Black Lantern Corps
From Green Lantern Wiki
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| Black Lantern Corps | |
| Official Name: | Black Lantern Corps |
| Allies: | Death Entity Anti-Monitor |
| Founder: | Nekron |
| First Appearance: | Green Lantern Vol 4 #25 |
| Creators: | Geoff Johns Ethan Van Sciver Ivan Reis |
| Team Leader(s): | Nekron |
| Current members: | List of Current Black Lantern Corps Members |
| Former members: | List of Former Black Lantern Corps Members |
| Status: | Active |
| Base of operations: | Ryut |
| Place of Formation: | Space Sector 0666 |
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Origin
The Black Lantern Corps consisted of various slain and deceased beings throughout the universe who fell into the domain of the dead. There, they were used by the Lord of the Unliving, Nekron as part of a plan to wage a war against the Emotional Spectrum. The Blackest Night Prophecy spoken by Qull of the Five Inversions foretold of The Blackest Night where the enemies of the Guardians of the Universe would rise up against them and destroy their great work. Abin Sur attempted to stop the prophecy from coming to pass and took the demon Atrocitus to Earth in order to find the bearer of "the Black". Though Sur died, Atrocitus managed to discover William Hand and sought to claim the power he would unleash but the red skinned alien was defeated by Hal Jordan and Sinestro. This allowed William Hand to escape and allow the creation of the Black Lantern Corps in the future.
[edit] Manipulations from the Shadows
The initial stages that would bring about the birth of the Black Lantern Corps began during the Sinestro Corps War, when the Sinestro Corps declared war on the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. Under the leadership of Sinestro, the Anti-Monitor, Superman-Prime, Cyborg Superman, and Parallax, the Sinestro Corps waged the most substantial battle of the Sinestro Corps War on the planet Earth, home to many of the superheroes that have thwarted the domination of it's members time and time again. With the war almost over the Green Lanterns were able to take down the Anti-Monitor by hurling Warworld with its Qwardian Power Battery into him. The combined power of the Corps was able to contain the resulting blast around the Anti-Monitor. This blast was not able to kill him, but substantially damaged him and shattered his armor. Enraged at the defeat the Sinestro Corps was suffering, Superman Prime hurled the Anti-Monitor's body into deep space.
The powerful cosmic being drifted in space and the Anti-Monitor's shriveled as well as substantially weakened physical form crash-landed on a dark, barren planet in Space Sector 0666 which was actually the planet Ryut. After the damage suffered on Earth, the Anti-Monitor was unable to protect himself when the ground around him began to envelop him, forming the Black Lantern Central Power Battery. Mean while, a female Guardian wounded in the struggle against the Anti-Monitor became corrupted by the dark energies and thus became a servant to Nekron. She began to subtlely ensure the rise of the Black Lantern Corps and her appearance gave her the name of Scar. It was she who helped instigate the War of Light by her manipulations of her fellow Guardians. She was later responsible for making William Hand killing himself and becoming the embodiment of death.
[edit] Blackest Night
On Oa, whilst the War of Light reached its height, the Guardians realized that they had failed in stopping the prophecy and attempted to work against the coming darkness. It was then that Scar revealed her true allegiance and incapacitated her fellow Guardians. Whilst was happening, Black Lantern Power Rings were spawned and resurrecting the dead to attack the living in order to turn them into Black Lanterns. The Black Power Rings shattered the protective shell around Oa and entered the Crypts of the Green Lantern Corps as well as the Sciencells where they resurrected the dead. On Zamaron, the black rings resurrected the two lovers within the Star Sapphire Central Power Battery thus devastating the planet when the Predator Entity was freed. Further rings came to Qward where they resurrected the Qwardians as well as dead Sinestro Corps members who turned on their former comrades. More turned to Ysmault where Liara and the Five Inversions were brought back to life whilst the many victims of Larfleeze on Okaara were reanimated as well.
In the mean time, on Earth, various previously deceased superheroes and supervillains were brought back into an undead state by the power rings. Targeting their former enemies or loved ones, they killed many and allowed for their corpses to be animated by the black rings. All the emotional power the Black Lanterns were stealing from the hearts of the living were being channeled back to the Black Lantern Central Power Battery. As it reached 100%, Black Lanterns on Oa attempted to destroy the Green Lantern Central Power Battery but were stopped by Kyle Rayner though at the expense of his own life. Despite this, the Black Lantern Central Power Battery reached 100% allowing for the true master of the Black Lantern Corps to manifest into the mortal plains on Earth at Coast City. There, Nekron commanded the dead to rise once more to serve him. When the leaders of the various Lantern Corps arrived to attack Nekron, their combined light simply empowered him further. Black Hand and Nekron later used the body of deceased Batman to be renimated in order to form an emotional tether to various resurrected superheroes who were claimed by black power rings and turned into Black Lanterns who followed Nekron in his war against the light.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
[edit] Powers
The Black Lantern Power Battery contains the body of the Anti-Monitor. It is not known whether the Anti-Monitor is still alive within the battery, however his power is the source of power for the Black Lantern Corps. The Black Lantern Power Rings that were sent out have the ability to re-animate the dead. These re-animated corpses make up the members of the Black Lantern Corps.
[edit] Abilities
- Resurrection: Upon being inducted into the Black Lantern Corps, dead people are restored to a fully functional state. Even if they keep the semblance of a dead, shambling corpse, Black Lantern members are resurrected with the same abilities and powers they had in life, and the same level of intelligence, though their mindset is warped by a deepening belief in death. They, however, don't possess a soul anymore, as shown by the co-existance of the soulless Black Lantern Boston Brand and his disembodied spirit, the superhero Deadman: Ray Palmer, known as The Atom explains that as the Black Ring merely instilling in dead, reanimated corpses the memories pertaining to their former lives, without actually restoring their souls and emotions, for maximizing their abilities to elicit emotions into their former faimilies and peers;
- Healing Factor/Regeneration: No matter how much damage a Black Lantern sustains, the Black Ring will always restore it to a fully functional state, in a time directly proportionated to the punishment taken by the Corpse. Since the Black Rings bond with the corpse they're reanimating, there's no way to destroy a Black Lantern until the combination of two or more lights of the emotional spectrum shine on them: when that happens, the connection is disrupted and the Black Lantern loses his/her regenerative capabilities.
- Energy Spectrum Assimilation: Upon killing individuals feeling strong emotions, the Black Lanterns can forcibly extract their hearts and siphon away their last feeling recharging the Central Battery on their home planet. A Black Lantern power ring is charged by .01 percent for every heart collected by the bearer.
- Aura Recognition: To aid in their assimilation the Black Lantern can see what's the prevalent feeling of their opponent. When the feelings reaches their maximum point, they can see a colored aura, shining with one or more of the seven Emotional Spectrum colours. When that happens, their opponents hearts are ripe for assimilation. As a notable exception, Black Lanterns are unable to perceive the emotions of the superheroine Dove, as they can't rise his namesake and predecessor.
[edit] Weaknessess
Black Lantern power rings are apparently unable to resurrect an individual who died in a state of peace with themselves, such as the original Dove, Don Hall. They similarly can't steal the hearts of people able to balance their emotions in a peaceful white aura, as with the second Dove. Although their rings will rebuild their bodies when damaged, a strong amount of punishment can slow them down.
The light of two or more different power ring can distrupt their powers: it's surmised that the combined light of the Seven Emotions, by restoring the original White Light of Creation can exstinguish darkness and bring on the end of the Black.
[edit] Oath
- 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!
[edit] Equipment
[edit] Weapons
[edit] Notes
- The Anti-Monitor is the Founder of the Black Lantern Corps and Powers the Central Power Battery but is not an official member because it is kept prisoner inside the Central Power Battery as its energy source.
- The Former Guardians of the Universe member, Scar, is a member of the Black Lantern Corps, and the official Guardian of the Black Lantern Corps. However unlike the Guardians of the Universe who are the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, even with Scar's rank as Guardian, she is not the leader of the Black Lantern Corps; the leader is Nekron, Lord of the Unliving.
[edit] Trivia
- The first two members of the Black Lantern Corps were Superman (Kal-L) and The Martian Manhunter.
- Later Confirmed Members of the Black Lantern Corps were Aquaman (Arthur Curry) and Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond).
[edit] Symbol
- The symbol on the Black Lantern Power Ring, is the same that was worn by the villain Black Hand, and he has been confirmed to be the Embodiment of Death (Scar being its Guardian, and Nekron being its leader)
