Warning! Spoilers ahead for Green Arrow #16!A brand-new White Lantern is changing everything fans know about the Green Lantern mythos. In a distant and corrupt world, the power associated with life itself has taken a very dark turn and has sworn revenge on Hal Jordan’s old friend, Green Arrow.
Amanda Waller has seized power by using a squad of Amazos to take the powers of nearly every hero on Earth. By her side is the Justice League’s surprising turncoat, Green Arrow. During his time working for Waller, he’s been hounded by one of her enforcers, a sinister villain known as Bright. The cybernetic monstrosity finally reveals his true colors and his shocking connection to the Green Lantern lore.
Green Arrow’s New Villain is an Evil White Lantern
Bright Finally Reveals His Origin
In Green Arrow #16 by Joshua Williamson, Amancay Nahuelpan, Sean Izaakse, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Troy Peteri, Amanda Waller is fuming over the heroes’ mounting a proper defense and demands to know where her agents are, including Oliver Queen and Bright. The two are actually with Team Arrow on a cargo plane headed to Waller’s base on Gamorra and Green Arrow has arrived in the nick of time to save his Lian Harper from being murdered by Bright. Bright unleashes a blast of light to blind everyone around him, but Green Arrow’s mask shields his eyes from harm.
…he was once his world’s version of the White Lantern.
Green Arrow provides a distraction so that Lian can get to safety, Arsenal can take control of the plane, and Connor Hawke can join Oliver to fight Bright. Bright is more than a decent fighter though, and lands several solid hits on Green Arrow. But Connor easily lands multiple blows against Bright, causing the villain to reveal his backstory. Connor and Oliver discover that Bright is from Earth-3, home of the Crime Syndicate, and that he was once his world’s version of the White Lantern.
Bright first appeared alongside Amanda Waller back in
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (2022)
!
However, Bright reveals that during an event known as the “Brightest Night”, Deadeye and Power Ring, Earth-3’s Green Arrow and Green Lantern, betrayed White Lantern by stealing his ring and leaving White Lantern for dead. He was found and repaired by Waller, who promised him a world where he could have his revenge on Oliver Queen and his family. Bright tries one last time to kill Oliver, only to fall from the plane, though Green Arrow is certain that the former White Lantern will survive.
White Lanterns Represent Life, But Earth-3 is Always Backwards
Good is Evil in a World of Reversed Moralities
As well known as the Green Lantern Corps is, the organization represents but just one fraction of the overall Emotional Spectrum. But before it was an array of multicolored and powerful lights, the spectrum consisted of one source, the White Light of Life. This light brought life to the young DC Universe, and though it was eventually fractured by the darkness, it still existed, waiting for someone to harness it’s immense and overwhelming power. After discovering the energy, Kyle Rayner infamously became the first person to attain White Lantern power by mastering every other light source.
The White Light was first revealed way back during
Blackest Night (2009)
!
However, history unfolds differently across the multiverse, especially when it comes to Earth-3, a world where heroes are villains, villains are heroes and nothing is what it seems. In this world, rather than the Justice League keeping evil at bay, the Crime Syndicate rules this world with an iron fist, led by tyrants such as the sinister Ultraman or the deadly tactician Owlman. Like the Prime Earth, this world has numerous Lanterns such as Power Ring, a villain once under the influence of an evil ring.
Though the Prime Earth was aware of Earth-3’s existence for years, Waller became determined to take Earth-3 for herself and assembled a new and improved Suicide Squad to do it. She succeeded and even managed to take control of the Crime Syndicate. While she was on Earth-3, Waller began to feel a higher calling to rid her home world of metahumans once and for all. To assist her, Waller collected numerous Earth-3 assets such as the odd amalgamated villain Konfusion and the mysterious Bright.
Make sure to see how Waller conquered the evil Earth in “War for Earth-3” (2022).
An Evil White Lantern Now Exists in DC’s Prime Earth
Could He Corrupt the Emotional Spectrum?
Bright has made one thing clear. He unequivocally hates Green Arrow no matter the universe he’s in and wants him dead. And while that represents a serious threat to Oliver and his team, something else has to be considered here. Bright was a White Lantern, which is fairly odd because aside from Sinestro and Black Hand (whose exposure to the White Lantern energies were extremely limited), there has never been a villainous White Lantern before. But it’s not exactly out of the question when it comes to a backwards world like Earth-3.
…what are the chances he could summon his old White Lantern powers…
Thankfully, Bright doesn’t have his White Lantern power anymore and barely has any power to his name, save for the cybernetic enhancements given to him by Waller. But it’s never explained how Bright got his White Lantern powers in the first place (other than they were ‘gifted’). Does he mean that literally or did Bright actually work like Kyle Rayner to attain his White Lantern powers. If it’s the latter, then what are the chances he could summon his old White Lantern powers on the Earth he now inhabits?
Those who have kept up with Green Lantern know that the Emotional Spectrum is fragile right now thanks to the current Green Lantern Corps leader launching an assault on it. It’s already caused a new sadness-powered Lantern to emerge, it’s not out of the question to think that someone like Bright, a person who held White Lantern power once, could reattain it. He’s not shown to die after falling from the plane and he’s determined to make Green Arrow suffer. Bright could easily take advantage of the Emotional Spectrum’s vulnerability and seize his White Lantern powers once more.
Bright is the Perfect Green Arrow/Green Lantern Villain
Someone Who Truly Hates Both Hard Travelin’ Heroes
Bright only mentioned how much he hated his version of Oliver, but he seems to harbor animosity towards his version of Hal Jordan as well. With Bright disappearing and potentially able to recover his White Lantern powers, he’d make for a perfect antagonist for Green Arrow and Green Lantern (and who doesn’t love seeing those two team up?). Hopefully when the dust from Absolute Power is settled, Green Lantern and Green Arrow can track down this disturbing new White Lantern.
Green Arrow #16 is available now from DC Comics.
Green Arrow #16 (2024) | |
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Green Lantern
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.
