Lanterns: What Is a Green Lantern’s Power Ring? Explained

Lanterns has ben dropping loads of news in the last few weeks. Lanterns is going to be a grittier take on the DCU than Superman (2025), which perfectly fits the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. The show will center around Lantern John Stewart, who non-comic reading fans will remember from the Justice League cartoons, mentored by classic Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Fans have gotten their first glimpse of John and Hal together, building anticipation for the series. However, the two Green Lanterns are in their civilian clothes, without their uniforms and John appears to be without his iconic Green Lantern ring though we do get a glimpse of Hal’s. Green Lantern isn’t exactly the most well-known DC property, though, so a lot of fans have questions about the power rings.

Power rings are a big deal in the DC Multiverse. There has been a Green Lantern of some kind around ever since almost the beginning of DC’s superhero universe, but it has changed, going from a weapon of magic to one of science. There are a variety of a power rings throughout the DC Multiverse, all tapped into the Emotional Spectrum. Power rings can get a little complicated, but there’s one thing that has to be remembered about them — they’re only as powerful as their wearer.

The Green Lantern Power Ring Is the Most Powerful Weapon Ever, But It’s Only the Beginning

To understand the Green Lantern power ring, and the rest of the rings on the Emotional Spectrum, one must first understand the Oans. The Oans are generally believed to be the oldest race in the universe — although because its comic, older species have popped up at times — and were gifted with immortality and great power as the years went on. The Oans believed that because their power, they needed to do whatever they could to protect the younger, less powerful race. At first, they created the Manhunters, a robotic peacekeeping force that eventually went mad and killed everything in Sector 666. After this, the Oans decided to go another way and started to experiment with the Emotional Spectrum of energy, after experimenting with using the magical Starheart, choosing the green energy of will power to fuel what would become the Green Lantern Corps.

They built the Central Power Battery, imprisoning the fear entity known as Parallax within it. The Central Power Battery on Oa would recharge rings through the Green Lantern power batteries given to each member of the corps. The only people who would be chosen for a Green Lantern ring were people who had great willpower and could overcome fear. Because of Parallax in the Central Power Battery, Green Lantern power rings had a weakness to the color yellow, which was the color of fear. However, after Parallax broke out of the battery, possessing Hal Jordan, the “yellow impurity” was eliminated. Once the Oans had forged one ring for all 3600 Sectors of the universe, a number that would change over the years, they sent them out to find members to add to the Green Lantern Corps.

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Green Lantern rings allowed their bearer to create anything they could imagine with the green energy of will. This meant they could manifest simple things like shield and energy beams, both concussive and laser-like, but that was just the beginning. Expert ringslingers were able to create constructs of all kinds that could do anything. The more willpower a Green Lantern had, the better constructs they could create. All of the rings gave their wearer the ability to fly through space at many times the speed of light, survive in any atmosphere, and had an onboard computer system that allowed them to record evidence and upload it to Oa and also tap into the Oans’ computer systems for their investigations. The more the ring is used the faster the charge will deplete, with the Green Lantern having to recite their oath in front of their Green Lantern power battery — “In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, no evil shall escape my sight, beware my power — Green Lantern’s light!” Finally, the rings could be shut down by the Oans and for years couldn’t be used to kill. All of that changed with the War of Light.

The War of Light all began with Sinestro, a former Green Lantern who left the core because of his fascist beliefs and tapped into the yellow energy of fear. Sinestro forged a yellow ring and after years of battling the Green Lantern Corps and the release of Parallx was able to create the Sinestro Corps, powered by the yellow energy of fear. Next, the Red Lanterns would rise from Sector 666, led by the demonic Atrocitus and powered by rage. The Blue Lanterns, powered by hope, came into the battle. The Orange Lantern, powered by greed and in the hands of the being named Larfleeze, was discovered and the love powered Star Sapphires, created by the female Oan offshoot the Zamaraneans, joined the fray. The Indigo Tribe, powered by compassion, would also show up, the most mysterious of the Corps’. Finally, the Black Lanterns of death would appear, and the War of Light would see all sides fight the Black Lanterns. The power of the White Lantern of life, which could resurrect the dead and use the powers of the other colors, was found and helped defeat the Black Lanterns.

The power rings of the other Corps’ had different powers than the Green Lanterns one did. Sinestro Corps rings were basically the same, as were the Star Sapphires and the Orange Lantern, which even created constructs from older bearers who were killed by the latest Orange Lantern. The Blue Lanterns didn’t have many powers, but could supercharge Green Lanterns. Red Lanterns were overcome with rage, losing all conscious thought, and gained great strength, flight, and fiery vomit. However, Red Lanterns could master their rings and gain more traditional Lantern powers. The Indigos could gain the powers of the other Corps if they were nearby and had standard powers. The White Lantern was the most powerful, able to do everything the others could and the Black Lanterns raised the dead, made them into unstoppable zombies that could only be killed by combining two Lantern energies, and allowed them to tap into the black energy of death.

Lanterns Has a Lot of Power Ring Lore to Dig Into

Lanterns is already building anticipation with fans because of all of the info released so far, but for comic fans, there’s so much to be excited about. John Stewart, a former Marine and architect, is one of the best ringslingers in the Green Lantern Corps, so comic fans are hoping to see some of his amazing constructs. Green Lantern power rings are one of the coolest parts of the DC Multiverse and bringing them into the DCU so early bodes very well for the future.

Power rings open a wealth of stories. The Green Lantern power rings are only the beginning, as there are eight more Lantern Corps’ out there to dig into. Sinestro, master of fear, is already a lock for Lanterns, so many longtime fans are hoping that the War of Light is coming at some point in the future. Power rings were made for live-action, and have the potential to do anything. That’s almost enough reason to watch Lanterns alone; to see power rings in all their glory.