Green Lantern's New Series Reboots Hal Jordan's Biggest Villains

Published Oct 2, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows. 

DC's new Green Lantern series explores Hal Jordan's most iconic enemies from a very different perspective than usual. In traditional DC lore, the Green Lantern Corps confronts an extensive rogues' gallery with more members than any other DC heroes' collection of antagonists. Hector Hammond wields telepathic brain mutations from a fallen meteorite, Black Hand commands an army of undead corpses, and Nekron rules the dark realm of death. Members of other Corps are constant threats, including Atrocitus, who unleashes rage against the Guardians; and Larfleeze, who guards the orange light of avarice. Without a doubt, Thaal Sinestro stands out as the biggest nemesis of all Green Lanterns, especially Hal Jordan.

Yellow light sits at a volatile point on the Emotional Spectrum. The Guardians of Oa originally classified yellow energy as a dangerous corruption because fear directly opposes willpower. Sinestro forged yellow power rings on planet Qward to weaponize terror across the cosmos, which established the Sinestro Corps as a brutal dark mirror to the Green Lanterns. Besides, the parasitic entity Parallax embodies this yellow light, with which he famously infected Hal Jordan and forced him to destroy the Central Power Battery. Battles between Green Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps often erupt in violent clashes that threaten the stability of the universe.

All established Green Lantern lore goes out the window when DC decides to create a brand-new universe where nothing is what it seems.

Forgotten DC Hero 'Manhunter' Becomes One With The Yellow Lanterns' Light

Absolute Green Lantern #19; Written By Al Ewing; Art By

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DC's Absolute Universe reimagines the classic Green Lantern mythology of the Emotional Spectrum with a philosophy-based hierarchy of light levels tied to actions and stages of cosmic enlightenment. Under this new system, the classic yellow light is adapted as the golden Aur, which represents the highest tier of universal understanding and total enlightenment instead of fear. Since Aur sits at the top of the Oan hierarchy, its golden energy naturally outranks the lower levels. Absolute Green Lantern #19 expands its yellow light lore with the introduction of Paul Kirk, who feels compelled to experiment with a circulatory stimulant that immerses him in the yellow energy of the Absolute Universe.

Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941, Paul Kirk a.k.a. the Manhunter was traditionally a Golden Age intelligence agent who wore a red costume and chrome mask. In mainstream DC lore, Manhunter's legacy was retrofitted to connect to the Green Lantern mythos, as his crime-fighting persona was subtly manipulated by the cosmic Manhunters. Absolute Green Lantern introduces a new twist in the revelation that the Absolute Universe's version of Paul Kirk managed to interact with cosmic enlightenment long before the present day. Apparently, Kirk became aware of the "Yellow Aliens" and entered the supreme gold light level of Aur as early as the 1930s.

Paul Kirk's Experimentation With Aur Raises Major Questions

Aur May Not Only Be Limited To Enlightenment

Absolute Green Lantern transforms the yellow light into Aur, the ultimate beacon of absolute tranquility and total understanding. Now, Aur sits at the peak of the Oan enlightenment spectrum, and its power flows from a state of complete harmony. Characters like John Stewart wield this gold flame to transcend the lower struggles of basic action, and now Absolute Green Lantern #19 reveals that Paul Kirk joins them. Since John Stewart acts as a zen-like master who doesn't seek to subjugate or instill terror, Kirk may follow suit.

However, Paul Kirk stands on a perfect fifty-fifty edge after exposing himself to the "yellow aliens" he sensed in the 1930s. As a hero, Kirk could be a long-lost pioneer of enlightenment on Earth, potentially having spent nearly a century trying to safeguard Earth from cosmic shadows while he harbored the secrets of absolute peace. As a villain, Kirk's story could lean into a tragic Lovecraftian angle. Given his apparent absence, the early achievement of the supreme light of Aur perhaps detached him from human empathy, or it blinded him with too much light and turned him into a clinical agent of the Oans' judgment.

What do you think happened to Paul Kirk in the Absolute Universe?

Absolute Green Lantern #19 is available October 7 from DC Comics