Hal Jordan

Recreated for the Silver Age

After achieving great success in 1956 in reviving the Golden Age character The Flash, DC editor Julius Schwartz looked toward recreating the Green Lantern from the Golden Age of Comic Books. Like The Flash, Schwartz wanted this new character to have a different secret identity, origin, and personality from his 1940s counterpart. A long time science-fiction fan and literary agent, Schwartz wanted a more sci-fi based Green Lantern, as opposed to the mystical powers of Alan Scott, the original 1940s Green Lantern. He enlisted writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane, who in 1959 would reintroduce Green Lantern to the world in Showcase #22 (October 1959) by creating Hal Jordan.

The character was a success, and it was quickly decided to follow up his three-issue run on Showcase with a self-titled series. Green Lantern #1 began in July–August 1960 and would continue until #84 in April–May 1972.

This creative team was responsible for introducing many of the major characters in Hal Jordan's life. First was Carol Ferris, Jordan's love interest. She was in charge of Ferris Aircraft, and as such, Hal's boss. While she preferred Green Lantern to Hal Jordan, she took an active role in trying to win him over, even going so far as to propose to him in the old Leap Year tradition. Although she gave Jordan some attention, her job and company always came first.

Second was Jordan's best friend, Tom Kalmaku, who was both Hal's mechanic and the chronicler of his super-hero adventures, after succeeding in working out his identity. An Inuit (Eskimo) from Alaska, Tom's nickname was "Pie" or "Pieface". Unlike Chop-Chop (of The Blackhawks), Tom was a competent and intelligent character with a well-rounded personality, not a stereotypical buffoon. Despite the unfortunate nickname, Tom Kalmaku was among the first minority characters to be portrayed in this manner and broke new ground for mainstream comic books.

Jordan's masters, the mysterious Guardians of the Universe, were physically based on David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, and were developed from an idea Schwartz and Broome had originally conceived years prior in a story featuring Captain Comet in Strange Adventures #22 (July 1952) entitled "Guardians of the Clockwork Universe".

Schwartz and company also allowed Jordan to have a family, which was another rare thing at this time in superhero comics. While he did not have a wife or children of his own, he had many interactions with his two older brothers, Jack, a district attorney, and Jim, a more comical figure. A reporter, Sue Williams, suspected Jim of being Green Lantern due to his appearance and his reputation of being scatterbrained.

Starting in issue #17, Gardner Fox joined the book to share writing duties with John Broome. The quartet of Schwartz, Broome, Fox, and Kane remained the core creative team until 1970.

"Relevant comics"

Starting with issue #76, Dennis O'Neil took over scripting and Neal Adams, who had drawn the cover of issue #63, became the series' artist. O'Neil and Adams had already begun preparation for the classic run in the form of their re-workings of another DC superhero, the archer Green Arrow.

In an introduction to the 1983 reprinting of this O'Neil/Adams run, O'Neil explains that he wondered if he could represent his own political beliefs in comics and take on social issues of the late sixties and early seventies. O'Neil devised the idea of pitting Hal Jordan, noted for being an intergalactic cop and a crypto-fascist standing for "The Establishment's" law and order, against Oliver Queen, (Green Arrow), who O’Neil had characterized as a lusty outspoken anarchist who would stand in for the counter-culture movement. The first of these socially motivated Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories was written with Gil Kane slated to be the artist, but Kane dropped out and was replaced by Neal Adams.

The superhero duo embark on a quest in a beat-up pickup truck to "find America", along the way witnessing the problems of corruption, racism, pollution, as well as overpopulation confronting the nation. In "Snowbirds Don't Fly" issues #85 and #86, it is revealed that Green Arrow's ward, Speedy, is addicted to heroin. Speedy overcomes his addiction with the help of the Black Canary. This story prompted a massive public reaction, including a congratulatory letter from the mayor of New York, John Lindsay (printed in issue #86).

However, Green Lantern sales had been in a major decline at the time Green Arrow was brought on as co-star, and the O'Neil/Adams stories failed to revive them. Green Lantern was canceled with issue #89 (April/May 1972), and the climactic story arc of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series was published as a back-up feature in The Flash #217 through #219. In sharp contrast to the socially relevant tales which preceded it, this story centered on emotional themes, with Green Arrow struggling to deal with the guilt of having killed a man. Green Lantern continued to appear in backup stories of Flash from 1972 until the Green Lantern title was resumed in 1976.

1980s exile

In Green Lantern #151 (April 1982) through #172 (January 1984), Jordan is exiled into space for a year by the Guardians in order to prove his loyalty to the Green Lantern Corps, having been accused of paying too much attention to Earth when he had an entire "sector" of the cosmos to patrol. When he returns to Earth, he finds himself embroiled in a dispute with Carol Ferris. Faced with a choice between love and the power ring, Jordan resigns from the Corps. The Guardians call Jordan's backup, John Stewart, to regular duty as his replacement.

In 1985, the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" storyline that rebooted much of DC Comics' character continuity saw Jordan again take up the mantle of Green Lantern. The new Corps, with seven members residing on Earth, included several aliens, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner. Jordan becomes romantically involved with an alien Lantern named Arisia, for which he comes under fire due to Arisia being only a teenager. The alien Lanterns take a more direct hand in human affairs, a fact not appreciated by human governments. Eventually, the Earth corps break up, several members returning to their home sectors. The Guardians soon return to this dimension, and Jordan works with them to rebuild the fractured Corps.

1990s

During this time, the character's origin story is re-told and expanded in two limited series by Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones, and James Owsley, Emerald Dawn and Emerald Dawn II. The first series expanded the role of the Corps in his origin and also provided more details about his childhood and his relationship with his father and brothers, while the sequel detailed the role of Jordan in the downfall of Sinestro.

In the 1992 prestige format graphic novel Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale (ISBN 1-56389-026-7) (story by Larry Niven, script & art by John Byrne), Hal Jordan first encounters Ganthet, one of the Guardians of the Universe. He asks Hal to help Ganthet battle a renegade Guardian, Dawlakispokpok (or Dawly, for short) who has attempted to use a time machine to change history.

In the 1993 Reign of the Supermen! storyline, the alien tyrant Mongul and his forces destroy Coast City (Jordan's former home), murdering all of its seven million inhabitants, and replace it with Engine City, with which he plans to turn Earth into a new Warworld. Jordan was off world at the time of the attack. Angered, he flies into Engine City and attacks Mongul, eventually knocking him out with Steel's hammer. This leads into the Emerald Twilight three-part arc: Jordan uses his power ring to recreate Coast City as an instrument in the process of overcoming his grief, talking to ring created versions of his old girlfriend and parents. After his ring's power expires, a projection of a Guardian appears and admonishes him for using the ring for personal gain and summons him to Oa for disciplinary action. Angered at what he sees as the Guardians' ungrateful and callous behavior, Jordan absorbs the energy from the Guardian's projection, goes insane and attacks Oa to seize the full power of the Central Battery, defeating and severely injuring several members of the Green Lantern Corps in the process, taking their power rings as his own and leaving them to die in space. He arrives on Oa and kills Kilowog, Sinestro, and all the Guardians except for Ganthet, who was protected by the other Guardians and survived without Jordan's knowledge. He then renounces his life as Green Lantern, adopting the name Parallax after absorbing the Power Battery's vast powers.

Jordan is replaced by Kyle Rayner by Ganthet as the Green Lantern of Earth when Rayner comes into possession of the last power ring, created from the shattered remains of Jordan's. Guy Gardner has visions of the Green Lantern Corps' destruction and his yellow power ring's energy (being powered by residual Green Lantern's energy) starts to fluctuate. Soon after, Gardner goes to Oa to investigate. He brings Martian Manhunter, Darkstar (Ferrin Colos), The Ray, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Alan Scott and Arisia with him. Jordan uses the element of surprise, attacks, and quickly and easily defeats them, leaving Guy in a coma. After the battle Hal sends them all back to Earth warning them to leave him alone in the future. Not long afterwards, Parallax attempts to rewrite history to his own liking with the help of Extant in Zero Hour: Crisis in Time. Parallax destroys the Time Trapper and attempts to remake the universe into a perfect, peaceful place. The process causes time disruptions throughout time. Superman, Kyle Rayner and Metron call upon Earth's heroes to stop this crisis. Parallax reveals himself as the enemy by knocking out Superman with a single blow. Parallax and Exant battle the wide array of heroes. They are eventually defeated, with Green Arrow shooting an arrow into Jordan's chest after he is weakened and almost completely out of energy from using so much power to recreate time and fight Earth's heroes as Kyle Rayner holds him in a full-nelson. Later, in the 1996 Final Night miniseries/crossover storyline, Jordan returns when the Earth's sun is in danger of going out. He starts to reevaluate himself and the decisions he's made and attacks and kills the Cyborg Superman (although he is later revealed to be alive) and visits John Stewart in the hospital who was recently paralyzed in battle. Jordan talks to his old friend for a final time and uses his powers to heal his paralysis. He then uses what appears to be the last of his powers and sacrifices his life to reignite the Sun (which had been extinguished by the Sun-Eater).

During the Emerald Knights storyline, when Kyle Rayner goes on an accidental time-travelling trip, he ends up unintentionally drawing a past version of Hal into the present where Hal is shocked to learn of the crimes his future self had committed as Parallax. Although Hal briefly thought about remaining in the present to escape his actions as Parallax, the Parallax from the time when he was starting the Zero Hour event appears in the present while preparing to recreate the universe. He had been travelling back to his present from the future and became aware of his younger self existing where he should not. This Parallax from out of time tries to pass himself off as the young Hal, but after being discovered he defeats John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner before being confronted by his younger self. Parallax pulls himself, his younger self and Kyle into the past where Coast City is seconds away from being destroyed and freezes time to show his younger self the atrocities of his hometown's destruction while also trying to explain why he did what he did as Parallax and that his ability to play god was necessary. After a heated battle and debate between the two Hals, Kyle breaks up the fight and tells them both that they have to go back where they came from and erase their memories of recent events in order to ensure that the Sun-Eater is defeated and that time plays itself out naturally.

In the 1999 mini-series Day of Judgement, Jordan becomes the newest incarnation of the Spectre, released from Purgatory after a fallen angel attempted to take that power. Soon after assuming this mantle, Jordan chooses to bend his mission from a spirit of vengeance to one of redemption, also making other appearances through some of DC Comics' other story lines, such as advising Superman during the Emperor Joker storyline (Where the Joker steals the reality-warping power of Mister Mxyzptlk) and erases all public knowledge of Wally West's identity as the Flash after his terrible first battle with Zoom, which led to his wife miscarrying their twins. He also appeared in a 4-part story arc in the series Legends of the DC Universe (issues #33-36). A new series based on this premise, titled The Spectre (volume 4), ran for 27 issues from 2001 to 2003. In it, Hal loses his beloved brother, Jack Jordan, to a supernatural assassin. After the series ended, Jordan was forced to return, temporarily, to the Spectre's mission of vengeance, following a confrontation between the new Justice Society of America and the Spirit King- an old foe of the Spectre and Mister Terrific, who had managed to "resurrect" the ghosts of all those the Spectre had damned to Hell when Jordan's attempt to turn the Spectre's mission to redemption weakened his hold on the damned, until Hal 'accepted' his original mission of vengeance.

During the Identity Crisis storyline, Hal is visited by Green Arrow asking to exact revenge that he had might knew Sue Dibny's killer is. Although Hal admits knowing the culprit's identity he refused as the Spectre to a higher purpose, and implying to Oliver that the killer would eventually be caught, thus explaining the Spectre's inaction.

2000s

Due to a decline in the Green Lantern sales, DC Comics decided to introduce the Green Lantern: Rebirth miniseries which brought Hal Jordan back to life and made him a Green Lantern once again. DC Comics subsequently began a new Green Lantern (vol. 4) series starting with issue #1 (July 2005), making Hal Jordan once again a Green Lantern and his past homicidal actions retconned to be the result of Parallax, now revealed to be caused by Hal having been infected by an ancient fear entity that had possessed him and used him as a puppet. In the Green Lantern (vol.4) it shows how in an effort to try to rebuild his life, Jordan has moved to the nearly deserted Coast City, which is slowly being rebuilt. He has been reinstated as a Captain in the United States Air Force, and works in the Test Pilot Program at Edwards Air Force Base. The series introduces new supporting characters for Hal, a man from his past, Air Force's General Jonathan "Herc" Stone, who learns his secret identity during a battle with the Manhunters and acts as his ally. He also begins to develop a romantic attraction with his fellow pilot, the beautiful Captain Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman. Returning characters also include Carol Ferris, Tom Kalmaku, and Jordan's younger brother James Jordan with his sister-in-law Susan and their children, Howard and Jane.

The Green Lantern Corps also has been successfully rebuilt. Despite the revelation that Hal's past villainous activity was because of the influence of Parallax, many of his fellow Corps officers are unwilling to trust him. Despite being freed from Parallax, his experience also leads him occasionally to have a lack of confidence and self-doubt. Jordan also becomes friends with Kyle Rayner after their first battle with Parallax.

In his new title, he faces revamped versions of his Silver Age foes such as Hector Hammond, The Shark and Black Hand.

Hal helps briefly with the attack of the OMACs and Brother Eye. He also fights alongside a group of heroes against the Society, defending Metropolis. Guy Gardner leads the Green Lantern Corps attack against Superboy-Prime with Hal appearing in the group.

As part of DC's retconning of the entire universe; as of Green Lantern vol. 4, #10, the book has skipped ahead one year, bringing drastic changes to Hal Jordan's life, as with every other hero in the DC Universe. It is revealed that Jordan spent time as a P.O.W. in an unnamed conflict and has feelings of guilt from his inability to free himself and his fellow Captives.

A new account of Green Lantern's origins was released in the (2008) Green Lantern series. In this new origin Hal Jordan is working as an assistant mechanic under Tom Kalmaku, barred from flying due to his insubordination while in the USAF and his employer's lingering guilt about his father's death in the line of duty. Then Abin Sur, while fighting Atrocitus of the Five Inversion, crashes near Coast City.

Hal and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps find themselves at war with Sinestro and his army, the Sinestro Corps during the events of the Sinestro Corps War As a Green Lantern native to Earth, Hal is featured in the Final Crisis mini-series by Grant Morrison.

In the Agent Orange story arc, Jordan is briefly in command of Agent Orange's power battery after he steals it from Agent Orange in a battle. The orange light of avarice converses with Jordan, his costume changes, and he becomes the new Agent Orange. However, Larfleeze quickly takes his power battery back from Jordan.

Jordan is also a character of focus in the new Justice League of America series as a charter member of the revamped JLA. He is also involved in the first plotline of the Brave and the Bold monthly series, teaming up first with Batman and later Supergirl. When teamed with the fledgling Supergirl, Hal is very impressed with her cleverness, although he finds her flirtatious behavior somewhat unnerving.

In the Justice League: Cry for Justice mini-series, Hal leads his own Justice League with Green Arrow, Shazam, Supergirl, Congorilla, Starman, Batwoman, and the Atom in order to avenge the deaths of Martian Manhunter and Batman. Jordan eventually recruits some of the former Titans members for the League's new lineup, including Batman's successor Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, and Starfire.

2010s

During the Blackest Night event, Hal allies himself with six other Lantern Corps during The War of Light. He finds himself facing many of his deceased allies, enemies, and people he failed to save reanimated as undead Black Lanterns under the control of the Green Lantern Corps' ancient enemy Nekron. Hal finds himself not only teaming up with Barry Allen (otherwise known as The Flash), who is also resurrected from his death, but also must work with his enemies Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, and his former lover Carol Ferris.

After the events of Brightest Day: Green Lantern, the storyline continues into War of the Green Lanterns. DC Comics revealed the covers. that Hal will be joining the Sinestro Corps during "War of the Green Lanterns". Hal and Guy are captured by Krona. However, they escape from Krona's forces and reclaim their Green Lantern rings to fight him and his entity-possessed Guardians. During the final battle, Hal manages to free Carol, Sinestro and the others from the Book of the Black. During the process Sinestro becomes a Green Lantern once again. Jordan manages to defeat and kill Krona, releasing the entities from the Guardians. However, the Guardians believing Hal to be the most dangerous Green Lantern, discharge him from the Corps, strip him of his ring and return him to Earth. It is revealed that the Guardians are afraid of Jordan because they believe what happened to Krona would eventually happen to them if they allow him to continue being a Green Lantern.

During the relaunch of the Green Lantern series in The New 52, Jordan is back to his civilian life on Earth. He has been discharged from the United States Air Force. Jordan is arrested and Carol bails him out. She offers him a job, but not as a pilot. They go on a date but Carol is enraged when Jordan fails to propose marriage. He is then confronted by Sinestro who offers him a Green Lantern ring. A ring he created himself and has complete control over, telling Hal if he wants his real ring back he will help him destroy the Sinestro Corps who have enslaved Korugar during his absence. Before they leave for Korugar Green Lantern wants to say goodbye to Carol but Sinestro does not let him, stating that doing what needs to be done is more important than a failed romance. When the two arrive at Korugar, Green Lantern is tasked by Sinestro in deactivating the central yellow power battery, as he explains that only a Green Lantern can do it. However, when Green Lantern gets to the battery, it begins to disintegrate him. Before he is fully disintegrated, he expresses his belief that Sinestro set him up. The disintegration is revealed to be an opening portal to the Anti-Matter Universe, and when the battery realizes Green Lantern is not Sinestro, the transport is aborted, and an unconscious Green Lantern is deposited outside the battery, amidst a crowd of Yellow Lanterns. He is then imprisoned in a cell meant to foil escape attempts by draining power from his green ring. With his last power left in his ring Green Lantern creates an image of Carol. When Sinestro is caught and imprisoned in a nearby cell, Hal suggests using the last of Sinestro's power to split his ring into hundreds of copies to be used by the captive Korugarans. The plan works, but the Korugarans close in on Sinestro, preparing to take their revenge, before Hal convinces them to use their power against the Sinestro Corps instead. After they drain the Sinestro Corps power battery and defeat most of the Corps, Green Lantern is returned to Earth retaining the ring Sinestro gave him without any means of charging it. The next day he finds Carol and begs her to take him back, explaining that she was the last thing he wanted to see when he was absolutely certain that he was going to die. Carol accepts Hal's apology and the two reunite.

However Sinestro reactivates Green Lantern's ring, telling him that they must work together again. Green Lantern initially refuses to work with him, until Sinestro reveals that the Guardians are planning to replace the Green Lantern Corps. Suddenly, the Indigo Tribe comes to Earth and kidnaps Sinestro, forcing Green Lantern to follow them into Nok, the Indigo homeworld. However, Green Lantern is captured and meets up with Black Hand, who has been turned into an Indigo Lantern. Escaping from Black Hand, Green Lantern tries to find Sinestro, but is shocked to discover that Sinestro has been forcibly inducted into the Indigo Tribe. Green Lantern flees into Nok's forbidden jungles and meets Natromo, the founder of the Indigo Tribe. Natromo tells Hal the origins of the Indigo Tribe, revealing that the Tribe was created to fight the Guardians in case they ever became mad with power. He also says that the Indigo Tribesmen used to be some of the most dangerous criminals in the universe; Iroque, before she became Indigo-1, killed Abin Sur's daughter. When Green Lantern reveals that Abin Sur is dead, Natromo sadly destroys the Indigo Central Battery. Although Sinestro is freed from the Indigo ring, the other Indigo Lanterns are released as well, reverting them back to bloodthirsty sadists. Green Lantern manages to convince Natromo to reconstruct the Indigo Battery, with the help of Iroque, who is still capable of feeling compassion even without her ring. Although the Indigo Tribe is restored to normal, Sinestro is forced back into the Tribe as well. Indigo-1 agrees to release Sinestro from his Indigo ring, but only if Green Lantern swears to help Sinestro become a hero again.

As the Indigo Tribe releases Sinestro, Natromo inverts the link between Green Lantern's and Sinestro's ring. Now, Green Lantern can control Sinestro's ring instead of the other way around. Unfortunately, Black Hand has escaped the Indigo Tribe's control. Indigo-1 teleports the two Lanterns to Korugar, where Sinestro has hidden the Book of the Black. As they read the Book to find out more about the Guardians's plans to replace the Green Lantern Corps, they are teleported right to Black Hand's old home. Green Lantern and Sinestro pass out after running out of power in their rings. Black Hand buries Sinestro and Green Lantern alive. Green Lantern breaks free and fights against Black Hand, and is saved by Sinestro. The two of them fight Black Hand until the Guardians arrive, who command Black Hand to kill them. As their life is draining away, Green Lantern and Sinestro fuse their rings together with an unknown message, before they seemingly die. However, they are later revealed to have survived, but they are trapped in a mysterious realm surrounded by darkness.

Hal and Sinestro begin traveling through the Dead Zone, wherein they encounter a mysterious figure lurking in the zone observing them. This mysterious stranger is revealed to be Tomar-Re, who asks Hal and Sinestro to stop Volthoom (The First Lantern) before he changes reality. Hal and Sinestro are confronted by the fallen Lantern members in the Dead Zone. When new Green Lantern Simon Baz enters the Dead Zone during a fight with Black Hand, he attempts to rescue them, but is only able to split his ring once. Sinestro claims the ring by forcing Hal to experience a moment of fear when he threatens Hal with the loss of Carol. Hal contemplates committing suicide so he could harness Black Hand's ring as it is the only way to leave the Dead Zone.

When Hal makes the ultimate sacrifice and transforms into a Black Lantern, he uses the telepathy of the Indigo Tribe to open the Dead Zone portal. Green Lantern finally manages to escape and attacks Volthoom with the hordes of undead, but Volthoom effortlessly destroys the army and nearly possesses Green Lantern. After a Parallax-empowered Sinestro fails to kill Volthoom as well, Green Lantern proceeds to summon Nekron and finally destroys him. After the battle is over, Green Lantern is released from being a Black Lantern and returns to life as Green Lantern again, finally reuniting with Carol. Before departing, Sinestro reminds Green Lantern of a question he was about to ask him during their near-death back on Ysmault. Green Lantern asks if they had ever been truly friends, to which Sinestro replies that the tragedy is they always will be.

During the events of Green Lantern: Lights Out, Kyle Rayner and the Templar Guardians discover a space anomaly at the edge of the universe. The nearby of Rayner's Power Ring wake up a being inside the anomaly called Relic, a scientist born in a universe prior to the actual, extinguished due to a war between the lanterns of his universe, called "Lightsmiths". Believing in the existence of a reservoir for the Emotional Spectrum and fearing that the Lanterns made the same mistake that the Lightsmiths, Relic destroys the Green Lantern Corps Central Power Battery and the planet Oa, doing the same thing to planet Odym and the entire Blue Lanterns Corps except for Saint Walker. Trying to stop him, Jordan and the Green Lanterns Corps locate Relic in the Source Wall, where Kyle realizes that he is the key to pass to the other side. Rayner and Relic pass to the other side, refilling the reservoir when this one was emptying and increasing the universe's lifespan again. Relic is trapped in the Source Wall, meanwhile Rayner manages to escape from the Source Wall after Jordan left the Source Wall believing Rayner is dead. Convinced by the Templar Guardians, he and Carol Ferris keep Rayner's survival a secret from the other lanterns.

In Green Lantern: Godhead, Highfather and the New Gods launch a simultaneous attack to steal a Power Ring from each color in order to get the "Life Equation", a definitive weapon to defeat Darkseid, after a brief conversation between Highfather and Relic, still trapped in the Source Wall, where Highfather learns about Power Rings and the risk to the reservoir at the other side of Source Wall. Jordan, now the leader of the Corps, with the planet Mogo now serving as the new base for the Corps, warns all Lanterns of the danger of the New Gods. Launching an attack against them, Jordan allies with Sinestro to defeat Highfather, but in the attack are betrayed by Indigo-1, believing that Lanterns are a serious danger to the entire universe. Unable to defeat the New Gods due to their superior powers, Jordan visits Earth to talk with Black Hand, explaining the menace of the New Gods. Hand accepts his proposal to help Jordan to defeat the New Gods (enticed by the promise of being able to convert dead gods into undead for his Black Lantern army), both traveling to the Source Wall, where Hand discovers that the Source Wall is actually a mass grave. After liberating the dead from the wall, Jordan and Hand travel to New Genesis with a Boom Tube created by Sinestro with a Mother Box. In the final attack Rayner resurrects the dead from the Wall, and Jordan receives the rendition of Highfather when he understands that he is becoming what he hates - Darkseid - in his obsession with their private war. Finally, Highfather and Jordan affirm the peace between Lanterns and New Gods, and Relic warns that the Source is changed and that something is wrong.

New 52

Hal Jordan is featured as a part of Justice League series relaunch as well. The initial issues of the title take place five years prior as Jordan assists Batman against a mysterious threat. It is shown he is already friends with Barry Allen and each know the other's secret identity. Hal also believes with the ring he can overcome anything by himself by sheer force of will. This leads to reckless behavior that almost gets him killed. It is only when Batman reminds him of his mortality by revealing his own identity as Bruce Wayne does Hal reconsider his approach. Five years after the team forms, Green Lantern resigns from the Justice League in an effort to keep the group functioning after his behavior put the team in peril during their fight with David Graves. Subsequently, he returns to the Justice League to help Jessica Cruz learn how to control her powers.

In the aftermath, Hal gets a new look as he goes rogue from the Green Lantern Corps to shelter them from blame for everything that has taken place in recent issues, such as the Third Army's assault or Relic's attack. Along the way, Jordan steals a Green Lantern prototype gauntlet and power pack from the armoury, allowing him to continue to operate as a hero without the need for a power ring, although he is sometimes required to fight other Lanterns to maintain the illusion of independence.

DC Rebirth

Hal returns to Earth temporarily to assign Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz the task of protecting Earth while the other human Green Lanterns and him are in space. He takes their Power Batteries and fuses them into a single battery to help the two bond as Lantern partners.

Subsequently, in DC Rebirth, Hal returns as Green Lantern again after abandoning the prototype gauntlet due to its energies starting to transform him into a living construct, although he uses it one final time to forge a new power ring for himself before discarding it. Hal now equipped with his self-constructed power ring is a one-man corps searching for the rest of the Green Lanterns and hunting down the Sinestro Corps. Hal takes on several Yellow Lanterns before fighting Sinestro and getting injured. He is healed by Soranik, Sinestro's daughter who now is a Yellow Lantern like her father. After being healed he takes on and defeats Sinestro and saves Guy Gardner who was being tortured by Sinestro. Hal is now reunited with the Green Lanterns who have entered a war with the Sinestro Corps.

The battle leads them to the planet of Green Lantern Tomar-Tu. As they fight, Braniac shrinks the planet with the Lanterns in it. The shrunken planet is given to the Grand Collector which turns out to be Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern. The Green and Yellow Lanterns must work together now to escape. Hal is believed to be dead in the destruction that came with the shrinking of the planet. He has been transported to the Emerald Space, an afterlife for deceased Lanterns. Guardians, Ganthet and Sayd call upon White Lantern Kyle Rayner to rescue Hal. Kyle pulls him out of the Emerald Space and the two meet up with the rest and escape from the shrunken planet and restore it. Larfleeze escaped with his Orange construct Lanterns. The Green and Yellow Lanterns form an alliance.

Fictional biography

Hal Jordan was born in Coast City to Martin Jordan and Jessica Jordan, the middle child of three children. He lived with his older brother Jack and a younger brother Jim. As a young child, he idolized his father, a test pilot who worked for Ferris Aircraft. At a very young age, he had to face his greatest fears when his father died in a plane crash right before his eyes. Despite his family's wishes, he followed in his father's footsteps and eventually joined the United States Air Force on his 18th birthday, turning up that very morning outside the Armed Forces Career Center, before it had even opened.

Many years later, a dying alien named Abin Sur, member of the Green Lantern Corps, crash-landed his starship in the Californian desert. Having selected a replacement officer for his position, the power ring chose Hal Jordan for his ability to overcome great fear. The ring and its abilities were explained to him, and he inherited the mantle of Green Lantern. Acting as a galactic police officer, it was his job to serve and protect all life in Sector 2814. He would soon learn that there were another 3599 Green Lanterns across the universe, all monitored and empowered by mystical creatures called the Guardians. Hal received training from some of the best the Corps had to offer, including drill sergeant Kilowog, and his mentor Sinestro. During his training, Hal learned that Sinestro has been subjugating his home planet, Korugar, through fear, using his ring. After Hal reported these acts to the Guardians and fellow Corps members, he battled Sinestro, and emerged victorious. Along with the rest of the Corps, he then testified against Sinestro at his trial. Expelled from the Corps and banished by the Guardians to the Antimatter Universe as punishment, Sinestro became a sworn enemy to the Corps and gained a new Qward power ring, exacting the start of his revenge.

As Green Lantern, Hal Jordan patrolled the galaxy and took on many missions in space. He continued to spend his time at home working at Ferris Aircraft, where he romantically pursued his boss, the lovely Carol Ferris. He would entrust his secrets to a young Eskimo lad who worked as his mechanic, Tom Kalmaku.

Green Lantern

Green Lantern was one of the founding members of the Justice League of America, along with the Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. This group first banded together when they met to fight Appellaxians invading the planet, and realized that they worked much stronger as a team than any of them could have as individuals.

Hard Traveling Heroes

Hal and Oliver Queen are good friends, often adventuring together, and also getting along with his girlfriend, Dinah Lance. Hal was also friends with the late Barry Allen, the second Flash, who along with Hal, were both founding members of the Justice League of America. Later still, Hal retained a friendship with their respective sidekicks, Roy Harper and Wally West, the third Flash.

Star Sapphire

Something of a ladies man, Hal had courted more than his share of beautiful women in his time. Of these women, the one to whom Hal may have been closest was Carol Ferris, who was his boss when he worked as a test pilot for her company, Ferris Aircraft. Unfortunately, their relationship was repeatedly strained by Carol's position as Hal's boss and her dedication to running her company, as well as Hal going through a period of instability where he moved around constantly trying new jobs that did not suit him. Even worse, Carol was chosen by the Zamarons to be Star Sapphire, a powerful super-villainess who repeatedly menaced the world, specifically men.

Parallax

One of the greatest secrets kept by the Guardians was that their infamous yellow impurity was in fact an ancient monster named Parallax who they had imprisoned in their Central Power Battery. Parallax was the physical embodiment of fear on the emotional electromagnetic spectrum, the opposite of the green willpower. After the greatest tragedy of his life took away everything he held dear, Hal became susceptible to fear, and the monster gained root in his consciousness through his ring. Through influencing his actions, it would eventually possess him and turn him into one of the greatest villains the universe had ever seen.

Emerald Twilight

Hal Jordan's home Coast City had been completely destroyed by Cyborg Superman and Mongul during Reign of the Supermen! in a gigantic explosion, reducing it to a smoldering crater. Returning to Earth after the events of Trinity, Green Lantern was horrified, and he immediately went after Mongul and beat the galactic conqueror in single combat.

Hal transforms into Parallax

Afterward, with everything he cherished piles of cinder and ash, Hal tried to use his ring to recreate Coast City in its entirety. This was a massive construct that required all of his ring's charge, and he began interacting with characters from his life who had perished in the slaughter. A projection of the Guardians was sent to him furious that he was using his powers for personal reasons, and threatening him unless he immediately reported back to them for disciplinary action. Enraged that they would ignore the personal loss he had suffered in the name of the Corps and try to punish him for his humanity, Hal, driven insane by grief, decided to meet them head on and clash with the men who had destroyed his life.In this state of madness, he was intent on obtaining their vast powers so that he might recreate all he had lost. A team of the Green Lantern Corps' greatest warriors were sent to oppose him, and stop him before he could reach their homeworld. Hal Jordan single-handedly went through Boodikka, General Kreon, Graf Toren, Hannu, Jack T. Chance, Ke'Haan, Laira and Tomar-Tu. He left all those he defeated floating in space, and took their rings in his possession, adding them to his collection. Touching down on Oa, he killed Kilowog in combat. His greatest adversary Sinestro was released from imprisonment to act as the last line of defense, and Hal snapped his neck. Then, he entered the Central Power Battery and absorbed the energies inside... killing the Guardians and effectively destroying the entire Green Lantern Corps. He emerged in the new identity of Parallax.

Zero Hour

The Death of Hal Jordan

As Parallax, Hal fought many of his former allies and Kyle Rayner, the newest Green Lantern of Earth, while attempting to restore Coast City. He conspired with Extant to restart the universe and attempted to sway others to his cause by offering them wealth and power in this reborn universe, the purpose of which was to 'set things right.' Hal was ultimately defeated by heroes of Earth.

Final Night

Hal seemed to gain lucidity, healing the paralyzed John Stewart and resurrecting Oliver Queen, who had died in an explosion. He extinguished his powers and sacrificed himself to destroy the Sun Eater and re-ignite Earth's sun.

Spectre

Hal Jordan as the Spectre

Some time later, the Spectre was without a host and demons sought to use it to their advantage. With the help of the Sentinels of Magic, Hal became the new host for the Spectre. Hal attempted to bend the Spectre's mission from vengeance to redemption, using his powers to remove the Star Sapphire persona from Carol. However, the Spectre was the stronger of the two minds, and Hal had little success.

But the Spectre had alternate motives for attaching to Hal Jordan. He explained to Hal that the parasitic fear demon known as Parallax had taken him over while it was trapped by the Guardians in the Central Battery, having been awoken and directed to Hal by Sinestro. Though Parallax was able to supress Hal and take over the Spectre, Hal was able to fight off Parallax and separate both Parallax and the Spectre from his soul. Ganthet sent a beacon of light to guide Hal's soul back to his body, and Hal Jordan was reborn as the Green Lantern. Together, with Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kilowog, they defeat Sinestro (foiling his ultimate goal of eliminating the Corps), re-imprison Parallax in the Central Power Battery, and the Green Lantern Corps is reborn.

Return to the Corps

Seeking to atone for his actions while under Parallax's influence, he has become the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 once again. He also rejoined the Justice League, despite Batman's seeming mistrust of him. Hal also got a new test pilot job at Coast City, which he had subconsciously rebuilt while Parallax was reemerging. Hal later helped rescue various missing Green Lanterns from Hank Henshaw and the Manhuters on Biot, including some he had battled during his Parallax induced rampage toward Oa, as well as his former lover Arisia. During the Sinestro Corps War, Coast City was targeted for destruction by the Sinestro Corps, and Hal urged the city to evacuate. Instead, people all over the city put out green lights in support of Hal and the corps. Hal and Kyle Rayner were able to defeat Sinestro in hand to hand combat, and place him under arrest, ending the war.

Rage of the Red Lanterns

Hal as a Red Lantern

After the events of the Sinestro Corps War, Hal is one of the Green Lanterns chosen to escort Sinestro to Korugar, where he (Sinestro) will be executed. Upon arrival, the escort team is ambushed by the Sinestro Corps, and again later by the Red Lanterns. The Red Lanterns capture Sinestro, leaving both Green Lantern- and Sinestro Corps members behind to die. Hal, and the rest of the Green Lanterns, are then rescued by the Blue Lantern Saint Walker. He accompanies Walker to Odym, home of the Blue Lantern Corps, were he witnesses the induction of a new Blue Lantern, Warth. Hal argues with Ganthet about rescueing Sinestro, only for him to agree to said rescue.

Hal then reluctantly teams up with Walker and Warth to rescue Sinestro from Atrocitus. In a conversation with Walker, he then discovers Ganthet is expecting him to join the Blue Lantern Corps as it's leader. On Ysmault, Hal is then captured by the Red Lanterns, and hung from a cross, right next to Sinestro. The Blue Lanterns, and the Sinestro Corps, who arrived moments before, then free Hal Jordan and Sinestro, respectively. Trying to free Laira from the influence of the red ring, Hal nearly succeeds before seeing Laira killed by Sinestro. Losing all self-control, Hal's dormant anger unleashes as he attempts to murder Sinestro, which attracts a red power ring, inducting him into the Red Lantern Corps.

Under the influence of the red ring, Hal attacks both the Sinestro Corps and Blue Lanterns. Unlike the other Red Lanterns, Hal is indeed able to create contructs with the red ring. When Hal again attempts to murder Sinestro, Walker forces his blue ring on Hal in a desperate attempt to free the Green Lantern from the red rings' influence. Successfully breaking the red ring's hold, Walker returns Hal to normal. Hal then attacks Atrocitus, during which the red ring explodes. While Atrocitus is left wounded, Hal remains unharmed, wearing a Green/Blue Lantern hybrid uniform, with neither Lantern knowing why.

Agent Orange

Hal as an Orange Lantern

Hal returns to Odym with Saint Walker and Warth to try and remove the blue ring. He meets up with Ganthet and Sayd to tell them he will not abandoned the Green Lanterns to join the Blue Lanterns. Ganthet tells him this was never his intent to make him a Blue Lantern, but to become leader of the Blue Lantern Corps as Green Lantern, reasoning that Hal's willpower would be strong enough to power the whole Blue Lantern Corps. Less then thrilled of being thought of as a battery. Hal asked how to remove the blue ring. Ganthet said the only way to remove it is for Hal use up the rings charge, which he can only do if has a spark of hope. Hal is then called back to Oa by the Guardians so that they can remove the blue ring themselves.

The Guardians are unable to remove the blue ring but continue to blast Hal with green energy in an attempt to destroy it. John stops them from continuing to blast Hal since it was having no apparent effect. Salakk informs the Guardians that Stel had an encounter with an Orange Lantern. A hologram of Larfleeze appears from Stel's body. Larfleeze gives demands to the Guardians, however Scar destroys the hologram. Scar then requests a new law be made, making the Vega System no longer off-limits and that the Guardians get involved in the war themselves.

Hal is one of the Green Lanterns chosen to travel with the Guardians to face Larfleeze. Larfleeze takes an interest in Hal's blue ring and decides to take him underground to separate him from the rest of the Lanterns. He demands Hal give him the blue ring. Hal has a conversation with Larfleeze, where he learns that the Orange Lanterns are just constructs of the beings Larfleeze killed. After a brief battle, Hal agrees to give Larfleeze his blue ring, but only if Larfleeze tells him how he met the Guardians. Using the blue ring's recharging ability to his advantage, Hal creates an army of Green Lantern constructs to battle the Orange Lanterns. Realizing that Larfleeze's ring must be constantly recharged by his orange power battery to create his Orange Lanterns, Hal tries to steal the battery. While holding the battery, Hal falls under its influence; however, Larfleeze takes his battery back and uses it to create a giant construct of himself.

Unable to make a dent in his construct, Hal is frustrated that he is unable to make his ring work correctly. He knows that they'll beat Agent Orange, but he just doesn't see how. Suddenly, the Blue ring registers sincerity in Hal's belief that they will defeat Larfleeze, and unleashes a massive blast of blue light, which destroys the Larfleeze construct. The ring then leaves his finger, and initiates a sector scan for Sector 2828. The Guardians then make a new pact with Larfleeze, but do not tell the Green Lanterns.

Blackest Night

Hal meets Barry Allen, the Flash, at the unmarked grave of Bruce Wayne. The two friends discuss Bruce's death and their own deaths. Hal tells Barry that his funeral was attended by many people even those from different times and universes, while his own tombstone was desecrated due to his actions as Parallax. Hal believes that after Barry died, villains became more deadly and the Justice League was no longer untouchable. After discussing the deaths of Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Batman, the pair leave.

Hal, along with John, Guy, and Kyle, attend a parade in Coast City on the anniversary of Superman's death, which has become a national holiday for fallen heroes. Hal thinks about the deaths that have affected the four Earth Green Lanterns such as: his father, Martin Jordan; Abin Sur; Katma Tui; John's wife; Alex DeWitt and Jade, both former girlfriends of Kyle. He mentions that Ice's return from the dead makes Guy the only one of the four with a happy ending. After the parade, Hal meets up with Barry at the Hall of Justice, where the two look over the JLA morgue, which contains mostly supervillain remains. Hal explains that supervillain remains are put in a vault since Dick Grayson uncovered a corpse-harvesting ring. The conversation leads Barry to question how many heroes died since he was gone, which Hal shows him through his ring. The pair are then contacted by Alfred, who tells them that Bruce's grave was dug up and his skull is missing.

Hal and Barry go to Gotham to investigate, when the previously deceased J'onn J'onzz appears before them as a Black Lantern, telling them that they should both be dead. After fighting John, he retreats and Jordan and Barry continue investigating. He finds himself facing many of his deceased allies, enemies, and people he failed to save reanimated as undead Black Lanterns under the control of the Green Lantern Corps' ancient enemy Nekron. Hal finds himself not only teaming up with Barry, who is also resurrected from his death, but also must work with his enemies Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, and his former love Carol Ferris (who is now a Star Sapphire once more). He also allies with Saint Walker from the Blue Lantern Corps, Indigo Tribe member Indigo-1, and Guardians Ganthet and Sayd, in order to save the universe.

Along the way, Hal and Barry battle their personal demons as they face the consequences of being resurrected. Nekron's black rings then seek to claim them as Black Lanterns. After Hal and Barry escape from the black rings' pursuit, Ganthet duplicates the rings of each respective power of the emotional spectrum in hope of aid from seven new Lanterns who are deputized for temporary membership in each Lantern Corps individually. Jordan is shocked to find the new Lanterns are in the forms of heroes and villains alike. While defending Coast City, the Lanterns encounter a Black Lantern Spectre and are hard pressed to defeat him, threatening Hal into almost becoming a Black Lantern himself. Remembering from the period in which he was possessed by the Spectre that Parallax is the one thing that the Spirit of Retribution fears most, Hal allows himself to be possessed by the fear entity once more in order to stop him. After finding out that Nekron was after the entity of White Light, he discovers that the entity originated on Earth, not Oa as the Guardians said. Hal realizes that the entity needs a host, similar to Parallax and Ion. As Hal attempts to leave Parallax, Sinestro tells him it's his destiny to be the host and not Hal.

After Nekron separates Sinestro from the Entity, Hal bonds with and uses its power to transform the resurrected heroes into White Lanterns dubbing them the "White Lantern Corps" they defeat Nekron, by reviving Black Hand, Nekron's link to the living plane. The Entity then revives the Anti-Monitor in order to free him from Nekron's Black Power Battery. Nekron sends The Anti-Monitor back to Qward. Nekron is destroyed by white power rings. The Entity resurrects many fallen heroes and villains before it leaves. Later, Hal and Barry discuss the events of Blackest Night and where the Entity could have gone.

Brightest Day

The New Guardians

Hal and Carol Ferris are later seen flying in jets. Sinestro then interrupts, causing Hal's plane to explode. Hal and Carol transform into their Lantern costumes and Sinestro tells Hal that he's found a White Lantern in a crater on Earth. Hal infers that Sinestro couldn't lift the Lantern, to which Sinestro says it wants Hal. They arrive at the crater and Hal and Carol try lifting the Lantern. They both fail, as Sinestro had, and liken the fallen Lantern to King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone. Carol tries once more, but then the Green and Yellow Lanterns try with her. This causes The White Lantern to speak, saying "HELP ME LIVE." This seems to send a jolt of pain and power through all those resurrected on Blackest Night and the three Lantern Corps members around the Lantern. Hal then falls to ground and when he rises, he sees revolting visions of undead forms of the resurrected. The Lantern tells Hal, Carol and Sinestro to find the Entity, before Krona does. Hal is summoned next to Atrocitus, but they are attacked by Lobo, who is attempting to collect a bounty on the head of Atrocitus. Together Hal and the New Guardians, "scare" him off, and Atrocitus joins them in their search for the entities. After this, Hal seeks out Larfleeze, but they are attacked by Hector Hammond, who had swallowed Larfleeze's Lantern and transformed into Ophidian, the orange entity of avarice. Hector says he'll go after Carol, and Hal and Larfleeze go to Las Vegas and encounter Carol fighting Predator, the violet entity of love. Carol says the Predator is corrupted by the host and kisses his host, Abraham Pointe, to free him from the entity (Hal watches the kiss with jealousy). Hal, Carol, Larfleeze, Abraham, and the Predator are transported to Zamaron by the Zamarons. Carol tries to convince them, that Predator is not dangerous and he doesn't have to be imprisoned in the Star Sapphire Central Power Battery. Queen Aga'po agrees with her, sacrificing herself to the Central Battery, and nominates Carol the new Star Sapphire Queen. Carol decides to stay on Zamaron. Hal and Larfleeze return to Earth because Saint Walker says that Adara, the blue entity of hope, had found a host. They go to Montana. Later, Flash shows up and tells Hal that the Justice League wants to speak to Hal. Hal and Flash are interrupted by the Indigo Tribe. Adara senses no hope in the Indigo Tribe. Saint Walker speculates that it is because their rings control their emotions. Krona shows up with Parallax and possesses Flash. Hal and Parallax start to fight, and Hal taunts Parallax to possess his body again. Krona arrives and prevents Parallax from possessing Hal, saying that Hal would resist his influence. Krona starts to collect the Entity. Hal, the New Guardians, and the Indigo Tribe fight Krona, who proves to be too powerful for them. Hal wakes up, surrounded by Batman, Superman and Flash. Hal asks what happened. Batman says, "You lost". Superman asks when the last time was that Hal took off the ring. Hal is approached by the New Guardians, who tell him that Krona has disappeared into the Lost Sector, but that Larfleeze's ring is able to track Hector Hammond. As Hal prepares to join the New Guardians in their search, Batman, Superman, and Flash offer to help, but Hal declines. The New Guardians go to Ryut looking for Krona, but find the Book of the Black, Sinestro rolls a page and the book starts to show the truth of Massacre of Sector 666 and Krona.

War of the Green Lanterns

The Book of the Black starts to absorb the New Guardians, and Lyssa Drak shows up and makes it even harder for them to get free. Sinestro helps Hal gets free but then the book disappears, leaving only the rings of the New Guardians behind. Then Salakk, with a squad of Green Lanterns, appears and they try to arrest Hal.Krona then infects the Central Power Battery of Oa, using Parallax to make the Green Lanterns lose control. Hal flees and asks for backup by any other lanterns who are not infected.

The Green Lanterns of Earth use rings of different colors to fight Krona.

Guy Gardner gets in communication and they meet in the "Green House". They both talk about their recent alliances, however they both lose control and start a fight, draining their power rings. Hal and Guy regain their self-control, but now they have no idea how to save the Green Lantern Corps.

Hal and Guy leave the Green House and use a spaceship, the Interceptor, to go to Oa. They are able to reach Oa, but a group of brainwashed Green Lanterns attack them. Hal and Guy escape and meet with John and Kyle, who have also removed their rings to prevent Parallax from controlling them. They all agree that removing Parallax from the Central Power Battery is the only way to save the Corps. They also decide to use different rings, Hal taking the Sinestro Corps ring, Kyle taking the Blue Lantern ring, Guy taking the Red Lantern ring and John taking the Indigo Tribe ring.

With their new rings, they find Ganthet, but they are attacked by Mogo. The Lanterns are able to escape underground and find the Foundry, the place where all rings and batteries are forged. They find Shedd, a servant of the Corps, who gives Guy the Power Gauntlet originally made by Krona. Kyle and John separate from Hal and Guy in order to save Mogo. Hal and Guy go to the Central Power Battery but they are attacked by the emotional entities, who are using the Guardians as hosts. After Hal, Guy and Ganthet free themselves, the three reunite with Kyle Rayner and John Stewart, who has just destroyed Mogo. After that, Hal takes an extra ring, the orange one, and Guy takes the violet one to use the full power of the emotional spectrum to crack open the Battery and release Parallax. Their job done, the Lanterns regain their original green rings, in preparation for the final confrontation with Krona.

Hal is sent back to Earth.

While the Green Lanterns fight Krona and the entity-possessed Guardians, Hal takes Kyle to the Book of the Black and makes him draw a picture of Carol, Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, and Saint Walker and Indigo-1 (whose ring states her real name to be Iroque). This frees them from the Book, but their rings reject them and choose Krona as their wielders. Empowered by their rings, Krona attacks Hal.

Hal Jordan kills Krona.

However, Sinestro attacks Krona. Before Krona can attack Sinestro, a Green Lantern ring chooses Sinestro as its wielder. Hal and Sinestro manage to overpower Krona, and Hal finally kills him, releasing the entities from the Guardians. With Krona dead, the rings from the other corps return to their former wielders. The Guardians however expel them from Oa. Also, due to his recent 'rebellion' against them by working with the other ring-bearers, coupled with his recent murder of a Guardian, they now believe Hal to be the most dangerous Green Lantern. Despite Ganthet's attempt to defend him, Hal is discharged from the Corps, and the Guardians take his ring and send him back to Earth. Hal appears on a desert highway, saying it shouldn't end like this.

Powers and abilities

As a Green Lantern, Jordan is semi-invulnerable, capable of projecting hard-light constructions, flight, and utilizing various other abilities through his power ring which are only limited by his imagination and willpower. Jordan, as a Green Lantern, has exceptional willpower.

As Parallax, Hal was one of the most powerful beings in all of the DC Universe. In addition to his normal Green Lantern powers, he was able to manipulate and reconfigure time-space to his will, manipulate reality at a large scale, had vast superhuman strength which he demonstrated by being able to knock out Superman with one punch, a higher sense of awareness and enhanced durability. As Parallax he still was able to be harmed nearly just as easily as a normal Green Lantern but seemed to be able to endure more physical punishment. While Hal Jordan was Parallax he was never defeated by physical force, all of his very few defeats were of a changed mental state during or after the battle, which was usually the result of dealing with his own conscience and he would just give up, leave the battle and hide himself.

While at some point acting as a renegade so that the Corps can use him as a scapegoat for recent events, Jordan uses Krona's prototype gauntlet instead of a power ring, giving him greater power as the gauntlet wields the energy of twelve power rings rather than just one.

Other versions

As with other characters published by DC Comics, many alternative universe versions and analogues of the character have appeared within both the Green Lantern series and other titles. In Action Comics #856, a Bizarro version of Hal, called Yellow Lantern, is featured. Yellow Lantern possessed a Sinestro Corps ring and used to inflict fear among Htrae's inhabitants.

The Green Lantern of Earth-5 is shown to be the Hal Jordan of Captain Marvel's world (Earth-5) in the new 52 multiverse. He is killed in Countdown: Arena #2 by Monarch. A Green Lantern named Hal Jordan III, grandson of the original Hal Jordan, from the world of Batman Beyond. He is labelled as Green Lantern of Earth-12. He loses his left arm in battle with Monarch.

The character has also appeared in and been the focus of many Elseworlds titles such including JLA: Age of Wonder, DC: The New Frontier, Superman: Red Son, JLA: The Nail (Where he was the leader and most powerful member of the JLA in a world where Superman was never found by the Kents), Green Lantern: Evil's Might and the John Byrne penned Superman & Batman: Generations 2 (This Jordan pursuing a career in politics before he was forced to use the ring against Sinestro) and a part of the Frank Miller Dark Knight universe, appearing in All Star Batman and Robin and Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

In The Dark Knight Returns, it is stated that Jordan left Earth years ago when politics forced the heroes to 'retire', while in The Dark Knight Strikes Again, he returned when Batman requested his help to destroy Lex Luthor's weapons satellites). In The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, Hal returns to Earth once again when a group of Kryptonians led by the ruthless Quar are released from Kandor, but the Kryptonians dismiss him as nothing but a man with a ring and burn his hand off before leaving him to fall to his death.

In the DC/Marvel Company crossover series Amalgam Comics, there appeared to be two amalgams of Hal. The Iron Lantern was the amalgam of Hal Jordan and Tony Stark. His identity was known as Hal Stark. Another unknown amalgam of Hal Jordan appeared in Speed Demon #1, in which the Speed Demon killed "Madman" Jordan, as apparently this Jordan had committed a horrible crime.

Hal Jordan is a character in JLA/Avengers, which featured a crossover between DC and Marvel Comics. Despite the fact that both teams travel to both of their respective universes, this is one of the few comics featuring multiple universes that remains in (DC) continuity. During this story, Hal gets a vision of his future as Parallax in the 'real' universe after a reality is created where the two universes have regularly interacted for years, but nevertheless resolves to restore reality as the heroes cannot choose their lives over the lives of those being affected by the current chronal disruption.

An alternate version of Hal Jordan also appeared in the Pocket Universe Earth created by the Time Trapper. He, along with various other heroes who had no superpowers in this reality, teamed up with a good version of Lex Luthor to stop three evil Kryptonians who had escaped from the Phantom Zone. Hal Jordan piloted an advanced jet craft that was easily destroyed by the Kryptonians.

Though Jordan was never one of the main characters in the award-winning mini-series Kingdom Come, a version of him from the Earth-22 (A post Infinite Crisis alternate universe) made a cameo on the end of the storyline" Thy Kingdom Come" story arc on the issue of Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #22, during Batman's funeral.

A new version of Power Ring, the villainous Green Lantern analogue of the Crime Syndicate of America, appeared and is stated as being the "original" (though previously unseen) iteration of the character. He has been presumed dead years earlier. It is implied that he was reborn in his reality as a direct result of Jordan's resurrection in Green Lantern: Rebirth.

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Hal Jordan was reckless as a flying ace. He along with Carol Ferris was on a F-22 Raptor entering Western Europe territory before the Shark attacks. Hal forces the Shark to crash his jet into Carol's jet, and both of them barely got out of the ejection system. Upon their return to America, Hal was about to fly the jet. However, he witnesses the spaceship crash on Earth and was approached by the ship's survivor, Abin Sur, asking for help. However, Abin Sur is subsequently taken into custody by Cyborg and the government to be questioned about his reasons for being on Earth. Later, when Amazonian invisible planes invade over Coast City, Hal and Carol manage to shoot down the invisible planes and the Hydra that they dropped. Later, Hal is volunteered by the President of the United States for a mission to use a Green Arrow Industries nuclear weapon to bomb Western Europe. Later, Hal is ready to fly on the F-35 with the Green Arrow nuclear weapon attempting to destroy Western Europe at the end of the Atlantean/Amazon war. During the battles on New Themyscira, Hal possesses the remaining nuclear weapon, but his firing mechanism jams. Hal's only option is to fly through New Themyscira in a suicide attack, causing a process which destroys not only New Themyscira's invisible shield, but Hal with it. Afterwards, Thomas Kalmaku gives Carol a note saying that Hal was afraid to say that he had always loved her. Carol sees the engagement ring that he was going to propose to her.

In the distant future, the Book of Oa shows that Hal will eventually marry Carol and their son would be named Martin Jordan after Hal's father.

The comic book prequel tie-in to the game Injustice: Gods Among Us sees that universe's Hal Jordan willingly joining Superman's group of heroes in obtaining peace on Earth through more forceful matters. While Jordan plays a relatively small role in Year One, he is a more featured character in the Year Two series, where his loyalty to Superman causes conflicts with his loyalty to the Green Lantern Corps. Eventually putting Superman's Regime above them, Hal is eventually stripped of his Green Lantern power ring by Ganthet, having been officially declared a renegade. Sinestro, having joined Superman's Regime and mended his relationship with Hal, offers him a Yellow Ring instead, which he accepts in order to save Carol Ferris' life. The annual—taking place before the war—details that Hal, despite his loyalty to Superman, unconsciously harbors small doubts that the Man of Steel's motivations are as pure as he makes them out to be, acknowledging that he has seen many worlds where one person deemed themselves the only one capable of saving everyone. He grew closer to Sinestro after the latter destroyed an all-powerful device they were sent to retrieve, getting past his disdain and resentment of his former mentor. In Year Three he deals with magical forces alongside the Regime, going up against Renee Montoya before their battle is interrupted by the demon Trigon and the interdimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk, whose fight nearly engulfs them in Hell. In Year Four he is the first to recognize Superman's growing condescending attitude and openly shows resentment at being treated as such. In Year Five he further voices discontent when Superman begins recruiting villains to the Regime and becomes more open to brutal violence. After Victor Zsasz escapes prison and kills Alfred Pennyworth, he, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Damian Wayne nearly capture Batman after he tracks the killer, but Flash helps him get away. Hal remains suspicious about how Zsasz was able to escape and suspects either Sinestro or Superman released him, deciding to find out when Sinestro refuses to confirm or deny it. However, he later discusses with the Flash how he is reluctant to discover the truth, for if it turns out Superman did orchestrate Zsasz's escape, then the Regime are sided with a killer. Zsasz is later killed in custody, and with no surveillance having been on to reveal the killer, Hal is unable to determine who is at fault. Near the end of the series he, Wonder Woman, and Superman track down Batman at his lead-lined base and are close to apprehending him. Batman distracts them by recounting all the tragic actions taken by the Regime, during which Superman does not deny he did in fact play a role in Alfred's death, shocking Hal and Diana. He is then transported like everyone else to the other side of the world once Batman's final plan pans out.

In the possible future of Futures End, Hal Jordan had left his role as Corps Leader behind, promising to never again leave Earth unprotected after a gruesome war killed thousands of people, including Hal's mother. Living what looks like a bachelor's life in Coast City, Hal learns from his deceased father that Krona has become the new leader of the Black Lantern Corps, which forces Hal to renege on his vow and to take them head on with only the help of a new ally, Relic. The ensuing battle occurs near the Source Wall, which is a miniature Blackest Night version, with Relic giving Hal access to the rest of the emotional spectrum needed to handle his foes. As Hal is quickly overrun, he sacrifices himself to end the Black Lantern threat once and for all. Critically wounded and barely alive, Hal is placed inside the Source Wall, just like Relic was.

In the crossover series Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War, the return of Nekron in a not-too-distant future results in the complete destruction of the DC Universe, with Hal Jordan and the other members of the original 'new Guardians' the only survivors after Ganthet initiates the 'Last Light' protocol, banishing all surviving ring-wielders to the alternate Star Trek universe, where his corpse is collected by the USS Enterprise. After Hal makes contact with the Enterprise and learns of Nekron's return in this universe, he assists the crew in thwarting the new ring-bearers, as well as dealing with the threats of Atrocitus, Sinestro and Larfleeze. With Nekron defeated, Hal joins the Enterprise in their mission of exploration.

In the in-continuity company-wide story Convergence, the Zero Hour-era Hal Jordan and the people of Metropolis are stolen from that timeline immediately before the reboot event at the end of Zero Hour by Brainiac and stored on the planet Telos along with cities of heroes and villains from other eras and Earths of the DC Comics Multiverse. The villain Deimos, also on the planet, steals the power of the Time Masters and attempts to remake the Multiverse in his image, only to be killed by Hal Jordan, using the power of Parallax and still vengeful over the lost of Coast City. This attack causes the Multiverse to begin to unravel, prompting a crisis event which it will not survive. When Brainiac explains that he can send the heroes home, he is prevented by damage from the original Crisis on Infinite Earths event from restoring the universe to normal. Seeking redemption for his recent actions, Parallax volunteers to go with the pre-Flashpoint era Superman to the time of the original Crisis. Their contribution to that great battle is enough to change the outcome and avert the collapse of the original Multiverse; and thus Parallax saves the Multiverse, and undoes the events of Zero Hour in the process.

In the DC Bombshells series, Hal Jordan is an American pilot attending a Christmas party in London who becomes smitten with Harley Quinn after witnessing her beat up most of the men at the scene. Harley tricks him to take her to the airfield, where she knocks him out and steals his plane.

Television

Animation

Film

Animation

Video games

Collected editions

Hal Jordan's stories have been collected into a number of volumes: