that [=RLs=] just barely pass on the undead stipulation, they die if they take their rings off.
[[/folder]]

----

** Major Force kills Kyle Rayner's girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt and leaves her remains in the fridge for the hero to find, as revenge for Kyle getting in his way.