Black Lantern Corps
The Black Lantern Corps are an organization that features in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The origins of the Black Lantern Corps was deeply rooted into the magical prophecies of the Five Inversions of the Empire of Tears. After their imprisonment on their home world of Ysmault, its members remained trapped by the victorious Guardians of the Universe who sentenced them to remain on that planet. At one point, the Green Lantern Abin Sur arrived on that world forbidden to the Green Lantern Corps in order to rescue a crashed civilian ship. It was there he met the Five Inversions where Qull told Sur of his death and the death of the Corps by telling him the prophecy known as the Blackest Night. Later, Abin Sur once again broke the Guardians ban on Ysmault and journeyed to it in order to learn more about the Blackest Night prophecy. Despite Atrocitus telling them not to say more, Abin Sur managed to capture the red skinned demon and take him to the ship in order to find the vessel that contained the Black that would bring about the death of all life. The ship arrived on the planet Earth where Abin Surs fear of dying led to his ring constructs weakening and freeing the prisoner Atrocitus. His escape led to severe damage to the ship which crashed and mortally wounded the Green Lantern. Free on Earth, Atrocitus himself sought to claim the host of the Black through a Cosmic Divining Rod and use its power to destroy the Guardians. Through his blood magic rituals he learnt the being was a Human known as William Hand but before he could accomplish his goal, the Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Sinestro captured him. (Issue: Secret Origin)
Blackest Night
After the battle with the Sinestro Corps, Superman-Prime hurled the Anti-Monitor into space, who then crashed on an unknown planet and was encased within a Black Central Battery by an unknown being. (Green Lantern v4 #25)
While being transported to prison, Black Hand experiences a sudden power surge that kills his captors. Xander roams the desert, hearing a voice instructing him to reclaim the souls of characters who were reanimated. (DC Universe v1 #0) Hand murders his family and commits suicide. The Guardian Scar arrives, and creates the first black power ring, which reanimated Black Hand. She revealed that Hand is the physical embodiment of death, and serves as the avatar of the Black Lanterns and embodiment of their corps along with being herald of their master. (Green Lantern v4 #43) 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 both the heroes and the villains of the DC Universe. It is claimed the Power Battery is in Space Sector 666. (Blackest Night v1 #0)
Once the power meter was filled, Scar proceeded 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. (Blackest Night v1 #4)
The team assaulted the Black Central Power Battery with the opposite results intended. Nekron is strengthened and able to recruit living characters reanimated from death to his Black Lantern Corps. Although the seven Corps representatives attempted to summon aid by recruiting temporary deputies until the rest of their Corps arrive - Ganthet joins the Green Lantern Corps, Barry Allen joins the Blue Lanterns, Lex Luthor is inducted into the Orange Lanterns, the Scarecrow joins the Sinestro Corps, the Atom joins the Indigo Tribe, Mera joins the Red Lanterns, and Wonder Woman is saved from her Black Lantern identity to join the Star Sapphires - they are nearly thwarted when Nekron digs up the Entity, the first life in the universe, and attempts to kill it. (Blackest Night v1 #5) After Sinestro attempts and fails to merge with the entity similar to Hal's bond with Parallax - Sinestro powering the entity with his ego rather than his will to survive - Hal takes control of the Entity himself, noting that the heroes still chose to return to life even if Nekron gave them the opportunity. With this behind him, Hal merges with the entity and frees the reanimated heroes from Nekron's hold, creating the White Lantern Corps in the process, and subsequently reanimates Black Hand and the Anti-Monitor to deprive Nekron of his tether in the living world and his power source respectively. The White Lanterns used the power of the White Light to finally vanquish Nekron and the threat of the Blackest Night passed with the Black Lanterns disintegrating along with their power rings. (Blackest Night v1 #8)
Overview
Their purpose was said to be extinguishing the light of life in the universe. (Green Lantern v4 #43)
Upon finding a host, the ring generated black tendrils that rooted themselves into a corpse and made them impossible to remove by physical force. (Blackest Night v1 #3)
Once the ring was destroyed, the Black Lantern's body went inert and returned to being a corpse. (Blackest Night v1 #3)
The oath of the Black Lanterns was:
- "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!"
Members
- Black Hand : a male human called William Hand who was destined to be the incarnation of the Black and the embodiment of the Black Lantern Corps as well as the herald of its master. (Green Lantern v4 #43)
- Martian Manhunter :
- Elongated Man :
- Ronnie Raymond :
- Abin Sur :
- Arin Sur :
- Hal Jordan :
- Krona :
Notes
- The Black Lantern Corps was created by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Ethan Van Sciver where they made their first appearance in Green Lantern v4 #25 (January, 2008).
Alternate Versions
- In Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Death of Superman v1 #1 (2019), an alternate reality was shown to exist within the Dark Multiverse showed a universe where the Black Lantern Corps dominated the cosmos. This was because Sinestro refused to share the power from the white ring thus leading to the heroes being killed and the Black Lantern Corps scouring reality of all life.
In other media
Video games
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, though not appearing in the game itself a number of the player characters had Black Lantern skins available to them as alternate costumes.
- In Injustice 2, the Black Lantern Corps again did not appear in the fighting video game but appeared as palette skins for Green Lantern.
- In DC Universe Online, the Black Lantern Corps were introduced into the MMORPG setting.
- In DC Legends, Black Lanterns appeared as antagonists in the iOS video game where the dead became Reanimated Lanterns that had the symbol of the Black Lanterns and served Nekron.
Appearances
- Green Lantern v4: (2008)
- Green Lantern Corps v2:
- Blackest Night v1:
- Green Lantern v5:
- Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Death of Superman v1:
External Link
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