What could possibly terrify a being that is the very personification of fear? Sinestro, the renegade lantern who betrayed his Green Lantern Corps and went on to form his own army of wicked yellow superbeings, is Green Lantern’s archnemesis.
Sinestro began as a man of flawless dignity and unquestionable valor, but his desire to see justice done blinded him, leading him to perform horrific deeds. As a Green Lantern, Sinestro was once a harbinger of righteousness who turned into a villain who governed his own people with an iron grip and delivered evil.
Sinestro is often regarded as one of the DC Universe’s greatest villains, possessing vast mental and physical abilities as well as being the first White Lantern. In this video, we will look at his brave origins and how he became a wicked superpower.
From Harbinger of Justice To Dispenser of Evil
For those of you who don’t know, Ryan Reynold’s version of Hal Jordan or Green Lantern was supposed to be the greatest Green Lantern ever. Yeah, the movie was an elegant mess, but that’s not the point here. Hal Jordan was trained by another legendary Green Lantern named Thaal Sinestro of Korugar. The Guardians of the Universe chose Sinestro to join the Green Lantern Corps because of his brave heart and a strong sense of honor and code. During his prime years as a Green Lantern, Sinestro eliminated all forms of crime in Sector 1417, which was under his watch.
And naturally, his prowess brought him newer responsibilities, such as the training of rookie Lanterns. Among these, Hal Jordan would be his most promising student and, later, the archnemesis. As a corps member, Sinestro was the best friend and close confidant of Abin Sur, whose successor was Hal Jordan. In fact, Sinestro was once a family man, or alien, if you will, and had married Abin Sur’s sister Arin Sur, with whom Sinestro had a daughter.
After Abin was killed by a monster named Atrocitus, Sinestro and Hal Jordan collaborated to avenge their fallen comrade’s death. So, how did a being as brave and moral as Sinestro fall from grace? Well, Sinestro’s obsession with keeping his sector bereft of crime, pushed him to his mental limits. So much so that he started employing questionable practices. In fact, he served as a ruthless dictator of his home planet called Korugar, and the denizens of Korugar often threatened the lives of Arin Sur and her daughter, something that led her to give away her daughter for safety’s sake.
It wasn’t before long that Sinestro came to his home planet along with Hal Jordan, only to find that the people had revolted against his tyranny, the iron fist rules, and the unjust laws. Sinestro was defeated, and after a battle, Hal convinced Sinestro into taking refuge, or else they would probably end up dead at the hands of the Guardians of the Universe.
But soon, they were apprehended, Hal Jordan testified against his mentor, and Sinestro was sent to the planet of Qward in the Antimatter Universe. It was here that he came across the weapon masters of Qward, who forged Sinestro the yellow power ring, a ring that would make Sinestro the master of fear.
Sinestro’s Vicious Origin From Green Lantern Volume 2 # 7
So, now that we know that Sinestro was helped by the Weapons of Qward with his yellow ring, and that was almost what happened in the comics, Green Lantern Volume 2 Number 7. The comic introduced Sinestro, the master planner, and the archenemy of the emerald of our emerald gladiator. In this issue, Green Lantern reaches the town of Valle, where he was supposed to attend the inauguration of a boy’s home, but to his utter surprise and shock, he found the entire population of a hundred thousand people had mysteriously vanished, leaving Valdale a ghost town.
But then, in a stranger event, his astral form is summoned by the Guardians of the Universe. I am smelling a bit of Doctor Strange here, are you? Nevertheless, the Guardians tell him about the red-faced evil named Sinestro and how he was banished into the Antimatter Universe after he was found dispensing evil instead of justice. But the Guardians didn’t realize that they had committed yet another mistake by sending Sinestro to Qward, a planet where evil was the standard of life like good is on Earth.
Inevitably, Sinestro forged an evil alliance with the Weapons and offered them Hal Jordan’s life in return for their help in his future war against the Guardians. So, where do the people of Valdale come in? Well, the sinister Sinestro devised a teleporter and used it on Valdale, assuming that Hal Jordan would be present there too. However, Hal was late and got saved. The Guardians now wanted Hal to reach Qward and take care of Sinestro because their jurisdiction didn’t reach the Antimatter Universe.
Aware that reaching Qward is his only chance at saving the hundred thousand people of Valdale, Hal surrenders himself and makes Sinestro believe that he’s come without the ring. But Sinestro proved smarter than Hal had presumed, and he engulfed Hal in a ball of yellow energy, well aware that Hal’s ring wouldn’t work against anything yellow because of a yellow-colored impurity in the ring. Interestingly, this yellow impurity came from Parallax.
Hal struck a deal with Sinestro, his capture against the release of the people of Valdale, hence ensuring their safe return to Earth. Hal was to be kept inside the yellow ball till the clock struck six, which was long enough for Hal’s ring to get discharged.
Just as the moment came, Sinestro released Hal to finally kill him but was shocked to know that Hal’s ring was still working. Hal reveals that though he couldn’t control anything yellow, he could use his ring to direct the carbon dioxide molecules from his breath to move the clock faster. This way, he fooled Sinestro and thwarted his grand plan. After this, Hal returned to Earth after putting Sinestro in a force bubble and taking care of the Weapons of Qward.
Sinestro’s Rise As A Supervillain
After a point of time, the Guardians banished Sinestro’s soul into the Central Power Battery, but even without a physical body, Sinestro was more than a menace. He spoke to Parallax inside the Central Power Battery and waited desperately for his release. In the comic Green Lantern #49, Parallax had taken control of Hal Jordan, and he was rampaging the Guardians. In a desperate attempt, the Guardians released Sinestro so that he could defeat Hal.
But the plan didn’t quite work out because not only did Sinestro escape from there, but he also let Hal Jordan destroy everything as Parallax. Sinestro then came to Kyle Rayner, the only Green Lantern in existence, when the corps and Guardians of the Universe were destroyed.
However, due to certain circumstances, Hal Jordan returned as himself, and along with Kyle, he was able to defeat Sinestro and send him to Qward, but not before destroying his power ring. At one point in time, Sinestro was a part of Lex Luthor’s Secret Society, but that didn’t end well for any of the bad guys, including Sinestro. Later, with the help of Anti-Monitor, Sinestro was able to give birth to his own style of corp, named the Sinestro Corps. He devised a grand plan and attacked the Green Lantern Corps, a battle which is now remembered as the Sinestro Corps War.
However, Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan defeated the evil mastermind in hand-to-hand combat and forced him to a Science back on Oa, where he was to await his death sentence. But this never came to place because the party that was supposed to transfer Sinestro to his execution got attacked by Sinestro Corps members. Things further took a jog to the left when Atrocitus and Red Sinister Corps attacked everyone else.
Sinestro is taken hostage by Atrocitus and his Red Corps, but Green Lanterns and Blue Lanterns arrive to take back Sinestro. However, they fail, and Sinestro manages to escape once again. Sometime later, during the events of the Blackest Night, Sinestro became the most powerful Lantern ever when he fused with a cosmic entity to become what is called The White Lantern.
The white Lantern was pretty much the combination of all the differently-colored lanterns, much like how white light is the combination of the seven colors of the visible light spectrum. As per the latest story arc, Sinestro managed to earn a green lantern ring, but his fate is yet to be decided by the Guardians of the Universe.
Sinestro’s Psychological and Physiological Prowess
Like all Lanterns, Sinestro can very well fly, create illusions, manipulate objects, animate anything, etc. But there are several underrated superpowers that make him a giant threat in the DC universe. Let’s explore these, shall we?
Empathy
By now, you must have understood that Sinestro is one bad-ass supervillain, one you shouldn’t mess with. Apart from the regular powers that one expects from a superbeing, one of Sinestro’s most underrated yet efficient powers is his ability to build an emotional connection with his victims. Not only is he capable of his enemy’s emotions, but he can also decipher the reason behind such emotions. This helps Sinestro to exploit the fear of his enemies. And even for someone strong like Superman and someone brilliant as Batman, emotional trauma and torture can be something lethal.
Understanding Fear
No one understands fear as well as Sinestro does, while this may seem like an extension of his empathy, it is not. He understands fear as if he breathes it. You can say it’s something like Bane describing his relationship with darkness. ‘Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!’ So you see, Sinestro uses this knowledge of other people’s fear to either get the most out of them or to doom them beyond repair.
Unconquerable Will Power
Well, all this talk about Sinestro’s knowledge of fear and emotions, but that’s not even the tip of the iceberg which is his willpower. We know that lanterns can achieve indomitable feats if they set their mind to it. I mean, in one of the story arcs, Hal Jordan could travel through time and became one of the Guardians of the Multiverse. But it can be said beyond doubt that Sinestro’s willpower is at least as strong as Jordan’s, if not more. And, when this is coupled with his other emotional abilities and powers, he definitely gets a massive edge over his green counterparts.
Control of Lanterns
Yet another crazy superpower that Sinestro possesses is Lantern control. Suppose a lantern gets infected with the light coming out of Sinestro’s ring. In that case, they gradually come under his influence until the time that they lose all control over their own mind. And this way, he can control not only lanterns and others but also use them to carry out his utterly evil plans and schemes, including the destruction of other planets.
Energy Manipulation and Force Fields
Of course, Sinestro can play with energy and create blasts and constructs, but what makes his force fields special is their sheer strength and durability. In one of the story arcs, Sinestro was able to hold out DC’s fastest man alive, the Flash. Clearly, Sinestro is a force to reckon with.
Intelligence
Lastly, Sinestro is a genius, well, an evil genius maybe, but a genius nonetheless, and in a universe with thousands of characters, being called a genius is no small feat. He’s one hell of a planner, someone who can think several steps ahead and can come up with possibilities.
This gives him an edge over his opponents because he’s already done the thinking about almost everything and when the probability becomes a reality, he’s already prepared for it. Furthermore, Sinestro is known to have mastered every language that exists in the DC universe. Although linguistic skills may seem better for a working professional, it becomes a mighty tool when you gotta recruit evil beings from various galaxies into your corps.
What Makes Him Dangerous?
So, Sinestro has a lot of superpowers, and he’s great at hand-to-hand combat even without his power ring, but there are many characters with these powers. What makes Sinestro truly dangerous is his cunning nature and ruthlessness. He’s probably as smart as Batman, as powerful as Hal Jordan, and as evil as Joker, albeit without the sociopathic nature. So, you see, this combination of power, evil, and intellect makes him deadly and venomous.
Yet another factor behind his heightened threat level is the fact that he was once a host to the fear entity Parallax, someone who’s feared by many across the universe. In this capacity, Sinestro becomes home to the power from the sum total of the fear experienced by every being in the universe, making him the embodiment of fear itself. Now, that’s some scary business.
All in all, Sinestro started off as a being who was worthy of becoming a Lantern but got blindsided by his hunger for more and his fear of being held back and not achieving what he’s truly meant to. This led him onto a path that took away almost everything he once held dear, including his family. And yet, the evil yellow knight never drifted away from the path he had set for himself. You can love him, or hate him, but you can not ignore him.