Blue Lantern Corps
The Blue Lantern Corps are an organization that feature in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Blue Lantern Corps was created in the aftermath of the Sinestro Corps War which was a conflict that led to the start of the War of Light that saw the harnessing of the Emotional Spectrum by various groups in the cosmos. During this time, two members of the Guardians of the Universe known as Ganthet and Sayd disagreed with their fellow Oans on their approach in divorcing themselves from their emotions. Furthermore, they foresaw the growing danger that was coming in the Blackest Night which was prophesized and mentioned in the Book of Oa. According to this passage, a great darkness would emerge that sought to destroy all life in the universe though the majority of the Oans dismissed this as a mere myth that was perpetrated by the Empire of Tears in order to bring down their order through fear. For feeling emotions such as love and hope, the pair were banished by the Guardians whereupon they aided the Green Lantern Corps in trapping the cosmic fear parasite known as Parallax. Afterwards, Ganthet and Sayd who had feelings for one another came to believe that the Blackest Night prophecy was coming to pass. Thus, they departed for the remote paradise world of Odym where they proceeded to forge their own blue Power Ring which harnessed the blue light of hope in the spectrum in order for it to be used to forge their own Corps in the coming war. Once done, they proceeded with the creation of a Central Power Battery on Odym and began the process of recruiting members for their Corps. These individuals went through a different form of training when compared to that of the Green Lanterns.
The first such individual was from Sector 0001 who was Saint Walker. Upon the completion of his training, he was tasked with getting more members to join the Corps in a numerical sequence and thus found Warth in Sector 0002. In addition to these duties, he was also dispatched to help Green Lantern Hal Jordan who was escorting the captured Sinestro to his homeworld of Korugar for execution. However, the Green Lantern and his comrades were ambushed by the Sinestro Corps who sought to free their leader and the two enemies were in turn ambushed by the Red Lantern Corps who captured Sinestro and infected or weakened the remaining Lanterns with the power of rage. Hal Jordan would have perished had it not been for Saint Walker's arrival who empowered the Green Lantern's power ring to 200% efficiency through the blue light of hope. He then freed his comrades from the infection of rage whereupon he took Hal Jordan to the Blue Lantern homeworld of Odym. There, he was briefed by Ganthet and Sayd of their plans to combat the coming Blackest Night and asked for Hal Jordan to join their ranks though he refused at the time. Saint Walker and the newly recruited Warth then accompanied him to recapture Sinestro though the Guardians of the Blue Lantern Corps wanted him brought to Odym to redeem him. Ultimately, Sinestro managed to escape and return to his own Corps whilst a blue power ring latched onto Hal Jordan to cure him of the Red Lantern rage. (Green Lantern v4 #36)
In the aftermath, the Guardians attempted to extract the blue ring but failed to do so and its presence later attracted the interest of Larfleeze who desired it as he had never encountered one before. Ultimately, he failed and Agent Orange was kept contained in the Vega system once again when the Oans offered him the location of Odym. This led to Larfleeze attacking Odym to claim their power which the Guardians intended for both Corps to destroy one another.
One of the great disasters that befell the Corps was when their homeworld of Odym was discovered by the Reach. These cosmic marauders swarmed the world in such numbers that the Lanterns were not able to defend their planet. Despite using the power of hope, they failed in stopping the Reach warriors and it was only the actions of Kyle Rayner that convinced them to abandon their world. They managed to take their Central Power Battery and fled the planet. Members of the Blue Lanterns later participated to combat Volthoom who intended to rewrite reality itself after absorbing enough emotional energy to power the act. Afterwards, the Blue Lanterns settled on the world of Elpis with their Central Power Battery only for it to be visited by the cosmic supervillain known as Relic. The being was determined with ending the threat posed by the users of the Emotional Spectrum and targeted the Blue Lanterns with destruction. Thus, he took their Central Power Battery and destroyed the Blue Lanterns leaving Saint Walker seemingly the only survivor of their corps.
Overview
The Blue Lantern Corps were unique in terms of their recruitment compared to the original Green Latern Corps. The process took three days with he individual in question being picked up by the most recently recruited Blue Lantern. They are taken to the Blue Lantern headquarters on the planet Odym where they are explained in great length about what it means to wield the power of hope. Furthermore, they learn their responsibility of giving hope to the universe and if they agree to the terms and conditions stipulated then the Guardians of Hope bestow a power ring upon them. Unlike the Guardians on Oa, the two Guardians of Hope are actively involved in the recruitment process.
In many respects, the Blue Lantern Corps are similar to the Green Lantern Corps but instead of using willpower as the focus of their power they instead made use of hope. This was an important factor and the more Hope felt by the people, the more empowered were the Blue Power Rings allowing them to transform a star about to go supernova into a blue star that was 7 billion years younger then it once was. They were able to empower the green power rings as well to twice their normal capacity and even break the corrupting influence of the red light of rage on other ring wielders. Their capacity to empower a Green Lantern meant that a member of the Guardians Corps were warned not to come near the Blue Central Power Battery for its raw power would result in an explosion in a Green Lanterns power ring.
It was said that the process of recruiting a Blue Lantern took days which involved their Guardian speaking to the prospective candidate. (Green Lantern v4 #36)
Despite perhaps being the most powerful of the Corps, there were a number of weaknesses in regards to Blue Lanterns. The first was that their power was closely linked to that of willpower which meant that they had a need of a Green Lanterns in order to use their abilities to their maximum. Without willpower, a Blue Lantern was subject to normal abilities such as auras and simple constructs. Furthermore, their powers required hope in others in order to empower their rings which meant surroundings filled with despair weakened a Blue Lantern.
The oath of the Blue Lanterns was:
- "In Fearful Day
- In Raging Night
- With Strong Hearts Full of Light
- Our Souls ignite
- When all Seems Lost in the War of Light
- Look to the Stars
- For Hope Burns Bright!"
Members of the corps were armed with a Power Ring that tapped into the blue range of the Emotional Spectrum. It was noted to be fuelled by hope and the hope felt by others was capable of further powering it. Lanterns generated an emotional aura that was able to increase the strength of a wielder of the green spectrum. The ring was also capable of healing another person and generated constructs capable of putting them at ease with this being of a loved one. It was shown that the healing effects of the process were even able to undo the corrosive energy from a Red Lantern. The ring was said to manifest its constructs on a target's specific psychosis. A blue power ring was also capable of helping repair a dying star and turning it young once again. (Green Lantern v4 #36)
All their power rings were linked to a Central Power Battery that was situated on the homeworld of the Blue Lantern Corps. Green Lanterns could not venture too closely to it or their power rings could suffer an overload whereupon they exploded. (Green Lantern v4 #36)
Originally, the Blue Lanterns called the vibrant world of Odym as their homeworld. (Green Lantern v4 #36)
Members
- Saint Walker :
- Warth :
- Eesok :
- Hynn :
- Sercy :
- Shon :
- Barry Allen :
Notes
- The Blue Lantern Corps were created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver where they made their first appearance in Green Lantern v4 #25 (December, 2007).
Alternate Versions
- In the Wildstorm universe, previously designated as Earth-50, there existed a group of cosmic police officers known as the Blue Lanterns which predated the Blue Lantern Corps appearance in DC universe. This group performed a similar role to the Green Lanterns and were armed with a power battery-styled device.
- In Nightwing: The New Order v1 (2017), an alternate future timeline was shown whereby the superhuman community forcibly suppressed by the Crusaders program. In this era, a Blue Lantern Power Ring came to Lois Lane and she joined the resistance group where she could use its abilities to aid them but could not use it to its full potential without a Green Lantern nearby.
In other media
Television
- In Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the Blue Lantern Corps appeared in the setting of the animated television series. It was shown that the episode "Regime Change" that after Ganthet's expulsion from the ranks of the Guardians activated the first Blue Lantern power ring. This was revealed to be a prototype that harnessed the power of hope which selected Saint Walker as the first member of the Corps in "Invasion". Afterwards, in "Blue Hope", the membership of the Blue Lanterns now includes Warth with Razer learning from their teachings where they were based on Odym with their Central Power Battery coming online. However, its activation leads to a Manhunter attack on the planet leading to the Central Power Battery being deactivated to prevent further danger.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, the Blue Lantern Corps made an appearance in the setting of the MMORPG video game.
Appearances
- Green Lantern v4 #25: (2007)
External Link
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