Who Are The Multiverse Green Lanterns?

By Jesse Russell on August 2, 2019 in Green Lantern Corps, The Full Bleed

Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern issue 10 cracked open the Multiverse and introduced as to the “Guardians of the Multiverse.” This team is a collection of Green Lanterns from different Earths (perhaps more correctly Universes because they aren’t all from the Earth in their Universe). Thanks to the solicitation for issue 10 we know Morrison plans for 12 Lanterns to join the team.

Twelve parallel worlds! Twelve Green Lanterns! And one unstoppable menace! Hal Jordan joins the Green Lanterns of the Multiverse—including Bat-Lantern, Tangent Green Lantern and more—to save a dying Multiverse, defeat the relentless Anti-Man and embark upon their “Quest for the Cosmic Grail”! It’s another Morrison/Sharp science fantasy epic!

Thanks to the cover for the issue we have a decent guess as to who seven of those Lanterns joining Earth Prime’s Hal Jordan will be. Three more appear in issue 10 bringing the total of known Lanterns to 10. Two, including the mysterious black, fin-headed Lantern on the cover, will likely be revealed in issue 11. I’ve pulled together an explainer for these ten light slingers starting with the seven from the cover. They’re listed below from left to right in the above image.

Table of Contents

Magic Lantern

Earth: 47
First Appearance: Animal Man Vol. 1 #23
Creators: Grant Morrison and Chaz Truog

Magic Lantern made his first appearance during Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man. He’s pulled to Earth-1 when Psycho Pirate attempts to use Arkham Asylum as an anchor to bring back characters lost during Crisis on Infinite Earths. He’s a member of the Love Syndicate of Dreamworld. We eventually learn more about Dreamworld in The Multiversity: Guidebook.

Home of the psychedelic champions of the Love Syndicate of Dreamworld led by Sunshine Superman, and including The Shooting Star, Speed Freak, Magic Lantern, and Brother Power, The Geek. The Love Syndicate is financed by the immortal teenage President Prez Rickard. All is groovy.

In Earth 47’s Universe, the Guardians of the Universe equivalents are the Galactic Gurus. One known Guru is Guru Joz.

Spectra

Earth: 8 (theory)
First Appearance: The Green Lantern #11
Creators: Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp

We meet the rainbow-powered Spectra in the eleventh issue of Grant Morrison’s The Green Lantern. We don’t have any background information or a mention of an Earth, so it’s difficult to say where her home Universe might be. There are a couple of characters bearing the title “Spectra” in DC comics history.

The earliest known Spectra was an enemy of the Blackhawks over in the Quality Universe (occasionally known as Earth-X). Her powers were phantom-like and not rainbow-like, so she’s unlikely this Spectra.

Spectra was also very briefly the name of the resurrected body of Violet Harper. Harper’s body was once inhabited by an alien from a race called the Aurakle which gave her light-based superpowers. She used them under the codename “Halo” as a member of Batman’s Outsiders.

Theory one: It is possible on another Earth the Aurakle act as the equivalent of the Guardians and they give protectors light-based powers by inhabiting their bodies.

Theory two: This is Earth 8’s equivalent of a Green Lantern. Earth 8 is DC’s playful analog for the Marvel universe. That Earth is populated by heroes with powers similar to their marvelous counterparts. In the Marvel Universe, there’s already a rainbow powered character named Spectra. Introduced in Bret Belvins and Bob Budiansky’s brilliantly bonkers series Sleepwalker, Spectra is a living rainbow who focuses her powers through a synthetic crystal. No? Too crazy?

Len Lewis

Just Imagine Stan Lee’s Green Lantern | Art: Dave Gibbons

Earth: 6
First Appearance: Just Imagine Stan Lee’s Green Lantern
Creators: Stan Lee and Dave Gibbons

Professor Len Lewis received his power while on an archeological adventure seeking the mysterious Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. He’s slightly more like Captain Planet than Green Lantern because Yggdrasil charges him with the protection of the planet due to man being its own worst enemy. In his original design, he’s portrayed as a bald being completely encompassed by green light.

During the 2015 Convergence event, we see a redesigned Lewis and his powers are connected to The Green like Swamp Thing. At the end of Convergence, he uses his ring to tap into The Green and bring his world, previously destroyed by Telos, back to life.

Earth-6 according to the Guidebook:

The happening home of Aquaman, Sandman, Batman, Green Lantern and other familiar names, given new and unfamiliar stories! On this world, Superman is a castaway cosmic cop from the planet Krypton. Wonder Woman wields the senses-sundering celestial staff of Manco Capac, the Sun God, while glistening Green Lantern channels the peerless power of the wondrous world tree Yggdrasil against the villainous Reverend Darrk.

Flashlight

Earth: 36
Alias: Hank Hallmark
First Appearance: The Multiversity #1
Creators: Grant Morrison and Ivan Reis

The most action we’ve seen from Earth 36’s Green Lantern, Flashlight, was in Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity event. I believe a handful of panels in that series have been his only appearances in the DC Universe. Instead of a power ring, he carries a power torch. I imagine it must be annoying to have to carry your weapon of choice instead of simply wearing it on a finger as a ring.

The torch contains a Kan-Du Hyper-Lens with seven power settings:

Flight
Force Field
Strength Cubed
Damage Resist, Level 23
Teleportation
Multi-offensive Ray
Universal Translate Function

On his Earth, he’s a member of the Justice 9. According to the Guidebook:

The homeworld of Justice 9, where the alien Optiman fought bravely alongside such heroes as Flashlight, Cyberion, War-Woman, Mer-Man, Blackbird, Bowboy, Iron Knight, Red Racer and more. Optiman was apparently killed by the Earth-45 monster Superdoomsday.

In Earth 36’s Universe, the Guardians of the Universe equivalents are the Custodians of the Cosmos. One known custodian is Custodian Dextra.

The Kreepitrons are a known enemy of Flashlight.

Abin Sur

Earth: 20
First Appearance: Final Crisis: Secret Files
Creators: Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones

Abin Sur was Hal Jordan’s predecessor on Earth Prime but on Earth 20 he’s still alive and well and functioning as the primary intergalactic police officer of Space Sector 2814.

As noted in the panel to the left, Abin Sur looks like a demon in this universe so he tends to do his work protecting Earth in the shadows.

At the end of Multiversity, Earth 20’s Green Lantern becomes one of the founding members of Justice Incarnate, a league of sorts charged with protecting the multiverse. He’s made a handful of appearances in mainline DC comics. His next appearance was in The Green Lantern #9.

The Multiversity Guide on Earth 20:

Home of the Society of Super-Heroes, a team of adventurers and science champions assembled by Doc Fate to include Green Lantern, The Mighty Atom, Immortal Man, Lady Blackhawk and the Blackhawks.
Earth-20 occupies a binary universe which tunes itself to occupy the same space as Earth-40 once every 100,000 years, with catastrophic consequences.

Hal Jordan

Earth Prime

Hopefully, you already know who he is. If not, visit “Who are Earth’s Green Lanterns?“

Green Lantern – Tangent Universe

Tangent Comics: Green Lantern #1 | Art: J.H. Williams

Earth: 9
First Appearance: Tangent Universe Green Lantern #1
Creators: Dan Jurgens, James Robinson, and J.H. Williams

Not to editorialize too much but of all the Green Lanterns on this list, I think the Tangent Universe character is the one I’m most excited about. In Dan Jurgen’s Tangent Universe, this Green Lantern is a necromancer. She uses the power of her Lantern to raise the dead “so they can perform one final mission.” She’s often at the whim of the Lantern which will drag her to the next body she needs to resurrect.

We don’t know who Green Lantern is. In fact, she doesn’t know who she is. She could be Lois Lane, Zatanna, or countless others who have died on Earth 9. Her memory is foggy. Perhaps she is all of them and is resurrected time after time.

She briefly pops into Earth Prime when Kyle Rayner was going by the name Ion. He steals the lantern from her as she goes back to the Tangent Universe and she ages rapidly. The lantern makes it to the JLA headquarters where John Stewart manages to power it and it goes back to Tangent. The Tangent heroes enlist Earth-1’s heroes to take down the evil Tangent Superman. It appears, when at the height of her powers, she also has the ability to bridge time and space as well as multiverses.

What the Multiversity Guide has to say about Earth 9:

Here, Superman is a human being of vast intellect and mental power, while the Atom takes his place as Earth’s foremost superhero.
Here, the light-powered flash is the first baby born in space. Here, the Green Lantern can resurrect the dead. Here, Joker is an anarchist prankster on the side of freedom, and Batman is a time lost armored spirit seeking justice throughout eternity.

Bat-Lantern

Earth: 32
First Appearance: Batman: In Darkest Knight
Creators: Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham

What the Multiversity Guide says about Earth 32:

When Bruce Wayne failed during his first night of crime fighting he sat in his study begging his dead father for a sign he can use to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. Abin Sur appears before him and tells him to go outside where his ship has crashed. There, Bruce Wayne of Earth-32 receives the ring. He hides the ship in what will become the Batcave.

As with the Earth-1 story, Green Lantern goes on to defeat Sinestro and the two become mortal enemies. Sinestro eventually returns to Earth and becomes Joker-like while inspiring other villains. It ties Bat-Lantern’s hands so he won’t leave Earth to attend other matters in 2814. The Guardians empower Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash with rings as an assist to Bat-Lantern.

Based on the description in the Multiversity Guidebook the fact that they were all Lanterns, too, eventually gets shaken up:

Here, Bruce Wayne is Earth’s Green Lantern and fights evil as Bat-Lantern alongside Black Arrow, Wonderhawk, Aquaflash, Super-Martian, and other members of the Justice Titans.

Left to Right: Len Lewis Earth-6, Bat-Lantern Earth-32, Flashlight Earth-36, Tangent Universe Green Lantern Earth-9, Hal Jordan Earth-0, Green Lantern Beyond Earth-12, Green Lantern Earth-23, Abin Sur Earth-20, Magic Lantern Earth-47

The Green Lantern #10 gives us this cool shot of Green Lantern at a round table like the knights of Camelot. It also introduces us to the two Lanterns to the immediate right of Hal Jordan.

Kai-Ro

Earth: 12
First Appearance: Batman Beyond Season 3, Episode 7
Creators: Paul Dini & Alan Burnett

Kai-Ro made his first appearance in the Batman Beyond animated series. He’d make the leap to print in 2010’s Batman Beyond miniseries. He’d only show up on a computer screen but it cemented the character as both print and animated canon.

Here’s what the Guidebook has to say:

With a timeline running slightly in advance of Earth-0, this is the near-future world of Batman’s successor Terry McGinnis and his Justice League Beyond allies, Green Lantern, Superman, Warhawk, Aquagirl, Big Barda, Micron and others. Together they face the threats of an untamed future reality!

Green Lantern Earth-23

Earth: 23
First Appearance: Action Comics, Vol. 2, #9
Creators: Grant Morrison & Gene Ha

We don’t know all that much about the Green Lantern of Earth-23. He’s a member of that Earth’s Justice League where Superman’s alter ego is the President. Here’s what was written in the Guidebook:

The arrival on Earth of Kal-L of Krypton – this world’s Superman – was the catalyst for a generation of superheroes including Nubia the Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Vixen, Steel, Mister Miracle, Black Lightning, and Amazing Man.

The Living Lantern

Earth: 15
First Appearance: The Green Lantern #10
Creators: Grant Morrison & Liam Sharp

The Green Lantern of Earth-15 was a version of Kyle Rayner. He was murdered, along with the entire planet, by a rampaging Superboy-Prime (Countdown to Final Crisis #24).

However, when the Guardians of the Multiverse arrive seeking the mysterious “Cosmic Grail” the come face-to-face with a being who calls himself The Living Lantern. Who is this being? What secrets to the Multiverse does he hold? We’ll, hopefully, find out in The Green Lantern #11.

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