The New Green Lantern's Dark Powers Rewrite DC Lore, Redefining the Hero's Symbol: "This Lantern is a Beacon of Evil"

Oct 27, 2024

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WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Green Lantern: Dark #1For decades, the light of Green Lantern has been a symbol of hope for the DC Universe. However, in DC's darkest continuity yet, Green Lantern's light plays a different role that sets them apart from their usual depiction. The new Green Lantern shares a revelation about her powers that gives them a haunting new meaning in DC lore, redefining the role of the Lanterns.

Green Lantern: Dark #1 by Tate Brombal, Werther Dell'Edera, and Giovanna Niro is an Elseworlds tale set within a post-apocalyptic version of the DC Universe. Every other hero has been wiped out, and only the new Green Lantern, Rina Mori, remains. However, when a girl named Lunette requests her help, Green Lantern refuses and shares that her powers aren't the force for good that they're believed to be for one critical reason: her lantern attracts the monsters that are terrorizing innocents.

Rina Mori declares, "This lantern is a beacon of evil." The lanterns that fuel the power rings of Green Lanterns have always been viewed as symbols of good, so this lantern being twisted in such a dark way is a shocking rewrite of classic lore.

In the grim world of Green Lantern: Dark, Gotham villain Solomon Grundy has unleashed his monsters across the DC Universe after being revived by a former Green Lantern. Grundy's monsters travel wherever he goes, and he seeks out the light of the Green Lantern above all else due to his history with Rina Mori's predecessor. Because of this, the light of the Green Lantern brings destruction as monsters follow it alongside Grundy. Green Lantern Rina Mori bears the responsibility of stopping Grundy's undead forces as the last surviving hero, but she rejects this duty because of the death her lantern has brought to others.

Green Lantern's symbol of warding off evil has become the very thing that summons evil.

In a major upheaval to DC lore, Rina Mori's lantern has transformed her from a symbol of hope to what she refers to as "a funeral pyre" due to the misery she's wrought. Typically, Green Lanterns carry their power batteries and use them to charge up their rings so that they can fight for justice. The green light they emanate is synonymous with hope, as evidenced by the Lantern Corps' iconic oath: "Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power - Green Lantern's light!" Now, Green Lantern's symbol of warding off evil has become the very thing that summons evil.

Green Lantern refuses the title bestowed upon her, insisting that she is simply Rina Mori and wants no part of the myths that people have curated about her. These myths come in the form of stories told by those who have been victimized by monsters. This issue opens with the young girl, Lunette, regaling survivors with the legend of Green Lantern and encouraging people to flash their own lights so that the superhero isn't alone in her fight against evil. It's when Lunette encounters Green Lantern for herself that her mythologizing of the hero begins to crack.

A new Green Lantern is the last surviving hero amidst a deadly apocalypse, and thus becomes the DC Universe's only hope to vanquish the darkness.

When Lunette crosses paths with Green Lantern, her patron hero, at long last, the meeting doesn't go as she'd anticipated. In a move that's a far cry from the usual heroism of a Green Lantern, Rina Mori turns her back on the people of the New England town when Grundy sets his sights on them. Lunette insists that they need her, but Rina has lost everything since inheriting her Lantern powers and thus wants nothing to do with them. Not only have Rina's powers deviated from the norm, but she herself betrays the ideals of Green Lanterns by abandoning those in need.

Though Rina Mori may not want to be the Green Lantern of this universe, she can't run from her destiny forever. When Lunette's town is attacked as Grundy makes his way over, Green Lantern comes to the people's aid and casts a spell to shield them as they run to safety. Her powers are wishes that she wills into existence, a fantastical reimagining of Green Lantern constructs, and soon Lunette's will gives her a green flame of her own to wish upon. Together, Rina and Lunette turn the dead against Grundy and manage to defeat him.

Green Lantern will always bring light to even the darkest times.

In this epic moment, Green Lantern's power is reclaimed as a beacon of good rather than evil. The willpower that Rina Mori channels through her lantern gives the zombies back their own will so they can stop Grundy and end the apocalyptic nightmare. Furthermore, the lantern's flame choosing Lunette proves that its wielders are as pure of heart as they are in the main DC Universe. In all continuities - regardless of harrowing circumstances - Green Lantern will always bring light to even the darkest times, proving her lantern is a symbol that hope perseveres no matter what.

Green Lantern: Dark #1 is available now from DC Comics.

Green Lantern is the name given to multiple enforcers of intergalactic justice in the DC Universe. Green Lanterns can harness the cosmic energy of willpower, and create unique spectral objects to face off against their enemies. Though some Green Lanterns have assisted with the Justice League, they primarily belong to the Green Lantern Corps.

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