7 Best Green Lantern Constructs, Ranked

Green Lanterns have one of the coolest power sets in all of comics. With their rings they can quite literally make just about anything that they can imagine. From a giant sword to an army of cattle ranchers, the various Green Lanterns have all put their minds to the test to create some wild and utterly baffling constructs throughout the years. Today we’re going to take a look at what I think are five of the most creative and coolest constructs that the GLs have willed into existence. There are hundreds, even thousands of different constructs to choose from for this list, but the ones I’ve chosen here are stand-outs against plenty of the bog standard constructs that are effective, but far less fun than they could be. So with that said, let’s get started.

7) Multiversal Symbol of Terror

This beautiful tribute to Gotham’s symbol of fear came about in one of the DC/Hanna-Barbera crossovers, Green Lantern/Space Ghost. After responding to a distress signal took him to a different dimension, Hal Jordan got into a fight with Larfleeze, but Space Ghost arrived and thought the Green Lantern was a villain himself. Hal was knocked down planetside, where he was surrounded by the heavily-armed local militia. He was desperate to find a way out without hurting anyone due to this obvious misunderstanding, so he tried to think of what he could use to scare everyone off. He dug deep to imagine the most terrifying thing he’s ever seen that could scare you off no matter what universe you were in. Having battled against agents of Death and been possessed by the literal Entity of Fear, Hal naturally decided his only option was a giant Batman construct. And hey, it worked! Even people in an entirely different universe know not to mess with Batman.

6) Eva GL-01

Each Green Lantern has their own strength, and Kyle’s is his boundless creativity. He’s an artist, and that special perspective has helped him create some of the funnest, most creative constructs imaginable. Like this one which appeared in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #48, where Kyle makes an actual Eva armor from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Giant robot armors are hardly out of the ordinary for our green-wearing space cops, because I mean seriously, who wouldn’t have that be one of the first things you make when you need to beat down on some big problems? But what’s special about this one is that it’s so clearly a reference and it is a treat to see. It’s a reminder that this type of referencing is exactly what a ton of Lanterns would do if they didn’t have to worry about copyright. It’s always neat to see, and Kyle putting his own spin on it is just awesome. Who doesn’t love giant robots? Personally, I would have made a giant Megazord, but an Eva is definitely just as awesome to see.

5) Universe’s Biggest Pinball

Yet another Kyle construct, this one came about when he was helping to train Simon Baz, specifically to show him that their powers aren’t limited by real world objects. Simon had a habit of creating normal machines like drills and cars, so Kyle trapped him in a giant pinball machine being played by a giant Kyle to demonstrate that one of a Green Lantern’s greatest strengths is being weird. Everyone knows how to react to a giant hammer coming at them, but suddenly trapping them in a ball that’s being knocked every which way against pillars that make ding sounds? That’s the type of thing that can throw someone off their game and give the Lantern a chance to end things before someone gets hurt. Creativity is one of a Green Lantern’s greatest strengths, and this is the perfect example of thinking outside the box. This construct is so great not just because it’s a creative use of the ring, but because of how it is the perfect teaching tool in the moment. It’s both awesome to see and narratively satisfying, which are both massive plusses in my book. 

4) Lobo’s Main Man

The Injustice 2 comics bridged the gap between the first and second Injustice: Gods Among Us video games, and it went wild whenever it could. One of the coolest arcs it held was a war between the Green and Red Lantern Corps, where the Reds recruited Starro the Destroyer. To combat the planetary conqueror and fill their weakened ranks, the GLs decided that the main man himself, Lobo would temporarily serve as a Green Lantern. It went about as well as you’d think. Lobo set his eyes on Atrocitus by kicking Dex-Starr halfway across the solar system and creating the absolute funniest construct ever. Lobo is one of the crassest, dirtiest guys in the DC Universe, so you can imagine the type of horrors he has locked away. So what did he build when his imagination was given shape? A giant penis. Lobo smacked Atrocitus with a giant green penis, and it was amazing. Give Lobo a ring again, do it now. This is not an impressive construct, it’s actually about as creative as making a giant rock, but dang if it isn’t the perfect thing for Lobo to make. It’s also so gosh darn funny. Is it smart humor? No, but I don’t care.

3) The Space Ship

While most Green Lanterns just fly wherever they need to go, when Kyle travels, he goes in style. Case in point, Kyle once made an entire to-scale pirate galleon to sail the stars. He made a literal space ship, and I want to give it first place just for that spectacular pun. This is one of the clearest examples of Kyle just having fun with his wish-granting ring, which is exactly what makes his style of constructs so fun. Any other lantern would just launch blasts at someone who attacked them, but when Captain Kyle’s ship comes under fire he verbally directs the construct wench to light a construct fuse with a construct match to fire a construct cannonball from the construct cannon. There’s so many unnecessary steps here and it’s incredible, and also demonstrates the sheer lengths Kyle will go to complete the logic of the idea in his head. This is Kyle at his absolute best, and comes from Green Lantern volume three #87.

2) Hal Recreates Coast City

There are few feats more impressive than when, upon finding his home Coast City blown off the map by Cyborg Superman, Hal recreated all of it, down to the tiniest detail. The constructs were powered by the memories of his town, and each one acted exactly as Hal remembered them. Of course, these were all facsimiles of how they really were, but still, this is an entirely functional city operated by sheer force of will, running hundreds of thousands of different actions all at once, from one person taking out the trash to a car starting when the key is inserted. Of course, this scene came about in Green Lantern volume three #48, the infamous “Emerald Twilight” storyline that assassinated Hal Jordan’s character for no real reason at all. That definitely drags this construct down a bit in context, but overall, this is still incredibly impressive, and demonstrates the simple, indomitable will that Hal Jordan is so well known for.

1) John Stewart Remakes His Sister

Like I said, every Lantern has their strength, and John Stewart’s is that he is easily the most methodical in what he creates. He’s an architect, so when he makes something he imagines every little piece coming together from the ground up. He makes every little piece and fits them together instead of just making a whole object from the start. Without a doubt, one of the most impressive Green Lantern feats ever was when John Stewart created a construct copy of his deceased little sister, Ellie in Green Lantern War Journal #1. This isn’t just a puppet either, but a fully sentient copy of her built from John’s memories. He initially created her to help keep his mother happy while she battled dementia, but she has become so much more as she evolved. Now she is entirely independent, a construct given sentience, sapience, and a will all her own. John Stewart literally created life with his ring, which is absolutely insane and should probably be outlawed in the Corps, but massively impressive nonetheless. Ellie is living proof of the power of will and love, and stands as the most creative and impressive construct to date.

So there’s my list of seven of the best constructs the Green Lanterns have ever thought up. Like I said at the start, there’s literally thousands to choose from here, and limiting it to just a few from Kyle was already difficult enough. I also desperately wanted to pay tribute to Jessica Cruz’s fantasy inspired choices, but we only have so much space on this list. Which constructs would you include on this list, and which one would you have stand as number one? Let us know in the comments below!

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