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The upcoming Warner Bros. movie GREEN LANTERN, based on the DC Comics superhero and played by Ryan Reynolds looks to be a lot of fun. It could be the best superhero film of the summer!
There’s been a Green Lantern character in comics since the 1940’s. Even if you’re a fan, here’s some strange facts you may not know about Green Lantern!
That would be Alan Scott, who was the “Golden Age” Green Lantern back in the 1940’s. Not only is his costume completely different, but so is his origin. Instead of being a member of an intergalactic police force, he was a railway engineer who came across this magical lantern that promised him power beyond his means, kind of like a modern-day Aladdin and his magical lamp. Out of this lantern he carved a mystical ring which made him all-powerful.
The original Green Lantern (Alan Scott) was co-created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger. Martin Nodell was also the creator of flour company mascot- the Pillsburry Dough Boy. Bill Finger is known to be the uncredited co-creator of Batman (along with Bob Kane) and is responsible for being involved with the creation of many Bat-characters still used to this day including Catwoman, Joker, Penguin and many more.
The Green Lantern is known as one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, yet has one of the dumbest weaknesses ever.. the color yellow. Due to an “impurity” in the ring, the most powerful weapon in the entire blasted universe.. is powerless against the color yellow. “Yellow what?” , you ask – and quite rightly so. The answer.. anything yellow. That means that villains could simply paint their weapons yellow and be invulnerable to the power of the Green Lantern. One villain even decided to cover himself with gold, and call himself Goldface of all things, so he could fight Green Lantern.
No word if he was ever defeated by master villain Banana Man!
His weakness is wood. You could literally beat him up with a half-descent baseball bat. Getting a splinter could kill the guy.
The Green Lantern Corps covers the entire known universe (except certain parts of Cleveland, no one is sure why). There’s 3600 sectors of the universe and each sector has it’s own Green Lantern (some sectors, such as Earth, have a few). Earth is in sector 2814. There’s all kinds of alien Green Lanterns out there. There’s plant-headed humanoids, hog-like warriors, chipmunk-like beings, furry dog-like guys who get fleas… and even a Green Lantern who’s a sentient planet named Mogo (yes you heard me right). Mogo tends to keep to himself though.
After his home town got destroyed along with everyone in it, Hal Jordan LOST HIS MIND and went on a rampage after the Guardians of the Universe wouldn’t help him make things right. In his quest for more power to fix things, he killed many of his fellow Green Lanterns and became the villain Parallax. Later on, Hal redeemed himself by sacrificing himself to defeat a threat that would have destroyed the universe.
Hal went from hero to villain to sacrificial lamb, and then was dead. He was offered redemption by taking over the mantle of The Spectre, a divine spirit of God’s vengeance. The Spectre was a force formerly bound to this existence by the soul of a dead cop named Jim Corrigan, who found redemption and moved on. Hal bonded with this force after he died and fought for his redemption. One of those deeds, was bringing back his best friend from the dead – Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen.
Eventually, Hal Jordan came back from the dead. Turns out he didn’t need to find redemption through the Spectre entity, because he hadn’t really gone bad, he had just been possessed by the evil entity Parallax – which was the cause of the impurity in all the Green Lantern’s rings. Somehow he came back to life, as these heroes always do, and resumed fighting crime through the universe as the hero Green Lantern.
The Guardians of the Universe are a bunch of immortal big-headed Blue midgets from the planet Oa who have deemed themselves the Guardians of the Universe. No doubt, they belonged to the D&D club in college and didn’t have much luck with the ladies. They “oversee” (or boss around) the Green Lantern Corps.
Yes, the Green Lantern ring is the most powerful weapon in the universe. The possibilities of what you can do with it are only limited by the wearer’s willpower and imagination. You can do almost anything with it that you want. Despite all this, the most common use for Green Lantern’s ring is producing big, glowing-green boxing gloves. Again – it’s the most powerful weapon in the universe – and they use it to make big boxing gloves to punch people with.
