Green Lantern Corps

Krona

Krona was a Maltusian scientist obsessed with observing the creation of the universe, despite a Maltusian legend that said discovering that secret would cause a great calamity. Krona created a machine that allowed him to see into the moment of creation. Somehow, his experiment disrupted the process of creation, with terrible consequences. The exact consequences have been rewritten over the years; originally, it was the unleashing of evil itself in the universe; later, it was assumed to be the creation of the evil anti-matter universe of Qward. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was also revealed to be the cause of the existence of all parallel universes in the DC multiverse.

Whatever the exact effects, Krona's fate was the same: he was judged by his fellow Maltusians and sentenced to exist in an energy form, forever wandering the universe. The Maltusians, feeling guilty about not having stopped Krona, then argued about how to deal with the results, eventually splitting into various groups (the Guardians of the Universe, Controllers, and Zamarons). However, Krona eventually escaped this fate and tried to start his experiment all over again, since the original machine had exploded before he could finish watching the universe being created.

It was Hal Jordan who first defeated Krona so the Guardians could banish him, he was transformed into energy and sent on and endless trip across the cosmos! We see him return serving Nekron, the lord of the Dead.  Krona's intentions are to execute enough Guardians, so that a passage between the living and the dead can emerge. Hal confronts Nekron alone, and calls upon all the Green Lanterns who have passed to the underworld. Nekron is defeated and Krona is forced back into the hole that he created.

Manhunters

"No Man Escapes the Manhunters"

The first attempt by the Guardians at regulating and fighting evil was the creation of a robot legion, The Manhunters. They were effective at policing the universe for nearly a thousand years. Eventually the Manhunters became more dedicated to the pursuit of their quarry than to the administration of justice. This along with the belief that the Oans were restricting their potential, led the robots to rebel. The Oans quelled the rebellion and disbanded the Manhunters by destroying them, but a few survived. They still challenge the Guardians to this day with their severe brand of justice, and have made the Green Lantern Corps their mortal enemy.

The Different Paths of the Oans

After the failure of the Manhunters there were disagreements among the male Oans as to how they should go about the fight against evil. The females of Oa preferred not to interfere in this matter, and by then the Oans had become immortal, essentially evolving past the need for reproduction. They branched off to become the Zamarons. Among the males, some thought they should wipe evil out of existence. These Oans branched off and became the Controllers. The remaining Oans realized that due to the very workings of the universe, good and evil must be balanced. The only course then would be to contain evil to the best of their ability. Remaining on Oa, they would become the Guardians Of The Universe.

The Green Lantern Corps

The Guardians of the Universe created the Green Lantern Corps around 3 billion years ago and since then they have essentially become the galaxy's police force. The Guardians realized their failure with the Manhunters was due to their creation's single-mindedness, lack of emotion (such as fear and courage), and most importantly the absence of morality and honor in the androids. The Guardians chose to assign sentient beings that excelled in fearlessness and morality. These beings would then watch over their sector of the galaxy. The sector that includes Earth is Sector 2814. The mission of the Green Lantern Corps is to protect the galaxy from interstellar threats of all kinds, from individual planets' problems to forces threatening entire systems.

The origin of the Green Lantern as a symbol of justice is derived from the first accounts of a police force in the universe. The police force emerged within a foggy world, where the officers would carry a lantern lit by a green flame. This legend was symbolic of justice piercing through the darkness and uncertainty of the universe. The various symbols of the Green Lantern Corps reflect this legend.

Originally the Green Lantern Corps wasn't as large as it is today. After an encounter and defeat at the hands of the embodiment of evil, Darkseid, a Green Lantern urged the Guardians to recruit an army to repel this evil should it ever become necessary. This recruitment nearly doubled the Corps.

Each member has a great deal of autonomy as to their methods in their jurisdiction, subject to review by the Guardians if they feel the Green Lantern in question has abused their assigned authority. The individual Lanterns are responsible for arranging their replacements (when possible) if they are near retirement or death. If a Lantern dies before that obligation is met, the ring will find and seek another to be trained on its own. In rare circumstances, Guardians will personally go out into the field to recruit a replacement.

Upon recruitment each Green Lantern in the original Corps received a Power Ring, a Power Battery shaped like a lantern (with which the ring is recharged), and a uniform. The default uniform design for humanoids was a green section covering the torso and shoulders, black arms and leggings, green boots, white gloves, green domino mask and a chest symbol of a stylized Green Lantern icon on a white circle. Lanterns were allowed to customize their uniforms as long as the color scheme and the symbol were present. When the nature of the being precludes a standard uniform, an equivalent arrangement is expected as a substitute. For instance, Mogo, a sentient planet, arranges his foliage to create a green circling band and lantern symbol on his body. Jack T. Chance, a humanoid, refused to wear a uniform, but conceded to wearing a badge on the lapel of his coat. Lanterns were also allowed the option of a secret identity as a security measure and it is implied that the Corps were instructed to honor that choice by taking care not to expose them. Training in the use of the ring was optional and appropriate facilities and personnel were available on Oa upon request. In addition, a senior Lantern can be assigned to coach a recruit while in the field in their sector.

The new Green Lantern Corps being built by the Guardians is far more formal and structured than the old one that was destroyed by Parallax. Recruits, after being found by their Power Rings, are taken to Oa for training. Not all recruits will make it through training - indeed a great many of them might even fail, forcing the ring to find another candidate. Lantern trainees have a simplified version of the old Green Lantern uniform (with green covering more of the torso) with the white circle on their chest blank, presumably until the Lantern insignia is added upon completion of their training. Additionally, all Power Rings, not just Kyle Rayner's ring, now work on the color yellow, provided the user can feel the fear behind the color and overcome it.

Each member is given a Lantern Power Ring. The ring can perform whatever the wielder can imagine, so long as they have the willpower to channel and control the energies of the ring.

There are no limits to what the ring can do, limited only by the wearers own fear and uncertainty. For this reason the ring is considered "The Most Powerful Weapon in the Universe".

The power ring has its own intelligence and is able to understand the thoughts of the wearer. Though the ring itself is not sentient, if a Lantern is to ever die the ring is able to find a worthy successor. The ring does have a finite amount of energy before having to be recharged.

Some Green Lanterns speak an oath to strengthen their will and reaffirm their determination during this time of recharge. The energy source of all this is fed by the Central Power Battery of Oa.

If the Lantern dies with there ring the power tends to die out, but in the past it has been known that the Green Lantern spark never entirely dies out. When untied with another Lantern who has not passed away, the spark is recharged.

Space Sectors

The Corps has expanded to an organization of 7200 Green Lanterns, with the average ratio of two Lanterns per sector. The specific arrangement of the 3600 sectors has changed over the years. If the universe is viewed as a sphere (or oblate spheroid), the sectors were originally described as wedges of that sphere, each 1/10 of one degree wide. This effectively meant that each Lantern had a sector of infinite size, since the universe is theoretically infinite. Later, sectors were described as being of non-standard location and size. A large area of vacuum between galaxies might be one large sector, while a galaxy like the Milky Way may be comprised of several sectors. The latest description amends the original one - sectors are now a one-degree by eighteen-degree section of the sphere-shaped universe, with the origin points meeting at Oa, which is located at the center of the universe. While this still results in an infinitely-sized sector, is not as spread out. Since the sectors all meet and begin on Oa, this means that Oa is in every Lantern's sector, and while a Lantern is on Oa, he is technically still patrolling his home sector.

Oa

Green Lantern Corps headquarters is on the planet Oa, in the center of the universe. Oa was destroyed shortly after Hal Jordan became Parallax, but was later reconstituted by Jordan's friend Tom Kalmaku. Formerly a natural if barren planet, the reconstructed Oa is now a vast labyrinthine planet-sized construct. Primary features include a great hall for the Guardians to meet in conference, training facilities for recruits, prisons called Sciencells for dangerous criminals, and tombs dedicated to honoring fallen Lanterns. Oa's most prominent feature is the Central Power Battery, a gigantic version of the Lanterns' personal power batteries.

The central battery channels the same green energy of the Guardians and amplifies it, broadcasting energy to the individual power batteries across the universe which can then be used to charge the Lanterns' power rings. Particularly dangerous beings, such as Sinestro or Parallax, are sometimes imprisoned within the central battery. Maintaining security on this device is vital as major damage to it would prevent individual Corpsmen throughout the universe from recharging their power rings, thus de-powering the entire Corps in a single blow.

The Guardians recently increased the capabilities of Oa's defensive systems by creating an armored structure that protects the planet.

Crypts of Oa

The Crypts of Oa contain the remains of the Fallen Lanterns, the honored dead who gave their lives in the service of the Green Lantern Corps. Under the watchful eye of the Lantern's Crypt Keeper Morro, the Honored Fallen Lanterns are memorialized; their images preserved in perpetual statues of Oan energy. The Fallen Lanterns serve to honor those who came before, and inspire those that now serve.

Initially it was believed that the ring was powerless against anything that was the color yellow. This was found to be caused by a monstrous universal threat known as Parallax having been imprisoned within the Central Power Battery of Oa. A creature of pure fear, Parallax almost had the universe in its thrall before the Guardians were able to imprison it. To overcome the yellow weakness, a Green Lantern must not turn away from their fear. Instead they must admit it, accept it, and confront it. Even then, a Green Lantern must still be able to overcome the persuasive voice of Parallax, fear itself.

Green Lantern Corp Recharge

The new structure of the Green Lantern Corps requires a space sector to be guarded by at least 2 Lanterns. This is to ensure fairness and effectiveness in justice. Sectors with heavy populations are also allowed more than 2 Lanterns.

There is also a reserve force stationed on Oa. Currently the Green Lanterns as well as the Guardians are reestablishing themselves.

Sinestro Corps War

Following his defeat during the rebirth of Hal Jordan, Sinestro retreated to the planet Qward in the Antimatter Universe, where he amassed an army known as the Sinestro Corps. Each member is armed with a yellow power ring mirroring the green ones of the Green Lantern Corps, and each member is chosen for its ability to "inspire great fear". Among the Sinestro Corps are Cyborg Superman, the sentient virus Despotellis, Ranx the Sentient City, now enlarged to planetary size, Superman-Prime, the Anti-Monitor, and the embodiment of fear, Parallax.

The war spanned throughout the universe from Korugar, where Sinestro toyed with his successor Soranik Natu; Qward, where the Corps lost the brave Ke’haan and where Jack T. Chance was murdered by the Parallax-possessed Kyle Rayner; Mogo, where the battle finally turned once the Guardians authorized the use of lethal force; and finally to Earth where the Guardians themselves aided the Corps in defeating the Anti-Monitor and the homicidal Superman-Prime.

Sinestro himself was defeated by Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner in hand to hand combat. Jordan placed Sinestro under arrest, while the remaining Sinestro Corps members fled into space.

In the aftermath of the war, the Guardians decide to bring the second of the new laws into affect. After realizing that the "Blackest Night" prophecy will come to pass, Ganthet and Sayd depart after creating a blue power ring with the intention of creating their own Corps, based on the spreading of Hope to the rest of the universe. The Anti-Monitor, drawn through the vacuum of space, finds itself on a dark planet and is transformed by an unknown force into a Black Power Battery. Many good Lanterns died curing the war; the aftermath of which is still shaping the Corps in new and unknown ways.

Green Lantern Honor Guard

The Corpse

               An elite, top secret, “Black-ops” division, “The Corpse” handle the darkest and most dangerous missions facing the Green Lanterns. The members of the Corpse follow different rules than normal Lanterns, and in fact most don’t even know of their existence. One example being that they were not bound by the use of Lethal Force even before the Sinestro Corps War.  (Gardner mentioned during a mission with them that he’d never heard of the Corpse, and after the mission his memory of them was erased.) Not much is known about the Corpse, though what is known pertains simply to their duties. Members of the Corpse do not use power rings like most Lanterns; instead they are given coin-like disks which when swallowed give them all of the same abilities for a limited amount of time. The energy produced by these disks is purple, as opposed to the usual green (though it is unknown with the recent revelations about the Emotional Spectrum what this means). Corpsemen do not wear the traditional green of other Lanterns, and under no conditions do they dawn the symbol. They tend to instead wear black uniforms that have no symbols, appropriate for their station.  With the recent authorization of Lethal Force against Sinestro Corps members and other enemies of the Lanterns after the war, the need for the continuation of the Corpse is in question by some. Though there will likely remain a need for those who work in the shadows.

Alpha Lanterns

No Lantern Escapes The Alpha Lanterns

After the Sinestro Corps War the Guardians create a new class of Green Lantern called the Alpha Lanterns. The Alpha Lanterns are seasoned Corpsmen who have been fused with their Power Rings and Batteries. Boodikka, Varix, Kraken, Green Man and Chaselon are all confirmed Alpha Lanterns; Hal Jordan is notably not chosen, and John Stewart is chosen but he declines the position.

The Alpha Lanterns function as Internal Affairs for the Green Lanterns Corps - Hal Jordan refers to them in the same manner. They have "the sentient drive and thought process of the Green Lanterns and the efficiency and logic of The Manhunters," as the Guardians turn them into cyborgs using Manhunter technology, and mainline their minds directly to The Book of Oa and the Central Battery. After the transformation, an Alpha Lantern would receive an additional power ring. Similarly to the most recent generation of Manhunters, Alpha Lanterns have a secondary face which can drain a Power Ring of its energy. The Alpha Lanterns tend to chant the Manhunter-like slogan "No Lantern escapes the Alpha Lanterns.".

Laira was the first Green Lantern to be punished by the Alpha Lanterns; for the crime of killing Amon Sur she was stripped of her powers and expelled from the Corps.

DCAU

In the DC Animated Universe, the Green Lantern corp made five appearances and were relatively unchanged. One major difference was the amount of Lanterns and the costumes. They appeared in: