The First 10 Villains Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern Fought, Ranked by Power

Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern debuted in Showcase #22 (1959) by John Broome and Gil Kane, and he helped reinvent the superhero genre along with Barry Allen’s Flash. Hal followed the Golden Age version, Alan Scott, bringing more of a cosmic outlook to the hero. This comic book was a test for DC, as there were three Hal Jordan shorts, with the final one seeing him battle his first supervillain, Doctor Parris, launching the new Green Lantern into superstardom before he ever got his first solo title. After two more Showcase appearances, Green Lantern Vol. 2 #1 (1960) finally gave Hal Jordan his own book to build his rogues’ gallery, and two of his first 10 villains became his greatest antagonists.

From the start, where Green Lantern fought a man with a hydrogen rocket and a paint can, to two years later when he was fighting a disgraced Lantern who would become his deadliest foe, here is a look at Hal Jordan’s first 10 Green Lantern villains, ranked by power.

10) Doctor Parris

The very first villain Hal Jordan ever fought as Green Lantern was Doctor Parris in Showcase #22 (1959) by John Broome and Gil Kane. This was the third Hal Jordan short in the issue, titled “Menace of the Runaway Missile!” Doctor Parris is a renegade scientist who launches a stolen yellow-painted hydrogen-powered missile at a government facility, hoping to be the first to harness hydrogen energy for himself. This is the fight that shows Hal has no power to stop yellow objects with his power ring. As a result, he has to use his brain to figure out a way to stop the missile and then find Parris. As for Doctor Parris, he has no powers, no allies, and was easily defeated, never showing up again in DC Comics.

9) Sonar

Sonar made his debut in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #14 by John Broome and Gil Kane. He is a villain from the small nation of Modora, an isolationist country not affiliated with the United Nations. A despotic ruler named Fando the Mad demanded that all modern science and technology be kept out of the country to keep it an idyllic paradise, and Sonar was a man named Bito Wladon who wanted to change that. However, because he grew up resentful, he went about it in a deadly manner. He eventually overthrows Fando and tries to expand his influence. This put him at odds with the Green Lantern, and he eventually also fought John Stewart and Guy Gardner in later years. His only power comes from his genius intellect and his sonic gun, which allows him to fly, project illusions, fire sonic attacks, and perform telekinetic feats.

8) Invisible Destroyer

The Invisible Destroyer debuted in Showcase #23 (1959) by John Broome and Gil Kane. The story here was “The Invisible Destroyer,” and this was the second issue where Green Lantern had a villain to fight, and this was the first one that had any superpowers of his own. The Destroyer is a costumed energy-being unwittingly created by Coast City physicist Dr. Martin Phillips, who keeps drawing a faceless figure that eventually manifests out of his subconscious and starts raiding atomic facilities. He has the power to absorb radiation and becomes stronger, with the goal of detonating a nuclear bomb to become all-powerful. Hal can only beat him by turning the anti-energy back onto the villain and disintegrating him. However, he was only a one-time threat.

7) Puppet-Master

The Puppet-Master debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #1 (1960) by John Broome and Gil Kane in the second story of Hal Jordan’s first solo Green Lantern comic. This was also the issue in which DC debuted the Guardians of the Universe in a flashback and set up the entire Green Lantern Corps mythos. Puppet-Master is a mad scientist who invents a hypno-ray that lets him control anyone hit by the beam, using ordinary criminals as his “puppets” to commit robberies around Coast City while he stays hidden. However, he tries it on Green Lantern, only to learn that Hal’s will is too strong and Green Lantern arrests him on the spot. Invisible Destroyer seems deadlier, but Puppet-Master can control multiple people, building an army with enough time.

6) Zegors

The Zegors debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #8 (1961) by John Broome and Gil Kane. This issue sends Hal Jordan into the future as the Solar Council’s champion, “Pol Manning.” The Zegors are highly evolved Gila-monster-like aliens who invade 58th-century Earth, firing eye-beams that appear to vaporize their targets but shrink them to microscopic size. Hal just needs to shrink himself down as well and destroy the device powering their eye-beams. Once he does that, they end up being harmless, and he imprisons them before he is memory-wiped and sent home. As an alien strike force, they remain stronger than someone like Puppet-Master, although they need a device to give them any power.

5) Ferenc

Ferenc Aldebaran debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #12 (1962) by John Broome and Gil Kane, and this sees Hal Jordan return to the year 5702 A.D. on behalf of the Solar Council (which was where he initially fought the Zegors four issues earlier). Ferenc is a 58th-century magician who secretly seizes the minds of three generals (Bassett, Korning, and Mi-Vard) and mobilizes their armies against Star City. He possesses high-level mental domination and a paralysis effect that freezes Green Lantern in place during their final confrontation. This requires Hal to animate a statue with his power ring to beat Ferenc, even while Hal can’t move himself.

4) The Dryg

The Dryg debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #1 (1960) in the first story of the issue, “The Planet of Doomed Men,” by John Broome and Gil Kane. This is the first mission that the Guardians of the Universe send him on. The Dryg is a massive ape-like monster terrorizing the primitive humanoids of the planet Calor. It can fire mental energy bolts and drain the willpower of anyone it engages. The Guardians only give Hal 24 hours to deal with the threat before returning him to Earth, but the draining of willpower weakens Hal’s ring, making the Dryg a very powerful foe. In terms of physical power, it is the strongest in that area. However, three others rank higher thanks to other power sources.

3) Weaponers of Qward

The Weaponers of Qward debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #2 (1960) by John Broome and Gil Kane. This was the story that establishes the antimatter universe as an important Green Lantern setting. The Weaponers of Qward are an entire race of warrior-scientists from Qward, the antimatter counterpart of Oa, where evil is the law. They use golden thunderbolts, which are yellow-energy weapons specifically tuned to the Green Lantern ring’s impurity. Their power comes from the fact that they are an entire civilization and not one villain, and their power source utilizes the Green Lantern ring’s main weakness. They are also the ones who arm Sinestro with his first yellow ring.

2) Hector Hammond

Hector Hammond debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #5 (1961) by John Broome and Gil Kane, making him Hal Jordan’s first recurring, signature villain that remained a constant threat for the next few decades. Originally a petty criminal turned mad genius, Hammond discovers fragments of an evolution-accelerating meteor (the same kind that uplifted Gorilla Grodd in Africa) and uses it to kidnap and force-evolve four scientists, draining their wills as he does. Hammond’s baseline powers, including his hyper-evolved intellect, telepathy, and telekinesis, grow with each appearance until his head is so enlarged his body can no longer move, making him a pure psychic juggernaut. His powers reach a level over time where he can shatter someone’s mind. He is also the first Green Lantern villain who can overpower a power ring with raw mental force. Hammond is the villain who appeared in Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern movie.

1) Sinestro

Sinestro debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #7 (1961) by John Broome and Gil Kane, and he is not only the most powerful villain Hal Jordan fought at the start of his career, but his arch-nemesis that would stand the test of time. Sinestro was fully formed when he was introduced, a former disgraced Green Lantern banished to the antimatter universe, where he allied himself with the Weaponers of Qward, who gave him his yellow power ring. Since his ring is yellow, he has a power that Hal’s ring can’t combat, and Sinestro was a Lantern long before Hal, making him more disciplined and tactical. None of Hal Jordan’s first Green Lantern villains were more dangerous than Sinestro, who eventually led DC Comics to the “Sinestro Corps War.”

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