DC’s Green Lantern franchise officially reintroduces its definitive hero, White Lantern (and ’90s fans will love whoever’s wearing the ring)

Notice! Spoilers ahead for Green Lantern #17!In a moment Green Lantern fans have been waiting for, the divine White Lantern of the DC Universe has finally made his triumphant return. Things are quickly going off the rails and the Corps is on the brink of complete and utter destruction once again.

Lord Premier Thaaros, the new leader of the Green Lanterns, spent months transforming the Corps into a personal army and experimenting on the Emotional Spectrum for his own twisted purposes. But while things seem dire, the White Lantern, long thought gone forever, has returned to help save the day and bring balance back to the Emotional Spectrum.

Green Lantern Kyle Rayner is back as White Lantern

Kyle is here to save Thaaros’ emotional wraith

In Green Lantern #17 by Jeremy Adams, Xermánico, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Dave Sharpe, things are quickly going to hell. The beloved Green Lantern Mogo is channeling Red Lantern energy and intends to destroy the Corps’ headquarters on Oa. The power behind Mogo is Lord Premier Thaaros, who has been corrupted thanks to the Dark Star Ring that is transforming Thaaros into something powerful and dangerous. As Thaaros continues to manipulate Mogo, Alan Scott and his Green Lantern head to the Sciencells to free Teen Lantern.

Unfortunately, Thaaros scientists have completed their experiments with the Teen Lantern and created a new Power Ring that can access the powerful Source Lantern. Even worse, the Source Ring is taken by Varron, an undead, power-mad former Green Lantern. The Green Lantern crew arrives and fights, but none of them can compete with Varron, now imbued with Nascent energy. Varron makes a beeline for the Source Lantern while the Green Lanterns take the Teen Lantern and evacuate Oa.

Varron approaches and enters the Lantern Fountain thanks to his new ring, promising to unlock its secrets and overwhelming power. Kyle Rayner senses the danger that the Emotional Spectrum is in and finally snaps out of his funk, changing out of his Green Lantern costume and becoming a White Lantern once again. Kyle flies across Oa, giving his friends one last look at him before flying to the Source Lantern, ready to face his fate. Inside the Source Lantern, Varron draws power from dozens of damned souls while the White Lantern radiates multicolored energy.

Kyle Rayner worked to become a White Lantern

He lost his power, but never his connection to the emotional spectrum

Before it was fragmented into multiple lights, the White Light of Creation was the most powerful energy on the Emotional Spectrum. Although rarely seen, its power was finally revealed during Blackest night following Nekron and the Black Lantern Corps’ attack on the DC Universe. Not long after Green Lantern’s triumph over Nekron, Kyle Rayner took it upon himself to dominate all lights of the Emotional Spectrum, and in doing so, he became the first genuine White Lantern in the DC Universe and gained almost divine power.

However, this power was put to the test during the “Rebirth” era of DC Comics, when Kyle was asked by Guardians Ganthet and Sayd to restore the deceased Blue Lantern Corps and restore hope to the universe. Working with Blue Lantern Leader Saint Walker, Kyle seriously attempted to revive the Corps, but failed thanks to an unknown power. Even worse, the event caused Kyle’s White Lantern Ring to shatter into seven multicolored Power Rings and search for new owners. Happily, Kyle was welcomed back into the Green Lantern Corps, but his White Lantern days were over.

Kyle could no longer channel the power of the White Lantern, but his connection to the Emotional Spectrum persisted. When Lord Premier Thaaros began destroying the Central Power Batteries and experimenting on the Source Lantern, Kyle began to experience serious disturbances that affected his mental state. Kyle could feel the pain that the Emotional Spectrum was feeling and it began to glow in various shades of colors. THE Green Lantern managed to briefly fire a concentrated blast of White Lantern energyalthough it was too much for him to bear at the time.

White Lantern can fix what the Green Lantern leader destroyed

No one knows the emotional spectrum like Kyle

To be clear, in his quest for power, Thaaros did great damage to the Emotional Spectrum. He destroyed all of the Corps’ central power batteries and was about to destroy the enigmatic Source Lantern. This has had huge ramifications on the DC Universe, not the least of which is the creation of entirely new parts of the Emotional Spectrum, namely Sorrow, a Lantern fueled by sadness. And thanks to DC Comics’ January solicitations, fans know that more ‘Fractured Lanterns’ are on the horizon, undoubtedly creating even more problems for the Green Lanterns to deal with.

While the idea of ​​powerful new Lanterns fueled by new emotions seems dangerous, Kyle Rayner is exactly the person who can right this kind of wrong. He has studied every aspect of the Emotional Spectrum and understands it in a way that not even the great Hal Jordan does. In addition to the great power that Kyle finally has back in his hands, This Green (now White) Lantern has the emotional intelligence necessary to deal with something as delicate and sensitive as the Emotional Spectrumespecially being in such a precarious state.

That being said, solving the Green Lanterns’ problems won’t be easy. Between a Source-powered Varon and Thaaros (now under the influence of a powerful Old God), the DC Universe has two godlike beings determined to take the power of the Emotional Spectrum for themselves. But Kyle knows what’s at stake and that the Emotional Spectrum needs to be protected at all costs. What comes next may not be pretty, but Now that the White Lantern is shining again, the future looks much brighter.

White Lantern will be fundamental to the new era of Green Lanterns

Kyle’s New Power Could Bring Order Back Across the Emotional Spectrum

Things may seem bleak now, but Hal Jordan has found a way to revive the Green Lantern Corps, free from Thaaros’ influence. But there are still other lights that need fixing (not to mention the mysterious Fractured Lanterns coming soon). But now that Kyle is back as a White Lantern, the Green Lantern Corps has the best resource available to undo the Thaaros’ damage and bring order back to the Emotional Spectrum.

Green Lantern #17 is now available from DC Comics.