Itís not uncommon to see a hero alias be taken up by more than just one individual.
The Batman mantle has been adopted by many well known heroes - and a villain or two - in
the past, and weíve seen a couple of different Captain Americas, Thors, and even claims to
the title of Superman over the years.
So it shouldnít surprise you that the Green Lantern alias has had a few familiar faces
from the DC Universe pop on a ring of their own, and today, weíre counting down our favourites
in our list of the top 10 superheroes who have been a green lantern.
For the sake of this list, we wonít be talking about any characters who in the past have
donned the Green Lantern ring - this means no members of the Green Lantern Corps the
likes of Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Jessica Cruz, etc.
That being said, letís jump in.
10 Hippolyta Taking place on Earth 32, the series Batman:
In Darkest Night introduced us to many heroes and villains sliding on power rings, including
the likes of the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta.
The story is an Elseworlds title in which Bruce Wayne is chosen to bear the Green Lantern
ring instead of Hal Jordan.
Bruce runs into conflict with the Guardians - more on that later - leading them to reach
out to Green Lantern replacements - multiple instead of just one, considering how great
Bruce was at the job - and this included earthlings Clark Kent, Barry Allen, and the Amazon Queen
Hippolyta.
9 Uncle Sam From Queen of the Amazons to an American icon,
next up at number nine we have Uncle Sam.
Yes, thatís right, Uncle Sam dons a power ring and becomes a lantern.
Sort of.
Sans suit.
In Superman/Batman, during issues 14-18 there is a story arc called Absolute Power in which
we explore an alternate timeline where the Legion of Super-Villains had gone back in
time, found Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent when they were youngins, and adopted them.
This led to them both becoming tyrants who dominated the world.
So, who fought against them in the future in rebellion?
Wonder Woman and Uncle Sam, whose powers are fuelled by the will of the American people.
When Sam gets his hands on a power ring, an object that runs on will power, you can imagine
how his own innate abilities mixed with those of a Green Lantern could give him super charged
powers.
While he still loses to the man of steel and the dark knight, the story is resolved when
the two titans come to release the consequences of their evil actions and reverse what the
Legion did in the past.
8 Superman Clark Kent has donned a Green Lantern ring
multiple times, including in the instance we mentioned back in number ten.
Thereís been two other notable instances - once in the mini crossover The One-Man JLA
in which Superman assumed the titles of other Justice League members, including Green Lantern,
in which Kal-El had been raised by the Guardians of the Universe instead of landing on Earth.
The second time was in 2000ís Elseworlds Superman: Last son of Earth, in which the
origin of Superman is shifted - rather than landing on Earth, he was born a human but
sent to Krypton when Earth is threatened by a meteor.
Heís raised as Kal-El on Krypton and is chosen by the Guardians to be the next Green Lantern.
He returns to Earth to find it wasnít entirely destroyed, and that all his time on Krypton
had given him incredible abilities.
7 Daffy Duck If you were a fan of Looney Tunes growing
up, or still are, the name Duck Dodgers may not be all so foreign to you.
Duck Dodgers was the heroic identity of Daffy Duck, a parody of Buck Rogers of the 25th
Century.
Daffy starred in a short as Duck Dodgers, which carried over into itís own TV show
back in 2003, in which one episode was titled The Green Lantern.
Yeah, you see where this is going.
Daffy, or Duck rather, got his costume mixed up with Hal Jordanís at the dry cleaners,
leading to him slipping on Halís ring and becoming the Green Lantern instead.
6 Kid Flash While the Kid Flash may not be the first hero
to come to mind when one thinks ìhey, you know who would be awesome as green lantern?î,
the characterís mentor, Barry Allen, had a long history of teaming up with Hal Jordan.
The adventures of the duo largely inspired Mark Waid and Tom Peterís Flash/Green Lantern:
The Brave and the Bold, which featured stories where the two would team up, including one
in which Wally West, then the Kid Flash, made an appearance.
During a battle, Wally loses his speed abilities when theyíre stolen from him, and in order
to keep him in the fight, Hal gave him a power ring that turned him into Kid Green Lantern,
or rather, just Kid Lantern.
Luckily his powers were shortly returned, but looks like Wally had a blast with that
ring in the meantime.
5 Barbara Gordon Keeping in line with unexpected Green Lanterns,
our number five spot is Barbara Gordon.
Barbara is best known for her role as Batgirl, and as the paraplegic hero Oracle.
Since the new 52, sheís been given the ability to walk again, but back in her Oracle days,
DC still managed to slip in a story or two where she had her mobility re-instated.
Case in point, JLA: Created Equal, an Elseworlds title that told the story of a plague wiping
out all men on Earth minus Superman and Lex Luthor.
At the time, Kyle Rayner was the current Green Lantern, and with his death led to the Guardians
needing to choose his replacement.
And Barbara Gordon fit the bill, which in turn gave her the ability to walk again.
4 The Flash When the new 52 continuity came into circulation,
the only two heroes in the justice league who had a bond prior to the group coming together
were Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, with their backstory being further explored in that continuityís
Flash Annual issue 2.
In between the flashbacks, readers got a story about how the two were stuck paying off an
old debt they acquired in the past to some old aliens by fighting it off in Arena World.
Towards the end of it, they were both really worn out, so when Hal was pretty much KO-ed,
Barry put on his ring and managed to save both of their butts with his new found Green
Lantern powers.
3 Batman Coming back to Batman: In Darkest Night, letís
take a look at our leading man Bruce Wayne, in at number three.
As we mentioned, in this Elseworlds title, Bruce Wayne was chosen to be the Green Lantern
instead of Hal Jordan.
Despite becoming one of the most powerful Green Lanterns in the corps, Sinestro, whom
Bruce had recently defeated, found a way to get back at him - by merging with the man
who murdered his parents, Joe Chill.
Of course, this led to Bruce going against the Guardians of the Universe and his oath,
pursing Sinestro and seeking revenge out of personal gain instead of protecting the entirety
of his sector.
Itís also not the only time Bruce has been a Green Lantern, though.
He donned Halís Green Lantern ring in Geoff Johnís run on Green Lantern, issue #9, when
he and Hal were spending some rehabilitating bro bonding time together in the Batcave after
teaming up to take down the Tattooed Man.
Hal gave Batman his ring to help him cope with his greatest fear.
It didnít really work.
2 Harley Quinn Harley seems like a bit of an odd selection
when it comes to power rings.
Which is what makes this story arc in Harley Quinnís Little Black Book - a series where
she teams up with other popular DC heroes - so entertaining.
In the second issue, sheís paired with Green Lantern, sort of, when Harley finds a Red
Lantern Ring that some sinister aliens have been hunting down.
The ring possess her, she fights Hal over it, manages to lose it, and then, after Hal
is knocked out, she must find a way to defeat these evil ring stealing aliens to prevent
them from carrying out their diabolical plans.
So of course she jacks his ring from him, pops it on her finger and becomes a Green
Lantern herself, summoning some classic Harley weapons via her willpower to smash the aliens
in.
She saves the day and even shares a comical kiss with Hal by the end of it.
1 Green Arrow Green Arrow scores our top spot, primarily
due to the characterís iconic history fighting alongside the Green Lantern.
Fans of Green Lantern will likely be familiar with the time that Hal Jordan when a bit insane
due to grief when Coast City was destroyed, leading to him causing some savage damage
of his own.
This was all due to Parallaxís possession over the hero.
All the troops were called in to help bring an end to Parallax, and Sinestro who had helped
pave the way for Parallaxís release.
Green Arrow was one of these troops, who managed to use an emergency Green Lantern Ring that
Hal had given him in the past to create an arrow out of his willpower and shoot Sinestro,
stopping him from killing Kyle Rayner.
Itís pretty epic.
There we have it friends!
Which of these is your favourite hero to don a power ring?
Let us know in those comments below!
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Iíve been Kelly Paoli and this has been top 10 nerd.
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