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Black Lantern Corps

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Black Lantern Corps
Black Lanterns from the Green Lantern Corps crypt. Blackest Night #1, artist Ivan Reis
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceGreen Lantern vol. 4 #43 (September 2009)
Created byGeoff Johns (writer)
Ethan Van Sciver (artist)
In-story information
Base(s)Ryut[1]
Roster
See: (below)

The Black Lantern Corps is a fictional organization of revenants appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The group is composed of deceased fictional characters that seek to eliminate all life from the DC Universe.

Publication history

An early version of the Black Lantern Corps first appears in Green Lantern Annual vol. 3 #7 (1998), written by Steve Vance and drawn by Ron Lim, where a group of dead Green Lanterns are animated and empowered by Nekron.

Prior to the Blackest Night event, Black Hand ("leader" and first member of the Black Lantern Corps) had already been established as a villain within the pages of Green Lantern. Writer Geoff Johns revisited his origin and expanded upon certain aspects of it during the Secret Origin story arc.[2] During the arc, Hand's energy-absorbing weapon (previously thought to be an original invention) is revealed to have been constructed by Atrocitus; a fervent enemy of the Guardians of the Universe and future founder of the Red Lantern Corps.[3] Atrocitus comes to Earth and approaches Hand, recognizing him as a "doorway to the black" that possesses the power to bring about the Blackest Night. Hand manages to escape and pockets the weapon as he flees.[4][5] The possession of this weapon soon leads him to become an enemy of the Green Lantern Corps, as he now feels a need to extinguish the light of the emotional spectrum.[6]

While being transported to prison, Black Hand experiences a sudden power surge that kills his captors. He roams the desert, hearing a voice instructing him to reclaim the souls of characters who were resurrected.[7] Hand murders his family and commits suicide. The Guardian Scar arrives, and creates the first black power ring, which resurrects Black Hand. She reveals that Hand is the physical embodiment of death, and serves as the avatar of the Black Lantern Corps in the same manner that Ion, Parallax, and the Predator are for willpower, fear, and love respectively.[6] Hand later digs up Bruce Wayne's corpse, removes his skull, and recites the Black Lantern oath for the first time. Soon after, black power rings descend upon the universe and begin reviving the deceased as Black Lanterns that attack the heroes of the DC Universe.[1] Black Hand is seen holding Wayne's skull in all future appearances, embracing it in a necrophilic manner in Blackest Night #1 as the black power rings appear from the Black Power Battery, exclaiming that Wayne's death "plays a far greater role in the Blackest Night" than anyone thinks. At the end of the issue, it's shown that Black Hand uses the skull to produce new power rings at will, creating two rings for the newly deceased Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders.

In Blackest Night #3, Indigo-1 describes the premise behind the Black Lantern Corps' fictional relationship with the universe. She explains that the darkness in existence before the creation of the universe is what powers that Black Lanterns. Banished at the dawn of time by the white light of creation, it fighting back causes the white light to be fractured into the emotional spectrum. The events transpiring throughout the titles of Blackest Night are a result of the darkness, once again, fighting back against creation. She goes on to describe how a combination of all seven lights can restore the white light of creation and bring an end to the Black Lanterns. Throughout the Blackest Night event, each time a Black Lantern successfully removes the heart of one of their victims, a black, lantern-shaped speech balloon (used within Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps to indicate that a power ring is speaking) depicts an ever-rising power level increasing in increments of .01 percent.[8] In Blackest Night #4, the power meter is filled and Scar is able to transport the Black Central Power Battery to Coast City, and the true mastermind behind the Black Lanterns is able to step into the main DC Universe: Nekron.

After being introduced into a primary role within the Blackest Night event, Indigo-1 recruits Hal Jordan to gather a team capable of recreating the white light of creation (chosen for having a personal connection to the most powerful members of the five remaining Corps).[9] The story unfolding in Green Lantern depicts Jordan and Indigo-1 recruiting Carol Ferris, Sinestro, Saint Walker, Atrocitus, and Larfleeze to their purpose.[10] In Blackest Night #5, the team assaults the Black Central Power Battery with the opposite results intended. Nekron is strengthened and able to recruit living characters resurrected from death to his Black Lantern Corps.

Prominent members

At San Diego Comic Con 2009, Geoff Johns was able to discuss his reasoning behind choosing Black Hand as the leader of the new Corps, the character properties of the Black Lanterns, and his own goals in writing their depictions. Commenting on the characters being chosen to resurrect during Blackest Night, Johns said:

The black rings aren't about who's dead; the black rings are about who's alive. So, scenes like Elongated Man and Sue Dibny taking on Hawkman and Hawkgirl is kind of the beginning of that emotional conflict and terror that you'll see throughout Blackest Night. So the black rings are, again, seeking out the dead that matter to our heroes.[11]

During the creation of Blackest Night, Johns (not being interested in or frightened by zombies) wanted to bring back the deceased characters in a way that seemed horrifying and emotionally disturbing to the living characters they encountered. To accomplish that effect, the Black Lanterns have personalities and actively seek out those who will be affected by their appearance.[12] A prime example of Johns' use of personality distortion with the Black Lanterns is Elongated Man (typically depicted as being a "light" character that uses his detective skill to "smell" when something isn't right) looking upon his victims and remarking to his undead wife: "I smell a mystery."[8][12] Johns identifies the power of the Black Lanterns as not necessarily being evil, but not being good either.[13]

During his initial creation of the new Corps, Johns drew from information he had collected on light while taking physics classes. With the Corps of the emotional spectrum personifying life, he knew that this Corps would need to represent death. Black being an absence of light, he chose Black Hand as the leader of the Corps both for the character's name and also because of how much he enjoyed revamping villains while writing for Flash. Like the other members of the Black Lantern Corps, Johns wanted to take a different approach in his portrayal of Hand. Whereas other villains may have a particular motivation, Hand is meant to be depicted as a character who is clearly insane and whose presence makes others uncomfortable.[14]

In Blackest Night #2, multiple black power rings attempt to reanimate the body of Don Hall, only to be prevented from disturbing his grave by an invisible barrier. As they collide with the barrier, the rings' typical command ("rise") is interrupted; the rings instead respond: "Don Hall of Earth at peace." This is the first depiction of the black power rings failing to recruit a member for the Black Lantern Corps.[15] In an interview with IGN, Johns provides an explanation behind Dove's immunity to the black power rings: "You'll learn more about this as we go forward. But really it speaks to the nature of Don Hall. He can't be desecrated by the likes of these things. He's untouchable in death and at total peace more than any other being in the universe." Reflecting on the limitations of the rings, Johns goes on to state that, even though magic is a "joke" to the black power rings (though the undead Giovanni Zatara is capable of wielding black magic), Don is quite the opposite.[16] Similarly, Blackest Night: Titans #1 shows Black Lantern Hank Hall unable to read Dawn Granger's emotions; her aura depicted as being white rather than a color from the emotional spectrum.

In Blackest Night: Batman #1, the spirit of Deadman is unable to prevent a black power ring from reviving his remains. Deadman attempts to possess his own corpse, but is unable to control it.[17] During the Blackest Night panel at San Diego Comic Con 2009, Geoff Johns was asked whether the revived corpses of the Black Lanterns were speaking for themselves or if they were being controlled by an outside force. Johns declined to answer, implying that the question would be answered during the Blackest Night storyline.[18] Similarly, while being overcome by a black power ring, the Spectre declares that he "will not be used."[15] Prior to The Spectre's conversion, Black Hand makes note of Shadowpact members Zatanna and Blue Devil being surrounded by an aura of life. Upon scanning Phantom Stranger, Black Hand remarks that Stranger is "neither living nor dead", and notes him as a person of interest to his Corps.[15]

List of Black Lanterns

Though an exact list of the former Green Lanterns reanimated by black power rings doesn't exist, Kyle Rayner's ring states that all of the deceased Green Lanterns within the Oan crypt in Green Lantern Corps (vol. 2) #39 are transformed into Black Lanterns.[24]

Oath

As with the other Lantern Corps, Black Hand devised an oath for the Black Lanterns:

:The Blackest Night falls from the skies,

The darkness grows as all light dies,
We crave your hearts and your demise,
By my black hand--The dead shall rise!
— Black Hand, Blackest Night #0 (June 2009)

Powers and abilities

Main article: Power ring

The Black Lanterns are corpses reanimated by black power rings, which are fueled by the power of death. Corpses reanimated by black power rings are reconstructed if damaged, keeping the body in working order at all times.[25] Black power rings are capable of regenerating typically fatal injuries inflicted upon their users (including decapitation and complete dissolution).[17][26] The rings generate black tendrils to "root" themselves into the corpses, making it impossible to remove them by physical force.[9]

The first black power rings possess no charge, but each time a Black Lantern kills someone and removes their heart, .01 percent power is restored to every ring in the Corps.[8][27] In Blackest Night #3, Indigo-1 solidifies this theme by explaining that those who rise feed off emotion. Even at low power levels, black rings enable their user to fly and create black energy constructs. They are also unaffected by magic.[16] In "classic" zombie fashion, the bite of a Black Lantern induces a slow-acting necrosis that eventually turns the victim into a fellow Black Lantern. It's unknown if this power can work on any living being, or only those characters who have been resurrected from death before (such as Superman, Green Arrow, and Donna Troy).[28]

Superman displaying a wide spectrum of emotions (will, fear, rage, hope, and love).[29]

Black Lanterns are able to read the emotions as a colored auras that correlate to the emotional spectrum.[8] Multiple emotions read as a multi-colored aura, while unreadable emotions come out as white.[30] Furthermore, demonic and underworld dwellers (such as Etrigan) are read with a black aura, apparently as unreadable as the white one due to their dead nature. A state of profound suspended animation is enough to fool a Black Lantern by making the target of suspended-animation invisible to the senses of the Black Lantern.[31] Emotionless hearts such as the Scarecrow's render their bearers equally invisible to the Black Lanterns.[19] When facing beings with warped mental states, or otherwise addled minds (such as Bizarro), the correlation between the emotion detected and the actual color that the Black Lanterns see is inverted.[32] In addition to the abilities granted to them by the rings, Black Lanterns retain any superpowers they may have had in life.[8]

Vulnerabilities

Black Lanterns are vulnerable to white light and a combination of green light with another Corps' light.

Once a black ring is destroyed, the corpse it animates becomes inert.[9]

Kimiyo Hoshi and Halo can completely destroy Black Lanterns by using their light-based powers.[33][34] Conner Kent used the Medusa Mask to destroy two Black Lanterns by forcing them to experience the full of Emotional Spectrum, irritating their black power rings enough that they remove themselves from their bearers and flee.[35] The Black Lanterns are also vulnerable to Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth.[36] The "touch" of a Black Lantern, typically used to remove their victims' hearts and drain them of emotional energy, can also sever the connection between other Black Lanterns and their black power ring.[37] Time travel can deactivate a black ring.[38]

One common way of stopping a Black Lantern is to injure them faster than their ring is able to regenerate their body.[39][40]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Blackest Night #0 (June 2009)
  2. ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) issues #29-35 (May - November 2008)
  3. ^ Green Lantern (vol.) 4 #32 (August 2008)
  4. ^ Green Lantern (vol.) 4 #33 (September 2008)
  5. ^ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #34 (October 2008)
  6. ^ a b c Green Lantern (vol. 4) #43 (September 2009)
  7. ^ DC Universe #0 (June 2008)
  8. ^ a b c d e Blackest Night #1 (September 2009) Cite error: The named reference "bn1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c Blackest Night #3 (November 2009) Cite error: The named reference "bn3" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Green Lantern (vol 4) #46-48 (November 2009-January 2010)
  11. ^ Johns, Geoff. DC Comics: Green Lantern: Blackest Night (11:06). San Diego Comic Con 2009. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego CA. 25 July 2009. Accessed 2 August 2009.
  12. ^ a b Johns, Geoff. DC Comics: Green Lantern: Blackest Night (29:30). San Diego Comic Con 2009. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego CA. 25 July 2009. Accessed 2 August 2009.
  13. ^ Johns, Geoff. DC Comics: Green Lantern: Blackest Night (31:34). San Diego Comic Con 2009. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego CA. 25 July 2009. Accessed 2 August 2009.
  14. ^ Johns, Geoff. DC Comics: Green Lantern: Blackest Night (42:31). San Diego Comic Con 2009. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego CA. 25 July 2009. Accessed 2 August 2009.
  15. ^ a b c Blackest Night #2 (October 2009)
  16. ^ a b Geoff Johns: Inside Blackest Night - Part Two, IGN, August 14, 2009
  17. ^ a b Blackest Night: Batman #1 (October 2009) Cite error: The named reference "bnbat1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ Johns, Geoff. DC Comics: Green Lantern: Blackest Night (38:55). San Diego Comic Con 2009. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego CA. 25 July 2009. Accessed 2 August 2009.
  19. ^ a b Blackest Night #4 (November 2009)
  20. ^ Adventure Comics #0 (February 2009)
  21. ^ "Amon Sur". DC Comics. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  22. ^ "Pantha". DC Comics. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
  23. ^ "Wildebeest". DC Comics. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  24. ^ Green Lantern Corps (vol. 2) #39 (October 2009)
  25. ^ Montgomery, Lauren (Director). Johns, Geoff (Commentator) (2009). Green Lantern: First Flight (Behind the Scenes of Blackest Night). [Animated Film/DVD]. Warner Home Video. Warner Bros Animation. DC Comics.
  26. ^ Green Lantern Corps (vol 2) #41 (December 2009)
  27. ^ SDCC 09: Blackest Night Consumes Comic-Con, IGN, July 25, 2009
  28. ^ Blackest Night: Titans #3 (December 2009)
  29. ^ Blackest Night: Superman #1 (October 2009)
  30. ^ Blackest Night: Titans #2 (November 2009)
  31. ^ Blackest Night: Batman #3 (October 2009)
  32. ^ Superman/Batman #66 (November 2009)
  33. ^ Justice League of America (vol. 2) #40 (December 2009)
  34. ^ Outsiders (vol. 4) #25 (December 2009)
  35. ^ Blackest Night: Superman #3 (December 2009)
  36. ^ Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 (January 2010)
  37. ^ Teen Titans (vol 3) #78 (February 2010)
  38. ^ Blackest Night #6 (February 2010)
  39. ^ Catwoman (vol. 3) #83 (January 2010)
  40. ^ The Phantom Stranger #42 (January 2010)
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