Even though he is best known as a villain, he has also appeared as a hero on occasion. A little twisted story with a tragic past. It is time to meet the DC villain whose true identity remains a mystery. He is, however, known as Larfleeze or Agent Orange, and the Orange Lantern Corps’ only owner. If there is one thing you can count on from him, it is that you never know when he is telling the truth and when he is simply making stuff up.
Wait till you meet Larfleeze, the king of overreactions if you think your significant other overreacts to everything. And the Orange Lantern Oath is his lone code of conduct: “What is mine is mine.” And mine, and mine, and mine. And mine, mine, my, mine. NOT MINE!”
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Larfleeze Greedy Origin
Larfleeze made his first appearance as a cameo role in Green Lantern Volume Number 4 issue #25, which was published in December 2007. And made his full debut in 2009’s Green Lantern issue #39. He was created by the versatile writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver. His story is explored in DC’s relaunch of the New 52 comic series.
Now, remember the emotional spectrum, the energy field that is fuelled by the emotions of all sentient beings? Well, in that spectrum is the color orange, which represents the emotion of avarice or greed. As you know, every color in the emotional spectrum is harnessed by its representative lantern corps, and that is where Larfleeze comes in. He is known as Agent Orange, the sole surviving wielder of orange light and is the owner of the Orange Lantern Corps.
The wielders of the orange light have been revealed to be corrupted by greed, guarding and protecting their possessions excessively and also stealing possessions from others. So, you might be wondering how did Larfleeze end up being the wielder of the orange light. Well, before getting into that story, let us take a look at his past.
Larfleeze was born into a huge and poor family of farmers on the planet of Sh’pilkuzz. His parents, Larfloozee and Larflem, were appalled by his ugly appearance, but they had already sold six of their children as per the legal limit. So, they were forced to keep him. He had 16 siblings. Clearly, his parents stayed quite busy 24/7. Now, no one expected him to work as his other siblings did because of his young age. Unfortunately, that’s why most of his siblings detested him, and so, growing up, he was pretty often beaten by them.
One day, after Larfleeze had fully grown, a race of galactic conquerors known as the Lakadians attacked his planet, killing and enslaving many of his kind. He ended up becoming one of the enslaved people as well. Larfleeze was forced to procreate with a woman named Bronkia when he was a slave, and the two had many children who were also sold into slavery. Bronkia eventually died in slavery, which at last forced Larfleeze to devise a plan to free himself.
His so-called “masters” stored all the corpses of the enslaved people in the dead wagon. One night Larfleeze decided to sneak into it and was tossed into the crematorium pot. But it turns out his kind doesn’t die quickly, so he was able to survive the burning. After that, he caused a revolt by sneaking into the main security complex and freeing the slaves. He then hijacked a transport ship to get away from the asteroid.
With such a dreadful childhood and teen years, there’s no doubt that Larfleeze grew up to be a master thief. After spending years as an enslaved person, working at the behest of someone else, he probably wanted to live a life where he had complete control over the things he did. So, stealing must have seemed to be the only way to escape his past trauma. We can assume that this stage of his life gave rise to his inherent greed for taking everything for himself.
Now, in an attempt to accomplish the biggest heist in the universe, Larfleeze and his fellow thieves raided the plant of Maltus. They were attacked by the Manhunters, a group of robotic policemen who had gone rogue from their creators – the Guardians of the Universe. But they managed to steal a box and a map.
Now, before we tell you what was so special about that box and the map, let’s go back to the emotional spectrum. So, all the fundamental emotions that are harnessed by the different Lantern Corps are actually represented by a living entity that feeds on these emotions. Now, Parallax, the living embodiment of fear, which belonged to the Yellow Lantern Central Power Battery, was actually sealed inside a box.
This box which was worth an entire star system is what Larfleeze and his group stole from Maltus. And as for the map, it belonged to a Guardian of the Universe named Krona, which eventually led them to a temple on the thirteenth planet in the Vega Star System called Okaara. Now, that is where Larfleeze first saw the orange lantern, pure avarice, the primal essence of greed. These lanterns are powerful enough to penetrate their potential wielder’s minds and speak to them, making them feel heard.
That’s precisely what happened with Larfleeze as well. He felt drawn to the orange light, which spoke to him in a way no being had ever spoken to him before. The lantern is the Orange Lantern Central Power Battery. Larfleeze’s mind was flooded with overwhelming greed and envy when he saw this lantern, which told him that the light could be his. As a result, he wanted to slaughter the rest of his companions.
Soon after, the Guardians arrived along with a force of Manhunters. Unfortunately, their strength was sapped by the orange light, and several of them died, along with some of the thieves, leaving only Larfleeze and Blooch. The Guardians then declared that all they wanted was for the box containing Parallax and the Orange Battery to remain buried in the temple on Okaara. Like all business deals, this one also included a catch.
They revealed that the battery could only be owned by one person, which meant that Larfleeze and Blooch would have to fight each other to death. And the Guardians would then give the authority of the Orange Battery along with the control over the Vega System to whoever survived the battle. Obviously, Larfleeze won, and then the lantern gave him a ring that would allow him to control the orange light as per his will and grant all of his wishes after he uttered the Orange Lantern Oath.
It was as if his already greedy heart was now reborn as an ultimate power. And that’s how Larfleeze became the sole wielder of the Orange Battery, also known as Agent Orange. The Guardians also guaranteed that as long as Larfleeze honored his word and did not let The Orange Light shine beyond the Vega System, neither they nor anybody associated with them would ever return. But despite that, people came looking for it as if attracted to the Orange Light of Avarice like a moth to a flame.
And so, over the billions of years Larfleeze spent in Okaara, countless people were slaughtered because he was too greedy to share the Orange Lantern Corps with anyone else. He would then store the essence of these people in his ring and unleash them to battle for him as hard light constructs. And so, his corps is made up of ring constructs of these “members” he killed.
Larfleeze Interesting Story Arcs
The Return of Agent Orange
In the 21st Century, the Controllers, a race that split off from the Guardians centuries ago, came searching for the Orange Light of Avarice during Larfleeze’s feasting season. Enraged by their intrusion, he murdered all of them and snatched their souls. Later, a hologram of Larfleeze appeared and confronted the Guardians about the invasion for stealing the Orange Battery. He then deemed their treaty null and void and started making demands from the Guardians. But instead, Scar, a Guardian, slammed his hologram and proposed repealing the Vega ban.
So, they traveled to Okaara, where Orange Lanterns attacked the Guardians and Green Lanterns. Larfleeze immediately recognized that Hal Jordan was wearing a Blue Lantern Ring that he was unable to drain. He got captivated by the ring’s power and asked that Hal hand it over. But since Hope is a selfless emotion, and Larfleeze is dominated by Greed, when he grabs the ring in his desire for it, he is pushed back by the power of the blue light.
This infuriates Larfleeze, but even though Jordan decides to give Larfleeze the ring, he is unable to take it off. As a result, Larfleeze makes an ax out of the orange light and slices Jordan’s hand off. The blue power ring, no longer tied to Jordan, welcomes Larfleeze to the Blue Lantern Corps. If only it were the case! It turns out, much like Larfleeze’s habit of making up stories, the blue ring just did one over on him.
To fool him, it produced an illusion. Seeing Larfleeze’s hope for relief, the ring made him believe he had obtained the blue ring he wanted when in reality, he had never chopped off Jordan’s hand at all. It was also revealed that since Larfleeze had been connected to the orange battery for such a long time, it had now become a part of him. The Guardians eventually concluded that if they take the battery from Larfleeze, it will be discovered by someone else, who will then become the new Agent Orange. They decided to form a new treaty with Larfleeze so that at least they would always know where Agent Orange was.
We don’t know all of the intricacies of the deal, but we do know that Larfleeze asked the Guardians where he might obtain a blue power ring. Towards the end of the issue, Larfleeze sends a force of his Orange Lantern constructs to Odym, the home planet of the Blue Lantern Corps, to launch an attack on them.
Blackest Night
While the conflict in Odym continues, a cluster of Black Lantern Rings flies into Larfleeze’s palace and links to the bodies of all the victims he has accumulated over the years, resulting in the rise of the dead. He was first thrilled at the prospect of a new ring he might control but quickly became terrified of the Black Lanterns’ strength after being unable to defeat them. So, something finally managed to scare even Agent Orange.
However, Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, saved him. Soon Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Carol Ferris, Indigo-1, Saint Walker, Ganthet, and Sayd arrived and asked Larfleeze and Atrocitus to join their team in order to fight the black lanterns. Larfleeze agreed, but only on the condition that a Guardian be assigned to him. Realizing that triumph against the black lanterns would be unachievable without the orange light, Sayd assured him that after the end of the Blackest Night, she would eternally commit her allegiance to Larfleeze.
It looks like the lanterns cannot defeat the Lord of the Unliving alone. As a result, Ganthet creates a program in the Lanterns’ rings that duplicates the ring, denoting a 24-hour deputy lantern. Lex Luthor is chosen by Larfleeze’s ring, who is unfortunately possessed by the orange light’s power and begins fighting the Lanterns, demanding their rings. But, as we all know, Larfleeze can’t share something that belongs to him; he attacks Luthor. After beating him and proving he was the sole controller of the Orange Lanterns, he gave Lex back and got his Guardian as promised.
Brightest Day
Later, Larfleeze tracks down Lex Luthor and confronts him, wanting to know what people on Earth value most, to which Lex says “land.” Larfleeze is then seen to have settled in a small town in the upper Midwest. He regularly sends his Orange Lanterns into town to steal stuff for him. But then Hal Jordan demands that he leave the place alone, and Larfleeze assures him that he will no longer need to steal because he has discovered the legend of Santa Claus.
So, he plans to create a list of everything he desires and mail it to Santa Claus. If you ask me, this almost sounds cute due to Larfleeze’s naivety. But at the same time, it’s also sad because it further displays the lack of happiness he had during his childhood. Anyway, Hal then tells Larfleeze that he came to learn how Larfleeze managed to imprison the orange entity, Ophidian, in his lantern so that they could also trap the other entities and keep them from getting captured.
But to disrupt the party, Hector Hammond arrives. After battling Larfleeze and Hal, Hammond swallows the orange battery. As a result, Ophidian is set free, and the entity of avarice chooses Hammond as a host. Now, according to Ophidian, Larfleeze was the only creature in the cosmos that could resist Ophidian’s temptations, allowing him to be restrained and become Agent Orange.
But now, Ophidian wants to overpower and use Larfleeze. Ophidian then tries to devour him, but Hal prevents it. After that, Hector Hammond’s desires begin to take priority over Ophidian’s, and he leaves in pursuit of his ultimate desire, Carol Ferris, who, by the way, is Hal Jordan’s love interest. This is starting to get interesting by the minute!
So, Hal and Larfleeze travel to Las Vegas to save Carol. The Predator, the living violet embodiment of love, meets Larfleeze and makes him experience the grief of losing his lantern, forcing him to recall his family. He is then brought to the Star Sapphires’ home planet Zamaron by Hal, Carol, and Abraham Pointe, the man possessed by the Predator. They discover that the Blue Lantern Entity is now on Earth. After locating the entity’s host Adara, she tells Larfleeze that his parents are still alive and they miss him.
However, this revelation is cut short when they discover that Krona, the rogue Guardian, is actually the force capturing these entities and has already captured Hammond and Ophidian. And before he can be caught, Krona captures even the Predator, the last of the entities. Following a series of events, Larfleeze and the other New Guardians are dragged into the Book of Black, their rings falling to the ground behind them.
War of the Green Lanterns
Now, Hal manages to escape with their rings and later uses Larfleeze’s orange ring, together with Sinestro’s ring, to fight off the approaching brainwashed Green Lanterns long enough for Guy Gardner to pull Parallax out of the Central Power Battery and return their teammates to normal.
Larfleeze is forced to relive his childhood of captivity while locked inside the Book of the Black. Later, he is released from the book and, at first, is terrified when his orange ring is returned to him, but how could he forget his Orange Lantern Oath? After the ring is on his finger, he returns to his typical attitude, proclaiming that it is “Mine!”
What Makes Larfleeze So Powerful?
One of the most prominent powers he has is his immortality. Larfleeze appears to have an unusually long life span, having lived on Okaara for a millennium. He has also stated that he was more than 2 million years old during the Manhunter Event, which took place billions of years ago. So, who even knows what his current age is!
Larfleeze also has a keen sense of smell, as evidenced by his ability to detect the presence of the New Guardians on Okaara despite the fact that they were a bit far away on the surface, while Larfleeze himself was underground. I’m pretty sure this ability surpasses even that of werewolves!
Larfleeze is by far the most powerful lantern because he is a “one-man Corps.” Literally the living embodiment of a one-man army. He has shown that he can battle hundreds of ring-bearers at the same time. The orange light has the power to generate “constructs,” which are orange light replicas based on the identities of the people it kills. Larfleeze’s link to his power battery permits him to keep the constructs running endlessly, as long as he gives it his full attention.
The fact that he is entirely consumed by greed can also sometimes serve as his strength because it is his primary emotion. It also drives him to strive to attain the things he desires. But of course, he is, after all, a villain, so, naturally, he doesn’t have noble pursuits.
Also, his mastery of the Orange Ring is really commendable. After being connected to it for possibly billions of years, we discovered in the New 52 storyline that he is now able to use the power of the ring even after its battery runs out. This makes him a living, breathing, walking, talking ultimate power battery for the orange lantern. That’s certainly something that no other lantern has managed to achieve!
During the events of the Brightest Day, when Larfleeze discovered that his family was still alive, he was unable to take any action because the fight was not over yet. Although it is unlikely that he will ever leave the power of the Orange Lantern to go live the rest of his life with his family, the possibility is always there.
Despite juggling being somewhat of an anti-hero as well as a supervillain, Larfleeze has undoubtedly managed to show us that he does probably have a heart, even though it is dipped in greed. I mean, why else would he be willing to assist the heroes in saving the day, right? Nonetheless, one thing is clear, that his childhood trauma, absentee parents, slavery, and everything else that he endured, led him to find the orange light of avarice, possibly the only thing in the entire cosmos that made him feel like he belonged.
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