5 Worst Things That Sinestro Has Done That Make Him Green Lantern’s Deadliest Foe

Sinestro played an important role in HBO’s Lanterns from the DC Universe (DCU), and there is a good reason for that. Sinestro is the Green Lantern’s most important and longest-running archnemesis, and he has done more to hurt Hal Jordan specifically than anyone. Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, Sinestro debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #7 (1961) as a former Green Lantern who was considered the best of them all. However, after the Guardians learned he was abusing his powers to enslave his homeworld, they stripped him of his ring. This led him to use the power of fear from the yellow ring the Weaponers of Qward created for him. He would form the Sinestro Corps years later and remains one of the most iconic Green Lantern villains in history.

His time in DC Comics is long and storied, and there are several things that he has done over his existence that prove he is one of the best villains the company ever created. From his fall as a Green Lantern Corps member to directly being responsible for Hal Jordan’s downfall, here is a look at the worst things Sinestro has done in DC Comics.

5) Sinestro Ruled Korugar as a Dictator While Still a Green Lantern

Much like Hal Jordan, Sinestro was chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps because of his honor and fearlessness. His entire sector was nearly devoid of crime and lawlessness, and the Guardians chose him to help mentor several rookie Lanterns, including Hal Jordan. However, over time, Sinestro fell from grace. He began to use heavy-handed tactics against the Korugarans on his home planet. When they threatened his family, his wife sent his daughter away and died soon after, and Sinestro took control of the planet through force.

It was Hal Jordan who learned that Sinestro had become a ruthless dictator on Korugar and was forcing the planet to worship him. Jordan finally convinced Sinestro that what he was doing was wrong and took him to Earth, but the Guardians learned what happened and brought him back to Oa. They found him guilty and stripped him of his ring, making him an enemy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. This was a rare instance when the Guardians had erred in their judgment, something that had never happened before Sinestro.

4) He Enacted Sinestro’s Law

The DC Rebirth era had a storyline titled “Sinestro’s Law,” which saw Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns enforcing order across the galaxy. This happened when the Green Lantern Corps mysteriously vanished, and Sinestro’s Yellow Lanterns took over universal law enforcement. Hal Jordan had no ring or planetary protection duties at the start, so he forged a new ring from willpower to fight back against Sinestro.

Sinestro used his Sinestro Corps to take control through collected doses of concentrated fear fed into a fear engine, with the help of a quasi-religious faction called the Sacrament. Sinestro used fear to rule and create peace, which was really no different from what he did when he took Korugar years before and lost his role as a Green Lantern Corps member. Sinestro stepped over the line in this story and merged with Parallax to take control of Warworld before Hal Jordan finally stopped him.

3) Sinestro Woke Up Parallax (Which Led to Hal Jordan’s Downfall)

In the 1990s, Hal Jordan’s home of Coast City was destroyed by Mongul and Cyborg Superman, and Hal used his ring’s power to bring back illusions of his loved ones to deal with the trauma. When the Guardians chose to punish Hal for this and tried to strip him of his ring for using it for personal reasons, he lost control and killed the Guardians and several Lanterns before becoming Parallax. This was Hal’s great downfall, and it made him one of DC’s most dangerous villains. This was retconned years later when it was shown that Parallax actually possessed Hal and pushed him into these actions.

That brings about the reasons this happened. It was all Sinestro’s fault. Sinestro awakened Parallax, who was imprisoned in the Battery, and in Green Lantern: Rebirth #5-6 (2005), Sinestro revealed that he orchestrated Parallax’s awakening and was responsible for it taking over the hero and the destruction that played out after that. Parallax became a recurring weapon for Sinestro after this, and he used it again in “Sinestro Corps War” against Kyle Rayner.

2) Killed the Guardians of the Universe

Sinestro killed the Guardians of the Universe in a moment that mirrored the time Hal Jordan did the same thing as Parallax. In the New 52, DC rebooted several characters and created new origins and storylines for top DC heroes. In the New 52 story “Wrath of the First Lantern,” Sinestro started out as a member of the Green Lantern Corps and a close ally of Hal Jordan. However, the First Lantern, Volthoom, destroyed Sinestro’s home planet of Korugar and left Sinestro floating above it, grief-stricken and angry.

Sinestro ended up showing up to help the Green Lantern Corps fight Volthoom, and he voluntarily merged with Parallax, believing he could control the entity and beat Volthoom. After Hal used Nekron to kill Volthoom, Sinestro revealed to Hal that he had already killed the Guardians of the Universe, saying they were responsible for his planet’s destruction. Ganthet and Sayd survived, with Sinestro leaving another for Atrocitus. The Green Lantern Corps did not beat Sinestro, and he banished himself.

1) Started the Sinestro Corps War

When DC brought Hal Jordan back from the dead, it also began to expand the Corps, creating several different colors of Lanterns, each with a different responsibility. This really all started with Sinestro creating the Sinestro Corps. He had already received his yellow power ring years before, but now he had built his own Corps of Lanterns, all using their rings to rule by fear. The storyline played out in “Sinestro Corps War,” and Sinestro pulled in two members from each sector, recruited for their ability to instill great fear.

After his defeat in Green Lantern: Rebirth, Sinestro retreated to Qward’s antimatter universe and built an army of yellow-ring wielders. The Sinestro Corps attacked Oa and Earth, and Sinestro revealed he planned to make Earth the Sinestro Corps’ homeworld before moving on to Warworld. In this war, 440 Green Lanterns died, and one Guardian sacrificed himself. What makes this so bad is that the Guardians rewrote the Book of Oa to authorize lethal force. Sinestro saw that as winning, since the Lanterns now used fear.

What are your favorite Sinestro stories in DC Comics? Let us know what you think Sinestro’s deadliest actions in comics have been in the comments below.

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