Guardians of the Universe
The Guardians of the Universe are an ancient and powerful species that feature in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Guardians of the Universe were an ancient race of beings that had evolved on the planet Maltus more than ten billion years ago. (Green Lantern v2 #81) Ten million years ago, the people of Maltus had evolved far beyond anything else they had seen on other worlds. Their perfect culture had become immortal with them possessing vast power allowing children to achieve extraordinary feat. Their great powers had great potential from a young age where they could wipe out entire animal races with a single thought. The Maltusians eventually concluded that maturity could only control their powers and they eventually decided to stop breeding. In the time that followed, a segregation of the sexes though fauna on Maltus had been decimated to the point of leaving it a dreary world in the span of a million years. (Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale v1 #1) Around ten billion years ago, a group formed known as the Oans that held tremendous natural powers including ability to move objects through mental force whilst their science sought the eternal study of nature. By this time, there was a legend in place that made it a law that they were forbidden from seeing the origins of the universe otherwise their cosmos would be destroyed. A scientist by the name of Krona had risen who had opposed this law and intended to learn of the origins of the universe. Despite warnings, he proceeded with his experiment whereupon an accident emerged when cosmic lightning struck the mission with the disaster unleashing evil into the universe. From across the cosmos, intelligent species succumbed to acts of evil as they began to turn and kill one another with hatred along with violence flourishing on many worlds. Despite the disaster, Krona intended to continue his experiments which forced his kin to transform him into a packet of energy sent to wander space. They then turned their attention to battling the evil that Krona and unleashed by becoming the Guardians of the Universe. (Green Lantern v2 #40)
A great deal of debate occured over the issue which resulted in the splintering of the Maltusian species. The newly formed Oans, now declared Guardians of the Universe, settled a new planet called Oa and dedicated to the protection against evil. Another faction of males believed that evil could not be contained but had to be destroyed and these would become the Controllers while the females did not see fit to involve themselves in the matter and became the Zamarons.
At some point, a group of scientists on Maltus began experiments on small lizards on their world to improve their intelligence but these were abandoned by the time of the Great Exodus. (Omega Men v1 #30) Numerous vessels were launched were sent to colonize other planets such as Oa with these developing diverging civilizations where some thrived and others fell to barbarism. One such colony came to a young world known as Earth with these Maltusians became known as Leprechauns. (Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale v1 #1) In time, the Oans gradually evolved and took on a more diminutive form. (Green Lantern v2 #40) Millennia ago, the Guardians encountered the descendants of lizards that the had experimented on that became an intelligent humanoid race known as the Psions who sought out their creators. Though learning from the ruins on Maltus, the Guardians deemed their creation to lack true understanding and thus rejected them. However, they felt responsible for the Psions and sent them to a distant galaxy to continue to develop undisturbed. The Guardians vowed not to intrude so long as the Psions remained in their proscribed region of space and hoped to meet their creations one day as equals. (Omega Men v1 #30) Around 500 years ago, the Leprechaun colony on Earth had moved their base of operations during the time of the European colonization. (Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale v1 #1)
Early History
Long ago, the cosmos was terrorised by the living fear parasite Parallax that was the manifestation of the yellow light of fear in the Emotional Spectrum. To combat it, the Guardians fashioned the Central Power Battery that harnessed the collective power of the green light of willpower. They battled the fear entity and though they were unable to slay it they did manage to place it into a comatose state. In this state, they imprisoned it within the Central Power Battery which was to serve as its prison. Over millennia, the entity's nature was only known as the Yellow Impurity that resided within the battery. In time, Parallax became simply a legend which was done so on purpose to prevent anyone from ever attempting to free the fear parasite again. The Yellow Impurity then became the reason why the green light wielded by agents of the Guardians was vulnerable to the color yellow. Thus, only those that were able to overcome fear were able to truly master a Power Ring. (Green Lantern: Rebirth v1 #3)
To begin their great work, the Guardians began a period of reorganizing the galaxy as well as removing possible threats to the newly imposed order that they would bring to all known space. At this point in the universe, magic was abundant and was something the Guardians felt was chaotic which resulted in them beginning a campaign to remove it. They attempted to gather all the mystical energies and bind them into a single artifact which became known as the Starheart.
After the seperation between the Guardians and the Zamarons, the Oans female counterparts began a policy of taking mates from the planet Korugar. In order to ensure that they did not abuse their powers out of jealousy - the Oans placed a safety feature within the Central Power Battery which would cause it to self destruct if their powers or their servants were ever used to kill an inhabitant of Korugar.
In addition to this, they began to remove the magical forces that existed at the galaxy in that early age. They were successful against a majority of these foes but the most dangerous of these was the Empire of Tears, a demonic race that fought back and killed many Guardians who succumbed to the dark horrors they unleashed. The Guardians were unsuccessful in destroying this foe but did defeat them and imprisoned them on their former throneworld of Ysmault. Once this was accomplished, they took their place on their new homeworld of Oa as the newly declared Guardians of the Universe.
They were also known to have watched over the planet Mars and saw a threat in The Burning. In order to contain this menace, they split the race into two species namely the Green Martians and White Martian's after which they placed a psychological phobia in them of fire in order to prevent a possible return of the Burning. After this event, they were known to have been impressed with the Green Martians and their Manhunter police force, something that they would institute in the future for their own use.
Creating Order
Billions of years ago, the Guardians embarked on a personal mission of bringing order to the universe. In order to accomplish this, they decided that they needed a police organization of their own design to patrol the spaceways as well as the many worlds. They would create a mechanical race of beings to serve this task and thus created an army of such androids that became known as the Manhunters.
For thousands of years, these mechanical servants brought justice to worlds that had never known it. However, in time, something changed - a glitch occured which slowly spiralled the Manhunters into a darker path. They would begin making wrongful arrests, then use excessive force where none was necessary and eventually make the greatest of tragedies - the extermination of Sector 666. Why this occured is unknown to all except the Manhunters themselves and the Oans who do not wish elaborate. The Guardians attempted to deactivate their former robotic enforcers but nothing happened and the Manhunters waged war on Oa in order to claim the Central Power Battery for themselves but failed. The robots would be banished for their rebellion as punishment for their crime.
Forty thousand years ago, the Guardians employed organic based law enforcement operatives that were known as the Halla who made use of stun rays as they were dispatched to apprehend criminals and were given Power Batteries. (Green Lantern v2 #90)
However, these enforcers would be discontinued and a new force would replace them that would become known as the Green Lantern Corps. These would be sentients from hundreds of worlds that were chosen for their willpower as well as their power to overcome great fear. They would be gifted with the Power Ring to serve them on their tasks. Initially, the Guardians approached the Martian civilization and asked them to participate in this enforcer corps and even informed the inhabitants of Mars that the Manhunters were based on them but ultimately were found to be failures. This led them to determine that they needed to bestow the power of the Green Light onto a sentient intellect which was needed to guide it. However, the Martians questioned the wisdom of an intergalactic police force and thus refused the Guardians offer. The Oans agreed to let the Martians instead police their own solar system. (Martian Manhunter v2 #21)
These Green Lanterns were each given a single Sector of space to enforce and thus began the Guardians attempt at bringing peace to the universe.
Green Lanterns
At one point, Sector 3600 developed sentience by the shared belief of its inhabitants, however, it went insane and killed all its populants as well as the Green Lantern governing it. It became known as the MadGod Sector 3600 which became increasingly unstable. The Guardians dispatched numerous Green Lanterns to deal with the matter but none survived. The Oans finally realized that this threat was too much for their emerald enforcers and dealt with the matter personally. The thirty six Guardians attacked the MadGod Sector and encased it within their emerald powers demonstrating their might over it. Once it came to become rational and coherent, it realized that the Guardians were its masters and the Oans trapped it for the remainder of time.
During the rise of the insectiod Tchk-Tchk race of Space Sector 407, the Guardians noted the races voracious expansionist tendencies and ordered the Green Lantern Corps into action to deal with the matter. The planet was encased in a green energy field leaving the Tchk-Tchk to die and starve on their lone world. In order to survive, the insectoids merged their life essences into a single entity which became known as Legion that sought revenge on both the Guardians and their Green Lanterns.
At another unspecified moment, the Guardians tasked the Green Lantern Corps with waging war against Darkseid of Apokolips. They attempted to end the war by targeting the planets tyrannical ruler himself by sending operatives to infiltrate his home but these failed. This brought about a brutal conflict between the two; one that saw them defeat and two third of their Green Lanterns dead. Ultimately, it was decided that a war against Darkseid was too costly and the Guardians agreed to bring a truce with Apokolips which left one of their agents captured by the ruler of the dark world. In order to prevent a possible Green Lantern uprising, the Guardians ordered all records of the conflict expunged.
The Guardians Green Lantern Corps later fought the alien Reach bringing about a truce between the two which curtailed the expansion of the aggressive race.
Another enemy that the Guardians fought roughly more than 240,000 years ago was the Kryptonian entity known as Doomsday. The creature located within Space Sector 2813 which contained Krypton attacked the Green Lantern assigned to that region of space. Known as the Ultimate, it slayed the Green Lantern and took his ring where it learnt of the Guardians as well as their homeworld of Oa. Heading towards their homeworld, Doomsday had slain hundreds of Green Lanterns and wounded thousands until it landed on top of the Central Power Battery. There, it was confronted by one of the Guardians who realized that he could not defeat the creature and thus sacrificed itself by unleashing its complete power which obliterated a mountain and to the Oans; Doomsday as well. Unknown to them, the explosion tore a hole in reality which deposited the creature into a different region of space allowing it to continue its rampage. [Doomsday Annual #1]
Death
Despite the years of influence that Hal Jordan had on the Corps, it would be him that would bring about its destruction. After his home of Coast City was destroyed by the villanous Mongul, Hal Jordan became obsessed with recreating reality in order to recreate his home as well as its people. This sense of fear left him vulnerable to the predations of Parallax who had been reawakened by Sinestro after he was imprisoned in the Central Power Battery. Using its fear generating abilities, it made Hal Jordan insane.
When Jordan recreated his home with his rings own power, he was chastised by the Guardians for the abuse of his powers for his own gain. This made Jordan even more violent as he grew fearful of his Green Lantern powers being taken away from him. Thus, he began a campaign of gaining the ultimate power of the Central Power Battery itself. Taking on the name Parallax, he left a wave of destruction across the stars killing thousands of Green Lanterns on his way to Oa.
The Guardians felt at this point that drastic measures needed to be taken and went into the Central Power Battery where they extracted the renegade Lantern Sinestro to combat the threat posed by Hal Jordan. Despite this last measure, Sinestro was seemingly killed in the battle and Hal Jordan was victorious after which he absorbed the power of the Central Power Battery as well as kill the Guardians. In their final act, the majority of the Guardians shielded one of their own so that their kind would survive in some measure. This time saw the end of the Guardians rule and their Green Lantern Corps both of which seemingly ceased to exist.
Rebirth
The rebirth of the Guardians nearly came at an end when some of their Green Lanterns accidently discovered a plot by the Spider Guild. This forced the Guild to engage in a pre-emptive strike against Oa itself which nearly destroyed the Guardians but the Green Lantern Corps managed to repell the attack as well as destroy a primary Guild nest world. This caused the Guardians to consider on re-evaluating their treaties that prohibited them from the Vegan system.
Shortly after this point, the Guardians found themselves again attacked - this time at the ahnds of the mad Kryptonian Superboy-Prime. After his defeat, it was decided by the assembled Guardians to implement better defensive measures which resulted in them encasing Oa in a powerful defensive armour to protect them from further attacks.
A new war erupted in the Sinestro Corps War which came when the Anti-Monitor used his herald Sinestro to create a corps of warriors similar to the Green Lanterns. The resulting conflict brought the prophecy of the Blackest Night to the attention of the Guardians, however, they refused to feel fear over what they believed to be superstition.
Recently, the Guardians have instigated the creation of a new internal affairs group of Green Lanterns called the Alpha Lanterns. These entities were part organic and part machine; mixing Green Lantern willpower with that of the machine logic of the Manhunters to create a much more powerful branch of the Corps.
Overview
The Guardians of the Universe, also known as Oans, were a small blue skinned race of beings that were virtually immortal. They did not require to sleep or rest and were capable of controlling a great deal of energy with their minds. One of their greatest assests were their superhuman intelligence and billions of years experience.
Oans were devoted to the concept of bringing order to a chaotic universe. As such, a majority of the race believed in the suppression of emotions in their quest to bring order and did not take names though there were exceptions. Feeling emotions was considered a crime and those members of the Guardians who expressed such behaviour were exiled from their ranks.
The early Maltusians long ago began to develop their great mental powers which they would one day use as Guardians of the Universe. These early Oans had great power in the power of their minds and whilst the could perform miraculous feats, their control over such abilities were limited. (Ganthet's Tale v1 #1) They did not draw their power from the great battery but instead contained their own energies making them effectively living Power Batteries. (DC Comics Presents v1 #60) The powers of the race were empowered by the collective willpower of the denziens of the galaxy. The full extent of the species was unknown though Ganthet was said to be able to crack a planet with but a thought.
Through power-conversion, they were able to turn their forms into a phantom-body allowing them to phase through solid objects. (DC Comics Presents v1 #60)
These immortal beings though noted for their almost limitless power but the one thing they could not do was travel in time as the penalty for doing so was losing their immortality. Despite unable to travel in time, their powers allowed them to get glimpses of the future. (Green Lantern v2 #51) Even Guardians were vulnerable to the energy of a Power Ring. (DC Comics Presents v1 #60)
It was said that the Guardians were a strange race who were hard to understand. Some developed pursuits in arts such as poetry which was unlike that of other beings due to their immortal nature. Such poems were slowly built over millennia with thoughts and ideas refined in their purest form to the point that it was impossible to translate them to the sensibilities of mortal races. For eons, they had learnt that in any struggle the edge of victory was not power but rather will to win that determined the victory which was backed by strength of their cause. The Guardians did not like to involve themselves directly in affairs and instead preferred for others to act as their agents. During their dealings with others, they often were used to the idea of being obeyed and that people would follow their commands. Though immortal, the Guardians were not infallible and suffered from weaknesses such as weariness or impatience. They did not believe in the use of punishments on their own and instead responsibility drove individual Guardians to correct their own mistakes. (DC Comics Presents v1 #60)
One Maltusian practice that they had used was a ritual transfer. (Green Lanterns v1 #12)
A form of dwelling used by the species were called Houseplants which were trees that were honeycombed with small passages which served as rooms. Houseplants were in fact genetically engineered to serve as homes to the Oans. As such, whilst they were a dwelling, they were still living and growing plants. They required care and were capable of dying off if they were abandoned. Such plants generally took centuries to fully mature in size. (Ganthet's Tale v1 #1)
One group of Oans would depart their brethren and begin a period of study on the planet Earth where they became known as the Annunakai.
Members
- Appa Ali Apsa :
- Broome Bon Baris : (Green Lantern Corps #222)
- Dawlakispokpok :
- Ganthet :
- Herupa Hando Hu :
- Lianna :
- John Stewart :
- Pazu Pinder Pol : (Green Lantern v2 #200)
- Kontross : (Action Comics v1 #794)
- Ranakar : a male Guardian who was charged with monitoring the energy levels of the great battery who was dispatched to aid Superman as an advisor to stop the actions of the Weapon Master who had siphoned power from the Central Power Battery. (DC Comics Presents v1 #60)
- Sayd :
- Rima : the male Rogue Guardian who was banished long ago for his creation of the Phantom Ring. (Green Lanterns v1 #6)
- Scar :
- Pale Bishop :
- Sodam Yat :
Notes
- The Guardians of the Universe were created by John Broome and Gil Kane where they made their first appearance in Green Lantern v2 #1 (July 1960).
- They were modelled on first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion.
- In Strange Adventures v1 #22 (1952), an unrelated race of beings known as the Guardians of the Universe appeared in the issue. These humanoids had powerful abilities and saw the universe as operating akin to a clock. For time immemorial, they kept a ceaseless vigil to ensure that no part of the clockwork stopped as this was believed to cause catastrophe. These Guardians were not men of action and instead operated through agents of great power to conduct acts to prevent disasters such as Captain Comet. One among their numbers was Nestro who was the Chief Guardian of the Universe and oldest of their number.
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, the Guardians of the Universe appeared in the episode "Evil is as Evil Does" where they were voiced by actor Paul Frees.
- In the DC Animated Universe, the Guardians of the Universe made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Superman: The Animated Series, the Guardians of the Universe first appeared in the episode "In Brightest Day..." where they were voiced by actors Pat Musick and Peter Mark Richman. They were show to be the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps and operated from the planet Oa. The Guardians briefly transported Superman to them in order to tell him of the danger of Sinestro where they asked Kal-El to protect newly chosen Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.
- In Justice League, the Guardians of the Universe appeared in the episode "In Blackest Night" where they were voiced by actor René Auberjonois. They had previously created the Manhunters on Oa but ended their service when the androids were no longer able to distinguish between good and evil. Rather than dismantle them, they had the robots re-programmed for other duties and later created the Green Lantern Corps to replace them with the organization consisting of diverse members of different species. The Guardians claimed to be keepers of the Green Lantern's power source but allowed the Corps members to retain their own autonomy.
- In Justice League Unlimited, the Guardians of the Universe made a brief appearance in the episode "The Return" where they were voiced by actor Clancy Brown.
- In Young Justice, the Guardians of the Universe were mentioned and did not make an appearance in the animated series. It was revealed that Guardian treaty prevented the Reach from outwardly invading planets and they could only approach worlds that had invited them in which case the Green Lanterns were barred from that world.
- In Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the Guardians of the Universe made regular appearances in the animated show. They had created the android Manhunters to bring order to the universe but discontinued their use after the androids committed the Massacre of Space Sector 666. Afterwards, the formed the Green Lantern Corps that were divided among the 3600 Sectors of space with the Guardian Council providing oversight.
Films
- In Green Lantern: First Flight, the Guardians of the Universe featured in the animated film with a number of them named including Ganthet, Appa Ali Apsa and Ranakar. They were shown as being the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps and resided on the planet Oa. After Abin Sur's death, his Power Ring went to Hal Jordan of Earth who was taken by a number of Green Lanterns to Oa before the Guardians. The Guardians were perplexed at the idea of an inhabitant of Earth being given a Power Ring but allowed Jordan to retain it when Green Lantern Sinestro offered to teach as well as test the human to determine his worthiness of joining the Green Lantern Corps.
- In Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, the Guardians of the Universe featured in the animated film. They were shown as being present during the earliest history of the universe where chaos only reigned with threats such as the Dominators attacking many worlds. To bring order, the Oans decided to craft a weapon to aid their peacekeepers leading to them tapping into the Emotional Spectrum to forge the first Power Rings. They then selected agents to serve as their Green Lanterns with the rings choosing their wielders. Among the first Green Lanterns were G'Hu, Wachet, Blu and surprisingly the Guardian's scribe Avra. Initially, these four were nearly overwhelmed by their foe until Avra tapped into his willpower to use the full extent of his rings capabilities allowing them to defeat the Dominators after the lose of one of their own. With this victory, the Green Lantern Corps was established that became bringers of peace to the universe.
- In Green Lantern, the Guardians of the Universe appeared in the live-action film. They were described as an immortal race of beings that had harnessed the green energy of Willpower billions of years ago. The Guardians built the world of Oa to watch over existence and used the emerald energy to fashion a Power Ring as a tool. After dividing the universe into 3600 Sectors, they sent a ring to each Space Sector to select an individual that was without fear to become part of the intergalactic peacekeepers the Guardians had formed known as the Green Lantern Corps.
Video games
- In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, the Guardians of the Universe made an appearance in the video game where two unidentified members were voiced by actors Christopher Corey Smith and Joe J. Thomas with Ganthet being voiced by actor Michael McConnohie.
Appearances
- Green Lantern v2:
- Green Lantern v5:
- Green Lantern: New Guardians v1:
External Link
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