| White Lantern Corps | |
|---|---|
 White Lanterns | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Blackest Night #7 (April 2010) |
| Created by | Geoff Johns (writer) Ivan Reis (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Kyle Rayner Simon Baz Sinestro Ice Deadman |
TheWhite Lantern Corps is a fictional organization appearing in comics published byDC Comics, related to the emotional spectrum. Founded during theBlackest Night event, the members of the White Lantern Corps are powered by the white light of life and are the opposite of theBlack Lantern Corps, which represent death.
The White Lantern Corps first appeared inBlackest Night #7 and was created byGeoff Johns andIvan Reis.[1]
Sinestro becomes the first White Lantern after bonding with theLife Entity, the embodiment of life itself.[2] However, the Entity is removed from Sinestro byNekron, and then claimed byHal Jordan who, joined bythe Flash, use its power to rescueSuperman,Superboy,Wonder Woman,Donna Troy,Ice,Animal Man,Kid Flash, andGreen Arrow, who had all been turned intoBlack Lanterns by Nekron, as well as theAnti-Monitor. Jordan uses the power of the Entity to severBlack Hand, Nekron's tether to the living world. The revived Black Hand regurgitates twelve white rings that destroy Nekron's body and resurrectMartian Manhunter,Aquaman,Deadman,Hawkman,Hawkgirl,Jade,Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond),Osiris,Hawk,Maxwell Lord,Captain Boomerang, andProfessor Zoom.[3]
The Entity tells Deadman that it is dying, and that he needs to find the "chosen one" to replace it; this becomes Deadman's assigned task. Deadman considers Hal Jordan to be the perfect candidate, and tells the Entity to take him to him.[4] Instead of taking him to Hal Jordan, the White Lantern Ring takes Deadman and Dove toAquaman andMera. Aquaman explains what the White Lantern has told him: to findJackson Hyde. Deadman questions why the Lantern has taken him to Aquaman when he should be searching for the Entity's replacement, and the ring replies that to find the new Entity, Deadman must help all the other resurrected complete their tasks. Aquaman understands what is at hand and explains to Deadman that for him to succeed, he must find and help others and explain to them what needs to happen.[5]Meanwhile, the White Lantern is acquired byDeathstorm (the Black Lantern version of Firestorm) who, by infecting it with his essence, is able to generate Black Lantern duplicates of the twelve heroes and villains resurrected by the Entity, apparently with the goal of preventing the resurrected from completing their tasks.[6]
Deadman commands the ring to resurrect the two heroes, but the ring refuses, saying that this is part of the Entity's plan. It is revealed that when Nekron attacked the Earth, not only was the Entity mortally wounded, but the contamination of the planet was also heightened. Furthermore, the corruption will rise up in the form of another "dark avatar" of the darkness who will try to destroy the Star City forest, which is the key to save Earth's soul. The Entity resurrects the twelve characters with different purposes. Some of them, like Hawk, Maxwell Lord and Jade, are supposed to prevent further disasters and give Deadman and the Entity more time. But five of them (Aquaman, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl) are resurrected in order to overcome what held them back in life and by completing their tasks. Thus, their life force is purified and the ring takes their essences back because they are essential in saving Earth. Deadman also has a secondary purpose: to supply the white ring with power by embracing life.[7]
When the "Dark Avatar" makes his presence known, Deadman is forced to collect Ronnie Raymond's essence, turning Firestorm into one of the Elementals. Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl are also revealed to be part of the Elementals, which guard the forest located inStar City. They have been transformed by the Entity to represent the elements of Water (Aquaman), Fire (Firestorm), Earth (Martian Manhunter), and Wind (Hawkman and Hawkgirl). The elementals protect the Star City Forest from the "Dark Avatar", which is revealed to beSwamp Thing corrupted into a Black Lantern.[8] After Swamp Thing is returned to normal, the Entity restores the elementals to their normal selves.[9]
In September 2011,The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the events of the "Rise of the Third Army" storyline hasKyle Rayner unite the powers of all seven Corps to stop the latest threat, despite Kyle's uncertainty about his ability to channel the powers.[10] After Kyle has mastered the seven powers of the emotional spectrum, he is transformed into a White Lantern with the ability to destroy some members of theThird Army, and now will apparently be able to stop the threat of theGuardians of the Universe.[11] Later, Kyle and Carol Ferris arrive at the destroyed planet Korugar, the homeworld of Sinestro. Sinestro attacks them both, blaming them that his home planet is destroyed by the villainous First Lantern. He notices that Kyle has become a White Lantern and demanded that Korugar be restored, but Kyle fails to resurrect Korugar. Sinestro struggles with Kyle for the white ring, attempting to become a White Lantern himself, but the ring rejects him. The white ring then comes into the possession ofSimon Baz, but he is rejected as well. The white ring then returns to Kyle's ownership.[12]
After he absorbs the power of the Life Equation when passing through the Source Wall to defeat Relic, Kyle realizes that his power has grown too great for him to keep it all under control and that he would die very soon because of it, caused him to create the 'Oblivion' entity to destroy himself so that he cannot endanger anyone else. However, various other ring-wielders (including Carol and the repowered Saint Walker) band together and convince him to have hope, resulting in Kyle working with the Templar Guardians to split his ring into seven rings, each finding a new wearer who will wield part of the Life Equation without risking being corrupted by that power (with the option of recombining into one ring in a time of great crisis).[13]
Each White Lantern possesses apower ring that lets the user create white energy constructs powered by life itself. The original wielder of the Entity, Sinestro, displays the ability to eradicate swarms of Black Lanterns effortlessly and is described as "godlike". He also appears to survive a seemingly fatal wound from which he recovers within minutes.[14] When Hal Jordan wields the power, he demonstrates the ability to create additional rings and restore heroes claimed by Nekron to life.[3]
When Deadman possesses a white ring, he demonstrates the ability to resurrect a dead bird.[3] He is also able to transform the area of land devastated byPrometheus into a lush forest. However, this seems to be the work of the Entity, as Deadman had been unable to access the ring's powers himself.[15]
A green ring can be altered to function like a white ring if the user can master the emotional spectrum.[10] This version of the ring is similar to a much more powerful version of the standard green ring, and ignores the Third Army's resistance to Lantern constructs, but displays no other special properties.[11]
As a White Lantern, Kyle Rayner briefly had theLife Equation within his ring and could use the power of the entire spectrum.[16][17][18] Eventually, he had to split the Life Equation into seven parts and placed into Kyle's and six newly created white power rings and sent the rings out to choose their new bearers. These seven rings can be brought together to restore the Life Equation if needed.[13]
The White Lantern entity is the embodiment of life. It is the parent of the other emotional entities, resembles a winged humanoid, and resides within the Earth.[2][3][24]
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