Red Lantern Corps

The Red Lantern Corps are a major villainous organization, functioning as anti-heroes throughout much of the DC universe and they were enemies of the Green Lantern Corps. Their power is derived from the emotional spectrum, particularly the Red Light of Rage. They are the inhabitants of a destroyed galaxy on the other side of the universe known as the Forgotten Zone, given with a red power ring and with the sole purpose of seeking vengeance and destruction against both the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps alongside their vengeful leader, Atrocitus.
== Prominent members ==
Only a few of the Red Lanterns have been identified by name in Green Lantern titles. Many of the known Red Lanterns were victimized by the Sinestro Corps before becoming Red Lanterns.
=== Leadership ===
* Atrocitus (of Sector 666): He was formerly the only Red Lantern that had complete control over himself (unlike the other feral members of the Red Lantern Corps) and also lead the Corps until the induction of Guy Gardner, who killed Atrocitus with his bare hands when he removed Atrocitus' red power ring and took the leadership from him. However, while every Red Lantern believes Atrocitus is dead, he was actually saved by Dex-Starr who was able to create a heart construct to replace the one Atrocitus lost (due to his heart being forcibly removed by his former members of the Five Inversions, which were temporarily resurrected as Black Lanterns during the events of the Blackest Night saga). Vowing to get revenge on Guy Gardner, Atrocitus then went to Sector 718 to look for a replacement ring. When he reached the planet Styge Prime, he found the embodiment of Rage, the Butcher, in captivity. After he and Dex-Starr defeated his captors, Atrocitus was able to possess the Butcher, thereby regaining his powers and possibly becoming more powerful. However, the entity is taken away by Kyle Rayner and the other entities, excluding Parallax who is still under Sinestro's control. Atrocitus and Dex-Starr then find another feral Red Lantern, kill it and take its ring. He then captures Rankorr and forces a bug inside him to make him feral. He then poisons the blood on Ysmult and, using a second lake on Styge Prime, he creates hundreds of rings and sends them to Earth. He then uses these newly-formed reds from earth to fight Guy Gardner, but Gardner beats him by proving his rage greater than Atrocitus's and taking away his ring along with Dex-star's and all the newly-formed reds as well. Although it is presumed he is dead, Gardner still refers to him as alive. Atrocitus is revealed to be alive and a Red Lantern again, having regained control of the Lantern Corps he founded. He plans to bring forth the Red Dawn on Earth.
* Guy Gardner (of Sector 2814): After Kyle Rayner's presumed death in Green Lantern Corps (vol. 2) #43, Guy is consumed by rage, attracting Vice's red power ring in the following issue. Like Hal Jordan, Guy is notable as one of the few Red Lanterns capable of creating red light constructs. Uniquely, Guy maintains control of his green power ring as well, and is capable of using both in conjunction with one another. Guy is able to overcome the red ring's influence with the aid of Mogo; however, the planetary Green Lantern warns Guy that some influence of the red still remains and that only a Blue Lantern's power ring could completely remove the influence of the red ring. During the "War of the Green Lantern Corps" story-arc, Guy is forced to remove his green power ring to avoid being contaminated by the yellow impurity. Later, Hal Jordan gave him the choice of another power ring so they could fight against Krona, which he chose the red ring of Atrocitus (due to his previous experience with a red power ring). Afterwards, Kyle Rayner uses Saint Walker's ring to purify Guy from the effects of the ring. Following the defeat of Volthoom, the First Lantern, Guy was tasked by Hal Jordan to go undercover and re-enlist with the Red Lanterns as a mole, given Gardner’s rage issues and the fact that the red ring turns its user into a violent lunatic. It’s no small request, especially since Gardner had only just purged its effects from his system. Following the conflict with Relic, Gardner chose to remain with the Red Lanterns and arranged for them to gain jurisdiction over Sector 2814. Under Gardner's leadership, the Red Lantern Corps began to hunt down criminals and tyrants across the universe. However, unlike the Green Lanterns who delivered their prey to the authorities, Gardner's Red Lanterns executed them. Following the decimation of his forces from Atrocitus's uprising and the conflict with the New Gods, Guy is no longer a Red Lantern and is a Green Lantern once again, his red ring later converted back to green.
=== Ring bearers ===
* Bleez (of Sector 33): A princess from the planet Havania who was kidnapped by the Sinestro Corps during a visit by suitors and then tortured and raped while imprisoned on Ranx the Sentient City. However, it was due to her vow to exact vengeance on those who kidnapped her that she was bailed out of captivity by a red power ring that saved her from being caught escaping during a Green Lantern assault on Ranx and deformed her into a member of the Red Lantern Corps. In early appearances, she is seen as only having one skeletal wing, the partner of which, Shane Davis suggests, was removed during her imprisonment. In Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2, the power of her red ring reduced her two feathered wings to bone; her depictions with one wing are retconned. In her current backstory, both her wings were mutilated during her torture, thus having the ring "heal" them in their current skeletal form. Bleez serves as the representative of the Red Lanterns Corps in the Green Lantern: New Guardians series prior to the "Rise of the Third Army" crossover event. Atrocitus also restored Bleez' intelligence to assist him in maintaining his control over the other animalistic Red Lanterns.
* Dex-Starr (of Sector 2814): An abandoned stray blue house cat from Earth adopted by a single woman in Brooklyn who names him Dexter. During a break-in, Dex-Starr scratched the burglar before his owner was killed and he was evicted by police. Homeless, he was grabbed by two street thugs and thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge, but the rage he felt caught the attention of a red power ring and it came to him before he hit the water. As a member of the Red Lantern Corps, he killed the two thugs and slept on their skulls, proclaiming himself to be a "good kitty" using thoughts expressed in simple sentences. He was described by Geoff Johns in an interview with Wizard as "the most sadistic and malicious" of the Red Lanterns. Originally intended as a joke by Shane Davis, he began being featured more prominently due to positive reception. Dex-Starr frequently travels with Atrocitus, his vengeful quest centering on finding the burglar that murdered his owner. Dex-Starr gained the ability to create constructs after drinking the blood of Rankorr, and unbeknownst to his fellow Red Lanterns, he used his new-found ability to save Atrocitus from certain death after the former leader of the Red Lanterns saw his red power ring being taken by Guy Gardner.
* Rankorr (Jack Moore) (of Sector 2814): A child punk from Earth who was taken in alongside his brother, Ray, by their grandfather after their mother died. Ever since, he always repressed his growing feelings of rage over the tragedy by attending Oxford University and reading books, until he witnessed his grandfather's murder during a robbery committed by his old classmate Baxter and Ray's brutal beating at the hands of the local police, who caught him trying to firebomb Baxter's house. Unable to repress his feelings anymore and going out to rescue Ray, Jack unknowingly allowed a red power ring that appeared before him to induct him into the Red Lantern Corps, becoming the fifth human to bear a red power ring after Hal Jordan, Mera, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner (the sixth terrestrial including Dex-Starr). After killing one of the officers and escaping, Jack went after Baxter, who was being transported to a safe house by the police in a van, but was stopped by Guy Gardner, who Jack pleaded for help after rescuing from getting run over by a truck. Only too late could Jack be helped as his ring transported to Ysmault for training. As with Hal and Guy, Jack Moore manages to hold on part of his rationality, and he is one of the few able to create constructs. After giving his grandfather's grave a last farewell, he decides to avenge him and his brother by slaying his killer, the man he held responsible by trying to smash him with his grandfather's tombstone, but he's prevented from doing so by Guy Gardener. He was then confronted by Guy, making the Green Lantern Corps aware of his existence, until he is called to Ryut to join Atrocitus in his fight towards Abysmus and the Abysmorphs. He is made a true red after he finally kills the man responsible for his grandfather's death. His construct creation ability can be gained by other red lanterns if they drink his blood.
* Skallox: A loyal goat-headed member of a crime syndicate hired to commit acts of violence by a man named Lancer. Lancer wrongly accuses Skallox of disloyalty and throws him in an oven, burning his head into what resembles a goat's skull. Skallox, enraged by what he was turned into, was then visited by a red power ring that crashed through the oven window and convinced him that he'd deserve better respect as a member of the Red Lantern Corps. He is shown among the Red Lanterns during Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns and then named in Blackest Night #0. Part of his origin story is shown in the Red Lantern series, after Atrocitus throws him into the blood ocean. Skallox is killed by Atrocitus when the latter snaps his neck. However, he is shown to be alive and allied with Atrocitus once more.
* Ratchet: A large floating brain with jellyfish-like features that is shown among the Red Lanterns during Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns and then named in Blackest Night #0. In Red Lanterns #4 and 5, his origin story is revealed after Atrocitus throws him in the blood ocean on Ysmault. First depicted as a small, alien life form not resembling his current jellyfish-like appearance, his body is mutilated and deformed by his society's law enforcement by defying their cultural rule of physical isolation. Finding a place with the Red Lanterns, his rage, born of his forced isolation, gradually starts to diminish. Before it can fade completely, he sacrifices himself in battle.
* Zilius Zox (of Sector 3544): First shown in Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns, he devours a Sinestro Corps member during Sinestro's abduction. He appears to be the same species as late Green Lantern Galius Zed. In Red Lanterns, Atrocitus throws him into the blood ocean in an attempt to restore his intelligence like Bleez. Zilius Zox joins Guy Gardner's Red Lanterns and in Red Lanterns Annual #1 he is fatally injured by Rankorr (who was possessed by Red Lantern Votun). Zilius Zox sacrifices himself to crash his ship into Atrocitus' Red Lantern Temple and destroy the new Blood Lake. However, he is shown to be alive and allied with Atrocitus once more.
* The Judge (Judge Sheko) (of Sector 775): Once chief judge of her home planet of Primeen, a world in which its politics, justice and worse its nobility were hideously steeped in corruption and decadence. The concepts of law and order were disreputably bought and sold by those rich enough and powerful enough to afford to have them changed or annulled. This greatly irked Sheko to no end for the past couple of decades. But her fury didn't come to a head until the duplicitous king's son she intended to have punished accordingly had her own bailiff kill her in front of a courtroom. As she died while drowning in the pools where justice is carried out, she finally let the slowly budding fury that she kept close to her heart consume her. It was then when a red rage ring called out to her and transformed her into a monstrous personification of that fury. Unlike other newly-created lanterns, Sheko retained her logical mindset but was still under a cold, ruthless, tranquil fury which pushed her to violently judge and murder everyone around her, starting with her traitorous aide and the debauched royal family who nearly destroyed her, as well as all of the attendants watching the trial. After that, she began playing judge, jury, and executioner with everyone in the city she once called home. She was stopped by Guy Gardner's sect of Red Lanterns before Atrocitous could sway her to his side using the blood of Ysmault to bring back her rationality. Atrocitus tried to recruit her into his Red Lantern Corps but she wishes to 'judge' both factions and goes to see Gardener's reds. Finally, during the Atrocities storyline of the Red Lanterns, she deems Atrocitus reds guilty and herself guilty as well and generates a mental blast that kills her and renders the guilty reds unconscious.
* Veon (of Sector 435): A purple alien with one eye and one of Atrocitus's first recruits, he is shown in Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns and named during Hal's attempted rescue of Sinestro when his ring says "Veon rage." In Green Lantern (vol. 4) #45, he is killed by Boodikka when the Green Lanterns retrieve Laira's body from Ysmault.
* Vice (of Sector 13): The most ruthless of the Red Lanterns, whose mate was murdered by the Sinestro Corps drill sergeant, Arkillo. His forehead and jaw contain spikes which he uses to decapitate his enemies. He is later captured and sent to the sciencells on Oa, but is freed by Scar. He starts a riot among the prisoners, attacking Green Lanterns and Sinestro corpsmen alike. He is later killed by Alpha Lantern Chaselon during an attack by the Black Lanterns.
* Laira (of Sector 112): A former Green Lantern who is chosen by a red power ring after being punished and expelled for killing Amon Sur. Her rage regresses her to a semi-feral state where she is capable of saying little more than "Sinestro." Hal Jordan meets her again on Ysmault and attempts to calm her rage. Just as Laira and her red power ring simultaneously utter "Help me," she is killed by Sinestro.
* Abyssma: First identified by name by Ethan Van Sciver during an interview, Hal Jordan is shown fighting this Red Lantern during a battle between the Corps.
* Antipathy: A favorite creation of Ethan Van Sciver, she is shown fighting Lantern Soranik during the epic battle between the Corps. She is distinguished as being one of the few Red Lanterns to create constructs using her ring, as she is depicted wielding scissor-like blades made of red light.
* Fury-6: First identified by name in the promotional imagery contained inside Blackest Night #0, he was first seen as a participant in the abduction of Sinestro.
* Haggor: First identified by name in the promotional imagery contained inside Blackest Night #0, he is similar in appearance to Abyssma.
* Nite-Lik: Unique to the members of the Red Lantern Corps, Nite-Lik was designed specifically for Mattel’s series of Green Lantern figures by Four Horsemen Studios and was named after Mattel's Scott Neitlich by Geoff Johns. The packaging for Nite-Lik's figure (which is a body that includes interchangeable heads for Nite-Like and Skallox) states that his first appearance is in Green Lantern (vol. 4) #61, however, he doesn't actually make his debut until the first issue of Red Lanterns.
=== Former members ===
* Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) (of Sector 2813): The biological cousin of Superman. In the New 52, the grief and rage from her past experiences attracts a red power ring to her. After being captured by the Green Lantern Corps, she is taken to Ysmault and the Blood Lake restores her sanity where she joins Guy Gardner's Red Lantern group. She is later discharged by Guy so she does not need to die needlessly in the coming war against Atrocitus. Later, to avoid being possessed by an alien armor, she removes her ring while at the core of Earth's yellow sun, but survives due to the healing factor from her Kryptonian powers as a result of absorbing so much yellow solar radiation. She is the only known former member of the Red Lantern Corps who has been able to destroy her own ring and did not need to be purified by a Blue Lantern afterwards.
* Hal Jordan (of Sector 2814): A Green Lantern officer given a red power ring during his attempt to rescue Sinestro from the Red Lanterns and to calm Laira's rage, only to have Sinestro kill her just as he appears to be breaking through. Enraged, Laira's red power ring detects Hal's anger and forces itself onto his finger, temporarily transforming him into a member of the Red Lantern Corps. Hal is able to overcome the red ring's influence with the aid of the Blue Lantern Corps.
* James Kim (of Sector 2814): A man whose daughter was cruelly murdered. Though not in possession of a red power ring, as the host of The Butcher, he has no need for one.
* Krona (of Sector 0): During the War of the Green Lanterns, Krona was briefly able to take control of Atrocitus' ring and the other six rings, using them against the Green Lantern Corps, but the ring returned to its master after Hal Jordan killed Krona.
* Mera (of Sector 2814): The queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. Mera is chosen as a deputy Red Lantern during the war against the Black Lantern Corps. When Aquaman is later resurrected by the White Entity, Mera's love for him severs the connection to her ring. Fortunately, she is spared from death through the combined efforts of Carol Ferris and Saint Walker.
* Spectre (of Sector 2814): After being freed of the possession of a black power ring by Parallax during the Blackest Night event, Atrocitus attempts to recruit the Spectre to the Red Lantern Corps. After taking on the Red Lantern symbol and signature regurgitation of blood, The Spectre is able to shrug off the effects of the intrusion (explaining that he is God's rage, not Atrocitus's).
* Kyle Rayner (of Sector 2814): One of the six Green Lanterns of Earth, Kyle had become a "magnet" to all the corps rings with one red ring appearing to him claiming him as its bearer. It has since been revealed that Kyle must channel all the powers of the emotional spectrum while without possessing a red ring, he can access, at will, the powers of the red light, also turning him disturbingly cold when he does.
* Superman-Prime (of sector 2813): Superman-Prime temporarily becomes a member of the Red Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night storyline as his rage causes the black power ring that tries to turn him into a Black Lantern to temporarily turn him into a Red Lantern.
* Lobo (of Sector 3500): During the Brightest Day story, Atrocitus hired Lobo to attack the leader of the Red Lanterns in order to gain the trust of Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Sinestro. As payment for his services, Atrocitus rewarded Lobo with a red ring. It is unknown if the ring was ever used.
== Appearances in Idea Wiki ==
* The Red Lantern Corps appear in DC: Unlimited Rebirth.
== Gallery ==
File:Red Lantern Corps.jpg
File:Red Lantern Guy Gardner.jpg
File:Red Lantern Corps.png
File:Rage of the Red Lanterns 220520.jpg
==External links==
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