Summary
- The Green Lanterns have powerful rivals in the Yellow Lanterns, who wield the Yellow Light of Fear to terrify those around them.
- The Yellow Lanterns have had impressive and surprising members, such as Amon Sur, Lyssa Drak, Scarecrow, and Batman.
- Some of the most powerful Yellow Lanterns include Sinestro, Anti-Monitor, and Superboy-Prime, who have proven to be formidable adversaries to the Green Lanterns.
The Green Lanterns might be the most well-known ring-slingers in the DC Universe, but their yellow-hued rivals are some of the most dangerous. Ever since Sinestro founded his Corps, several powerful Lanterns have wielded the Yellow Light of Fear in a way that left those around them terrified.
The Yellow Lanterns might not be able to beat the Green Lanterns, but they’ve had some impressive and surprising members in their ranks over the years. Read on to discover 15 of the most powerful Yellow Lanterns in DC history.
15 Amon Sur
Abin Sur was one of the greatest members of the Green Lantern Corps, but unfortunately, his son didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps. While Amon Sur wasn’t fit to wear the green, he was recruited into Sinestro’s army where he managed to antagonize the person he felt stole his birthright: Hal Jordan. Amon was a bitter, angry individual, but he cleared his training and was one of the first people on the front lines during the Sinestro Corps War. He wasn’t the greatest Yellow Lantern, but Amon’s hateful spirit embodied Sinesto’s mission for his Corps.
14 Lyssa Drak
Lyssa Drak is one of the most sinister-looking members of the Sinestro Corps. Hailing from the twisted world of Talok IV, Lyssa was given an important role in Sinestro’s army: Keeper of the Book of Parallax, the Corps’ history and guide. When the book was eventually destroyed, Lyssa kept its word alive by having its contents tattooed all over her body. No one knows more about the history of the Corps than Lyssa, and it’s her tales that helped train the earliest infantry of the Sinestro Corps. While she’s not as physically strong as other Corpsmen, the knowledge she possesses is quite powerful.
13 Scarecrow
Yes, for a brief period, Batman’s nemesis Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow, was a member of the Sinestro Corps. During Blackest Night, Ganthet of the Green Lanterns activated an emergency protocol built into every Power Ring to temporarily deputize another worthy being. Sinestro’s ring chose Scarecrow due to the villain’s impressive talent for spreading fear. During his time as a Yellow Lantern, he gleefully used his ring, creating nightmarish constructs to help defeat the zombified Black Lanterns. Unfortunately, Scarecrow’s time with a Power Ring was short-lived. But Scarecrow made an impressive case for himself should another Yellow Lantern Power Ring come up for grabs.
12 Ranx
Green Lantern fans may recall the giant and friendly Mogo, the living planet member of the Corps. But the Lantern has an evil counterpart in the Sinestro Corps: A sentient city by the name of Ranx. Due to its overwhelming size, Ranx was used as a base of operations for the Corps during times of war. But Ranx wasn’t just shelter, it was a fine warrior in the yellow battalion, taking on Mogo and Guy Gardner. Ranx was later fused with Mongul’s Warworld, turning the planet-sized city into a heavily fortified weapon of mass destruction.
11 Karu-Sil
Karu-Sil is a frightening member of the Sinestro Corps. Karu-Sil came from a lush planet filled with wildlife and after her family was killed, she was taken in by a pack of alien beasts. Unfortunately, history repeated itself when Karu-Sil’s pack was killed by a Green Lantern in a misguided attempt to rescue her. She later earned a Yellow Lantern Power Ring and slaughtered her enemies with her favorite constructs: Hard light replicas of her pack. Between her fearsome constructs and her savage behavior, Karu-Sil went down in the Corps history as one of the organization’s most terrifying.
10 Bedovian
Not every member of the Sinestro Corps instilled fear through constructs. Bedovian lives in a shell known as a fear lodge that allows him to hide as long as he needs to and strike whenever his victims are least expecting it. Bedovian has a special place among the Sinestro Corps as he’s one of the best shots among the Yellow Lanterns, and was a crucial asset during Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night. Bedovian’s skills are legendary among the Corps, and his tale is a favorite of the Corps’ history keeper, Lyssa Drak.
9 Arkillo
In the same way that Kilowog whips newbie Green Lanterns into shape, the fearsome Arkillo is responsible for making sure new Yellow Lantern’s have what it takes to wear a Yellow Power Ring. Arkillo was one of Sinestro’s most trusted officers, not only due to his amazing ability to instill fear in others, but because of Arkillo’s size and strength. Arkillo is one of the longest-serving Yellow Lanterns and he’s stayed alive thanks to his fantastic combat skills and his brutal fighting style. If anyone’s worthy of being a Yellow Lantern, it’s this fearsome alien.
8 Cyborg Superman
Cyborg Superman might be an adversary of the Man of Steel, but he became a menace to the Green Lantern Corps when he became a pivotal Yellow Lantern. Hank Henshaw led the Manhunters, automatons that once safeguarded the universe, and assisted Sinestro’s assault on Earth. As a member of the Sinestro Corps, Sinestro bestowed Henshaw with 10 Yellow Lantern Power Rings that gave him the power to defeat the true Superman. While Cyborg Superman’s heart wasn’t in Sinesto’s quest for world domination, he proved that he was quite the threat when he wielded the Yellow Light.
7 Batman
That’s right, the Dark Knight was temporarily a Yellow Lantern. Batman rejected the Yellow Lantern Power Ring the first time it attempted to forcefully induct him into the Sinestro Corps. However, during Forever Evil, Batman revealed he kept a ring he’d found after Sinestro’s invasion of Earth. Batman wore the ring and used the little charge it possessed to hold off Power Ring, Green Lantern’s evil Earth-3 opposite. While Batman would never be a full-fledged Yellow Lantern, his ability to strike fear in the hearts of others would make him a fine yellow ring-slinger.
6 Despotellis
Don’t be fooled by Despotellis’ size. This diminutive Yellow Lantern might be invisible to the naked eye, but it packs a lethal punch. Despotellis is a sentient virus that was made to be one of the most lethal bioweapons in the universe. After gaining sentience, Despotellis terrorized the galaxy, wiping out all life on most of its sector’s planets. The virus attacks its victims at a terrifying pace, killing people within hours of infection. Guy Gardner nearly fell to Despotellis and was only saved by the grace of Green Lantern Leezle Pon, a sentient smallpox virus.
5 Soranik Natu
Soranik Natu is the prodigy of Thaal Sinestro, the founder of the Sinestro Corps. Soranik was once a promising Green Lantern. However, the weight of her father’s legacy eventually brought her into her father’s organization. Despite the change from green to yellow, Soranik was just as adept at wielding fear as she was willpower and, thanks to her experience as a surgeon and a Green Lantern, she quickly rose through the ranks. She even took over her father’s role as the Sinestro Corps’ leader, a fate she tried fighting, but was ultimately suited to.
4 Mongul
Mongul was never an officially chosen Yellow Lantern. Instead, he attempted to usurp Sinestro’s organization for himself and rebrand it to the Mongul Corps. The despot stationed his uprising on Korugar and managed to browbeat dozens of Sinestro’s officers to join the new and improved Yellow Lanterns. Mongul was horrifying during his brief leadership and even tortured insubordinate Lanterns just to teach lessons to others. He nearly got away with taking Sinestro’s army away from him, until Sinestro bested him in a fight and trapped him in the Central Yellow Power Battery.
3 Sinestro
One can’t talk about the most powerful members of the Sinestro Corps and not bring up the man who founded it. Sinestro was wielding fear as a weapon long before the Yellow Lanterns were a real thing. Sinestro has seen the power of fear and has chased it ever since he was booted from the Green Lantern Corps. Thanks to his strength and belief in fear, Sinestro was able to make one of most powerful rivals to the Green Lanterns. Though he’s experimented with other lights, nothing has served Sinestro as well as Yellow Light of Fear.
2 Anti-Monitor
Anyone who has ever read Crisis on Infinite Earths knows how powerful the Anti-Monitor is. During Sinestro Corps War, the Yellow Lanterns recruited the godlike villain into their fold as their Guardian. While the Sinestro Corps invaded Earth, the Anti-Monitor drained the Earth of its positive matter in an attempt to conquer the world he failed to take over during the Crisis. While the Anti-Monitor wasn’t the greatest ring-slinger the Lanterns have ever seen, he’s without a doubt one of the most powerful beings ever to wear Sinestro’s sigil.
1 Superboy-Prime
The most powerful person ever to join the ranks of the Sinestro Corps is arguably Superboy-Prime. When the angry variant of Superman joined the organization, he was still weak after being depowered. However, during the Sinestro Corps’ invasion of Earth, Superboy-Prime regained his full strength and took on literally hundreds of heroes who had assembled to stop him. Not only were the combined efforts of DC’s heroes not enough to take down Superboy-Prime, but even the Anti-Monitor fell to the violent young man and was tossed into deep space. There are few Yellow Lanterns as strong or as perturbing as Superboy-Prime.
There are thousands of insidious Yellow Lanterns in the Green Lantern mythos, but these 15 stand out as the most powerful.
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