Every week in 2018, the plan is that my friend Rod is going to ask me some geeky question that will answer in a post. This week is Week #15, and this week’s question is really just a continuation of last week’s:
How would the rest of Season 1 of my live action Green Lantern Corp TV series play out?
That’s right, last time I outlined my idea for the pilot episode of a theoretical live action Green Lantern Corp TV series. Rod specifically stated “Green Lantern Corp” in his question, not “Green Lantern”. However, my story idea clearly focuses around Green Lantern Kyle Rayner (read the story here, read about Green Lanterns in general here) during a time when the Green Lantern Corp doesn’t exist, so I don’t know if that disappoints him or not. I tried to still keep the Corp itself at the center of my overall direction, but it is a little bit of a stretch.
Anyway, my pilot episode (double length movie, really) ended with Kyle Rayner having been firmly established as Green Lantern on earth and flying off to Oa to find out what happened to the rest of the Corp, leaving his girlfriend Alex back on earth. And that’s where the rest of our season–thirteen episodes in all–picks up.
Incidentally, apologies in advance, some of these descriptions are really long and others less so, depending on how much thought I’ve put into it. This whole thing is a bit rushed, really, which accounts for why it is so long with so few images. I don’t really consider it my best work, but then again most of the time you have more than just a couple of weeks to outline a whole TV series (at least, I assume so).
Green Lantern Corp
starring [Talented Newcomer] as Kyle Rayner and [Seasoned Veteran] as Hal Jordan.
Episode 2
Kyle’s ring (and the consciousness of the last Guardian, Ganthet, who speaks to Kyle through the little lump of matter which serves as his power battery) takes him across the galaxy to Oa, where Kyle finds the destroyed remains the Green Lantern citadel and the Central Power Battery. The ring shows Kyle scenes from history: first, a mighty gathering of much of the Corp when a young Hal Jordan helped lead his colleagues to defeat the renegade Green Lantern Sinestro. Then, Kyle sees a time much later when a more seasoned Hal Jordan talks with his friend, the alien Green Lantern Kilowog. The two have defeated an villain known as Fatality (as female mercenary with an electric whip-type weapon), and imprisoned her in cells in the back of the Citadel. They share a joke about another human Green Lantern, a bad-tempered red-haired man Kyle has never seen before.
Finally, the ring shows Kyle a time from just a few days ago, when Hal Jordan was fighting Kilowog above the surface of the planet, just prior to his final attack on Oa. The dialog offers Kyle some tantalizing hints as to what happened to Hal–he claims that the Guardians “never cared” and that they are denying him the power that he deserves. Kilowog refuses to back down, and to Kyle’s horror, Hal murders him.
Kyle’s history lesson is interrupted when he’s attacked by Fatality, who has only just managed to escape from her cell, having been trapped in the rubble of the Citadel for the last few days. Fatality is determined to kill any and all Green Lanterns that she encounters, but has a particular grudge against a Green Lantern from earth. After a fierce battle through the remains of the planet, Kyle is able to defeat her, but Fatality escapes.
The battle has brought Kyle to the place where the Guardians sacrificed their life energy to empower the last of their number, Ganthet. Just before, the Guardians launched away from Oa a piece of technology they call “The Cradle of the Guardians”, in order to protect it. It disappears into space and then into another dimension.
As the ring shows him this scene, Kyle learns that over Ganthet’s objections, the dying Guardians locked away all knowledge of something they call “The Great Fear”. Kyle realizes that this is why he is unable to learn about what happened to Hal Jordan directly. Instead, Ganthet is showing him the hints he needs to know to find out the story himself.
Having figured out the direction that Hal came from, Kyle sets off from Oa, determined to find out what took place that drove Hal to his insanity.
Meanwhile, on earth, shady government types bring the advanced technology of the Weaponers (defeated in the Pilot) to their shady underground laboratory, and begin to experiment upon it.
Episode 3
Kyle’s journey takes him an abandoned planetoid which Hal Jordan came near on his way toward Oa. There he meets a marooned alien called Tomar-Tu, who was once a Green Lantern. He fought and was defeated by the enraged Hal Jordan on his journey toward Oa, and was left injured and unconscious. When he awoke, he found his ring no longer functioned, and he has been struggling to survive since. When Tomar learns about the fate of Oa, he realizes that it is because of the destruction of the Central Power Battery that his ring is now useless. Especially because of this, Tomar is amazed that Kyle’s ring still works, and is even more astonished when his ring functions again as well, but only in the presence of Kyle’s ring.
Tomar doesn’t know why Hal attacked Oa–only that he was ordered by the Guardians to stand against him. But Hal Jordan was the greatest of all Green Lanterns–indeed he is the one who recruited and trained Tomar, and Tomar stood no chance against him. Both Tomar-Tu’s recruitment and battle with Hal are seen in flashback; at the former another human Green Lantern, John Stewart, appears. Kyle is confused…how many human Green Lanterns were there? Tomar doesn’t know.
Tomar is more concerned with the state of his home world Xudar which is not far from where they are. Before Hal’s attack, a invasion ship of Weaponers, the foes Kyle faced on earth, were approaching, and Tomar has no idea how his people have fared since. The two make their way there, while Kyle muses that it was cold of the Guardians to pull Tomar-Tu away from his own world when it was in such danger. Tomar affirms the Green Lantern oath to follow all orders given to them by the Guardians.
Tomar’s home planet turns out to still be struggling with a small band of Weaponers. It seems that most of them fell afoul of Hal Jordan as well and were destroyed. It was survivors from this attack who later attempted to trace Hal Jordan to earth, and were defeated by Kyle. Kyle and Tomar defend the world and send them away, but the local inhabitants fear that they still pose a danger. Before Kyle leaves, Tomar attacks him, wanting his ring. But Kyle’s ring will work for no one but himself, and he is able to overcome Tomar. In this we see the former Green Lantern’s brokenness, how the ring had given him a sense of identity, and how close it came to destroying him to lose it so abruptly. Kyle is regretful but still determined to leave, and Tomar comes to understand that he has to find another way to go forward.
Meanwhile, on earth, the shady government types see that their experiments with the alien technology will require a human subject. An officer with them, the highly militant and determined Major Clifford Zmeck, volunteers.
Episode 4
On his journey, Kyle is amazed to discover the Mosaic world – a planet full of cities taken from many different worlds. One of the those cities is from rural America on earth, and living there is John Stewart, a former Green Lantern whose ring is also now useless. Kyle learns that John was on a leave-of-absence from the Corp, focusing his energy on taking care of Mosaic and helping the disparate races there form a community.
John fills Kyle in on a lot of history: he was originally a back-up for Hal Jordan. He had replaced Guy Gardner in this role after Guy was injured in an accident. Much later, Green Lantern rules were changed for them to allow all three of them to serve as part of the Corp together. Guy Gardner left the Corp a couple of years ago, and John had spent most of the last couple of years on Mosaic.
The Mosaic was an experiment perpetrated by a Mad Guardian. He had somehow lost his mind, and then used his great power to pull cities from across the galaxy to one previously uninhabited world. His brethren defeated and banished him but refused to undo what he had done, wanting to see how the experiment played out. John Stewart had been appalled by this decision but did his best to help the Mosaic society work, in hopes that the Guardians would eventually set things right. In time, many on Mosaic grew to appreciate what they gained from living with each other, and remained voluntarily when the experiment was finally over. This included the city from Earth where John lives.
When Hal Jordan was attacking Oa, John was ordered by the Guardians to stand against him, but he refused–his trust of the Guardians long since evaporated, and issues on Mosaic required his attention. But after his ring ceased working, he did at times wonder if he’d made the right choice.
John accompanies Kyle to a nearby lifeless world that Hal apparently visited, and there they see signs of a fierce battle. Kyle again attempts to get the ring to reveal to him more details about what happened with Hal, but again he finds himself “blocked” – he just catches a glimpse of Hal in the middle of a fierce battle, yelling about what happened to Coast City. However, with the help of John’s superior knowledge and will power, Kyle is able to piece together the fact that Hal was fighting no one but himself.
Both men are disturbed by this revelation, but don’t have time to consider it before an alarm from Mosaic comes through John’s ring: Fatality has appeared and is attacking the city. They race back to confront Fatality, who harbors a deep grudge against John for his failure to save her home world early in his Green Lantern career. They defeat her, but the crisis is not over. Fatality’s actions have led to a breakdown of trust between some of the species on Mosaic, and if not contained, the situation could lead to the collapse of fragile peace on Mosaic…
Meanwhile, on earth, Major Zmeck is bombarded by alien energy and transformed into the super-powered Major Force. He is told his mission: retrieve the greatest weapon the earth has ever seen from it’s owner–the Green Lantern power ring.
Episode 5
Kyle helps John restore communication on Mosaic, and provides security for him while John musters all his diplomatic skill to prevent an outbreak of violence.
The crisis averted, John shares a bit more about Hal Jordan before Kyle leaves. He can’t imagine what turned him from the heroic exemplar of all Green Lanterns to the monster who murdered his fellow officers and destroyed the Corp, but whatever it was must have started at the fall of Coast City. Hal’s energy signal comes directly from earth, so Kyle decides to go home.
Kyle returns to earth and is reunited with Alex. He learns that the process to clean up and rebuild Coast City has run into a mysterious hurdle: there is an area of the rubble, obscured by smoke and dust, which is protected by a mysterious energy shield. Kyle goes to investigate when he is confronted by Major Force, who is attempting to take his ring. In the course of the battle, Kyle learns that the government has never trusted Green Lantern, especially after the destruction of Coast City. Nobody knows where the mysterious attack that destroyed the city came from, and there are rumors that it was actually caused by Green Lantern himself.
In the end, Kyle is able to defeat Major Force, and ultimately humiliates him in battle.
Kyle arrives at Coast City, and finds the area with the energy shield. Using his ring, he is able to penetrate this shield, and to enter the mysterious “forbidden zone”.
Episode 6
In the “Forbidden Zone”, Kyle encounters a bizarre green-energy phantoms of people, homes, and even pets that were part of Coast City before it was destroyed. Navigating through these solid illusions, he eventually finds their source: Hal Jordan himself, who now contains the energy of the Central Power Battery within himself. He has retreated to the middle of his old hometown, Coast City, in his depression.
As they talk, Kyle can see that Hal is not thinking clearly, though he isn’t aggressive. He states that he didn’t want to hurt anyone, he just wanted the power to bring Coast City back, but the Guardians denied him…so Hal was left with no choice. Kyle counters that that’s not the case, Hal didn’t need to kill all those people. But Hal felt he could just bring them back eventually, so it didn’t matter. To prove it, he brings Kilowog back to life right then and there in front of Kyle, and Hal and Kilowog exchange a few words. But then Kilowog dissipates, because, as Hal discovered, even his new power was not enough to bring anyone back from the dead.
Kyle tries to find out more of what happened to Coast City, but his ring tries to stop this from happening. Hal realizes that Ganthet is “in” the ring, and breaks the limitation on the ring so that Kyle can hear about what took place. This has the additional consequence of “silencing” Ganthet, so that Kyle can no longer communicate with him.
Kyle is upset but Hal says he is better off without the Green Lantern Corp or the Guardians. Their vision was fundamentally flawed, which is why it keeps producing renegades–the Mad Guardian, Sinestro, and now Hal Jordan himself.
In flashback, we see how Hal Jordan was attempting to stop an invading alien ship that was attacking earth with Coast City as a staging hub, but he found his willpower faltering during the battle and the alien’s weapons got past him, devastating the city. The destruction of the city, and his own failure in the matter, overwhelmed Hal and led to a psychotic break. After Hal defeated the aliens, he roamed the city’s ruins, attempting to restore it but failing at every turn, until he was ordered by the Guardians to stop that effort. Enraged, he laid siege to Oa to recover the power he needed to make what happened in Coast City right.
We see in flashback as Hal makes his way toward Oa, and how various Green Lantern stand in his way. One of them is Boodikka, a female warrior who Hal defeats, and eventually cuts off her hand. Each confrontation increases his anger further, until he is the raging monster that we’ve seen in the other flashbacks. Back in the present, Hal continues to argue how he was a victim, how the Guardians couldn’t be trusted, but Kyle isn’t buying it. He can see in Hal that he wasn’t just angry, he was terrified…terrified of not being able to fix things or to undo his terrible failure in Coast City, and that fear led him to his brutality.
Meanwhile, Major Force has dragged himself back to his secret government headquarters, where he is berated by his superiors, and ordered to find another way to recover the power ring from Green Lantern.
As Hal is telling this story, Kyle realizes that the illusions of the city that Hal is still generating have shifted in hue from green to yellow. Hal seems more curious about it than anything else, as if he’s only vaguely aware of something changing inside him. When Kyle presses him about it, Hal begins to get agitated, and attacks him. Kyle fights back, but is outclassed. But Hal, who has now gone fully yellow, doesn’t kill him, as he’s more focused on realizing that there is a new power growing within him, which could be what he needs to reshape everything, to make everything right and everything…safe.
Hal leaves, leaving an injured Kyle behind.
Episode 7
Recovering from his encounter with Hal Jordan, Kyle makes his way out of Coast City (the strange energy field has dissipated with Jordan’s departure) and recuperates at Alex’s. He’s not sure what to do, considering whether he should try to seek advice from John Stewart or anyone else, especially now that he no longer has access to Ganthet. Kyle bemoans the fact that he doesn’t have access to all the Green Lantern Corp, like his predecessors did.
While thinking about things alone, Kyle is suddenly grabbed by a yellow construct. At first he thinks that Hal Jordan has returned, but it turns out to be the brash and loud-mouthed Guy Gardner, another former earth Green Lantern. Unlike the other former members of the Corp that Kyle has encountered, Guy wasn’t a member at the time of the fall of Oa–he had been kicked out of the Corp by Hal Jordan himself years earlier, as the culmination of years of tension between the two.
Determined to continue to have a role in galactic affairs, Guy had eventually stolen the yellow power ring of Sinestro, the renegade Green Lantern Kyle learned about earlier, who had been executed by being disintegrated by the Central Power Battery itself, in punishment for his many evil crimes. Sinestro had acquired the yellow ring from the Weaponers of Qward, who had created it as a unique, one-of-a-kind weapon, and used it to terrorize many innocent lives for years after he had been removed from the Corp.
Guy had come to earth looking for Hal Jordan, unaware of recent events. He has found that something is wrong with his mind, and even though he’s confused, he has realized that he needs help. Kyle quickly surmises the problem has to do with the prolonged exposure to Sinestro’s ring. This ring, he learns, isn’t powered by Willpower, like the Green Lantern rings, but by fear, and that power is making Guy paranoid.
Meanwhile, Major Force’s government colleagues have figured out that the new Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner, and he determines to use the information to complete his mission.
Meanwhile Kyle begins to put the clues together–the Guardians buried knowledge of a Great Fear before they sacrificed themselves. Could this be the fear that powers the yellow ring? Hal Jordan began to turn yellow after absorbing the power of the Central Power Battery, and he demonstrated great fear himself in their confrontation.
Kyle is forced in the end to wrestle the ring from Guy, but eventually Guy sees the wisdom of it. He is depowered, but clearer in his thinking. Suddenly, the Yellow Ring comes to life, shooting off into space of its own volition, clearly in search of a host. Concerned by what this means, Kyle attempts to follow the ring through space.
But the ring is much faster than Kyle, and eventually reaches someone that it finds to be a suitable host: Fatality, who once powered through the Yellow Ring bursts out of the cell she is imprisoned in…
Episode 8
Kyle attempts to trace the Yellow Power Ring but runs afoul of other Yellow Ring bearers, who have gone looking for Fatality to welcome her as one of their own. Kyle is confused that there seem to be multiple yellow rings, and finds that his own ring is greatly weakened when attempting to fight against them. Kyle is captured and imprisoned by them, as they don’t know what to do with him.
Fatality, now a “Yellow Lantern”, is desperate to use her new powers to attack John Stewart and the Mosaic world, but that is not their leader’s wish, so she is forced to stand down for now. More and more Yellow Lanterns join the group, who are hiding out on a barren asteroid, as more Yellow Rings find bearers.
Kyle is able to use Fatality’s single-minded obsession to trick her into releasing him, rendering her unconscious in the process. He makes a hasty retreat, and makes his way to Oa, where he learns the leader of the Yellow Lanterns is going.
Arriving there, he finds none other than Hal Jordan, using his power to create Yellow rings, which are shot out into space to find wearers, people who are the victims of Great Fear. Hal senses Kyle’s presence and restrains him. When asked what he is doing, Hal simply states that he realizes that he can reshape the universe and keep anyone else from suffering as he has suffered, but he needs help to do it. He needs a Corp, so he’s generating Yellow Rings. And now he’s returned to Oa to get the help of the one person who understands the Yellow Ring better than anyone.
Returning to the remains the Central Power Battery, Hal is able to pull forth the essence of the executed Sinestro, allowing his body to reconstitute. Hal declares a partnership between them–he wants Sinestro to train the members of his new Corp in how to use their rings. Sinestro insists upon killing Kyle first, but Hal refuses–he sees Kyle as a brother of sorts.
Sinestro leaves and Kyle tries to convince Hal that he is not the one in charge. Someone or something has been manipulating him all along–otherwise why did Weaponers attack Coast City of all places? Why did Hal Jordan’s willpower fail on that occasion? And what happened on that planetoid where Hal apparently fought himself? Hal rejects all these questions, but says he finds no pleasure in imprisoning Kyle, so he lets him go. But, he can’t have Kyle as an enemy, so he takes and discards the green lump that Kyle uses as a power battery.
Just then, on earth, Major Force tracks down Alexandra DeWitt in Kyle’s apartment and murders her (though he doesn’t, as a point of interest, stuff her into a refrigerator). The ring picks up her death throes, and Kyle becomes aware of what is happening at the point of her death. He cries out in shock.
Episode 9
Free of Hal’s control, Kyle races off to earth, too late to save Alex or stop Major Force. As he sadly cradles her lifeless body, Hal appears to him. This is his chance…he doesn’t have to overcome fear as Green Lantern; he can erase fear as the wielder of a Yellow Power Ring, and inflict it upon others. Kyle rejects this and pushes Hal away, who leaves.
Now, without his friends, without Alex, and without Ganthet, Kyle turns to the only person he knows on earth who he believes would understand him: Guy Gardner.
Gardner commiserates with Kyle, saying that if he still had his yellow ring he’d waste no time cutting out Major Force’s heart for what he’s done. Kyle confesses he doesn’t know what to do, which is why he hasn’t gone after him yet. But now he knows he can wait no longer.
Kyle makes a big show of the fact that he’s back on earth, drawing Major Force out to confront him. The two fight and Kyle loses his focus and strikes out in rage and anger. In the midst of this, Hal makes telepathic contact with him, feeling his fear and anger, and seeing in them a kinship. Kyle rejects that but Hal insists, showing up once again, and using his great power to instantly paralyze Major Force. He presents him to Kyle, saying it’s his opportunity to make things right.
But as angry as Kyle is, he rejects Hal’s proposal that giving into fear is the only way. Instead, he uses his power ring to sap Major Force’s great powers from within his body, leaving him just an ordinary man, broken and defeated. But Kyle knows that in a way, Major Force isn’t his real enemy. He finds out from him who his commanders are, and quickly finds his way to Major Force’s underground headquarters, which turns out to be the offices of a secret government organization known as SHADE.
There, he confronts the cadre of soldiers and scientists and officials who gave the orders that led to Alex’s death. Most are overwhelmed at the display of power, but one stands his ground. He shows Kyle a series of portfolios, all of people Kyle knows: Alex, his mother, his brother, his neighbor, his landlord, and so on. Once they figured out who Kyle was, they did rundowns of all his associates. And if Kyle resists, then Alex was only the first–even if all of these people are wiped out, others will take their place.
That does it. Kyle is suddenly overwhelmed with fear at the thought of what being Green Lantern has brought on the people loves, and he is transported into a mental fugue where he faces a monstrous, hideous yellow insectoid beast: an Entity of Fear at the heart of the Yellow Rings.
Episode 10
Kyle face the Fear-Entity, a being of pure emotion that threatens his sanity. The Entity wants to consume Kyle’s soul, and it hungers for the whole universe. But Kyle is able to keep his cool and not give in. He even manages to escape it’s clutches…but he quickly realizes he’s just in a mental landscape created by his psyche. He’s not in the entity’s direct presence, but he is still trapped.
In the “real world”, Kyle has gone into a catatonic state, but the ring continues to protect him with a force field, leaving him untouchable by the SHADE forces.
In the dreamscape, Kyle encounters hallucinations of various memories, including Alex, John Stewart ant even Tomar-Tu. Most oddly, Kyle finds himself talking to the Mad Guardian, whom he never met but only heard of, who offers to be Kyle’s mentor in the absence of Ganthet. Kyle rejects this.
Eventually, Kyle figures out that he can mentally “summon” Hal Jordan (who has already been in mental contact with him) and bring him to where he is. Kyle confronts Hal about the Fear Entity, saying this is what is controlling him.
Hal is resistant at first but eventually begins to see the truth of what Kyle is telling him. Then, in a rare moment of lucidity, Hal asks Kyle for help, and we see in another part of the dreamscape an uncorrupted Hal fighting back against the Fear Entity. This, Kyle realizes, is Hal’s own psyche, which has now been merged in with the vision. Indeed, deep inside, Hal is not only resisting the Fear Entity, he is partially restraining it–holding it back from being fully released upon the universe (explaining the conflicted nature of Hal’s actions).
Kyle attempts to help, but the Fear Entity is more powerful than them both. Kyle realizes that the only way to defeat fear is to overcome it, and the only way to overcome it is to face it. Hal talks about the fear he felt when he was trying to save Coast City–he saw the city fall just before it actually did–a vision the Entity put into his mind–and that brought the fear into his life that has since gripped him. When he flew off to confront the Guardians, he didn’t know what he was going to do, and ended up crashing onto that planetoid to think things through. Instead, he felt the fear gripping his mind, and as desperately as he tried, he couldn’t shake it–this is what what produced the fearsome battle that Kyle and John discovered.
Coming to greater terms with himself and his limitations, Hal is strengthened, but it’s still not enough. Finally, Kyle pours all of his ring’s energy into Hal, giving him the strength to overcome and defeat the Entity. Both Kyle and Hal are thrown from the dreamscape…
Kyle returns to consciousness, in the underground lab, but now he’s powerless and unprotected. He is restrained by the government officers, and his ring removed from him.
Episode 11
Back on Oa, Hal Jordan awakes from the battle in the dreamscape, now back in touch with his own personality and mind. His power, however, is flickering and weak.
He wanders Oa and sees the signs of the devastation that he brought when he was under the Fear Entity’s influence, including the remains of Kilowog.
Meanwhile, on earth, Kyle is tortured by the government officers, who are frustrated with the power ring’s lifelessness. So far, they have been unable to analyze it or make use of it.
In space somewhere, the Yellow Lanterns are learning their skills under the tutelage of Sinestro. Fatality reports to Sinestro that no more Yellow Lanterns are showing up, apparently there are no more rings being created. Sinestro steals away by himself and attempts to create a new Yellow Ring under his own power but is unable to. Just then a figure approaches him, unseen by the audience, and surprising Sinestro…
Hal finds the inert green rock that was Kyle’s link to Ganthet and power battery. Remembering what it is, he pours the last of his energy into it, and Ganthet is reborn. Ganthet and Hal share meaningful dialogue about what has happened to them both, and Ganthet says this is not a time for recrimination, but an opportunity to set things right. He goes to the Central Power Battery and infuses it with energy once again.
Around the galaxy, Green Lantern rings begin to activate. We see John Stewart, Tomar-Tu and others realize this, and of course…Kyle Rayner.
Kyle’s ring, brought to life, stirs a furor of activity in the SHADE laboratory. Kyle’s torturers become gleeful, assuming that this is a step closer to victory, but the brutally injured Kyle knows better: the ring works for nobody but him, and he has learned to command it even when it is not on his finger. He recovers the ring, heals himself, and easily defeats his captors.
They taunt him, however, claiming that he has no recourse against them, because of what they know about his life and loved ones. Kyle responds by erasing the information, both from the computers and from their minds. Then he uses his ring to broadcast to the entire world (on TV’s the internet, and giant green screens over the major cities of the earth) the leaders of this SHADE lab identifying themselves and confessing their involvement in illegal government activities, and then depositing them in a Middle Eastern desert.
Promising to return and rescue them if they can stay alive, Kyle heads off back to Oa.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Lanterns are waiting for their next move. One plucky ring-bearer says they will have to talk with their master back on Oa, to find out his instructions, but Sinestro lashes out against him, killing him (and thus sending his ring off to find a new bearer). Sinestro thus takes leadership of the Yellow Lanterns, claiming that he is now the master.
Episode 12
On one planet in the galaxy, a peaceful race go about their business, when suddenly people begin to become paranoid and fearful. A yellow glow engulfs the world as members of the Yellow Lantern Corp descend upon it…
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, Green Lanterns who have been suddenly re-powered by Ganthet’s actions return to Oa. Hundreds begin to show up, many of whom have no idea what happened when their rings were suddenly deactivated. Some have stories of how they were nearly killed when their rings failed, and their are rumors of others who were. Some of the Green Lanterns there, including Tomar-Tu and Boodikka, are the ones who actually fought Hal Jordan, and when they see him standing there (powerless now) they are furious. John Stewart approaches Hal to find out what really happened, but Hal is quietly accepting of their judgment–he deserves it.
Another repowered Green Lantern, Arrkis Chummuck, makes his was to Oa, but suddenly comes under attack from Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns, and is killed. Sinestro captures his ring, and we see he has several others.
Kyle Rayner lands and is amazed to see all the growing army of Green Lanterns standing around, but is concerned at their growing ire at Hal. As best as they can determine, 6 Green Lanterns were directly murdered by Hal Jordan during his rampage, and hundreds of others are missing in action following the destruction of the Power Battery. Kyle tries to intervene–he insists that Hal was a victim of a power that is stronger than any of them; any of them would have become its victim. But his words fall on deaf ears–indeed, most of the others do not know who he is.
Ganthet comes out of the Citadel (where he’s been working on something secretly) and introduces Kyle as the Torchbearer, the one who carried the existence of the Green Lantern Corp singlehandedly while everyone else was down. And Kyle vouches for Hal but the rest of Lanterns won’t have it. They won’t find or stand along side of someone who did what Jordan did. Ganthet agrees–Hal won’t be punished for his crimes, but he be re-accepted either–he’ll be sent back to earth. Kyle argues against it–Hal has nothing back there, his home has been destroyed. But Hal submits to it, he thinks it’s better than he deserves. Ganthet sends Hal back to earth.
Ganthet catches up all the other Green Lanterns: he is the last Guardian, but the Corp will be reborn. Even now, he has summoned the Cradle of the Guardians–a piece of technology that is the legacy of the Guardian’s work. It will soon be emerging near Oa’s sun, from the other dimension that it was hidden in.
Just then, Sinestro and some of his Corp show up in the upper atmosphere of Oa, calling out a challenge. A handful of Green Lanterns respond but find themselves overwhelmed by the Yellow Ring’s power. The ones who are killed again have their rings captured by Sinestro, and the survivors return to the planet claiming that something strange is happening…their rings seem ineffective against the Yellow constructs. Ganthet realizes that everything that has happened has introduced an impurity into the ring’s energy, an impurity that makes them vulnerable to the Yellow Rings. Sinestro and his comrades surround all of Oa with a giant yellow shield, which the Green Lantern’s are unable to penetrate. Not only does this trap them, but it means that they will be unable to recover Cradle of the Guardians when it reemerges, something that Sinestro is well aware of.
Sinestro awaits the return of the Cradle, along with his Corp and their master, who is revealed to be the Mad Guardian.
Episode 13 (double length movie)
The Green Lantern Corp is trapped, unable to cut through the Yellow Lantern’s shields. From either side of the shield, Ganthet and the Mad Guardian converse. The Mad Guardian has become the living avatar of the Yellow Fear Entity, and it was he who engineered the Corp’s downfall. He provoked the Weaponers (who in the past had been used by the Fear Entity to create the first Yellow Ring) to attack Coast City, and secretly attacked Hal Jordan psychically which contributed to his failure. Then afterwords, he continued to press the mental attack until Hal was completely in Fear’s thrall. It was a sword that cut both ways though–only by using someone as strong as Hal did this allow them to get to Oa and the Central Power Battery itself, but because it was Hal the Mad Guardian’s control was limited, which is why Hal didn’t slay more Green Lanterns, etc.
The yellow shield must be continually fueled by a series of Yellow Lanterns in order to be maintained, so John Stewart finds Fatality in this wall and purposely provokes her, taunting her until she loses control and weakens the shield. John battles and defeats Fatality, and this provides a distraction allowing for a small breach in the shield which Kyle tries to get through. Sinestro stops him though, and almost kills Kyle, but not before he is able to do what he intended: release two unclaimed Green Lantern Power Rings in the galaxy, which immediately shoot off to a predetermined destination, to get help from the two toughest fighters Kyle knows.
A couple of Yellow Lanterns try to stop them but the rings outpace them to earth. One of them lands on the finger of Hal Jordan. The two Yellow Lanterns both attack him, but he immediately springs into action, proving to us all why he is considered to be the greatest of the Green Lanterns. A recorded (on the ring) message from Kyle tells Hal to watch out for these guys, they have used the power of fear to disable to the Green Lanterns, but for Hal this is no problem. He has already faced his greatest fears, and both lost and won, so he is not affected like the others.
The other ring has landed on Guy Gardner, who comes to Hal’s aid, and the pair defeats the Yellow Lanterns, and leave them imprisoned in deep space. The two men have a long history of antagonism, but they put aside their differences and head off to Oa.
Back on Oa, John has realized in his battle with Fatality that the yellow can be broken, if one can face and overcome the fear that it’s intrinsic to the yellow power. He leads a team of Lanterns to do try to do so. Meanwhile, Sinestro decides to not just wait for the Cradle to arrive; instead he and the other members of his Corp begin to compress the yellow shield.
Hal and Guy arrive and attack the Yellow Lanterns from the rear, creating the distraction needed for John and the others to break out from the inside. Open war breaks out between the ring bearers–with the Green Lanterns having the superior numbers, but the Yellow Lanterns having fear-based power that many of the Green Lanterns are not equipped to face.
During the battle, Ganthet goes to retrieve the Cradle as it is about to appear back in our universe, but he is attacked by the Mad Guardian from behind. Ganthet is injured, and the Mad Guardian gloats.
John Stewart and Guy Gardner lead the other Green Lanterns in a fierce defense against the Yellow Lanterns. Sinestro steals away from the battle and lands on Oa by the Central Power Battery. He intends to absorb the rekindled energy in the battery to once again depower the Green Lanterns. Kyle, recovering on the planet from his injuries, sees this and rallies himself to fight back against Sinestro.
Meanwhile, the Mad Guardian uses extra power from Ganthet to augment himself, and uses that extra power to attack the Green Lantern Corp with an overwhelming burst of fear. Most of the Lanterns are overwhelmed by fear, except for one: Hal Jordan. Hal fights back, able to easily overcome the fear-based attack. He manages to keep the Cradle from the Mad Guardian, using all his ingenuity and courage to keep a step ahead of his vastly more powerful enemy.
In the battle, Hal finds himself brought back to the mental landscape where he confronts the Fear Entity. The Entity attempts to lure Hal back into its fold, but Hal’s will is too steadfast, and he is able to use the Entity’s telepathic abilities to release the rest of the Corp from Fear’s influence. The result is that the Mad Guardian nearly overwhelmed with fear himself. During all this, Ganthet recovers, and defeats the Mad Guardian once and for all.
Sinestro realizes that things are turning against them, and retreats, having been unable to get past Kyle to the Power Battery.
The Yellow Lanterns either captured or fled, the Green Lanterns return to Oa, and Ganthet opens the Cradle, revealing a dozen genetic code containers. Ganthet infuses each with energy, and they turn into a dozen baby Guardians! The Guardians are reborn, and the future of the Green Lantern Corp seems hopeful.
In the story’s epilogue, Hal Jordan is formally enrolled back into the Green Lantern Corp. Not everyone is happy about this, but most can’t help but to acknowledge that Hal was instrumental in the defeat of the Yellow Lanterns, and that he amongst them is the most equipped to fight back against them. However, in consequence of his failures, Hal is denied any sort of “honored position”. He rejoins at the same level as a new recruit, and becomes simply, the Green Lantern of his sector of space.
Guy Gardner is also welcomed back into the Corp takes up residence on Oa, becoming the new head trainer for new Green Lantern recruits, replacing the fallen Kilowog (to whom a statue is erected). John sets to return to Mosaic to continue being the Green Lantern of that sector. And Kyle remains on Oa, continuing to be honored amongst the rest of the Corp as the Torchbearer, assisting Ganthet in the rebuilding of the Corp and the care of the new breed of Guardians.
Kyle returns to earth with Hal, who thanks him for all that he has done in his rebirth. Hal knows he has a difficult road ahead of him readjusting to life on earth and in the Green Lantern Corp, and determines to start by assisting in the clean up and restoration of Coast City. Kyle, for his part, visits Alex’s grave, and farewells her before returning to Oa.
On Oa, at a special ceremony with a bunch of Green Lanterns (including Kyle and Guy who live on Oa), Ganthet speaks of the challenges that the Corp faces, including Sinestro and his Corp who are still out there. Ganthet releases thousands of new Power Rings that take to the skies to find bearers, as the Corp begins to rebuild in earnest.
Kyle, Hal, Guy, John, Ganthet and the others will return…in Season 2 of
Green Lantern Corp
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