Characters / GL - Green Lantern Corps - Earth Lanterns

Green Lantern Main Character Index
Green Lantern Corps (Earth Lanterns, Hal Jordan) | The Sinestro Corps (Thaal Sinestro) | The Red Lantern Corps (Atrocitus) | The Blue Lantern Corps | The Star Sapphire Corps | The Orange Lantern Corps | The Indigo Tribe | The Black, White, Ultraviolet and Gold Lantern Corps | Other Villains (Cyborg-Superman, General Zod, Mongul, Superboy-Prime) | Supporting Characters | Golden Age

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"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, 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

General Tropes

• Badass Crew: The original four Earth Lanterns are sometimes known as "the Four Horsemen of the Corps."
• Cowboy Cop: As one Guardian waspishly remarks during Sinestro Corps War, Earth Lanterns will do what they do best - look after themselves and disobey orders. There are worse summaries, with Ganthet later telling the Controllers with some amusement that he and the other Guardians have been trying to control the Earth Lanterns (who are on a Roaring Rampage of Rescue) for years, and he doesn't think that they'll have much luck.
  "By all means - try."
• Determinator: As is natural for Lanterns, but the Earth Lanterns are noted for being unusually willful, which means that a) Parallax can be imprisoned in their batteries without issue, b) several of them have ascended to higher planes of being (Hal became pure willpower and forged his own Ring, Kyle became Ion and the White Lantern, and John Stewart almost blew up his ring and recently became something like a Green Lantern God) thanks to their sheer willpower.
• Humans Are Special: As Ganthet points out in the page quote, humanity produces a remarkable number of remarkable Green Lanterns. Even the Emotional Entities concur in Lights Out, with Ion remarking that (when Kyle's resisting being possessed by all of them bar Parallax) it's not surprising that humans are so adept at wielding their rings - and both Kyle and Volthoom (who is, or was, human) are the only people to master the entire emotional spectrum. This may have something to do with the fact that the Entity lives in the heart of the Earth.
• Military Maverick: Even, in fact especially, as the Corps became more militant and more like an army than a police force, the Earth Lanterns could generally be relied upon to ignore or creatively interpret their orders.

Main Lanterns

Hal Jordan

Green Lantern 2814.1: Harold "Hal" Jordan/Parallax/The Spectre II

The Other Man Without Fear

Species: Human

First appearance: Showcase #22 (October 1959)

Both the most famed and most infamous Green Lantern, Hal Jordan was a California test pilot who was summoned to the site where Green Lantern Abin Sur had crashed. Abin bequeathed his ring and power battery to Jordan before dying. Training under both Kilowog and Sinestro, Jordan went on to become a famed hero on Earth and beyond, helped found the Justice League of America, and rose to the top of the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro, his traitorous former mentor, became his archnemesis.

Despite common belief, Hal Jordan was not the first human being ever recruited into the Green Lantern Corps. Earth's original Green Lantern originated in China, and was recruited in 814 B.C. Coincidentally, in Post-Crisis continuity, Alan Scott wielded this unnamed Chinese man's ring.

Hal's halcyon days ended when the fear entity Parallax, trapped within the Central Power Battery, reached out its psychic tendrils to taint his mind. The destruction of his native Coast City at the hands of Mongul and Cyborg-Superman was enough to push him over the edge—Jordan rushed to Oa, killed every Lantern that got in his way, and entered the Central Power Battery to gain the power necessary to rebuild Coast City, but was instead possessed by Parallax. Killing all the Guardians save one, Jordan/Parallax went on a rampage across the universe. Jordan's own nobility shone through, however, when Earth's Sun was being devoured by a Sun-Eater, and he gave his life to save his homeworld.

After his death, Jordan's soul was offered a chance at redemption: he was bound to the near-omnipotent Spectre, the Spirit of Vengeance. Jordan tried to change the Spectre's mission from vengeance to redemption, but to no avail: Parallax still remained bound to his soul, and the Eldritch Abomination tried to steal the Spectre's power for itself. But Jordan's successor, Kyle Rayner—with the help of all his surviving friends from the Corps and the League—defeated the monstrosity and restored Jordan to life. Now Hal Jordan is a Green Lantern once more, protecting Space Sector 2814 while seeking atonement for his actions under Parallax's influence.

After Krona's attempt to take over the Corps using the enslaved emotional entities, Hal managed to kill him. However, the Guardians were deeply freaked out (though they won't admit it) by the fact that he overcame his ring's restrictions against killing Guardians, deeming him as a dangerous renegade and ejecting him from the Corps. However, Sinestro of all people recruited his help, making a replica power ring for him to use. After an uneasy alliance, and a brief case of deadness, Hal and Sinestro managed to stop the Guardians' scheme. Though Hal found himself briefly placed in charge of the Green Lantern Corps, currently he serves in the Honor Guard.

Hal currently stars in the series The Green Lantern.

To see more about Hal Jordan, see his character page here.

Guy Gardner

Green Lantern 2814.2: Guy Gardner/The Warrior

The Warrior

Homeworld: Earth

First Appearance: Green Lantern Vol 2 #59 (March 1968)

When Abin Sur crashed on Earth, his ring detected two people who were sufficiently brave and honest to be named his replacement. Hal Jordan was closer in proximity and he gained the ring. Years later, however, the other candidate—a former football player named Guy Gardner—was contacted by the Guardians to act as Jordan's backup, and the Hot-Blooded Green Lantern has been kickin' butt ever since.

Following a clash with Jordan, in which the loser left the Green Lantern Corps, Guy acquired the presumed-dead Sinestro's yellow power ring to continue fighting evil. Later, after Jordan (under the influence of Parallax) destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, Guy challenged Jordan again, but lost the fight and his yellow ring. Soon after, however, he learned that he possessed traces of alien DNA from a race of Ancient Astronauts called the Vuldarians, granting him the ability to form his body into any kind of weapon. During this time, Guy called himself Warrior.

Just before Hal Jordan was resurrected, Parallax used the Spectre's power to force Guy's Vuldarian powers into dormancy while giving him back a Green Lantern ring to make Guy its slave. It backfired, and Guy helped defeat Parallax and restore Jordan. Today, Guy is once more a Hot-Blooded Green Lantern and the very first member of the Guardians' Honor Guard.

He later joined the Red Lantern Corps, where he is The Mole for the Green Lanterns so the Red Lantern Corps won't attack the Green Lantern Corps while they rebuild themselves and eventually rises up as their leader (for a while), before returning to the Green Lantern Corps.

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• '90s Anti-Hero: As Warrior, though that might have been a Stealth Parody.
• Abusive Parents: Does not have a happy relationship with his dad, to put it lightly, as he was an abusive alcoholic who favored Guy's older brother Mace over Guy.
• Alliterative Name: Guy Gardner.
• Always Someone Better: Knows that Hal Jordan will always be considered a better Green Lantern than him, and uses these feelings to fuel his rage in fighting Atrocitus.
• Badass and Baby: The final arc of the Red Lanterns ongoing has him carry an orphaned baby around while using his Red Lantern ring to try and absorb the remaining rage left in people Atrocitus infected with the red light.
• Bash Brothers: With Kilowog. They first reunite in comic by beating the crap out of each other and than laughing afterward.
  • He now has this going with Yellow Lantern Arkillo; they first became friends by beating the crap out of each other...Even after the yellows and greens went their separate ways, the two maintained their friendship.
• Becoming the Mask: Somewhat. He was sent by Hal to go undercover with the Red Lanterns. However, he ended up beating up Atrocitus, taking his ring, and taking leadership over the Reds. He chose to stay with the Reds and molded them into protectors of Sector 2814 for a time. But comics being what they are, the Reset Button was inevitably pushed, and he's back to green once more.
• Berserk Button: Hal Jordan. There's no one Guy hates more in the JLI comic and that's saying a lot.^note Yes, even Batman, and Batsy gave him the infamous "one punch"... However, after a few years of Character Development to modern times Guy has become a Jerk with a Heart of Gold instead of the Jerkass he used to be and because of all of the things the Earth Lanterns have gone through, they all consider each other Fire-Forged Friends. Now Guy's relationship with Hal is more Vitriolic Best Buds.
• Best Friend: Kyle Rayner is implied to be this with Guy in current continuity. While he is very close to Kilowog and the other Earth Lanterns, when he thought Kyle was dead during Blackest Night, he was so enraged that a red ring found him and turned him into a Red Lantern. Not only have they been through hell and back, but it's implied that Guy sees him as a little brother and likes Kyle because Kyle never judges him. It also helps that Kyle is a Nice Guy and always gives Guy respect even when Guy is acting immaturely.
• Big Brother Mentor:
  • Towards Kyle Rayner. Guy gets along surprisingly well with Kyle to the point where they're like brothers. Kyle is the Nice Guy and even when Guy is acting like a Jerkass never looks down on Guy and always gives Guy a measure of respect. Guy in turn sees Kyle as a bit of a rookie that he needs to look out for and once became so enraged when he thought Kyle was dead that a Red Lantern ring came for Guy and turned him into a Red Lantern. Averted in regards to Simon and Jessica.
  • During his stint as leader of the Red Lanterns, he also became this to Supergirl during the Red Daughter of Krypton storyline, treating her much more kindly than he does just about anyone else, and does his best to help her. After trying to cure her (unfortunately this was after Lights Out and Saint Walker was undergoing a crisis of faith), then trying to enlist Superman's help as - at least in theory - her guardian (Kara was very much not happy with this), he takes her under his wing and does his best to guide her as a Red Lantern, before eventually sending her away to find a cure because he feels she deserves better than the Red Lantern life.
• Blood Knight: His official job is a galactic peacekeeper, but damn if he doesn't enjoy a good scrap.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's big, loud, aggressive, and enjoys what he's doing.
• Break the Badass: Kyle Rayner once related to Green Arrow how Guy Gardner (a Green Lantern 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.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Initially. Guy Gardner's combined willpower and imagination give him the potential to be one of the most powerful Green Lanterns ever. Too bad he doesn't really care to try that hard or he's usually too pissed off to think straight.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Brooding to Ice's Gentle.
• Brought Down to Normal:
  • During the Rise of the Third Army event, the Guardians relieve him of his ring and Green Lantern status. He later gets his ring back.
  • Happened in the 90s, too, after his fights with Hal, but it never lasted long thanks to having the call on speed-dial.
• Butt-Monkey: One of the reasons he gets away with being a Jerk.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to his brother Mace's (aka. Militia) Cain.
• Characterization Marches On: When he first appeared, Guy Gardner was polite, considerate, and well-mannered. He was also a teacher for disabled kids. Then he ended up in a coma and awoke with brain damage that radically altered his personality.
• Chivalrous Pervert: In the Superbuddies he fondles Mary Marvel and is almost killed for it. He apologizes later on, admitting that it was inappropriate. The team is surprised but forgives him... mostly.
• Cool Old Guy: He becomes one in the "Where Are They Now" epilogue of Geoff Johns' run.
• Cowboy Cop: He's not too big on rules.
• Death Seeker: Has been searching for a Heroic Sacrifice for some time.
• Determinator: In spades. He doesn't quit a mission or give up a fight unless he is rendered incapable of going on, and even then he'll still try and complete his mission. When tortured, he taunts his torturers to hurt him more. This is because, while his fellow Green Lanterns are all capable of overcoming great fear, Guy is pretty much completely fearless.
• Discard and Draw: Guy has gone through more identities and power changes than any of the Green Lanterns. After losing his original Green Power Ring, Guy steals Sinestro's Yellow Ring from the Guardians of the Universe. When the Yellow Ring's power starts fluctuating due to Parallax's actions, Guy dons a suit of Powered Armor created by Ted Kord but finds it less satisfying than his own Power Ring. Eventually, Guy's Yellow Power Ring is destroyed by Parallax and he later unlocks his ancestral Vuldarian powers. Only for them to go into recession after he becomes a Green Lantern again. He was also a Red Lantern for some time.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: How he trains Jessica. It leads to her punching him in the face. Guy being Guy, he was actually rather pleased by the reaction.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Guy Gardner's middle name of Darrin.
• Everyone Has Standards: When Guy first fought the new Blue Beetle, he was told by his ring that he needed to kill this strange enemy. But when Jaime Reyes' mask opened, revealing his face, Guy immediately stopped.
  Guy: It's just a kid! I ... don't ... hurt ... kids!
• Fiery Redhead: He has red hair and is definitely temperamental.
• Friend to All Children: Present, although a Downplayed Trope almost to the point of being an Informed Attribute. In his first appearance, he was a teacher to disabled children, and in a later story, he applies to be a football coach before being informed that his lack of a secret identity makes him too much of a liability to be insurable. In general, however, he's nicer to/protective of those he sees as children, as seen with Jaime Reyes and Kara Zor-El.
• Foe Romance Subtext: With Bleez of the Red Lantern Corps.
  KISS ME YOU RED BITCH!
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: In the JLI. The only reason he wasn't kicked off within a few issues is that he spent a few issues being really nice due to a head injury, and by the time he turned back, he was one of the few powerhouses the team had, and thus couldn't afford to lose. Among the Corps, he's also this to a degree, though it's played up by those around him.
• Gender Bender: In one issue of Guy Gardner: Warrior, his demonic archenemy Dementor turns him into a woman ("Gal Gardner") for no clear reason, and later forces him/her to perform a fashion show for it by threatening hostages it has. (It would be highly cynical to suggest that the real reason was that, at the time, Guy was a rare example of a male character in a Stripperiffic costume, so naturally they wanted to show what it looked like on a female character.)
• Got the Call on Speed Dial: After losing his original ring as part of a deal with Hal Jordan, Guy took Sinestro's evil Yellow Ring just so he could continue fighting crime. After Jordan got possessed by Parallax and went nuts, he destroyed that ring, but Guy subsequently developed new, non-ring powers. Those were later sealed, and he got a new green ring. Since then, he's lost it (and gotten it back) at least two more times, once in the War of the Green Lanterns, once during the Third Army event. He's noticed this pattern and he's become profoundly annoyed by it.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Why he hates Superman (although with their personalities, they'd clash pretty hard regardless). He even accused him of trying to steal Ice, even though she came on to him.
• Handsome Lech: Though mostly in his own mind.
• Heroic Willpower: Guy's willpower is so strong that it almost overloads his ring. Every construct he creates has energy in excess, causing them to sparkle, and even at rest, his ring is constantly releasing energy.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kyle and John.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Who would have expected Guy Gardner to know how to play chess?
  • Despite his rough demeanor and tendency to be the verbal punching bag of his allies, Guy has not only been a counselor for troubled inmates but also a gym teacher for children with special needs.
  • In Future's End it's shown that Guy can be an incredibly powerful Blue Lantern, capable of using its full potential without a Green Lantern present. He's just that powerfully faithful.
• Hot-Blooded: Literally when he had a Red Lantern ring.
• Identity Amnesia: In Justice League International. Tired of having Batman in command, Guy took off the ring and tried to settle things as men do. Batman thrashed the hell out of him in a single punch. When he woke up, he tried to retrieve his ring from beneath a desk, and got a second Tap on the Head. When he woke up, he was a new Guy Gardner, interested in poetry, good feelings, friendship, respectful, being nice to everyone... in short, everything that Guy Gardner is not. He stayed that way for several months (even across the Millennium (1988) crossover), and then returned to his true self against Lobo.
• In Spite of a Nail: In his debut, it was established that he was another candidate considered for succeeding Abin Sur as Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and was passed in favor of Hal Jordan because Jordan was closer to where Abin Sur crashed. Hal Jordan is then shown a simulation of how things might have been had Guy been picked instead. Guy Gardner's career as a Green Lantern still had him face Hal's rogues gallery and only differed in him having a different oath, but comes to an end when he discovers upon returning from one of his adventures that he has contracted a lethal yellow plague that wiped out a planet's adult population while leaving the children unharmed, forcing him to appoint a successor before the plague kills him. The result is Hal Jordan becoming a Green Lantern in this timeline anyway.
• Jerkass: His personality in the '80s was that he was a belligerent jackass who constantly berated John Stewart and Hal Jordan due to believing he's a better Lantern than either of them.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His current personality, after a few years of Character Development, had him be on better terms with his fellow Lanterns and willing to do the right thing even when he's grouchy and arrogant most of the time. Most prevalent when involving a dire threat to his closest friends, the Corps, or Ice.
• Kidnapped by the Call: Despite the fact that he had no ring when Green Lantern: The Lost Army started, he was still chucked into another universe with the rest of the Lantern Corps. As he himself put it;
  "One second I'm on Earth minding my own business, not wearing any damn magic rings, and the next I'm wearing two and I'm flung across the universe to god-knows-where!"
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": He admired the JLI's General Glory and even behaved politely in his presence.
• Leader Wannabe: He wanted to be the leader of the JLI, so he challenged Batman to a fight for that position. Guy was then floored in one punch.
• Missed the Call: Initially. As revealed in Booster Gold, it is revealed to have been due to Booster and his time traveling. Who knew?
• Mooning: Surprisingly enough, he does the pressed ham variant on Batman at the beginning of Green Lantern Corps: Recharge by pressing his bared behind against the window Batman is near.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Happened to him 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.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Green Lantern Corps #16, "Falling Star", Guy crashes a potential arms deal, which was an undercover operation that took 2 years to plan, by the Feds and the police to establish contact with an arms dealer, until Guy pulls a Leeroy Jenkins and botches everything up, ruining the mission and leading to his incarceration.
• Our Ancestors Are Superheroes: During the 90s, Guy discovered he was the descendant of a near extinct race of alien warriors called the Vuldarians. After drinking from a chalice meant for him, Guy unlocked the powers of his ancestors, which consists of super strength, flight, accelerated healing and the ability to morph his body into various weapons. These powers went into recession after he became a Green Lantern again.
• Put on a Bus: Guy Gardner wasn't just put on a bus from 1977 to 1985, he was hit by a bus and rendered comatose for years.
• Red Is Violent: He's not evil, but he is a Fiery Redhead who also is impulsive and sometimes has a violent nature, especially in the beginning. During his "Warior" phase, he wore a red costume and red and blue warrior paint. Then for the Blackest Night event and onwards, he becomes a Red Lantern, first against his will and later controlling it by the War of the Green Lanterns saga.
• Tranquil Fury: Has mastered this, to power his Red Lantern ring.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: Guy tried one with two robot Catgirls, only for them to fall for Salaak, the grumpy-no-fun-at-all guy who runs the Corps in place of the Guardians.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With the rest of the Justice League International crew, especially Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (except Batman, in which case it's just plain vitriol). After Ted's death, it turned out he'd given Guy some books as a way of reaching out to him.

John Stewart

Green Lantern 2814.3: John Stewart

The Bridge Builder

Homeworld: Earth

First Appearance: Green Lantern Vol 2 #87 (December 1971)

When Hal Jordan needed a backup and Guy Gardner was out of commission, the Guardians selected John Stewart, a fearless Marine turned activist, to wield the emerald light. John used the ring to shed light on society's ills as well as fight evil across the universe. He even for a time became the master of a patchwork community known as the Mosaic World. His light dimmed, however, when he failed to save a planet from destruction due to his own arrogance.

John was given a second chance when Kyle Rayner created a new power ring for him to wield. John aided in Hal Jordan's resurrection and went on to become his partner in Space Sector 2814. Later, John served on the Honor Guard as a reliable soldier in the fight against evil and the Corps' voice of reason and compassion.

John is perhaps the second-most famous of the Lanterns, despite never serving as the star of the franchise like Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner. This recognition is due in large part to him being the Lantern that appeared in the Justice League animated series, which reinvigorated him as a character.

He also served as the Lanterns' chief representative on the 2018 series of Justice League.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: He is the first black Green Lantern.
• Ascended Extra: Initially, he was just Jordan's backup Lantern, then took over the title for a few years when Jordan's resignation had him called to regular duty and got his own series for a while until the Corps was largely depowered and disbanded. Twenty years later with the Corps restored, he is Jordan's regular duty partner for their space sector. He was also the most recognizable Lantern in real life for a time, due to the Justice League animated series leading many a viewer to associate John with the Lantern mantle. Now he has a major role in Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps as the leader of the Green Lanterns.
• Badass Bookworm: He's an architect in his day job.
• Bald of Authority: Has been depicted as bald several times and is a high-ranking member of the Corps.
• Batman Gambit: During his time as the leader of the corps post Rebirth, he began to pull of these with increasing frequency. Such as when Soranik Natu and her Yellow Lanterns move to betray the corps and he uses a hidden 'Katma' protocol to shut down their rings with a 'Green Impurity'.
• Brought Down to Badass: Even when his ring is taken from him, he's still a trained Marine.
• By-the-Book Cop: Most of the time yes, although he has his moments.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: The Captain Smooth to Guy's Sergeant Rough, although neither of them hold those exact ranks.
• Characterization Marches On: During the 70's, he was an angry black man and social activist. In the 80s, he was a good-natured architect, then the 90's hit and he became an introspective philosopher. Now he's a soldier with a chip on his shoulder.
• Cold Sniper: A common theme among his modern constructs are sniper rifles. It also what he used to (temporarily) kill Mogo.
• Court-martialed: In the new 52 he was honorably discharged after knocking out an out of control superior.
• Cultured Warrior: Quotes Nietzsche and during the 90's would often go into deep introspective monologues.
• Da Chief: Temporarily became leader of the corps during one of the Guardian's many absences.
• Dating Catwoman: With Fatality, not always of his own free-will. Or hers, as it turns out (though Stewart's equally upset to find out).
• Deadpan Snarker: When he first heard the Green Lantern oath, his immediate response was to call it corny.
• Empowered Badass Normal: In 2021, he became "ascended," having a connection to the Source and thereby able to do much of what he normally could with a power ring without actually needing the ring anymore.
• Epic Flail: It's kind of like his version of the boxing gloves; if he isn't toting a rifle.
• Expy Coexistence: John Diggle, a character created for Arrow that became a Canon Immigrant, was revealed to be a case of Canon Character All Along in season 7: namely Stewart, given the Elseworlds crossover sees the The Flash (1990) version of Barry wonder where John's power ring was and "Spartan" revealed Diggle's stepfather is named "Stewart" Naturally, they're not the same person in the DCU.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Many other Lanterns are terrified of John, due to his reputation for killing worlds.
• Gaslighting: Used the ring to screw with Major Disaster's head, making him see an entire street of people dressed as Green Lanterns. Then he knocked him out.
• Heroic Willpower: He couldn't work the job without it...
  • John's willpower is so strong it almost caused his ring to blow up, something that's only happened before with Sinestro and Ganthet.
  • When the UV Lantern tattoo destroyed his ring and tried to take control of him he was able to fight it off and will the UV ratio into a green lantern tattoo.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He was able to out-snipe the legendary Sinestro Corpsman Bedovian, who could hit targets from light-years away.
• Interspecies Romance: He's frequently hooked up with alien women. He's been with Korugarian Katma Tui and, later, Merayn of the Darkstars, then eventually Fatality of Xanshi. See a pattern? It carried into the DC Animated Universe Justice League cartoon, too, with Thanagarian Hawkgirl.
• Jumped at the Call: John very eagerly accepted Hal's proposition to become a substitute Green Lantern.
• The Lancer: Normally when all the Earth lanterns meet up, he plays second in command.
• The Leader: Takes this role after Hal's Taking the Heat moment, keeping the Corps together even when they're shunted into the previous, dying universe. Continues this role even after Hal comes back and things clear up, because he's damn good at it and Hal, while able enough, was not made to do command and control. This is becoming a trend under writer Robert Venditti as John is now the leader of the Justice League.
• Military Superhero: Before joining the Green Lantern Corps, he was in the Marine Corps.
• My Greatest Failure: Failing to prevent the destruction of the planet Xanshi.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The planet Xanshi was doomed by his arrogance, as he thought he could save it all on his own.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: His fellow Corpsmen simply won't let him forget that he failed to save the planet Xanshi.
• Open Secret: During the "secret identity" days, John was pretty open about his identity. Several people in his neighbourhood already knew, but the news crews had a hard time catching up to a guy who could fly.
• Power Tattoo: Ultraviolet Power Rings take the form of a ring tattoo branded on the ring finger. When one takes control of John it breaks his ring and gives him the Ultraviolet tattoo. Once John takes back control of himself his turns into a Green Lantern Ring tattoo, with all the same capabilities.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As leader of the Green Lantern Corps, even if his fellow Earth Lanterns do give him a throbbing headache.
• Red Baron: The Master Builder.
• Refusal of the Call: When the Guardians summoned him to replace Hal and Guy full-time, John emphatically said "no" (that they'd summoned him while he'd been eating breakfast didn't help). Then several other Lanterns came into the room and started shaming him for it. John took the job just to show them otherwise. Some time into his career, he admits to Katma Tui that it's causing issues. He never wanted the job, but now that he has it, he's determined to put his all into it.
• Ret-Canon: His DC Animated Universe incarnation, a gruff former Marine, proved so popular that his background and personality was retconned to match. Previously he was said to be a civilian architect. It was later established that he was a Marine, but became an architect.
• Scary Black Man: Normally John's a nice enough sort, but piss him off and you'll be sorry.
• Semper Fi: Oh definitely.
• Stiff Upper Lip: One of his defining traits.
• Technician vs. Performer: Considering he used to be an architect and a marine, Hal remarks that John's constructs are intricately detailed, with each component properly thought out and placed. This contrasts John with Kyle, who is the most artistic and unpredictable of Earth's Lanterns.
• Token Black Friend: Largely averted considering that although Jordan and Stewart got along well enough, Stewart was never intended to be a sidekick to Jordan, just his reservist, which means by definition that he and Jordan would not be on duty simultaneously. Eventually, Stewart would replace Jordan full time when he resigned and when the Corps was reformed and expanded in Green Lantern: Rebirth, Stewart was promoted to being Jordan's full time equal regular duty partner for their sector - and later, as leader of the Corps, his superior, replacing Hal in that role (to Hal's considerable relief - he wasn't exactly bad at the job, but as everyone from Sinestro to Hal himself noticed, it did not play to his strengths).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Seems to be the situation between him and Guy.

Kyle Rayner

Green Lantern 2814.4: Kyle Rayner/Ion/White Lantern/Omega Lantern

The Torchbearer

Species: Human

First Appearance: Green Lantern Vol 3 #48 (January 1994)

Green Lantern 2814.4. The Torchbearer. The White Lantern. The Omega Lantern.

Though not as famous outside of comics as Hal Jordan or perhaps even John Stewart, Kyle Rayner is definitely one of the most popular for comics fans — especially those born in The '80s or The '90s. During his era, between the time of Emerald Twilight and Green Lantern: Rebirth, he was the Green Lantern. The Last of His Kind.

Kyle Rayner, a struggling artist, was just an average young man until Ganthet, the last Guardian of the Universe, appeared to him in a back alley and handed him the last Green Lantern power ring. Kyle was charged with preserving the light of the Green Lantern Corps, and for years was the only Lantern remaining in the universe.

Kyle briefly gained the power of the Will Entity, Ion, and used it to rebuild the Central Power Battery and revive the dead Guardians. Not long after, he was instrumental in the rebirth of Hal Jordan and revival of the Corps. Today, for keeping the Green Light alive, Kyle is renowned as the Torchbearer and one of the Corps' Honor Guard.

Later Kyle became a member of the New Guardians, a group of Lanterns from every Corps (sans Black and White) before mastering the rings of every single Corps, allowing him to become the White Lantern. He would later give up this ring for a short time, in order to negotiate a peace treaty between the Citadel and the Omega Men. He was apparently executed by the Omega Men on live TV. In actuality, he was revived, and would join the group himself. After regaining his ring, he was dubbed the Omega Lantern. Once the Omega Men overthrew the Citadel, Kyle returned to Earth.

Being not quite as famous as Hal, Kyle often has trouble finding a permanent series in comics. However, he can most often be found in pages of Green Lantern Corps. comics, following the group's return in the mid-2000s.

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• A God I Am Not: Kyle has an odd tendency to stumble face-first into omnipotence, but he maintains this attitude - and is actively afraid of it by the time he received the Life Equation. The first time it happened, he had almost unlimited powers during the Ion arc until Superman pointed out that people were starting to worship him. This realization led him to give up the Ion energy and rebuild the Central Power Battery. Later, he does the same thing with the Life Equation, with its vast Reality Warper powers growing beyond his conscious control, and splits it between the seven rings of the White Lantern Corps.
  • Circle of Fire reveals that a part of Kyle is tempted to give into A God Am I, something affirmed by the end of New Guardians but his better self keeps that desire in-check. Except in Future's End
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • New Guardians claims that he has the rare potential to channel all seven colors of the emotional spectrum, and he succeeds, becoming a White Lantern.
  • However as of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #17 he has lost access to these abilities and once again becomes a Green Lantern.
• Always Someone Better: Early in his career, Kyle had a raging inferiority complex and despaired of living up to the legacy of Hal Jordan. He gets over this after Green Lantern: Rebirth, as a pep-talk from Hal (who had punctuated his first returned fight with Sinestro with a coldly angry "No. You will respect him" when Sinestro sneered about the "alley rat") developing his own relationship with Hal makes Kyle realize that they have different strengths and talents.
• Art Attacker: Being an artist with the power to make shapes with his mind, his constructs are particularly detailed, and he generally treats them as he would artwork that is gradually refined. In-universe it's said that his constructs are initially "sketched" into exsitence before becoming more solid, and he has even edited them, making slight alterations to ones he has already "finished."
• Ascended Fanboy: Kyle grew up admiring Batman and Superman. Now he works side by side with them.
  • Averted with Green Lanterns, however, as he didn't particularly like them.
• Audience Surrogate: Him being a fan of comics and more of an everyman in comparison to Hal made him this for a while. In The Omega Men, he went back to it, having the most "normal" morals in the series.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Youngest of the Four Horsemen of the Corps and the JLA during his tenure on the team. By the time he's serving on the reformed Green Lantern Corps, he is experienced enough to have the respect of Hal, Guy, and John; but while he served on the JLA, his inexperience coupled with his youth meant that he was obligated to prove himself.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kyle is often regarded by his enemies as one of the most dangerous and unpredictable Lanterns ever (yes, more than Guy Gardner), not because of his determination or a lack of mercy, but because as a comic artist his mind works creatively and thus he has no problems with beating the hell out of you with a giant teddy bear or making a Magical Girl and letting her kick your ass while he stands on the sidelines snarking. He's just too damn unpredictable, which is one of the reasons (besides his ability to overcome fear) he was chosen as the last of the Green Lanterns.
  • That's not even getting into what happened to the thugs who beat up his friend Terry Berg. Friggin' BATMAN told him he crossed a line.
• Big Brother Worship: Exhibits this behavior towards Hal, John, and Guy. According to Soranik, Kyle is "always chasing after his big brothers."
• Cartwright Curse: It's reached memetic levels in and out of universe. Of the four major girlfriends he's had, three have been killed off (the fourth broke things off when Kyle opened his fat mouth at exactly the wrong time). The two superpowered ones came back, but "people I care for die" has become a part of his character.
• Character Shilling: When he replaced Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. Having folks like Martian Manhunter, Superman and Batman say what a terrific guy you are, completely unsolicited, led to much eye-rolling even amongst fans of the character, who felt that such shilling validated many complaints that haters of the character had. Luckily, Rayner managed to survive the shilling and was officially rescued from the scrappy pile.
  • It's been widely joked that Kyle got shilled specifically because DC were pissed off that fans (rightfully) saw how The Death of Superman and Azrael becoming Batman were temporary plotlines. DC were deadset that Kyle would stick, hence the shilling. However, Grant Morrison refused to give Kyle the same treatment in JLA. Yes, most of the team respected him, but he had to work to really be seen as something more than a rookie. And The Flash was open about his initial dislike of Kyle and it took a good amount of character development for them to become friends. As a result, Kyle Rayner grew his own crop of decidedly enthusiastic and loyal fans...
• Chick Magnet: He's considered very attractive and has dated a lot of attractive women. He's introduced as having just broken up with Alex, and would later have long-term relationships with Jade, the green-skinned model daughter of Alan Scott. After that, Kyle would date Donna Troy, who's basically a younger-looking Wonder Woman, who is acknowledged in-universe as one of the world's most beautiful women. After that, Kyle dated Soranik Natu, the scientist daughter of Sinestro. After that, he would date Carol Ferris, as she found herself more in love with Kyle than Hal Jordan. While working with the Omega Men, he also had a relationship with beautiful space princess Kalista, though with that one it wasn't clear if she really had feelings for him; at the very least, they had a physical relationship.
• Chosen One/Closest Thing We Got: Zig-zagged. The original scene with Kyle has him in an alley behind a bar, getting some fresh air when Ganthet shows up and says "You'll do" and hands him the ring. This plays into Kyle's character arc for the first several years with him and others doubting his worth; even Ganthet, who chose him, doubts the decision at one point. However, he earns his place as the Torchbearer, restoring the entire Corps and resisting the temptation of ultimate power. It reads like a Chosen One story in some places, but it doesn't seem like this was anyone's plan, certainly not the Guardians.
  • Geoff Johns has commented that despite the actual sequence of events, he considers Kyle to be as chosen for the Corps as any other Lantern. New Guardians later puts forth that Ganthet perhaps did sense something special about him when giving him the ring.
• Combat Pragmatist: He has a habit of going for his opponent's eyes, especially in situations where he's de-powered/doesn't have the ring.
  • He's also not adverse to letting the ring do all the work (and by "work", we mean he'll make a girl that will kick you in the lantern) while he just sort of hangs around and makes fun of you.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Supposedly modelled after Keanu Reeves in his original appearances.
• Deadpan Snarker: He snarks when the situation is too much for him.
• Death by Origin Story: His girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt was tragically murdered by Major Force early in Kyle's career as a Green Lantern, with the villain leaving Alexandra's body in the fridge for Kyle to find just to torment the young man.
• Depending on the Artist: His first costume was deceptively complex and subtle details would change from issue to issue. Handwaved by his artistic nature changing his outfit based on what he thought was cool at the time.
• The Determinator: Even among an entire group whose power is fueled by Determination, Kyle stands out.
• Disappeared Dad: He was raised by a single mother, Moira Rayner. This has an odd effect on him as he gravitates subtly to potential father-figures in his life, such as the other members of the Justice League or Ganthet.
• Disney Death: He seemingly dies during Blackest Night and almost became a Black Lantern before Munk of the Indigo Tribe did his best to fend off the incoming black rings and Kyle was successfully resuscitated by Soranik Natu and Star Sapphire Miri Riam.
• Dork Knight: He is a very dorky lover of drawing and superheroes.
• Enemy Without: In Green Lantern: Circle of Fire, Kyle accidentally creates a sentient construct named Oblivion who is the externalization of the dark impulses that he represses. Unfortunately for Kyle (and the world), Oblivion is also all-powerful and hellbent on destroying JLA (1997). Even more unfortunately, he reappears in New Guardians as a result of Kyle's possession of the Life Equation.
• Evil Uncle: His first team-up with Connor Hawke had his uncle Zachary pose as his missing father Aaron to manipulate Kyle into assisting in a domestic terrorism plot. Zachary Rayner doesn't reveal the truth to his nephew until the scheme is thwarted and he is nearly dead.
• Executive Meddling: invoked How he was created, of course, but also an interesting inversion: despite DC editorial mandate insisting Kyle was going to be the only Green Lantern following his debut, every writer on his comic for ten years did their level best to sneak the Corps back in, though only Jade and John Stewart kept their rings for any real length of time.
  • Writer Brad Meltzer desperately insists that Kyle's defeat at the hands of Deathstroke in Identity Crisis was this because the big-wigs at DC Comics wanted to pump up Deathstroke's status as a badass, every time the fans mention it. In the fight in question, despite the fact that Kyle had the most powerful ranged weapon in the universe on his hand, and despite the fact that Kyle is recognized as having one of the strongest wills in an organization powered by willpower, Kyle not only moves in on Deathstroke (who is a much better fighter than Kyle) in order to punch him, but he comes very close to losing a battle of wills with the villain. Yeah...
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: His quest to find his missing father in his first team-up with Connor Hawke ends with him learning that the man he assumed was his father was actually his uncle Zachary pretending to be Aaron Rayner.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine
• Generation Xerox: As per tradition, Kyle as Earth's main Green Lantern formed a partnership with the Flash of his era, in this case, Wally West. Unlike Hal and Barry, the two couldn't stand each other at first.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Guy after the Sinestro Corps War. Also with Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Well, "normal" by Green Lantern standards. As Ion and White Lantern, Kyle has wielded massive amounts of power, but he prefers being "just one of the guys" in the Green Lantern Corps.
• Incompatible Orientation: After learning that his assistant Terry Berg is gay and has a Precocious Crush on him, Kyle makes it clear that he values Terry as a friend, but can't reciprocate his feelings because he is straight (and also because the age gap is too wide on account of Terry being 16 and Kyle being in his 20s).
• Informed Attribute: Kyle's status as "The most creative Lantern" could be considered this. This perception comes less from Kyle, and more from the way writers have changed how they write the Lanterns. In Hal's Silver Age tales, the ring's abiltiies were far greater than merely creating constructs, it could do almost anything. Consequently, the solutions of that era were a lot more varied than modern lanterns can pull off. Kyle has a more limited toolset to work with, and we've never seen what he can do with the more capable rings of old.
  • He does demonstrate this in New Guardians and beyond as the White Lantern, finding new ways to use the emotional spectrum.
• In-Series Nickname: Christopher Priest had people jokingly mock Kyle's original costume by calling him "Crab Face Guy." Kyle's detractors ate it up.
• Interspecies Romance: For a time, he was a couple with Korugarian Green Lantern Soranik Natu.
• It's Not Porn, It's Art: He used to date Donna Troy. They broke up when she caught him sketching a nude of a woman who lived in his building.
• Jumped at the Call: More like performed a triple somersault at the call.
• Last of His Kind: His initial gimmick was that he was the last active Green Lantern after Hal decimated the Corps as Parallax. After a few unsuccessful attempts at re-forming the Green Lantern Corps on his terms and giving Jade her own power ring a couple of times during a period where she lost her powers, Kyle would no longer be the last Green Lantern when he gave John Stewart a new power ring in Judd Winick's run and the Corps was finally re-formed during Geoff Johns' run.
• Likes Older Women: It's not entirely clear how much younger Kyle is than Hal, but it's in the region of 10 to 15 years, and in New Guardians, he ended up dating Carol Ferris, Hal's ex and contemporary. One of the New Talent Showcase stories even implied that she was pregnant, though that never ended up going anywhere.
• Mr. Fanservice: Kyle seems to be subject to the most gratuitous and numerous butt-shots in any comic he's in. Considering he's a Lantern, that's a lot. It's even acknowledged in-universe he has a nice butt.
• Mr. Imagination: Being an artist, he has one of the most powerful imaginations in the entire corps to take advantage of the ring, coming up with creative ways to beat bad guys. This is why he's picked to train the much more functional Simon Baz, who quickly finds out the hard way how embarrassing getting beaten up by Kyle can be.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Considering the three previous Earth Lanterns can't really age up anymore without their exploits becoming unfeasible (they're presumably in their forties now), Kyle will probably be stuck in his twenties forever.
• Perma-Stubble: In The New Guardians series.
• Pretty Boy: Generally drawn much prettier than the older Earth Lanterns to highlight his youth and more light-hearted personality.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Based on some of his constructs, the guy reads a lot of Shōjo.
• Reality Warper: The first time he was Ion. He regains this ability after becoming a White Lantern, which attracts the notice of the New Gods and triggers the "Godhead" event.
• Red Baron: After he wills his White Lantern ring back to him and seemingly single-handedly turns the tides of the Omega Men's war with the citadel, he's dubbed the Omega Lantern.
  • He's also frequently called "The Artist," derisively by those who don't know him, and with fear/reverence by those that do.
• Screw Destiny: Kyle experienced multiple futures over his early career that suggested that the Green Lantern Corps was never reformed. Then he helped to rebuild the Corps.
• Sequential Artist: He is a professional comic book artist and writer. If he's fighting alongside other Lanterns, this tends to be shown as influencing his style of combat. In the New 52 Green Lantern run, this is actually cited by ARGUS as a possible clue to his at the time secret identity.
• Shout-Out: A lot of Kyle's constructs are taken from Manga and Anime.
• Signature Style: Apparently his art style is distinct enough for people to figure out his identity based on his constructs. Also the way his constructs appear (being first "sketched" into existence before becoming more solid) is a dead giveaway.
• The So-Called Coward: Got a lot of grief early on because, unlike Hal, he actually felt fear and doubt over his role as a Green Lantern. While the other Earth Lanterns settled into their positions fairly quickly, he was openly intimidated by it. Eventually, his ability to feel fear and overcome it was what helped him avoid Parallax's influence in Rebirth.
  • It has been pointed out, in-universe, that he is the living incarnation of the old saying that "courage is being afraid, but going ahead anyhow", and it has been remarked at least twice that it is the fact that he does become afraid that makes him a better Lantern than Hal Jordan. Hal has agreed with this, stating that while he's the best with Green, Kyle is the greatest Lantern full stop.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: At the end of his first solo series, Kyle concludes that there is nothing left for him on Earth and that he belongs in space. He doubles down on this sentiment during the Geoff Johns run of Green Lantern, remarking upon how he feels more at home on Oa with the Corps than he did on Earth:
  Kyle: I never liked cops. Not until Hal and the Corps came back. It was the first time, I really felt like I belonged to something. I wasn't the "artistic" kid in school or the rookie on the League. I was one of the guys.
• Suddenly Ethnicity: Kyle was firmly established as being a proud Irish-American in his early appearances, and could even speak Gaelic to his mother, an immigrant who supposedly met his father back when they were living in Ireland. When Judd Winick took over, Kyle's father was retconned into being Mexican-American, with his name changed from Aaron Rayner to Gabriel Vasquez.
  • This aspect of Kyle's identity was reinforced during New 52. Omega Men depicted him as a fluent Spanish speaker and referenced a Mexican grandmother he was apparently close to as a child, and New Guardians retconned his father into being a white man who was actually named Aaron Rayner. Taken together, these facts seem to imply that Kyle's Mexican roots come from his mother; but since other aspects of New Guardians have been tossed out, the continuity of this is questionable.
• Technician vs. Performer: The Performer to John Stewart's Technician, since Kyle is an artist whose greatest strength is his unpredictability and creativity, while John is an architect and is much more meticulous but also rigid in his constructs.
• Token Good Teammate: On the Omega Men. While no one in the group is particularly evil, all of them are very dark anti-heroes at best, Primus aside (maybe). Kyle framed the conflict between the Omega Men and the Citadel as a more typical superhero, with an oppressive government and a band of rogues looking to overthrow them.
• Tulpa: His imagination combined with his talent with the ring has led to him unintentionally manifesting aspects of his psyche as independent beings. The first was Oblivion, a manifestation of all his negative emotions, modelled after an original drawing he made in his youth. To fight Oblivion he unconsciously made five Green Lanterns that believed themselves to be from alternate timelines that represented his positive mental attributes.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Wally West. The two initially did not get along, but eventually became good friends. They just constantly jab at each other.

Simon Baz

Green Lantern 2814.5: Simon Baz

The Miracle Worker

Homeworld: Earth

First Appearance: The New 52 Free Comic Book Day Special Edition #1 (May 2012)

A Lebanese-American and the Green Lantern of Earth as of the New 52's Green Lantern Issue #0. A life growing up with anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern sentiments around him led to a career as a criminal and carjacker. He gains a Lantern ring during an interrogation by the police, which busts him out of police custody. He tries to prove his innocence when the Third Army attacks and he joins the rest of the Lanterns to save the Corps. After Wrath of the First Lantern, the charges are dropped when he becomes a member of the Justice League of America.

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• Anti-Hero: When he was laid off, he started stealing cars, but only to support his sister and nephew until he could get another job. Deep down, he's a good person.
• Badass Driver: Before he became a Lantern, he had... some experience with street-racing. The first construct he makes with his ring is in fact a detailed sports-car. The next several constructs he makes are also cars.
• Beyond the Impossible: Simon manages to use his ring to will his brother-in-law out his 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 bring back the planet Korugar and its inhabitants from the dead when the First Lantern destroys them.
• Characterization Marches On: As written by Geoff Johns, Simon was pretty level-headed (minor acts of crime and familiar protectiveness and Sinestro-shooting aside). Green Lanterns makes him far more impulsive and hot-tempered, to better play off Jessica's introverted nature.
• Clear My Name: Simon wants to prove that he wasn't the one behind the bomb in the van he stole, which becomes near-to-outright impossible when the Third Army absorbs the man who was really responsible, and Agent Fed sort of accidentally destroyed all the evidence saving both their lives. He does, however, get his wish when he joins the Justice League of America.
• Conspicuous Gloves: Wears fingerless gloves as part of his outfit, and also wore fingerless gloves prior to becoming a Green Lantern.
• Contrived Coincidence: Poor Simon manages to steal a van that happens to also contain a large bomb. It'd be unfortunate stealing a terrorist's van even if he wasn't a Muslim.
• Determinator: A requisite for any GL, sure, but Simon manages to take it a step further. Despite being told by Bd'g that a Green Lantern Ring cannot bring his brother in-law out of a coma, he keeps pouring all his willpower into it, even beginning to bleed from his eyes due to the strain. And he succeeds.
• Hidden Depths: To all outside appearances, Simon is a typical anti-hero, and former criminal... when he's really a nice guy, and only became a criminal to pay for his family when he was laid off from his job as an engineer. He also has a degree in engineering.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Given his ring was damaged, depowered and (partially) programmed by Sinestro, it took him several hours to figure out how it all worked. That said, he caught on incredibly quickly, managing to summon several constructs while running from the Justice League on a ring with low battery power, and without knowing how to get it to fly.
• It's All My Fault: Blames himself for the street-racing accident that crippled his best friend and brother-in-law, and as a result becomes increasingly distant from his sister. She refuses to accept this when they meet up again, stating that she doesn't blame him.
• Justified Criminal: The first couple pages of his first appearance are pretty much there to help you feel sorry for his life of crime.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Green Lantern rings aren't supposed to be able to heal others. And yet Simon has twice willed healing unto others: first bringing his brother-in-law out of his coma, and later, however temporarily, healing Bleez and shocking her out of the power of her red ring.
• Nice Guy: Minor crimes aside, Simon is actually an intelligent and reasonable person, with a clear sense of right and wrong. Which just makes the way his life went since 9/11 all the more unfair.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Simon's look upon realizing he's stolen a van full of armed explosives.
  • Gets a second one when the ENTIRE JUSTICE LEAGUE shows up looking for him. To be fair, this is the appropriate reaction to being told you're in trouble by Superman.
• Phlebotinum Breakdown:
  • His ring was unstable due to being a mashup of both Sinestro's and Hal Jordan's.
  • When he meets Green Lantern B'dg, he helps him get his ring working and teaches him how to properly use it.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Simon and Jessica seem to be heading this way, as they've become incredibly close, with no hint of any romantic notions.
• Superhero Packing Heat: When his ring loses power during a confrontation, he grabs a handgun to defend himself. Once he gets his ring recharged, he keeps the gun as a backup, in case he can't use his ring again. It comes in useful when he's set upon by a ringless Sinestro. He gets rid of the gun after working with Batman to stop Scarecrow, having decided that he needs to trust his abilities as a Green Lantern over his gun.
• Tattooed Crook: He sports an Arabic forearm tattoo which stands for courage. It glows green when he's using his ring.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He's pretty much a low-level criminal with a rough life behind and ahead of him. He's packing permanent guilt over some things he's done, his family suffers for being related to him, and a magical ring breaks him out of prison and draws enough attention to him that the president of the United States, the Justice League and the Suicide Squad are all after him. All of that's going on while he's holding what's generally considered to be one of the most potent artifacts in the DC Universe. Even Agent Fed, who's more or less on his side, acknowledges that it's a dangerous combination of circumstances for everyone.

Jessica Cruz

Green Lantern 2814.6: Jessica Cruz/Power Ring II

The Bloomer

Homeworld: Earth

First Appearance: Green Lantern Vol 5 #20 (July 2013, cameo), Justice League Vol 2 #30 (July 2014, as Power Ring), Justice League Vol 2 #50 (July 2016, as Green Lantern)

When Earth-3's Hal Jordan died in Forever Evil (2013), his Power Ring sought out a new host in the main DC Universe, Jessica Cruz. The Justice League tracked the ring down, helping Jessica make use of it and fight its attempts to control her, until finally, during Darkseid War, the ring was killed... and Jessica unexpectedly found herself Earth's newest Green Lantern.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Of all the Earth-based Green Lanterns, she is the first female and Hispanic to join the Green Lantern Corps. She also qualifies in her period as Power Ring, inheriting the ring of Hal Jordan's Crime Syndicate counterpart before she was eventually recruited into the Green Lantern Corps.
• Ambiguously Bi: When setting up her profile on a superhero dating app, she lingered over the question "are you interested in men, women, or both?" She has repeatedly shown an attraction to men (and while her answer to the app's question is left unseen, she does get matched with Simon).
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • When Guy Gardner trains her in issue #23 of Green Lanterns he is such a Drill Sergeant Nasty that Jessica snaps and punches him, which she follows with an Oh, Crap! moment.
  • A running thing since her Character Development is Jess is a highly unconventional badass. She took charge and trained the very original Green Lanterns during a time travelling adventure, established herself as a capable space captain during Justice League Odyssey, and Future State features her earning a place in the Sinestro Corps because she was able to defeat and overtake three Yellow Lanterns while Brought Down to Normal by just going Die Hard on them. And that's without her preference towards sheer awesome constructs, such as beating an enemy with a giant Kurt Cobain.
• Brought Down to Badass: In Future State, where the green light is dying and she is rendered with minimal charge aboard a station while its being invaded by Sinestro Corps lanterns. She uses her familiarity with the station to her advantage, sneaking around the airvents, knocking out the yellow lanterns before they notice her, and removing their power rings. Finally, she goes head-to-head with the final Sinestro corps member wielding an axe she took from the armory.
• Breakout Character: Downplayed Trope, as most non-comic incarnations of the character change her personality and/or ignore her backstory, but she has appeared in several animated projects and video games as well as a theatrically released animated film as a member of the JL since her introduction in the late 2010s, to the point that she's had more such appearances than a number of pre-existing Green Lanterns; especially her canonical partner Simon, who has yet to appear in any adaptation at all.
• Clingy MacGuffin: The Earth-3 Power Ring.
• Cowardly Lion: Jessica never stops being scared of all the things she has to deal with as a Green Lantern, but her ability to overcome her fear is what makes her one.
• Death by Origin Story: Her backstory involves being traumatized from seeing her friends get killed after they walked in on some mobsters burying a dead body.
• Hikikomori: Became a shut-in after some mobsters killed her friends, and she narrowly escaped, while on a hunting trip.
• How Do I Shot Web?: At the outset in Green Lanterns, having just received her GL ring.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: Like all green lanterns, she can make constructs (although it takes some time for her to manage it), but her constructs differentiate from most other human lanterns in that they are far more organic and, well, imaginative. She usually creates tentacle- or flower-like constructs, but has also made fantasy-style armor and weapons, and even a giant dragon and rockstar.
• The Mentally Disturbed: Suffers from intense agoraphobia, among other things.
• Nervous Wreck: Due to severe social anxiety, she has a habit of panicking at practically everything.
• Nice Girl: She’s probably the sweetest of the Earth Lanterns, having had way less tension with other heroes than the others.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Simon and Jessica seem to be heading this way, as they've become incredibly close, with no hint of any romantic notions. When they are ship-teased, Jess ultimately decides they're Better as Friends.
• Ship Tease:
  • With Barry Allen in Justice League (Rebirth). In a possible future, they have three kids.
  • With Simon Baz, as well. In the arc about a dating app, she came back with a 93% match for her own partner. She doesn't tell him, and briefly comments that she's not going to consider risking their friendship.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Shortly after fighting an army of Red Lanterns, she panics at the mere idea of spending the day with Simon's family.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After issue upon issue of doubting whether she was worthy to be a Green Lantern, Jessica got a truly huge boost to her confidence in issue #14 of Green Lanterns. After putting on the Phantom Ring, which possesses the overwhelming power of all of the various types of power ring, she notes that "if you don't know how to control the Phantom Ring, it takes you on a ride through the various power emotions until it finds the one that applies to you most." It shifts her through all seven before finally setting on WILL. Because she is a true Green Lantern, and she is worthy of the power ring.

Jo Mullein

Sojourner "Jo" Mullein

The Probie

Homeworld: Earth

Sector: City Enduring

First Appearance: Far Sector #1 (January 2020)

The protagonist of the Young Animal series Far Sector, Jo Mullein is a former soldier and NYPD officer charged with policing the City Enduring, a Dyson sphere whose people have turned off their feelings — until a drug epidemic leads to sudden outbursts of emotion and violence amongst the populace. She returns in the 2021 run of the main Green Lantern comic, being one of the last three people in the universe capable of wielding the Green Light after the Oan power battery explodes.

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• Achilles' Heel: Played with. Jo's ring doesn't require a power battery and will recharge on its own, but recharging takes a long time and the ring itself is much weaker than the standard model.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: A bisexual black woman with a Green Lantern ring.
• Afrofuturism: She's very much meant to be an exploration of the black experience through speculative fiction, which is highlighted by her Janelle Monáe inspired design.
• Amazonian Beauty: To put it quite simply, she is built like a brickhouse◊. She is as muscular as she is curvy, at least in ''Far Sector''.
• Amicable Exes: With her roommate Syzn. As of the end of Far Sector, they're no longer exes.
• The Atoner: One of the reasons Jo joined the Green Lantern Corps, to make up for her inaction under Police Brutality.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Her creator explicitly based her visual design on Janelle Monáe.
• Cool Shades: Jo's hovering butterfly wing inspired green light construct shades.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Has bounced between jobs wanting to make a difference in the world before she was inducted into the Corps.
• Last of Her Kind: In the 2021 run, the central power battery explodes, taking every ring with it (and killing around 70% of lanterns who were in places they couldn't survive without rings), leaving Jo and Teen Lantern the only ones left with access to the green light.
• Military Superhero: She served in the military after 9/11 to try and do good, but left after feeling dissatisfied with what the military was doing.
• Police Brutality: While serving as a police officer, Jo's partner brutalized a suspect and she kept quiet about it. This did, however, lead to her quitting the force.
• Twofer Token Minority: Three actuality. Female, black and bisexual.
• You Are in Command Now: In the 2021 run, with most of the corps dead or stranded across the galaxy without power rings and the Guardians missing, Mullein is essentially promoted to head of the Green Lantern Corps.

Other Earth Lanterns

Dragon Lord

Jong Li

The first human Lantern

Homeworld: Earth

First Appearance: Green Lantern: Dragon Lord #1 (June 2001)

Earth's first Green Lantern, a monk living in China in the year 660 AD. He was the protagonist of the series Green Lantern: Dragon Lord.

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• Ancient Astronauts: He 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.
• Precursor Heroes: For the Human Lanterns that came after him.

Tai Pham

Tai Pham

Homeworld: Earth

First Appearance: Green Lantern: Legacy (March 2020)

A thirteen-year-old Vietnamese boy who inherits his grandmother's jade ring, only to find himself inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. Only appears in the graphic novel Green Lantern: Legacy.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Vietnamese and a kid.
• Asian and Nerdy: Tai is a Vietnamese-American kid who's a fan of comic books and video games, citing them as inspiration for his light constructs as a Green Lantern. But he subverts the Brainy Brunette part of the stereotype by being thoroughly Book Dumb, much to his friend Serena's frustration.
• Audience Surrogate: Since the Green Lantern Corps aren't Famed In-Story on Earth yet and Tai is a Naïve Newcomer (not unlike the story being a Gateway Series for new comic readers), he has to be filled in on things such as what the Green Lantern Ring can do and who Sinestro is.
• Book Dumb: Tai struggles in school, referring to the Pythagorean theorem as "the Python's Korean", much to Serena's disbelief. His Triple Shifter work as a superhero and member of the Green Lantern Corps doesn't help, dozing off in class repeatedly as he spends his nights training and stopping rampant arson attacks even with the help of Kid Flash.
• Enlightenment Superpower: Iolande recommends Tai meditate like his grandmother did to help him tap into his creativity and focus. But he's thirteen and either falls asleep or gets distracted when he tries. He instead achieves this upon entering the zen mindset of throwing himself into his art, which results in him fighting his own fears in the form of a Yellow Lantern Enemy Without in his head. From there, Tai's mastery of his power ring grows by leaps and bounds.
• Enemy Without: Tai fights an army of Yellow Lantern versions of himself as a part of his Green Lantern training.
• Kid Hero: Tai is technically only a cadet in the Green Lantern Corps until the end of the first book, upon which he's named a fully-fledged Green Lantern. He then becomes a prominent thirteen-year-old superhero in his hometown of Coast City.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Tai is not an especially tall teenager, but as a Green Lantern he wields one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.

Rond Vidar

Rond Vidar

The Legionnaire

Homeworld: Earth

Sector: 2814

First Appearance: Adventure Comics Vol 1 #349 (October 1966)

A Green Lantern from the distant future and last member of the Corps in the 31st century. Rond Vidar was the son of the renegade Lantern Universo and even before he was inducted into the Corps, he devoted himself to fighting his father and righting his wrongs. As a teenager, Vidar was a genius inventor of time-travel technology, which he used to aid his century's greatest super-team, the Legion of Super-Heroes. As a Green Lantern, he joined their number.

When Superboy-Prime appeared in the 31st century, Rond Vidar was among the first Legionnaires to face off against him and the Legion of Super-Villains. While his comrades escaped the villains' rampage, Vidar bravely fought them off, allowing his friends to get to safety—at the cost of his life. After Vidar's death, the last Guardian, Sodam Yat, was moved to rekindle the light of the Green Lantern Corps once more.

In addition to the Green Lantern Rond Vidar, there was also a Rond Vidar of Earth-247. This Vidar was not the son of a supervillain, nor did he become a Green Lantern. He was, however, still an exceptionally brilliant time-travel researcher and stalwart ally of the Legion.

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See Legion of Super-Heroes: Other Heroes

Charles Vicker

Charles Vicker

The Actor

Homeworld: Earth

Sector: 3319

First Appearance: Green Lantern Vol 2 #55 (September 1967)

A young actor who joins the Green Lantern Corps after helping Hal Jordan take down a group of space criminals led by former Earth criminal Al Magone after one of them mistakenly killed his brother as part of a scheme to kill every Green Lantern in the universe.

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• Becoming the Mask: An actor who played Green Lantern on a TV show. After he insisted on accompanying Hal on his mission to take out whoever killed his brother, Hal gave him the ring of of a Lantern who'd fallen in battle against the organization responsible, deputizing him as a temporary Green Lantern. Vicker acquitted himself so well on the mission that the Guardians of the Universe, upon Hal's recommendation, decided to make his appointment permanent.
• …But I Play One on TV: Charles hit it big after taking on the role of Green Lantern on television. One night, his brother/understudy (who was filling for him) was killed while filming an episode by an alien who mistook him for the real thing. Later, Charles did become a Lantern for real, obviously.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Charles threw himself into the partying life after hitting it big as an actor, and the one time he was too hungover to work, his brother stood in for his role and was killed by Tenavor, a member of Al Magone's organization of space criminals.
• Commonality Connection: Although at first he felt isolated and alone as the only human in his sector, the gratitude an alien mother showed him after he rescued her child showed him that no matter what the difference in appearance, all peoples in the universe shared the capacity to care for one another.
• Custom Uniform: Downplayed. Most Lanterns use a mask or some other method of concealing their identity. Since Charlie's the only person who looks humanoid in his sector, that's not really a problem, so he usually doesn't bother.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: After saving Hal's life, he refuses to be teleported back to Earth, saying that he wants to help, not just to avenge his brother, but because he feels that his life had had no meaning until this point. His sincerity breaks through to Hal, who takes a chance on the kid by deputizing him. The former partying playboy regards the moment he's given full-fledged membership as the proudest moment of his life.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: One of many former Lanterns-turned-Darkstars killed by Grayven, Son of Darkseid.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: After saving the Axelbobians from certain destruction, he reached out toward one (whether to give a handshake or comforting shoulder touch isn't clear), only to be firmly rebuffed and to have all the Axelbobians run away from him. He'd forgotten that Axelbobians don't like being touched by aliens. Although as he notes, acting like he had cooties after he saved their entire race from certain destruction was a little much.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Following the destruction of the Green Lantern Corps at the hands of Parallax-Hal Jordan, he joins John Stewart's Darkstars and gets killed in battle against Grayven, son of Darkseid.
• Hot-Blooded: Hal describes him in his story as having a devil-may-care personality. In his second story he's a bit more mature.
• Hypocrite: He spent some time privately repulsed by the Starfish Aliens in his sector, but got offended whenever they showed the same reaction to him. He got better.
• It's All My Fault: He asked his brother and understudy Roger to take over after exhausting himself with too much partying—and Roger was killed by someone who thought he was the real Green Lantern. Although Hal tries to assure him that it's not his fault, he still begs Hal to let him help with the case, saying he'll never forgive himself and even refuses teleportation back to Earth after being teleported into battle to help Hal out of a jam, saying It's Personal.
• Taught by Television: Or by being in television. He alludes to his roles in plays and on TV giving him experience in fighting, and demonstrates good hand-to-hand and melee skills.
• Training the Peaceful Villagers: After the first destruction of the Green Lantern Power Battery while he was in the middle of trying to fend off an invasion, he used his knowledge of Earth plays to train and inspire the locals to fight for themselves, with success.
• Vague Age: Charley is frequently described as a "youth", "young actor", etc. in his first appearance, though since he mentions exhausting himself from partying he can't be too young. In his Bronze Age appearance, he looks around mid-20s or so.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Although he did his duties as a Lantern, the aliens of Sector 3319 (1200 light-years from Earth) were too strange-looking for him to feel any affection for. The fact that many of them seemed to be isolationist and ungrateful to his attempts at friendliness didn't exactly help. But after he saved one insectoid race whose planet was breaking up from internal stresses, the gratitude they showed him—in particular a mother who let him hold the baby he'd saved—make him realize what a heel he was being.
• You Killed My Father: After his brother is killed by Tenavor, he demands that the real Green Lantern take him along to hunt the criminal and his allies down. When he confronts the alien who did the deed, he nearly loses, but after hearing the criminal gloat about his deed, Charley summons up a Heroic Second Wind for the win. He mentions that it almost feels like his brother is fighting alongside him.
• Youthful Freckles: He's got them in his debut story, but his travails as a Lantern seem to have knocked them off.

Teen Lantern

Keli Quintela

Homeworld: Earth

Sector: 2814

First Appearance: Young Justice Vol 3 #1 (March 2019)

An eleven year old girl from Bolivia who hacked a Green Lantern Battery to become a super hero and took the name Teen Lantern. She ran into former members of Young Justice and got sucked into Gemworld with them all in her first outing.

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• Ascended Fangirl: Played with; she is eager to intern with the Justice League but at the same time is rather freaked out when her crossing paths with Young Justice throws her into the deep end of superhero adventure with an adventure across parallel universes.
• Authority in Name Only: The Infinite Frontier relaunch has John Stewart more or less tell her that this is her status as a Green Lantern since she's not an official member of the Corp. Though he wasn't saying this to be cruel as much as explain why the Guardians were interested in having her Gauntlet studied and explain why she could not follow him in investigating the Dark Multiverse.
• Berserk Button: The Guardians tried to take her gauntlet away for study, which pissed her of something fierce.
• Brought Down to Normal: At the end of the 2021 run, Jo used Keli's glove to defeat Koyos, succeeding but rendering the glove inert. Simon states that Keli will wake up sooner or later, and someone will have to break the bad news to her.
• Child Prodigy: Lets face it, if you’re an 11-year-old who can hack a Green Lantern battery, a complicated, ancient, and incredibly sophisticated alien system and the most powerful and notably picky Empathic Weapon in the universe, you’re definitely this. Somewhat subverted as she didn’t actually hack a battery but was given a gauntlet that could access one in a different way. However she was still somewhat of a young inventor does master the gauntlet’s use rather quickly.
• Continuity Nod: The implication that her gauntlet is a copy of Oan power rings is an allusion to a gauntlet being the prototype emotional spectrum channeling technology first developed by the Guardians. It only took eons but apparently someone caught up.
• Effective Knockoff: Her gauntlet resembles the gauntlet designed by Krona as the prototype to the rings and is just as effective.
• Expy: She was given a weapon that could access the Green Lantern battery by a dying alien, much like Hal Jordan.
• Fish out of Water: She jumps right into action but like Jinny Hex, is not ready for the craziness that super-heroics brings, let alone Young Justice's special brand of weirdness.
• Hot-Blooded: She is quick to argue. When she hears that Sinestro might be responsible for the destruction of the Central Battery and the deaths of several aliens and Lanterns, she shoots off on a solo Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Of a different origin than the other lantern rings because it's all but stated the gauntlet is an illicit copy of them.
• Insistent Terminology: She wields a gauntlet, not a glove, and she's Teen Lantern, not a kid.
• Last of Her Kind: Along with Jo, she's the last Green Lantern after the Oan power battery explodes in the 2021 run.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: The Gauntlet she wears.

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