The last decade has not been kind to the Green Lantern Corps. The leading Lantern Corps of the DC Universe has been in a state of flux, and that’s putting it kindly. Now finally after defeating Thaaros and the United Planets Lantern Corps the Green Lantern Corps were able to come back together stronger than ever. But while the Green Lantern Corps are back the rest of the DC Universe now has to deal with the fractured Emotional Spectrum. That has led to Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Jessica Cruz, and company to approach defending the DCU differently with so many unknown cosmic threats rising up.
GREEN LANTERNS LAST CORPS STANDING
Led by Thaaros tyrannical reign the United Planets successfully destroyed all of the Power Batteries in the DC Universe. This allowed them to gain control of the Emotional Spectrum and control their new United Planet Lantern Corps. Thanks to the remaining Green Lanterns, with help from a Red Lantern Sinestro, Thaaros and the United Planet Lantern Corps were defeated.
In the aftermath all the original Lantern Corp Central Power Batteries were no more. Thanks to their being a Green Central Power Battery secretly hidden on Earth that they were able to move to Oa. By doing so Hal Jordan ensured Earth wouldn’t be targeted by those looking for any Power Batteries that remained and brought the Green Lantern Corps back to their full power.
This has left the Green Lantern Corps back in a spot before Geoff Johns epic run. They are the space cops who had a clear way to connect themselves to the Emotional Spectrum. With that the Green Lantern Corps are getting even more organized with Jessica Cruz as the leader and the new Guardians of the Universe acting as advisors.
Jessica become the leader of the Green Lantern Corps was something she earned through her actions in during the Civil Corps War. With this Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, Jo Mullein, Simon Baz, and Keli Quintela to work the field. Given the state of the DC Universe and Emotional Spectrum there are plenty of opportunity for all the Earth and other Green Lanterns to use their experience in different ways. Especially Hal, John, and Guy, they are set up to be the live action live-action DC Universe that James Gunn is crafting. So the three of them being in the field makes sense to keep them in the forefront instead of worrying about day to day business.
FRACTURED SPECTRUM OPENS DOOR FOR CHAOS
While the Green Lantern Corps have been able to reassume their previous positions as space cops for the DCU the same can’t be said for the other Lantern Corps. The Lantern Corps that were powered by fear, rage, hope, compassion, love, and greed are all without their Central Power Batteries. The only thing left of the other Lantern Corps, that we know of, is Carol Ferris as the last Star Sapphire and Sinestro as a Red Lantern. In Carol and Sinestro’s cases they no longer needed Power Batteries as their unique connection to the Emotional Spectrum allowed them to continue as Star Sapphire and Red Lantern, respectively.
This highlights how the title of the new Green Lantern direction being “Fractured Spectrum.” Thaaros legacy will be the one who destroyed the Emotional Spectrum as we knew it for the last two decades. Because of that we are seeing all the emotions you can think of now being able to be harnessed. Though unlike before, without a dedicated Central Power Battery for all these emotions it has caused a chaotic use of the new way the Emotional Spectrum operates.
We have already seen the severe impact the fractured Emotional Spectrum can have with Nathan Broome as the first, and so far only, Sorrow Lantern. Nathan as the Sorrow Lantern has acted to the upmost extreme of the sorrow emotion. Nathan is certainly powerful as with his Sorrow Lantern powers he defeated Guy Gardner in Green Lantern: Fractured Spectrum. Though the way he controls his powers shows that Nathan is completely absorbed by the emotion giving him his Sorrow Lantern powers.
Which makes the return of Luciphage, a powerful vampire-like Sun-Earter, so dangerous. Thanks to being able to tap into the fractured Emotional Spectrum, Luciphage has created his own Starbreaker Corps. Between the Starbreaker Corps and Nathan as the Sorrow Lantern we see how the Green Lantern franchise is entering a dangerous period in their history. At least before they knew that the Emotional Spectrum had some form of control. But now the gloves are off and we don’t know how the Emotional Spectrum will impact the DC Universe.
SUPERBOY GETS A CHANCE TO BREAK OUT OF YOUNG JUSTICE BUBBLE
Possibly the character that is benefitting the most from the Fractured Spectrum direction is not a Green Lanteren. Instead, it is a member of the Superman Family. That member is none other than Conner Kent. After reaching the height of his status in Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis, Conner Kent has been one of the many DC Comics characters in flux.
As we see in Green Lantern #19, Kyle reveals the Green Lantern Corps can’t simply rely on their Power Rings. The last few years have shown them that they need powerful allies to help them deal with cosmic crisis, especially if their Power Rings fail for whatever reason.
With that Kyle Rayner presented Conner an opportunity to finally graduate from being stuck to be used only when there is a Young Justice or Teen Titans relaunch. Conner has proven himself to be a powerhouse in his own right. And his powers have grown enough that he can be a huge asset for cosmic adventures. Which is what Kyle sees as he recruits Conner to be part of special team made up of them him, Conner, and the debuting Odyssey the Time Bandit.
Right away this team of Kyle Rayner, Conner Kent, and Odyssey the Time Bandit are given direction like what we got in the 2012 Green Lantern animated series. The trio are even traveling in a specialized Green Lantern Corps spaceship, so Kyle doesn’t overuse his ring.
Going with this direction a fresh start both Kyle and Conner certainly need as their dynamic is new. It breaks them away from where they have been stuck in. Adding in a wild card with the new character Odyssey adds further potential to this much needed fresh direction.
With everything that has been established there is plenty of storylines to follow during the Fractured Spectrum era of the Green Lantern franchise. That will help the franchise not be as reliant on Hal Jordan and John Stewart as they’ve been for years now. Which will in turn strengthen Hal and John as leads at a time they will be key parts of the live-action DC Universe. It’s a win-win for the Green Lantern franchise.
For more opinions on anime, comic book, movies, and sports you can follow Kevin on Bluesky, Instagram, Threads, and Twitter/X.