White Lantern Corps Explained
The White Lantern Corps is a fictional organization appearing in comics published by DC Comics, related to the emotional spectrum.
Publication history
The White Lantern Corps first appeared in Blackest Night #7 and was created by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis.[1]
Fictional team history
Sinestro becomes the first White Lantern after bonding with the Life Entity.[2] However, Nekron separates the two and Hal Jordan uses the Entity's power to stop Nekron and restore Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, Donna Troy, Ice, Animal Man, Kid Flash, and Green Arrow, who had been transformed into Black Lanterns. After being resurrected, Black Hand generates twelve white rings that revive Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Deadman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Jade, Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond), Osiris, Hawk, Maxwell Lord, Captain Boomerang, and Professor Zoom.[3] [4]
The Entity tells the resurrected that they must complete certain tasks to be fully restored, and instructs Deadman to find a new guardian for it. The heroes battle Swamp Thing, who has become a Black Lantern, and Deadman sacrifices himself to restore him to normal.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Meanwhile, Firestorm discovers that the Anti-Monitor seeks to harvest the White Lanterns' energy to empower himself. Deathstorm kills Martin Stein, prompting Ronnie and Jason to work together to defeat him.[12] [13]
The New 52
In The New 52 continuity reboot, Kyle Rayner becomes a White Lantern after gaining the powers of all of the Lantern Corps. However, he realizes that his power is too much to bear, splits his ring into seven rings, and returns to being a Green Lantern.[14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Powers and abilities
See main article: article and Power ring (DC Comics). Each White Lantern possesses a power ring that lets the user create white energy constructs powered by life itself. The original wielder of the Entity, Sinestro, displays the ability to eradicate swarms of Black Lanterns effortlessly and is described as "godlike". He also appears to survive a seemingly fatal wound from which he recovers within minutes.[19] When Hal Jordan wields the power, he demonstrates the ability to create additional rings and restore heroes claimed by Nekron to life.[3]
When Deadman possesses a white ring, he demonstrates the ability to resurrect a dead bird.[3] He is also able to transform the area of land devastated by Prometheus into a lush forest. However, this seems to be the work of the Entity, as Deadman had been unable to access the ring's powers himself.[4]
Similar to black rings, white rings initially have no charge. As the wearer embraces life, the ring rises in power level.[20] What happens when a white ring reaches 100% charge remains unknown.[7]
A green ring can be altered to function like a white ring if the user can master the emotional spectrum.[14] This version of the ring is similar to a much more powerful version of the standard green ring, and ignores the Third Army's resistance to Lantern constructs, but displays no other special properties thus far.[15] This white ring was unable to perform the resurrection of a planet's worth of beings that had died all at once, but it has not yet been tested on an individual basis to determine if this is a limitation of function or simply scope;[16] Kyle claimed that he can only heal rather than raise the dead, but this may be an assumption rather than a fact. He was later able to help Hal Jordan return to life after he was 'overloaded' trying to confront the Sinestro Corps with his new power ring, but it is unclear if Hal was explicitly dead at that point or just on the verge of death.
Using the white ring, Kyle can use the abilities of all corps except black.[21] [22] [23] [24]
As the sole White Lantern, Kyle Rayner briefly had the Life Equation within his ring and could use the power of the entire spectrum. Eventually, he had to split the Life Equation into seven parts and placed into Kyle's and six newly created permanent White Power rings and sent the rings out to choose their new bearers. These seven rings can be brought together to restore the Life Equation if needed but until that time the White Lantern Corps will guard the equation. When Kyle built the rings he felt they should come with an "instruction manual". Each wearer of these new rings will innately understand how to use the ring. The ring will not instruct the bearer on what to do but it will tell the bearer on how to do it.[25]
Members
- Saysoran of Sector (unknown) - Resident of Sussurus who is inducted into the White Lantern Corps.[17] Saysoran would be herself chosen by Kyle Rayner in the near future, to receive the power of the Life Equation before his departure into the Source.[26]
- Tallahe of Sector (unknown) - Resident of Fifth Sline Seven who is inducted into the White Lantern Corps.[17]
- Mehenash Exeter of Space Sector (unknown) - Resident of Kalimawa and former warden of the Anomaly that held Relic before the latter escaped, Mehenash is later inducted into the White Lantern Corps.[17]
- Romgan Shay of Sector (unknown) - Resident of the Nest who is inducted into the White Lantern Corps.[17]
- Telos Usr of Sector 1760 - A resident of Daxam who is inducted into the White Lantern Corps.[17]
- Earth of Sector 2814 - The Justice League used the Totality to defeat the Ultraviolet Lantern Corps. The result of this meant that Earth itself was inducted into the White Lantern Corps.[27]
Former members
- Kyle Rayner of Sector 2814 - After mastering the seven colors of the emotional spectrum into his own ring, Kyle created the white light and became a White Lantern. However, he eventually gives up his power and becomes a Green Lantern again.[15] [28] [29] [17] [18]
- Simon Baz of Sector 2814 – Chosen by the white ring itself, but found him unsuitable after an attempt to restore Sinestro's home planet Korugar.[16]
- Sinestro of Sector 1417 – Possessed by the Entity and discharged from the Corps after Nekron removed the Entity from him.[2] [3] During the events of "Wrath of the First Lantern", Sinestro tries to become a White Lantern once again so he could reconstruct Korugar and resurrect all its inhabitants, stealing Kyle Rayner's white ring, but the ring found him unsuitable as a host.[16]
- Swamp Thing of Sector 2814 – The Chosen One that took the Entity's place.[11]
- Hal Jordan of Sector 2814 – Possessed by the Entity. Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Superman of Sector 2813 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Green Arrow of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Kid Flash of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Superboy of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Wonder Woman of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- The Flash of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Donna Troy of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Ice of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Animal Man of Sector 2814 – Discharged from the Corps after Nekron's defeat.[3]
- Batman of Sector 2814 – Chosen by Deadman, but discharged after the ring reveals that Batman is not the heir to the White Light.[30]
- Deadman of Sector 2814 – Chosen to be the vessel of the Entity. Discharged from the Corps after giving his life to protect Dove and create the new Swamp Thing.[11]
Entity
See main article: article and Life Entity.
The White Lantern entity is the embodiment of life. It is the parent of the other emotional entities, resembles a winged humanoid, and resides within the Earth.[2] [31]
The Labors of the Twelve
See main article: article and Brightest Day.
- Deadman – Locate "the chosen one" to take the Entity's place.[31] Mission Accomplished after being mortally injured saving Dove, his lifeforce was used to resurrect the Swamp Thing.[11]
- Hawkman – Prevent Queen Khea from leaving Hawkworld.[31] Mission Accomplished.[7]
- Hawkgirl – Prevent Hath-Set from killing Hawkman.[31] Mission Accomplished
- Martian Manhunter – Burn down the newly formed forest on Mars.[32] [31] [10] [13] [11] Mission Accomplished
- Aquaman – Locate Jackson Hyde before Xebel's Death Squad does.[32] [31] [9] [11] Mission Accomplished
- Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch) – Learn from each other and stop Deathstorm from destroying the universe.[31] [11] Mission Accomplished
- Hawk – Catch the boomerang that Captain Boomerang throws at Dawn Granger.[31] [33] Mission failed as the Avatar of War cannot be influenced by the Life Entity.[11]
- Professor Zoom – Free Barry Allen from the Speed Force. Mission was already accomplished in .[31] [34] Mission Accomplished
- Captain Boomerang – Throw a boomerang at Dawn Granger.[11] [31] [35] Mission accomplished
- Osiris – Save his sister Isis from her fate.[31] [36] [37] Mission Accomplished
- Maxwell Lord – Prevent Magog from plunging the world into war.[31] [38] [39] Mission Accomplished
- Jade – Help her brother Obsidian to "balance the darkness".[31] [40] Mission Accomplished
The Entity also allowed itself to be corrupted by Deathstorm, the Black Lantern version of Firestorm, and brought back the Black Lantern versions of the twelve resurrected heroes and villains. It was later moved to Qward in the antimatter universe, only to take some kind of information from the Anti-Monitor. The White Power Battery has since been returned to Earth[12] and after locating the Chosen One, the Entity and the White Power Battery leave for parts unknown.[11]
Other versions
In other media
- Kyle Rayner as a White Lantern appears as a playable character in .
- The White Lantern Corps appear in , consisting of Captain Boomerang, Deadman, Jade, Martian Manhunter, and Maxwell Lord.[48]
Notes and References
- Book: Cowsill . Alan . Irvine . Alex . Korte . Steve . Manning . Matt . Wiacek . Win . Wilson . Sven . The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe . 2016 . DK Publishing . 978-1-4654-5357-0 . 326.
- Blackest Night #7 (February 2010)
- Blackest Night #8 (March 2010)
- Brightest Day #0 (April 2010)
- Brightest Day #8 (August 2010)
- Brightest Day #11 (October 2010)
- Brightest Day #18 (January 2011)
- Brightest Day #19 (February 2011)
- Brightest Day #20 (February 2011)
- Brightest Day #21 (March 2011)
- Brightest Day #24 (April 2011)
- Brightest Day #22 (March 2011)
- Brightest Day #23 (April 2011)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #0 (September 2012)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #16 (January 2013)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #19 (April 2013)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #40
- Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #17 (March 2017)
- Green Lantern vol. 4 #52 (March 2010)
- Brightest Day #17 (January 2011)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #13 (October 2012)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #15 (December 2012)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #13 (November 2012)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #20 (May 2013)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #40 (May 2015)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians - Futures End #1
- Justice League #1-4,#6-7 (June 2018-September 2018)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #19
- Green Lantern: New Guardians #36
- Brightest Day #14 (November 2010)
- Brightest Day #7 (August 2010)
- Brightest Day #9 (September 2010)
- Birds of Prey vol. 2 #4 (August 2010)
- The Flash: Rebirth #1-6 (April 2009-February 2010)
- The Flash vol. 3 (September 2010)
- Titans vol. 2 #26 (August 2010)
- Titans vol. 2 #32 (February 2011)
- Justice League: Generation Lost #7 (August 2010)
- Justice League: Generation Lost #13 (November 2010)
- Justice League of America vol. 2 #48 (August 2010)
- Flashpoint: Abin Sur - The Green Lantern #1 (June 2011)
- Flashpoint: Abin Sur - The Green Lantern #2 (July 2011)
- Flashpoint: Abin Sur - The Green Lantern #3 (August 2011)
- Star Trek—Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #2
- Star Trek—Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #3
- Star Trek—Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #5
- Star Trek—Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #6
- Web site: Eisen . Andrew . October 2, 2013 . DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide . November 6, 2024 . IGN . en.
