Kyle Rayner

Current Events

Kyle Rayner had joined the Omega Men against the forces of the Citadel under the alias Omega Lantern. Until the moment he still is helping the worlds of Vega to reach independence.

Origin

Kyle Rayner was a struggling graphic artist in Los Angeles. Son to Mexican-American father Aaron and Irish mother Maura Rayner, Kyle’s infant life was spent with his parents constantly on the run. Aaron used the Military as a cover; in truth he was a C.I.A. BlackOps agent. When Kyle was 3, Aaron had to leave Kyle with his mother in order to protect them. He never came back yet was never listed as killed in action. Kyle and his mother settled and grew up in Los Angeles. Kyle attended North Hollywood High School as a teenager. Years later Kyle found out his father’s real name was Gabriel Vasquez but was already scarred from growing up fatherless. He would soon to take comfort from another paternal figure… Ganthet.

Kyle first witnessed a green shooting star moving upwards in the night sky while on a nighttime beach date with his on-again off-again photographer girlfriend Alexandra Dewitt. The shooting star was actually famed Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who had been driven insane by the destruction of Coast City and went on a murderous rampage, destroying the Power Battery, the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. Only one Guardian named Ganthet survived Jordan’s rampage, reforging Jordan’s discarded Power Ring as the Corps’ final legacy.

Later, Ganthet traveled to Earth, appearing in an alleyway outside of a nightclub and encountered two humans. One was a drunken homeless man and the other was Kyle who was getting some fresh air and spotted the same green falling star as before, this time falling to Earth. It was Ganthet, and the Guardian thrust the final ring into Kyle’s hand muttering “You will have to do” before disappearing. Putting on the ring, Kyle found himself dressed in a standard Green Lantern uniform.

“Oh man… I think my life just got a lot more complicated.” – Kyle after receiving his ring and finding himself in a Green Lantern uniform.

Unfamiliar with the concept of Green Lantern, Kyle went to Alex’s apartment and showed her the ring and his new powers and the two made a plan, Kyle would be a superhero and Alex would photograph him in action, giving both their careers a much needed boost. Kyle had trouble at first with controlling the ring due to not knowing how it worked but with Alex’s guidance and support, he quickly learned basic GL abilities like flying and constructs. However, there was much confusion over his identity as he was wearing the GL uniform commonly associated with Hal Jordan. Alex brought this to Kyle’s attention and urged him to make his own identity, leading to him redesigning the costume to better fit his personality.

Creation

Kyle Rayner was created by Ron Marz and Darryl Banks due to the unpopularity of DC’s Green Lantern title. It was decided by DC editorial and Green Lantern editor Kevin Dooley to scrap everything, including Hal Jordan as a main character, and start fresh with a new Green Lantern lead. So Marz crafted Kyle to address what he thought was wrong with the square-jawed, serious character of Hal Jordan.

Rather than a stalwart hero from the jump, Kyle was a random guy with unrealized heroic potential that became the new Green Lantern by sheer chance. The unremarkable life he had lived up until that point would give him a sense of wonder and excitement over his new circumstances as the universe’s sole Green Lantern. And as an artist, he would have an exceptional imagination and create vivid, complex constructs beyond previous Green Lanterns’ use of a power ring.

Replacing a main character was nothing new, especially not with DC Comics. However, Kyle’s introduction was made controversial due to Hal’s villainous departure from the series as Parallax. This dishonorable discharge angered what fans the former Green Lantern had, and resentment over it became directed toward Kyle as his replacement. This vocal backlash would not prevent Kyle’s introduction from being a success and from the character growing in popularity over the years.

Controversy

Due to slumping sales and after seeing the sales spikes with events such as the Death of Superman and the Breaking of Batman, DC decided it was time to reinvent Green Lantern. Ron Marz was hired to orchestrate Hal’s downfall and insert Kyle as the sole Green Lantern. DC went so far as to remove the corps and anyone with a power ring (Alan Scott, Guy Gardner) as well. Many longtime fans were vocal with the manner in which Hal Jordan was “tossed aside”. Sales did remain high on Green Lantern for quite some time and Wizard ran a fan poll to see which was the preferred Green Lantern (Hal or Kyle) with Kyle winning by 2 percent (51 Kyle, 49 Hal).

Character Evolution

Modern Age / New Earth

The Last Green Lantern

After a trial by fire period that saw the inspiration of the infamous Women in Refrigerators, Ron Marz had Kyle Rayner thrown into the deep end of the DC Universe. He quickly began meeting other heroes, even becoming romantically involved with Donna Troy and briefly joining the Titans. Grant Morrison soon chose to use the character as one of the big guns in the new Justice League of America, further cementing Kyle’s position as one of DC’s headline heroes. The character formed close friendships with the two other prominent legacy heroes of the time, Wally West and Connor Hawke.

Judd Winick later further matured and developed Kyle as one of DC’s main heroes. He also began reintroducing and reemphasizing past Green Lantern elements into the character’s life. Alan Scott, whose daughter Jade was romantically involved with Kyle, formed a fatherly mentor relationship with Kyle. John Stewart became a major figure in Kyle’s life as a brother-in-arms and eventually a fellow active Green Lantern. Kyle took a larger interest in reforming the lost Green Lantern Corps and made some headway by becoming Ion and bringing life back to Oa.

Torchbearer

Upon the full return of the Green Lantern Corps by writer Geoff Johns, Kyle became re-contextualized as an honored and history hero of the corps, titled the Torchbearer for keeping the light shining single-handedly during the dark times. However, with this lofty title came a reduced role in the Green Lantern franchise as the main title focused on Johns’ rebuilding much of the Green Lantern mythos using the newly returned Hal Jordan as the lead.

Ron Marz returned to the character for a brief time when Kyle became Ion once again, but the character would relinquish that role before what being Ion really meant could be properly defined. Finally, the character settled down into a leading role in the Green Lantern Corps title.

New 52 / Earth-One

Kyle Rayner remains the struggling artist but now begins his journey in New York rather than LA. He’s seen hanging in a bar with some friends. When he excuses himself for a bathroom break, the bathroom has a long line; so, he decides to go in the bar’s alley. Ganthet greets him at the door and gives Kyle a Green Lantern Ring. In this continuity Ganthet explains the role of the Green Lantern Corps, and doesn’t seem to choose Rayner at random – but because he has the ability to overcome fear like other Green Lanterns. When Ganthet sees the ease with which Kyle summons his first construct he exclaims “it would seem I chose well.”

White Lantern

After training to master all seven colors Kyle has become a white lantern. He wields the white light of life which proves highly effective against the third army. he is also shown to be more powerful than any one lantern due to wielding all seven colors at once. He has also come to be a deeper more emotionally evolved person ( more so than he was) as a result of delving deeply into every emotion (even the negative ones). He is the most powerful lantern.

Major Story Arcs

Modern Age / New Earth:

Alex is Brutally Killed

His first week on the job was not an easy one as he had to deal with Mongul, who believed him to be Hal, but instead settled for any Green Lantern and Kyle was in trouble before the unexpected arrival of Superman. The two worked together to fight Mongul and Superman was astounded to learn that Kyle had no idea about Hal Jordan or the Green Lantern Corps, as well as Kyle’s ring being able to affect Mongul. Despite the long standing weakness in Green Lantern Power Rings to affect the impure color yellow, Kyle defeated Mongul by hitting him with a freight train energy construct and immediately earned Superman’s respect, with the Kryptonian telling the fledgling hero to look him up the next time he was in Metropolis.

Following his victory and encounter with Superman, Kyle began to feel good about himself and was settling into his new life as a superhero but unfortunately for him, tragedy was about to strike. Shadowy forces within the government had obtained a fragment of glowing green metal from the homeless man who had been in the alley when Kyle received his ring and sent the villain Major Force to Alex’s apartment, since she had published her photos of Kyle as Green Lantern. When Kyle returned from a successful mission, he found Alex had been brutally murdered and her body stuffed in the fridge, and Kyle didn’t have time to grieve as he was confronted by Major Force. The two began a brutal fight and Kyle appeared to be winning before his ring ran out of energy, allowing Major Force to gain the upper hand.

When Major Force presented Kyle with the glowing green energy fragment and demanded to know what it was, the fragment transformed itself into a Green Lantern power battery which recharges Kyle’s ring. Once again fully charged Kyle quickly defeated Major Force and demanded to know who sent him and why he murdered Alex only to be confronted by the Los Angeles Special Crimes Unit who tried to arrest the two of them for Alex’s murder. Major Force escaped immediate prosecution due to his government ties while Kyle fled back to his apartment where he met Alan Scott, who filled him in on the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan and the legacy Kyle had just fallen into.

Overwhelmed by this revelation and the knowledge that he was the only Green Lantern in existence, Kyle was unsure if he was up to it but decided that Alex would want him to continue, so he charged on in her memory.

Changing the Guard

All too soon he would have to face him, now known as Parallax, when he tried to reshape the universe, almost destroying space and time in the process. He was stopped by a group of heroes and in the middle of the battle takes Kyle to Oa, the home of the Guardians, in a bid for more power. In order to stop Hal’s madness Kyle blew up Oa. Kyle then found himself lost in space and came across a former Green Lantern who attempted to take Kyle’s ring, but when it didn’t work for her, she returned it. When Kyle made it back to Earth he moved to New York City. There he partnered with Guy Gardner, another former Green Lantern, and took on Major Force for a second time, this time not even thinking about killing him.

Kyle met the Flash, Wally West, during a battle with Sonar, and in the process the two began to bicker almost to the point of Sonar getting away. The two would eventually settle their differences and become good friends. He would also soon team-up with Superboy to take on Black Manta. Kyle began a relationship with Donna Troy, who recently got over a divorce. Their relationship is stained and she breaks up with him before leaving to go to space with the Darkstars, a group headed by former Green Lantern John Stewart. Kyle begins to question his abilities and wonders what it really means to be a hero. He goes to seek advice from Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel who all help him establish himself. Donna Troy returns and asks for Kyle’s help in space. He battles the son of Darkseid and manages to win, however John Stewart is left paralyzed during the fight. Donna and Kyle give it another try as a couple. Upon returning to Earth, Kyle teams up with the new Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, and the two quickly become friends because of their similar situation.

Final Night and the JLA

When the Sun-Eater was bent on destroying the Earth’s sun, the heroes were set in a scramble. Kyle left Earth on a quest to find Parallax, Hal Jordan, in hopes that he would help the heroes. He eventually found Hal at the source wall and pleaded for Hal to help them. The hero in Hal Jordan shone once more and in a selfless act he destroyed the Sun-Eater at the cost of his own life. At Hal Jordan’s funeral Kyle made a speech as well as Superman. Various heroes were shown in the crowd.

Following Final Night, Earth’s heroes would stop a White Martian Invasion and as such the public praised the heroes and Kyle became a founding member of the new JLA. In this period Kyle would gain the respect of Batman, who usually had a bad relation with the previous Lanterns.

An old Villain, Familiar Faces, and New Love

Kyle would soon have to face another familiar Green Lantern Rogue, who was hell-bent on killing any Green Lantern. Fatality (whose home world had been destroyed, partially due to John Stewart’s actions as Green Lantern) came and fought Kyle, because he was the Last Green Lantern. He defeats her but she learns that she is looking for John Stewart.

When Kyle returned to Earth, he found Alan Scott’s daughter, Jade, in his shower, much to the disapproval of his girlfriend at the time, Donna Troy. However Kyle soon takes her to Los Angeles to see his mother because he has fallen that much in love with her. Soon Donna’s ex-husband and child are killed in a car accident and Donna breaks up with Kyle, needing space, something Kyle takes very hard. Kyle heads to Hawaii with Superboy where they take down a villain and reflect on their past break-ups. Kyle would soon start a relationship with Jade.

As Kyle finally becomes accustomed to his role, Hal Jordan arrives. However, this Hal Jordan is one from 10 years ago. This caused a rift between Kyle and some other members of the DCU, as they were happy to see the return of their long lost friend. However, an older version of Parallax would arrive and the two Hals would fight which ended with both of them returning to their own times. However, Hal gives Kyle a copy of his ring, which is able to duplicate itself, in an effort to make up for some of the sins he would commit in the future. With this Kyle thinks of restarting the Green Lantern Corps. When he presents the idea to Guy and John, they turn down the ring, so Kyle gives it to Jade and and goes off to look for recruits in space. His efforts did not mark any success.

Kyle runs into Donna again and she reiterates the fact that they aren’t together anymore and probably never will be. While this is going on Jade dumps Kyle because she doesn’t feel that she is given enough attention when Donna is around. The Controllers attempted to control Kyle, but due to sheer willpower Kyle overcame their ploys and beat them.

Kyle would soon get a new job, working for a bi-weekly comic strip for Feast Magazine. He got an assistant as well. However, after his first day, he is attacked by a group of rogue Manhunters who have become self-aware. They captured Kyle and tried to force him into their society as their power source, but Kyle would eventually escape their grasps and destroyed the machines. Fatality would make another return, this time with a yellow power ring, hunting John Stewart. Kyle beat her and in the aftermath Jade and Kyle have a conversation about their relationship as they slowly get back together. The yellow ring that Fatality had was soon passed to Nero who attacked New York with yellow creatures to the point that Kyle had to call in the JLA. Because of his efforts defending the city the mayor hailed Kyle as the hero of the hour and soon afterward Kyle proposed to Jade, who turned him down.

Oblivion

An entity known as Oblivion comes to Earth. It is revealed that it is the embodiment of Kyle’s fear which he created unknowingly when he received his Ring. The JLA fight the entity but soon send Kyle back for reinforcements. He recruits Power Girl, The Atom, Firestorm and Adam Strange. He also creates a group known as the Circle of Fire, which is the embodiment of Green Lanterns from Alternate Realities. When the JLA found out this group was from Kyles mind they urged him to put them back there and in the process he unlocks powers he had no idea he had. In the final confrontation Oblivion reveals that he is Kyle’s dark impulses and once Kyle comes to terms with this is able to trap Oblivion in his mind.

ION

Kyle releases the hate in himself which forms it’s own physical form known as Oblivion. It was modeled by a drawing of a villain Kyle drew when he was a kid. Kyle defeats Oblivion and the energy he absorbed because of this resulted in the ION entity being drawn to him. The Central Battery energies left by Hal during Zero Hour and after he ignited the sun in Final Night were also absorbed by Kyle, so it wasn’t just the Central Battery Power. During the story we see when Kyle is clearing his thoughts in another reality that Oblivion and Parallax (Hal) are both prevalent. The reason he sees the manifestation of both Oblivion and Parallax, is his ability to overcome fear (Parallax) and embrace the Central Power Energy as well as overcoming his rage (Oblivion) as he expelled whatever hate he had in his heart. It should be noted that most of the hate came into fruition because of Major Forces’ killing of Kyle’s then girlfriend. What made this version of ION the most powerful was Kyle’s ability to embrace his fears and rage permanently, as well as gaining the total sum of the energies from the remnants left from the sun because of Hal, the total energies by the Guardians of the Universe and full access to the Central Power Battery. Kyle battled Nero, who has a similar connection to Kyle in relation to the Oan energy, and whoever won their confrontation would claim the power of what Kyle would call, ION. After their battle in space, Kyle moved the location to a neutral zone where he beat Nero in hand to hand combat outside of reality itself. He would then claim the powers of ION.

As Ion, Kyle was nigh-omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent even saying before his fight with Nero ended, that the power of the universe was flowing within him. During this time he made some drastic changes to the DCU including healing John Stewart‘s back so he could walk again and giving Jade her natural powers back. At first, the ambient energies from Kyle were too much for Alan Scott and Jade and they were not able to mentally link with him. Once he comes to the realization and understanding of his new-found power, as seen in his confrontation with Oblivion and Parallax, he maintains a balance of the energy stored within him. Once he sees Jade outside of his neutral zone, he charges her ring by merely being in proximity of her. Kyle went to the Justice League tower and was able to see the structure, heartbeats, and otherwise unknown components of his companions, as well as reading their minds although he said J’onn didn’t like going into people’s minds but Kyle was just curious. There was little conversation because of what Kyle had become, a force greater than any member of the League. He remarked on the Kryptonian physiology of Superman:

“But Kryptonians might have slightly different wavelengths. And Superman might have completely different impulses from everyone else. You should hear his heartbeat and respiratory systems at work. It’s amazing.”

An alien space armada appeared and J’onn and Bruce picked it up. Kyle said not to worry as he has stopped the invasion before the Flash and everyone else in the tower could even notice it. Kyle explained that he didn’t have to reveal his presence to the aliens and could have disarmed them without making an appearance, but he wanted to be known so that they wouldn’t try invading them again. He then asked J’onn to brief them on the specs on the new wing. Kyle’s omniscience is displayed by knowing several and fixing several activities across different galaxies simultaneously due to his omnipresence and ability to have more than one of himself. He even spied on Jade to make sure she was okay, although Jade would be angry at him if she found out. Some instances, but not all, where Kyle showcases his nigh-omnipotence includes:

• He talks on equal terms with The Spectre (Hal Jordan) and is seen as his superior as Spectre contemplates Kyle’s proposition as if his powers will not allow him to reach that magnitude. “For me, for what I am now — time is now set in stone. It’s pliable. It’s not a fabric that will unravel if I pull on a string. I can hold all the threads now, Hal. I can change what’s happened without altering everything that will be. I can take it all back. The destruction of your home — Coast City. The millions who died. And…when we lost you. When you became what you became. All of it.” Hal leaves it in Kyle’s hands as he does not want to step in asking Kyle, “But where does it end.” Kyle contemplates whether or not he should do it, but decides not to.
• He fertilizes African grounds as Superman watches the television set, bored. He is unable to do anything that Kyle hasn’t already done.
• He revitalizes the dormant energies of the Starheart which is stored within Jade.

In the past years, it was revealed that Kyle had an Irish mother but we have never seen his father. He has tried using JLA equipment in the past in order to try to find his father, to no avail. In ten minutes, Kyle launched a global search to find any trace of D.N.A. matching his own. He finds a match, leading himself to Gabriel Vasquez, also referred to as Arron Rayner and Raymond Hauser. He is the Mexican father of Kyle.

“I spent years utilizing all of the resources of the JLA’s various connections and access to computer data bases. I still came up with nothing. It wasn’t until I became ION that I could locate him.”

When Kyle’s dad asked him how he had found him, Kyle said that he had a friend that works in the government and it took years since his father said that he made it difficult for anyone to trace him.

“I have come into the possession of nearly unlimited power and I did a global search of anyone carrying the remotest traces of D.N.A. matching my own. It took ten minutes.”

Kyle rang the doorbell and when he revealed his identity, his father was shocked and asked him to come inside the house and prepared coffee although Kyle didn’t want any. After their conversation about how Kyle had found him, Kyle asked him for his story on why he walked on him and his mother. Gabriel Vasquez was the birth name of his father and he was a Mexican-American CIA Agent who worked under many names. He had to break the ties he had with his wife and infant son because his work was threatening their well-being. Him and his wife had to manufacture a domestic violence act in order to have a reason for their separation. He regretted it because of the lifestyle Kyle and his mom went through because of it. Kyle forgave and accepted his father and was glad to finally hear the true story. Kyle had learned many things that would enable him to move forward in life due to his experiences.

“From Superman who advised him on humanity’s need to be self-reliant. To the Spectre who advised him that the past should remain untouched. And from his father. There are ways of righting wrongs by moving forward and not back.”

In a show of true character, his will, and what he has learned throughout his time as ION, Kyle gave up this way of life, instead using his vast power to restart the Lantern Battery on Oa and restart the Lantern Corps. Kyle met up with Ganthet, the last remaining Guardian. Kyle knew that the power he had was too great for one man and needed to be returned to it’s rightful place. Kyle returned all the power back into the Central Power Battery and in the process, he also created new Guardians. The energy that created Kyle’s ring was the essence of every Guardian who died forming it in their last resort to stop Parallax and find the last wielder of the Green Lantern Ring, Kyle. As ION, Kyle was able to reshape the energy and give it life again, forming New Guardians, who Kyle referred to as children. Kyle told Ganthet that the previous Guardians were not perfect and forgot what living was truly like. He said that logic and order were important but they shouldn’t be so strict because it would be too rigid for the living. He told Ganthet to teach, raise, and lead them, while maintaining their purity and being the father for his race of Guardians, as well as instructing him to teach them humility.

Kyle and Ganthet reminisce of when they first met and how Kyle received his ring for the first time. Ganthet stated that Kyle had done a selfless act for the universe. He says that the children have much to do and have an eternity to do so as well as him naming each one. In honor of Kyle and Earth, Ganthet told them to call him “Papoo” because he had liked the name and wanted to disregard being called “Elder” by the previous offspring, so he told them to follow the new paradigm, and they listened. However, before he used the last of his powers as ION he made some changes to his ring. It would still be able to combat the yellow impurity, does not have a set limit on his power, would always return to him, and would always have a line to the central battery so the power would never run out (although he still had to recharge it). Kyle would soon go on a self-imposed exile into space after his assistant and friend was brutally beaten and gave a ring to John Stewart, who was no longer paralyzed, to take his spot on the JLA. When he returned, Jade had begun seeing another person in his own apartment. He left New York to find his new place on earth, in the process staying with his mother for a period of time.

Green Lantern: Rebirth

After believing Major Force killed his mother, Kyle attacked him, eventually decapitating him because he knew he was virtually immortal. Kyle again leaves for the vastness of space after believing he is a danger to those around him. He eventually gets sent on a mission by Ganthet to retrieve Hal Jordan’s body from the sun. In the process, Kyle understood the nature of Parallax and realized that it was an entity that possessed Hal. Eventually Kyle helps revive Hal Jordan and the two fight the long thought dead Sinestro. Kyle had fought Sinestro initially but was defeated. Afterwards Hal and Kyle formally introduce each other before going off the face the Parallax entity with Kilowog, John Stewart and Guy Gardner. After this, Kyle stops working solely on Earth and got an assignment from Kilowog. When he goes to see the Guardians they revere him as the “Torch Bearer”, the one who carried the Corps legacy through a tremendous dark period of time.

Infinite Crisis and the return of ION

Jade dies in a war and as a result sends her powers to Kyle which transform him into Ion once more. A year after her death, Kyle is spotted on 3521 in the midst of a ship wreckage. Two lanterns try to reach Kyle but he is babbling about how he didn’t mean for it to happen. When the two lanterns try to get Kyle to return to Oa, he reacts violently leaving them behind. The lanterns return to Oa and inform Kilowog that something is very wrong, while Kyle awakens on Earth with no recollection of the previous event. Kyle is attacked by a Thangorian bounty hunter and he learns of his apparent role in the destruction of a ship after which Kyle realizes that someone may be manipulating him. He visits the wreckage and loses control, traveling to a planet where he saves a woman, then loses control and breaks her arm then finds himself over Mogo.

Kyle is confronted by Alex, Donna, and Jade in the form of delusions and soon see’s Major Force as his embodiment of Fear. Through this, he realizes his purpose as he harnesses two energies.

Ion is confronted by Hal after decimating another world. Hal tries to talk to Kyle but he lashes out and the two fight until Hal puts an end to it and scans Kyle to see if he is being manipulated. It is revealed that Ion is Nero and Kyle is still on Mogo. The Guardians forbid any Lantern that is on Oa from helping Kyle, but do not mention those off-planet. When Hal and the real Kyle meet up they learn that Nero has a connection to Kyle through a third party. Kyle then confronts the Guardians who tell him that this was all a test in his ascension to Ion. Upon passing this test, Kyle is now the embodiment of the Corps and will be able to restart them if they should ever fall. Kyle learns that he will no longer have to do patrols and that he will be called upon to aid in special investigations.

When Kyle returns to earth, he is met by a monitor who informs him that he should in fact be dead and is then attacked by Effegy. He learns that someone with a great mind is behind something. As Kyle goes to clear his name that Nero tarnished on other planets, Guy Gardner informs him that his mother is in the Hospital and appears to be dying. After Kyle comes back to Earth to comfort her, he is contacted by the Guardians and required to return to Oa at once. While en route, he is attacked by one male and one female. While fighting, the male knocks Kyle out. While surviving this ordeal involving the Tangent Universe he arrives on Oa and the Guardians send him to section 3888 to investigate.

While investigating a asteroid in that section, he comes across dead Qwardian Weaponers and Donna Troy. He fights Grayven for clues but to no avail and again is confronted by a monitor who spares him once again. When Kyle returns to Earth, his mother is dead and he reanimates her corpse but she tells him to move on after a tearful goodbye letting her pass on. Kyle is left to wonder if and why these events are anything related to the things that have been happening recently.

Sinestro Corps War

Kyle discovers a yellow lantern ring while exploring space and brings it to Oa to show to the Guardians, however before he can show it to them he gets transported off of Oa and into the Anti-Matter Universe to the Planet Qward. There he see’s Sinestro speaking to an army of people that seem to be recruits. Kyle attempts to contact Oa but cannot and is soon overwhelmed with Sinestro Corps members and taken before Sinestro. There Sinestro rips out the Ion entity from Kyle and tells him he is responsible for the death of his mother and in that moment of fear, Sinestro unleashes Parallax into Kyle, becoming what he hates the most, the host of Parallax. While under the control of Parallax he captures the Earth Green Lanterns. The Lanterns would escape and take the Ion entity with them, but an enraged Parallax kills a Green Lantern, something that would scar Kyle in the aftermath.

In the mind of Kyle/Parallax, there is an inner struggle as Kyle fights to regain control of his body and overcome his fear. While in his mind, Kyle is transfixed with a painting that his mother painted. Kyle begins to hope as he realizes that the boy in the painting is himself . As Parallax Kyle attacked Hal Jordan’s family, but was stopped by Jordan. Parallax would then consume Hal as well, bringing Hal into the same mind as Kyle. John Stewart attempted to fight Parallax and was nearly killed until Guy Gardner arrived with the painting that was by Kyle’s Mother. With the help of Hal inside his mind, Kyle is able to fight Parallax and be released from it’s clutches. Now a yellow entity, Parallax attacks Kyle and the others.

Sayd and Ganhet arrive, giving Kyle a Green Lantern Ring, and split Parallax into the Guy’s, Hal’s, John’s and Kyle’s Lanterns. They also inform Kyle that he will no longer be the host of Ion, as it was never meant to be a permanent position, and as such he returns to being a regular Green Lantern, making himself a new costume in the process.

Ganthet and Sayd warn of a coming war of light as well as the “Blackest Night.” Kyle and Hal head back to Coast City to fight the Sinestro Corps. In the midst of the battle, Manhunters take Kyle and Hal’s power from their rings. As a result, Hal gets one of the Manhunters to take away Sinestro’s power as well. This results in the three fighting in the old fashioned way.

Honor Guard

After the war, Kyle, along with fellow lantern Guy Gardner are inducted into the Corps Honor Guard. Guy and Kyle are assigned to be partners and as Kyle gives Sodam Yat some pointers about being the new Ion, they both realize they need a change of scenery and they both decide to relocate to Oa. There they opened up Warriors Bar, where Kyle hung the picture that saved him during the war. However, they did not have much time to relax as the Guardians sent them to the Vega system to stop Sinestro Corps rings from finding new hosts. In the process, they come across Mongul and save Sodam Yat. Kyle is seen to be experiencing a type of Post Traumatic Stress in the aftermath of the war, which is something that Guy notices after he crumples a piece of paper which is a drawing of a dead lantern. Kyle is soon seen hanging out with Kilowog and flirting with Soranik Natu.

Countdown and Final Crisis

In the countdown, Kyle’s name appears on a list of people that should be dead. Kyle joins Donna Troy, Jason Todd and the Jokester in the search for Ray Palmer throughout the Multiverse. Kyle and Jason don’t get along as Jason appears to want to get together with Donna. They eventually find Ray on Earth-51 and upon rescuing him learn that the Earth-51 Ray was the one that was supposed to stop an event that is coming up. Kyle and Donna become guardians of the Multiverse.

In Final Crisis, Kyle and Guy try to get to Earth to help Hal, however that doesn’t seem to work and they tell the Guardians about their failed efforts.

More Honor Guard Duties

As Guy and Kyle come to terms with their new roles, they have to work with fellow lanterns including Soranik Natu. He then joins a group of Lanterns looking for Quintet, which is a family of Sinestro Corps members hunting the families of rookie GLC Members. Following this Kyle and Soranik join KT21 and pree couple to locate a Sinestro Corps member who is taking Green Lantern children and Murdering the Lanterns. The assailant is revealed to be Kryb and they encounter him in sector 1111 and Kyle snaps after seeing a dead Lantern and has to be restrained before he kills Kryb, and in the process the other Lanterns are exposed to an agent that makes them vulnerable to mind control. Kyle is able to fight it and help the others overcome the mind-control. Kyle and the other members of the Corp are helped by a new member of the Star Sapphires. Kyle admits that he has lost too much to give love another chance after the Guardians inform all lanterns that Fraternization between 2 members of the Corp is now not allowed. Looking through the Sapphires crystal Kyle and Soranik Natu see each other. Back on Oa, the two share a kiss, while discussing that this new law is just another way to micro-manage the Corps. Later on, when there is a massive breakout of Sinestro Corps members escaping, the Guardians alert the Alpha Lanterns to execute all prisoners. When Guy and Kyle question this decision they are sent to Earth for what appears to be a suspension.

Blackest Night

In a parade honoring all the citizens that died in Mongul’s attack on Coast City, Guy, Kyle, Hal, and John all attend. Kyle, along with Alan Scott goes to visit Jade’s grave before Kyle and Guy head back to Oa. While on the way back they meet up with Soranik and her partner and en route to Oa they are swarmed with Black Rings headed for the crypt on Oa. Kyle comes face to face with Jade, his long lost love, who is now a Black Lantern. She tries to use their bond to reach him and turn him into a Black Lantern, but Kyle see’s through her tricks. In a rage he tries to destroy her, as he sees this as a disgrace to her memory, however she survives these attacks and forces Kyle to confront all of his past mistakes Soranik comes to Kyle’s aid, where Jade reveals to her that Kyle saw Jade in the crystal and not her. As she punches Jade in the face leaving her fist in her head, she shoots off her ring, telling her that it’ll take more than some light tricks to destroy what she has and Kyle corrects her, “what we have.” Jade then heads to Oa’s Central Battery, and Kyle and Soranik soon find Guy as they try to defend the planet and battery. As Kyle forms a plan involving letting a Red Lantern out of his cage to help, an Alpha Lantern goes down, his battery rupturing. The battery is programmed to self destruct so Kyle goes to grab the battery and heads to the center of the Black Lanterns attack. He tells Soranik that he loves her and that he loves Guy like a brother. As the battery explodes, Kyle’s ring begins a search for a new host as Kyle appears to have died. As Soranik and Guy race towards Kyle an very angry Guy tries to keep Kyle’s ring where it belongs, on his finger.

Soranik tries to save the man she loves. Black Lantern rings try to get on Kyle but they are held at bay as Soranik calls for the Star Sapphire who arrives because of her dying love. The Sapphire connects both of their hearts with love and will. Kyle is revived to the shock and joy of Natu as he tells her he didn’t want to keep her waiting. When Kyle learns that Guy has turned into a Red Lantern he states that it won’t be for long. Kyle has to fight Guy and eventually with the help of Mogo they are able to get rid of the red ring. They then get a call to head to Earth. While there, Kyle would face Black Lantern Alexandra Dewitt. He was able to move past her and assist in the final battle. Afterwards, he was surprised to see another former girlfriend, Jade, be reborn and finally into Brightest Day!

Brightest Day

Kyle and Soranik Natu fly back to Oa after Kyle tells Jade that she needs to move on with her life. Kyle decides to return to Oa in order to rebuild the Corps after the aftermath of the destruction of the Black Lantern Corps. While the Guardians are in a closed meeting Kyle and Guy barge in to discuss the fact that the Guardians have clearly displayed a lack of emotion and the fact that they no longer seem to trust in the Green Lantern Corps. The main issue that Kyle took with the Guardians was the induction of the new Third Law of the Green Lantern Corps which stated that Lanterns were not allowed to have physical relationships or fall in love. This was especially difficult for Kyle since he and Soranik Natu had already begun to have a relationship together so due to the rules they would now have to separate. Many of the Veteran and Rookie Lanterns resigned from the Green Lantern Corps because of the induction of this new law but the Guardians did not seem to be too concerned with this. Kyle then tells the Guardians that they will have to earn the trust of the Green Lanterns again after what they have done. During Kyles stay on Oa he and Ganthet go visit John who is rebuilding Oa at the time. Kyle learns from John that during the war his apartment was completely destroyed. Kyle then informs John not to worry because he will be shaking up with Soranik Natu until he is able to find his own place to live. That very night Kyle had a nightmare about Jade and he wakes up screaming out her name with Natu right by his side who hear it all. He tries to explain to her that it wasn’t what she thought and that it was a dream but she was not interested in listening his explanations at the time. At that same moment Ganthet entered the room and told Kyle that all the Alpha Lanterns were leaving Oa.

Remembering that John is on a mission with Boodaka Kyle makes the decision for them both to travel to Grenda. Once they arrive there they notice that Horoq Not has been turned into an Alpha Lantern. Once they are discovered the Alpha Lanterns begin to drain their power and as they begin to escape they realize that the entire Alpha Lanterns group has been compromised and Ganthet creates a distraction so that Kyle can rescue John who was earlier incapacitated by the Alpha Lanterns. Ganthet was left behind in order to deal with Cyborg Superman while Soranik Natu is attacked by Alpha Lantern Varix. Kyle assumes his classic Samurai look and slices off Varix’s hands before he has a chance to cause her any harm. Later, Kyle, John and Sornaik hide out in a cave where they discover that there are Grendians inside. They encourage them to take fight up against the Alpha Lanterns and Cyborg Superman (who is currently controlling the Alpha Lanterns) but the Alpha Lanterns intercepted their message. Boodika arrives and drains Kyles ring of all of its energy but Hannu arrives just in time to break Cyborg Superman’s hold on Boodika. Boodika later allows all of them to recharge their rings through her (this is due to the fact that Alpha Lanterns have a built in battery inside and are able to charge other rings and keep their own rings at a constant full charge). Kyle came up with the idea of a full on assault with the help of the Grendians against Henshaw while Soranik rescues Stel and Ganthet. Kyle and John were finally able to destroy Henshaw’s body but this fight was truly achieved by the willpower of Boodika. Later on after this event, Kyle was attacked in Soranik’s sector by a man who called himself the Weaponer of Qward who called himself The Weaponer. This individual defeated Kyle quickly and kidnapped Soranik. He tells Kyle that if he ever wishes to see her again that he needs to bring Sinestro to Qward. Kyle flies to Earth to attempt to convince Sinestro to come and after a fist fight Sinestro flat out refuses to go anywhere with Kyle or help Soranik. Back in Qward The Weaponer defeats the Honor Guard and Kyle rescues Soranik. Later on the entire Sinestro Corps arrived to lend assistance but Sinestro kept to his word and did not show up. Since there was a truce between the two people that rings could not be used against each other in a war Kyle states that if they avoid using their rings there will be no breaking of the truce.

War of the Green Lanterns

While Kyle was on his return flight back to Oa with the other members of the Honor Guard, they notice that all of the members of the Alpha Lanterns were not online. Just then the power rings of each of the Corps members informs them that the Impurity had been restored to the Central Battery on Oa. In that same moment Krona is able to take control of the minds of each of the members of the G.L through his mind control abilities but Ganthet, John and Kyle all remained immune to this immediate attempt to take control of their thoughts. Ganthet tells John and Kyle that somehow Parallax has returned to the Central Power battery and that the other Lanterns are now under his control. The other Lanterns continue onto their course to Oa while a fight begins to ensue between John and Kyle. Ganthet was finally able to break up the fight using his abilities by forcing the rings off of their fingers. This however took all of the Guardians power and he blew up his hand in the process. Ganthet told Kyle and John that although they were able to avoid Kronas immediate attempt to mind control them he was slowing gaining ground on their minds and forcing them to fight each other. The only way to stop this was by removing their rings. Ganthet expresses to Kyle that he is their last hope in saving the Corps and the Universe from this crisis. With their rings removed John and Kyle were without the ability to take on Krona and their fellow Corps members. They met up with Hal and Guy to devise a plan in which they could retake the Corps. In the beginning of the War of the Green Lanterns Hal came into the possession of the other Power Rings when several of the other members of the Corps were sucked into the Book of the Black. Hal suggested the idea that each of the Earth Green Lanterns take one of the power rings in order to combat Krona. Hal took the Yellow Ring, Kyle took the Blue Ring, Guy took the Red Ring and John took the Indigo Ring. It had been stated that the reason for which Kyle took the Blue Ring was because of the fact that although he is a Green Lantern he has shown himself to be one of the embodiments of Hope. While each of them were practicing utilizing their rings they were attacked by the other members of the Corps who were under the control of Krona. Kyle’s rings then begins to charge the rings of the other Corps an ability that Kyle was not consciously attempting to achieve rather something that a Blue Lantern Ring does automatically. Ganthet tells Kyle that he should focus on their minds and not on their rings. When Kyle did this though Mogo appeared and in all his glory began to fire upon the Earth Lanterns.

Kyle and the other Earth Lanterns go underground in order to escape the onslaught of the mind controlled Green Lanterns. While there they attempt to devise a plan of attack when the Earth Lanterns reach a fork in the road. Hal believes that the primary mission was to remove Parallax from the Central Battery and John believes that their biggest threat at that moment in time was the planet Green Lantern Mogo. An argument ensues and Kyle attempts to calm everyone down and tells them that it should be put up to a vote. They all decide that they should head to the Central Battery and attempt to remove Parallax and Hal’s ring shows them the path to travel underground in order to reach it. On their way there, they notice an underground facility constructed by the Guardians that hold some of their most darkest secrets. There is an old inactive Manhunter there as well as the Krona Gauntlet. The Krona Gauntlet was the first piece of technology created that had the ability to tap into the energy of Will and create constructs based upon a user’s thoughts. This device is held to be even powerful than a Green Lantern ring by itself as when Guy put it on he stated that it felt as if he had 10 Green Lantern rings on. Moments later though they are attacked by an older Green Lantern who had been put there by the Guardians in order to protect the facility and especially the Krona Gauntlet. Kyle stops the fight and convinces the Lantern that they are indeed allies and that they were not attempting to steal anything. The attacker leaves and moments later a computer comes online and shows that Mogo is creating a massive amount of Green Lantern rings and sending them to different sectors all over the Universe. Kyle at this points sides with John and tell the other Lanterns that this has now become their most pressing matter since Krona’s army is growing by the minute soon there will be thousands of beings on Oa under Krona’s control hunting them down and the War will be lost. John then uses his ring to transport Kyle and himself to Mogo (an ability that is inherent among the rings of the Indigo tribe). Once they arrive there they are almost immediately attacked and they plunge into the core of Mogo in order to help restore him. Mogo attempts to access their thoughts and create constructs of people that they care about and attempts to convince them to go back but they press on. Once they reach Mogo’s center Kyle attempts to cure his mind using the energy of the Blue Lantern ring to no success. They notice that the energy of the Black Lanterns is causing interference since towards the end of Blackest Night, Mogo took in their energies while they were attacking him and stated that they would burn at his core for all Eternity. Seeing that there is no way to cure Mogo and that he is too far under Krona’s control John decided to tap into the power of the Black energy and uses it to form a weapon and destroys Mogo completely. Kyle, horrified by John’s actions, attempts to gather pieces of Mogo together in order to restart his core but they fall apart. Later on John and Kyle meet back with Hal and Guy and Ganthet and attempt to use the full power of all the different Corps ring to crack open the Central Power battery and release Parallax. While their combined effort was unable to continue as they were under attack by other Corps members. Guy Gardner with the Red Ring of Rage and the Star Sapphire Ring of Compassion manages to break open the Central Battery and releases Parallax from the Central Power Battery. The other Lanterns are then broken from Krona’s control and begin preparations for their final showdown with the New Guardian Entities and Krona. In the final battle against the renegade Guardian Krona, Kyle was able to use the Book of Black by drawing a picture inside of it essentially “willing” the other New Guardians back into the normal realm. When they returned their rings went to Krona and as he was about to give the final killing blow to Hal Jordan and Sinestro, Hal somehow managed to kill him first, finally ending the War of the Green Lanterns.

Aftermath

In the Aftermath of the WOTGL the Green Lantern Corps Kyle is seen on OA attempting to pull things back together. At one point, John is confronted by three other lanterns who want to make him pay for what he did to Mogo. Kyle defend John by stating that it wasn’t John who killed Mogo, it was “Black Lantern Stewart”. John tells Kyle that he would have done it otherwise and if he can’t accept that fact then he shouldn’t be calling John his friend.

New 52:

New Guardians

In the present day Kyle uses his signature creative constructs to save construction workers caught in an accident. Out in the universe, Red, Blue, Pink and Yellow power rings bearers are decommissioned. Their rings set their location for Sector 2814(Earth). After Kyle saves the construction workers and receives his praises, the four rings state they choose Kyle to harness their power. The decommissioned bearers peers track the rings and ambush Kyle to retrieve them.

Kyle manages to defeat the ring’s owners with the arrival of Saint Walker, the two then depart Earth to Oa feeling Ganthet is the only one who could offer a explanation for why all the rings sought him out. Upon arrival on Oa the two meet with Ganthet who has had his emotions removed by his fellow Guardians. The Guardians then attack Kyle in order to interrogate him and seize the rings but are prevented when each of the rings accept Kyle into the various respective corps.

With the combined powers of all seven rings, Kyle is able to hold his own against the Guardians, before inevitably succumbing to the side effects of wielding the entire emotion spectrum (all the rogue rings, save the green and orange, crumble). Ganthet then proceeds to remove Kyle’s Green Lantern ring, but an energy feedback prevents him from doing so. At the same time, the last remaining rogue ring reveals itself to be a sentient orange construct called Glomulus, who requests that Kyle help him. The Guardian’s citadel is again breached, but this time by Saint Walker and the cadre of ring bearers who had previously ambushed Kyle (Bleez, Munk, Fatality and Arkillo). A quick fight ensues between the two factions, with the Guardians coming out on top. Having seen the intruders dealt with, the Guardians were ready to arrest all those that lay before them, at which point, Larfleeze and his entire corp of orange constructs (with the exception of Sayd, who’s head he was riding on) burst through the ceiling wall, declaring that they were all his.

Following the events of the Larfleeze-Invictus War and The Fall of The Blue Lanterns, Kyle is now preparing to fight the Guardians of the Universe. His first color of choice to master is the Red Lantern of Rage. We see Kyle being smacked around over and over by Atrocitus in a cemetery with Carol Ferris watching from the sidelines. Atrocitus is trying to anger Kyle through sheer force and humiliation but senses no angry spark in him. Once thrown through the headstone of his former girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt, he starts to have flashbacks of their happy times until her horrific murder at the hands of Major Force. Atrocitus berates Kyle further while Kyle replies he only feels sadness at the site of his former lovers grave. Carol on the other hand tries to tell Atrocitus that this isn’t the way to inspire rage. Atrocitus threatens Carol to not get involved in his methods. Atrocitus then takes Kyle with him and says when they return Kyle will “be a new man.” Later we see Atrocitus has taken Kyle to the Middle East where a small village is being massacred by a rebel faction. Atrocitus forces Kyle to watch families be slaughtered over and over while Kyle trys to not look. However through enough killing and anger at Atrocitus’s own inaction against the bloodshed Kyle finally channels the blinding power of rage and transforms into a Red Lantern avatar. Using his now powers Kyle kills all of the violent rebels and then angrily tells Atrocitus hes no better than the rebels to which Atrocitus replies “No child…I am WORSE!” Atroticus leaves Kyle reminding him of their bargain against the Guardians. Kyle then uses the power of Hope to heal the wounded in the village. Kyle then flies back to Carol as he arrives he sees Carol using her Star Sapphire ring to fix Alex DeWitt’s headstone. However upon his return Kyle seems cold and uncaring of the gesture by Carol and tells her that he’s moving onto the next color by asking his ring to locate Arkillo. Carol tries to speak to Kyle wondering what Atrocitus did to him, however Kyle ignores her and fly’s off with Carol chasing after him.

Light’s Out

After the events of the Rise of the Third Army, Kyle is approached by the group of new guardians who seek his assistance in navigating the universe in search of a better understanding of its inhabitants and its customs. Untrusting, Kyle declines, until Hal manages to persuade him that doing so would be in the best interest of the corps and the universe because of the fact that these new guardians could be potential threats, as the old guardians were.

The first outing that Kyle and the guardians take is to the outer edge of the universe where an anomaly in the form of a giant floating mass is being studied by multiple spaceships and guarded by Exeter. The guardians leave Kyle to deal with Exeter while they take a closer look at the anomaly. As Kyle wields the white light to protect himself, the anomaly explodes and releases the being known as Relic.

Now facing Relic and obviously out-powered, the guardians call on the assistance of Carol Ferris, nonconsensually pulling her from Earth. As Kyle attempts to battle Relic, he is captured as Relic studies Kyle’s memories. With the combined force of Carol Ferris and Exeter, Carol manages to talk Kyle out of his allusion as Relic flees with the collected information.

The group manage to track down Relic to the blue lantern corps’ home planet, where he’s attempting to drain their blue power battery. Despite the best efforts of the blue lanterns and Kyle’s group, Relic manages to empty the battery’s reservoir of hope. With an injured Saint Walker, the other blue lanterns sacrifice themselves to allow Walker and Kyle’s group to escape via Kyle’s indigo teleportation powers.

Kyle warps the group to Oa, the home of the green lantern corps, and meets up with Hal, where they learn that the green lantern power battery is also acting out of sorts. Not long after, Relic arrives and encourages the lanterns to stand down by surrendering their rings. When they decline and begin their attacks, no constructs seem to harm him, and he successfully drain the green power battery. Without an active power battery, Oa begins self-destructing.

While John stays to fight as a distraction, Hal and Kyle lead the other lanterns to safety. While observing Oa’s destruction from a safe distance, Kyle senses the presence of most of the Entities- Ion, Adara, Predator, Ophidian, and Proselyte. They commandeer Kyle’s body as a host and strike out to confront Relic. Hal and the other lanterns try in vain to force the entities to leave Kyle’s body, but not until the guardians remind Kyle that he can pit the entities against each other long enough for him to take control does he contain them. From what Kyle learned from the Entities, he knows that he cannot stop Relic but instead should help him save the universe.

When Kyle does find Relic, the latter entraps Kyle in a blanket of devices that drain the energy Relic needs until Hal and lanterns of every emotional corps manage to save him. The lanterns distract Relic long enough for Kyle to pull Relic through the wall that guards the edge of the universe. The two of them disappear until Relic is seen transforming into a part of the wall, a typical reaction to anyone who ventures too closely. Hal and the other corps think Kyle dead and transport to Mogo, the new home planet of the green lanterns. The guardians, though, stay behind to study the wall when they see Kyle reemerge from the other side. Kyle tells the story of how the Entities sacrificed themselves to refill the reservoir that fuels the rings of the lanterns. The guardians decide that this is too important for others to know, and so they come to the decision that Kyle’s survival must be kept a secret, as his journey has only just begun.

God Head

The New Gods has set out a goal to collect one ring from each of the seven corps. Highfather plans to use this so he can create a weapon powerful enough to defeat Darkseid once and for all, but he needs the Life Equation as well. It was revealed by the Guardians that Kyle had always had the Life Equation within him after coming back from the Source Wall. Highfather persuaded Kyle into going back to New Genesis to have the White Lantern ring removed. After being betrayed, Kyle and Carol Ferris were stuck on New Genesis, until John Stewart came to help alongside Sinestro and some few others. When Kyle discovered the intentions of Hightfather to use the White ring to destroy Darkseid at the cost of billions of lives in the universe, Kyle opposed to these plans.The only way to stop the plans of the New Gods was using the power of Black Hand to bring back several of the promethean giants trapped along the Source Wall, Relic being freed alongside them – to distract the forces of New Genesis. All goes well until the Source Titans return to life, having never been truly dead in to begin with. Highfather tries in vain to use the Life Equation to control the giants, with the power only angering them. Meanwhile, the guardians reveal to Kyle that the Life Equation cannot be separated from from him, and that Highfather is merely connected to his mind to channel the power. Kyle then attempts to sever Highfather’s connection to the equation. Unknown to Kyle, Hal Jordan was able to convince Highfather of his folly, and he relinquishes his connection. Once he regains full control of the Life Equation, he proceeds to teleport the Titans away from New Genesis. Once the conflict ends, Kyle attempts to talk to Hal about him dating Carol, but Hal assures him that all is well. They then leave New Genesis on good terms with the New Gods.

White Lantern Corps

After the events of Godhead and the revelation about the living status of Kyle, the White lantern had to fight again against his opposite Oblivion. By then, Kyle started to lose control over his powers as White Lantern, at the risk of becoming the mad deity seen in Futures End, a future that he anticipated and feared. To prevent such events from happening, Kyle choose split the power of the white ring, creating a White Lantern Corps , with several members from different worlds and reducing his own power.

Omega Men

Kyle Rayner would reappear in Vega, helping in the peace talks between the governing Citadel and the rebels the Omega Men. Kyle attempted to meet with the Omegas in person, with their word that there would be no hostilities. However, the Omega Men apparently killed and broadcast his “death” across the system. He was however kept prisoner by the rebels, who wanted to make him join their cause, by showing the true face of the Citadel oppression in Vega. After several tribulations, Kyle joined the forces of the Omegas as the Omega Lantern, still dealing with how much of his principles and ideals he had compromised in the fight for the independence of the Vega system.

Character Appearances

Pre-Flash Point

Ongoing

• 1994-2004: Green Lantern Vol. 3 #0, 48, 50-103, 105-107, 110-155, 157-181, 1,000,000
• 1994-1996: The New Teen Titans Vol. 3 #0, 116-130
• 1995-1996: Darkstars #29, 30, 32, 34, 37, 38
• 1995-2009: The Flash Vol. 2 #100, 124, 129, 130, 135-138, 140, 142, 159, 163, 214, 246
• 1995-1996: Justice League America #100, 107, 108, 112, 113
• 1995-2005: Aquaman Vol. 5 #10, 26, 50, 65-69
• 1995-2006: Superman Vol. 2 #105, 128, 132, 134, 135, 159, 165, 173, 181, 183, 204, 226
• 1995-2001: Superboy #20, 25, 47, 49, 65, 74, 91
• 1995-1999: The Powers of SHAZAM! #10, 14, 32, 41, 45, 1,000,000
• 1996-1998: Green Arrow Vol. 2 #104, 110, 111, 125, 126, 130, 132, 133
• 1996-2002: Impulse #14, 67-69, 78, 86
• 1997-2003: JLA #1-64, 66-68, 70, 72-76
• 1997-1999: Resurrection Man #2, 21, 26, 27
• 1997-2001: Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #125, 136, 172-175
• 1997-2001: Adventures of Superman #551, 565-567, 570,, 583, 596
• 1998-2003 Young Justice #0, 5, 6, 19, 20, 24, 35, 54
• 1998-2001: Superman: The Man of Steel #79, , 96, 105, 112
• 1998–2001: Martian Manhunter Vol. 2 #0, 1, 13, 36, 1,000,000
• 1999-2008: Action Comics Vol. 1 #753, 757, 752, 769, 770, 780-782, 784, 834, 864
• 1999-2000: Hourman #1, 5-7, 20
• 2001-2003: Green Arrow Vol. 3 #1, 4, 10, 19, 23-25
• 2005-2007: JLA: Classified #13-15, 26, 28, 31, 44, 45
• 2006-2007: Ion: Guardain of the Universe #1-12
• 2007-2011: Green Lantern Vol. 4 #17, 21-25, 42, 65-67
• 2007-2011: Justice League of America Vol. 1 #7, 47, 48, 50, 59
• 2008-2011: Green Lantern Corp Vol. 2 #19, 20, 23-60, 62, 63
• 2008-2009: Booster Gold Vol. 2 #0, 7, 8, 23, 24,

Events

• 1994: Zero Hour: Crisis In Time #0-4
• 1996: The Final Night #0-4
• 1999: Day of Judgement #1-5
• 2004-2005: Identity Crisis #1-3, 5-7
• 2005-2006: Infinite Crisis #1, 4-7
• 2008-2009: Final Crisis #2,3, 5-7
• 2009-2010: Blackest Night #0-2, 7, 8

Mini Series

• 2003: JLA: Scary Monsters #1-6
• 2004-2005: Green Lantern Rebirth #1-6
• 2005: Rann/Thanagar War #1-6
• 2005-2006: Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #1-5

Event Series

• 2005-2006: 52 #6-9, 11, 51
• 2007-2008: Countdown to Final Crisis #1-21, 24, 26-33, 35, 38, 43, 47, 49

New 52

• 2011-2015: Green Lantern: New Guardians #0-17, 19-40
• 2012-2013: Green Lantern Vol. 5 #11-14, 20, 21, 23, 23.1, 24
• 2013-2014: Green Lantern Corp Vol. 3 #15, 17, 18, 24, 27, 31
• 2014-2015: Sinestro #6, 8-10
• 2015-2016: Omega Men #1-12

Rebirth

• 2016-2018 Green Lanterns #9, 22-24, 34, 40, 43, 50-57
• 2017-2018: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corp #9-27, 29, 30, 32-44, 46-50
• 2018-2020: The Flash Vol. 5 #45, 47, 64, 750
• 2019: Titans Vol. 3 #30-34, 36
• 2019-2020: Justice League Vol. 4 #25, 30, 35, 36, 57
• 2020-2021: Dark Nights: Death Metal #3-6

Powers

As of the War of The Green Lanterns, Kyle has managed to keep his ability to channel some abilities of The Blue Lantern Corps. How many abilities and to what extent is still yet to be seen. After training with each of the seven corps and learning to wield all of the colors, Kyle has become the first white lantern since blackest night, and perhaps the first true whit lantern as he achieved this on his own without any contact with the entity. As a White Lantern, he is able to wield the white light of the entity as well as any of the seven colors. So far his power has shown to be most effective against the third army and even the guardians, perhaps indicating that Kyle’s now white energy makes him more powerful than any lantern as he wields the combined power of all seven lights at once. His ring is keyed to his gentic code so only he can use it. Before Kyle gave up his power as ION Kyle made changes to his ring. His ring will always go back to him if an enemy removes it. Kyle also gave his ring reserves so it dosen’t run out of power but he still has to charge it to use full power. As a White Lantern Kyle is more powerful than the Guardians as stated by Hal “With your White Lantern power you can stop them if you need to”. Kyle is also more powerful then when he had ION.

Kyle is a White Lantern his power comes from his ring which is genetically keyed to his DNA. His ring lets him us all the powers from the emotional spectrume making Kyle the most powerful lantern. Kyle is an artist meaning him can make very complicated artistic and powerful constructs. The powers that the White Lantern Ring grant Kyle are:

Animating: A Green Lantern can will things to move how he wants. Kyle has even created constructs to assist him in battle that usually take on the forms of his comrades or famous people.

Reality Manipulation: Kyle can alter reality. Kyle once altered reality to come back from behind the source wall.

Teleportaion: Kyle can teleport anywhere with his Indigo Lantern powers.

Healing: Kyle can heal people with his Blue Lantern powers.

Matter Manipulation: Green Lantern’s can manpulate matter for many reasons like if a construct dosen’t work for example they can manipulate water (not just water).

Artificial Intelligence: Every ring has a connection to the Main Battery on Oa, which taps into an artificial intelligence. It acts as an “on-board computer,” telling the wearer what they need to know. It can either respond out loud, or silently directly to the wearer’s mind. The AI contains a large database of information that may be crucial to a Lantern’s success. The ring also translates nearly every language to and from the wearer (though they have difficulty translating profanity), which is why the Corps can communicate with each other. When the bearer of a Green Lantern ring dies, the ring will seek out a suitable replacement for their sector. The AI can be used to play a holographic playback sequence complete with colors across the spectrum based on information in memory banks. The ring can dictate when to pause or stop the playback should an interruption arise where the Lanterns undivided attention is needed. The AI can also alert the wielder of incoming threats or of attempts to manipulate the wielders construct by an outside party. Kyle was once able to use his ring to display a GPS Map in his mind through his right eye in order to pinpoint a location.

Burglar Alarm: A Green Lantern can coat anything with the ring’s beam and thus, if anyone other than himself touches it, his ring will glow, alerting him to the possible theft. Kyle’s ring can’t be removed by anyone even the guradins said it cannot be removed. Kyle is the only capable of removing his ring.

Communicator: The ring can act as a personal communicator between Green Lanterns. They have also been seen connected to telephones. Kyle has also been shown to use constructs that can connect with machinery so that he can control them.Kyle can communicate with all lanters because him being a White Lantern.

Costumes: The wearer of the ring may create any costume they choose, based on their personal preferences, whenever they choose. The ring projects the costume over any clothes already worn at the time.

Super Strength: Although Kyle does not have physical super strength like Superman he has been show to be able to augment his physical abilities by encasing himself in an augmented version of himself.

Kyle’s constructs have also been seen with the ability to lift massive amounts of weight.

Kyle has also been shown to move a third of planet Earth with the assistance of Wonder Woman and Superman.

Energy Projection: The rings can also project beams, form protective bubbles and force fields, and fire destructive blasts. Sometimes, depending on the wearer, the beams and blasts make sounds. Kilowog‘s ring is one such example of blasts making sounds. Kyle is often showed using powerful beams of energy to attack his enemies. They can come either directly from his ring through a construct or through Kyle’s hands.

Energy Constructs: The rings can construct anything the wearer can imagine from hard-light energy, as long as they are willing to make it. The more determined the wearer is, the more complex and intricate these things can be. The constructs can even be so complex as to form working machines, computers, and even people. This is a common ability among all Green Lantern. (Kyle using his ring for various constructs In another instance Kyle uses his ring to cut the wings off a plane and create new ones in order to direct its path and avoid it from crashing. Kyle’s constructs are strong enough to hold Ultraman and Power Ring on the Moon for hours and stop a city from falling to a planet.

Flight: The ring allows the wearer to fly in atmosphere or in space, and can achieve incredible speeds, moving from planet to planet in a matter of hours. Kyle is said to be one of Earths best Green Lanterns. Superman himself has stated that Kyle Rayner is one of the fastest fliers in the J.L.A

Invisibility: The ring can make the wearer or anything else invisible. Kyle on a number of occasions

Mind Control: The wearer of the Ring can use it to plant post hypnotic commands or control a person.

Mirages: The Ring can create mirages/illusions. Kyle once created a hologram of a convict sleeping in his cell so others around them would not notice that Kyle was torturing him for information.

Phasing: The ring allows the user to go through walls. Kyle has displayed the ability to phase through matter on a number of occasions by boarding enemy ships without their knowledge.

Power Absorbing: In the JLA’s first fight with Amazo, it was GL who defeated him by drawing out all of Amazo’s powers. In Green Lantern/ Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances, Kyle defeated Parallax with SS’ power and Thanos with Oa’s energy by drawing out all that extra energy from them which made them unconscious. However he couldn’t hold all that power nor could his Ring like Hal did with Amazo’s powers, so that move isn’t often used with so much power. Kyle at on point used a construct to redirect Superman’s Heat vision through the use of a construct.

Probing: The ring can probe the Lantern’s or another person’s mind, allowing him to uncover memories or the person’s thoughts.

Recharging: The rings need to be recharged by means of a Power Battery. Other large sources of power may be used to recharge a power ring, however effectiveness may vary. The internal power source of a Manhunter Android is, in effect, the same as a power battery, and can be used to recharge a power ring. During the JLA / Avengers crossover, a Cosmic Cube was used to recharge a depleted ring, although this is not an ideal solution and is available if there are no other options. White lantern rings can recharge from the user enjoying life, like when Dead Man charged his ring while riding a motorcycle.

Ring Duplication: Each ring can duplicate itself, creating a second ring which may be given to another as a backup, for protection, or to help the lantern in times of great need. This duplicate ring is exactly like a normal ring. Kyle displayed the ability to do this when he left Earth for a short amount of time and made a duplicate ring for John Stewart to lead in his absence. The reason for this was that Kyle had temporarily lost his faith in humanity after witnessing a horrific scene and returned to Oa and guarded the other planets with his sector. John was only assigned to Earth and later on took up Kyles role in the J.L.A.

Spying: Recently, through use of the white lantern ring, Kyle gained the ability to open a small portal. in which he can watch others without them seeing.

Temperature Control: The Ring can increase or decrease the temperature of anything, even something as large as stars, or even create bubbles of intense heat or cold, even down to Absolute Zero.

Transforming: The ring can transform anyone or anything, be it into an animal, altering their state of appearance, or their size. Once Hal and Alan turned the two Flashes (Barry and Jay) to light protons in order to free them from prisons. Kyle himself has displayed the ability to transform himself into an ape.

Electro-magnetic scanning: The ring can allow(through the use of x rays) the user to see through walls, without the people on the other side knowing. it can also scan along the Electromagnetic spectrum.

Wormhole/Warps: The ring can open wormholes to cut down on distance. Kyle has the ability to travel from Earth to Oa or any other point in the Universe through the use of Hyperspace wormholes. There is a limit to which however this ability can be used.

Healing: A wielder can command a ring to heal him/her/itself of any injures incurred. It can also heal others. Kyle has been seen to heal himself from third degree burns. Kyle also displayed the ability to create a construct that would purge his fellow teammates of the effects of mind control.

Energy twin: The ring can create an energy copy of the wielder which is connected to the ring wielder, any information the twin gathers is transferred to the wielder upon touch while others cannot see this twin apart from fellow Green Lanterns.

Pocket dimension : Within the ring is a pocket dimension which can altered to the wielders specification. It can be used to contain opponents. This ability can also be used to hold a Green Lanterns battery. Hal Jordan has also stored his ring in the dimension and pulled it out with his power battery.

Sub-routines: The power rings have inner programmings or mechanisms which can be executed without the user’s permission. One such sub-routine is the auto-shield. This shield automatically protects a wielder from external harm and has been proven to be capable of protecting the wielder from planetary level attacks the shield is always up. On a number of occasions Kyle has displayed the ability to give his rings orders such as build a construct at a certain moment in time or even have the construct disintegrate after a certain period in time. Kyle was once able to control his ring while it was on the finger of another person. Kyle can also call his ring onto his finger.

Force Fields. Kyle’s ring gives him the ability to create powerful force fields that can either encompass himself or a wide area. Kyle’s Ring has been seen with the ability to protect an entire city from a nuclear blast.

Kyle’s has also been shown to create constructs that can stop tidal waves.

Revival: As a White Lantern Kyle can revive the dead but the dead must be willing to come back to life.

H2H: Kyle has also been shown to have great H2H combat abilities. During his fight with Sinestro, Kyle was able to match him hit for hit and when Sinestro asked him who trained him Kyle told him Batman. Kyle has beat fatality in hand to hand combat.

Weaknesses

Mental Incapacitation : The ring cannot be wielded correctly if the wearer is under the influence of drugs or if there is an involvement of neural interference.

(Previous Weaknesses)

Ability To Kill : One of the main weaknesses of the Power Rings that greatly disturbed Sinestro was the fact that the bearers of the Green Lantern Ring were unable to kill. Recently however, this restriction on the rings has been lifted but murder is still against the law of the GL Corps.

Recharge : Previously had to be recharged every 24 hours or when it has been depleted of energy. This can be accomplished if the bearer of the ring recites an oath into his power lantern while holding the ring to it. However now, the power ring only needs to be recharged when it runs out of energy. Kyle can recharge his ring from any lantern. Kyle can recharge his own ring without a lantern.

Yellow Impurity: In the beginning the Green Ring was vulnerable to the color yellow. It was unable to defend against attacks from wielders of the Sinestro Corps as well. This weakness however has now been changed and can be overcome by veterans who have the ability to overcome great fear. Kyle has overcome this.

Red Lantern Corps . Bearers of the red ring have the ability to drain a Green Power Ring of its energy. The ring of a Blue Lantern however has the ability to charge a Green Lantern Ring or negate this negative effect. Kyle’s ring cannot be drained by Red Lanterns because he uses the power of all seven corps.

Former Abilities

Ion Empowerment: At one point Kyle had the ability to wield the power of the ION Entity. With the ability to wield the ION entity Kyle is able to use the abilities of the Green Lantern Power Ring on a much larger scale. When Kyle was empowered by ION he was given the sum total of the energies that the Guardians of the Universe possess. This changed how his abilities in turn were based upon to a more mystical nature as Kyle was raised to becoming one of the most powerful beings in existence. The limit as to what Kyle could do was never defined and was believed to be unlimited. He had the ability to bring back the dead, go back in time and also had so much power over the timeline he could isolate certain periods in time and erase them completely. As ION Kyle also had the ability to exist in multiple places and time periods at one time.

Time Manipulation: Kyle Rayner with the ION power is able to control the passage of time. There was apparently no limit as to how far he could do this.

Reality Manipulation: Kyle Rayner can manipulate reality on a much larger scale than we have seen most other beings in the DC Universe. There was apparently no limit as to how far he could do this.

Reality Altering- As ION, Kyle had the ability to alter reality on a wide scale. There was apparently no limit to this ability while Kyle was in possession of the ION entity.

Matter Manipulation- Kyle while in possession of the ION entity was able to manipulate matter on a wide scale. There was apparently no limit as to how far he could do this.

Immortal: ION is now a functioning immortal because of the fact that he is now the host to an emotional concept.

Personality

Similar to his best friend Wally West, Kyle loves being a hero and was finally confident in his future once he became a Green Lantern.

“My name is Kyle Rayner. When I was a kid, I never could decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now I know. I’m Green Lantern. I’m a hero.”

Although he recognizes the seriousness and importance of being a Green Lantern, he never has the arrogant attitude of being places above others. As a Green Lantern, Kyle has lost many people close to him, but manages to lighten his mood and everyone around him due to his cheerful nature. His obedience to helping those close to him due to his incredible will, lets him overpower the fear he feels from losing them as seen in his confrontation with Parallax. He is a friendly guy who would befriend you in a second and is always interested in making friends and meeting new people, which is one of the reasons he enjoys being a Green Lantern. Kyle is a huge flirt and hopeless romantic who would hit on any girl he has an interest in. From his relationships with Alexandra, Donna, Jade, and Soranik, we can see that he is a great boyfriend who genuinely loves and would protect his girlfriend with his life, although some of his girlfriends do die from circumstances he has no control over. In his relationships he means well and will try his best to make it work to avoid heartbreak. As seen with his relationship with Donna, he sometimes cares too much; this can be seen as a sign of weakness to some.

Before he became a Green Lantern, Kyle was a struggling freelance artist and still makes time for his work even after becoming a Green Lantern. His imagination is greater than any Green Lantern and his personality is reflective in that sense. Although his art has been acknowledged by many, Kyle never seems to be satisfied with his work, whether it be art, constructs or battle tactics. Because of this, Kyle is able to push himself to further heights and grow as a person. There were some instances where the seriousness of his doubt in himself led to him abhorring himself. Thankfully, with the moral support of his friends and family, he is able to overcome these faults and hasn’t had the same problem in years due to his self-assuring, but not cocky or overconfident attitude.

Kyle is also a huge comic book and anime fan. One of the reasons for becoming an artist and illustrator in general was due to this. His favorite art style is Art Deco, and his constructs are generally related to more exciting and noticeable constructs as opposed to the general and bland constructs of other members. There are a number of characters or references from popular culture that Kyle brings into his art and constructs including, but not limited to:

• Superman’s ‘S’ symbol in his fight with Apollo (He used it as a shield)
• The Batmobile
• The Gurren Mecha (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
• Green Arrow’s mask, beard, and bow and arrows
• Anime style based Samurais

During midst of battles or in conversations Kyle will reference various interests of his ranging from old sitcoms like Seinfeld, Clint Eastwood, video games, Star Wars, anime, DC Superheroes as well as Marvel Superheroes. He has broken the fourth wall on more than one occasion.

“You want my suggestion? Rerun the episode where Kramer goes to the dog doctor. I love that one.” – Kyle referencing Seinfeld.

“I’m gonna have to play this rough. There’s no time for words. I gotta go Eastwood on everybody.” – Kyle referencing Clint Eastwood.

“See what happens when you guys make me angry? I get big, green and mean — no, wait. I’ve got me confused with somebody else. Never mind.” Kyle referencing The Hulk. (SCAN)

Characteristics

Kyle Rayner Status: Active; Green Lantern Honor Guard

Space Sector: (formerly) 2814

Sector Partner(s): John Stewart, Guy Gardner (formerly)

Homeworld: Earth

Predecessor: Hal Jordan (returned to duty)

Successor: Hal Jordan (Sector 2814), Sodam Yat (as Ion)

• Height: 5′ 11″
• Weight: 175 lbs
• Hair: Black
• Eyes: Dark Green
• Ethnicity: Mexican-American and Irish-American

Other Versions

Green Lantern: Evil’s Might

An Elseworlds tale set in 1880 shows Kyle Rayner as a political cartoonist. He used to be associated with Alan Scott before he killed a woman. Kyle finds a ring and a lantern Kyle dies at the end and the story uses Alan’s origin for Kyle.

Superman: Red Son

Kyle appears in the Green Lantern Marine Corps.

1001 Emerald Knights

An Elseworlds tale starts Ibn Rayner as a young sultan taught life lessons by Al-Jor-Dhan.

Superman & Batman: Generations

Kyle takes the role of Green Lantern when Alan Scott retires. In 1997 he is attacked by Sinestro.

JLA/Avengers

He appears as the JLA’s Green Lantern.

In Other Media

Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000)

Kyle appears as the Green Lantern of Earth in the Superman: the Animated Series episode; “In Brightest Day”. Despite taking the name, youthful personality and artistic prowess of Kyle, this version of Rayner looks far more like Hal Jordan, with brown hair rather than black, and shares much of Hal’s origin. In addition, Kyle, with the aid of Superman, faces down Sinestro who is Hal Jordan’s villain. Voiced by Michael P. Greco. Another connection to Hal in the episode is while Kyle and Sinestro are fighting part of the battle takes place on an air-force base and one of the planes has Hal Jordan’s name written on it.

Justice League Unlimited (2001-2006)

The decision to use John Stewart instead of Kyle Rayner was met with some controversy. Eventually Kyle would make a cameo appearance where he attends a funeral. He later has a speaking role in the Justice League Unlimited episode; “the Return” where he leads the Green Lantern Corps in an attempt to stop the android A.M.A.Z.O. Kyle’s appearance in JLU more closely resembles his comic book counterpart. Voiced by Will Friedle.

Video Games

Justice League Heroes (2006)

Kyle appears as an unlockable character in the PlayStation 2 video game; “Justice League Heroes”. Despite being allocated a character slot, Kyle has the same moves and abilities as the other Green Lanterns in the game (Hal Jordan; another unlockable, and John Stewart), so he is effectively just a costume change.

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (2014)

Kyle Rayner is playable in the game as a White Lantern.

Merchandise

• Kyle Rayner was featured in Kenner’s Total Justice line.
• Kyle Rayner received various figures from DC Direct.
• Kyle Rayner was featured in Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line.
• A 1970’s style Kyle Rayner was produced for Mattel’s Retro-Action line.
• Mattel produced a Blue Lantern Kyle Rayner figure for the DC Universe Classics line.
• A White Lantern Kyle Rayner Funko Pop was released as an SDCC Exclusive.

Novels

Green Lantern: Sleeper Book One

Kyle Raynor is Green Lantern, a member of the Justice League of America and a space-traveling super hero who is the current heir to one of the most powerful forces in the known universe: the Green Lantern power ring. But he’s got a problem: his girlfriend has just taken a liking to an average Joe who is about to be transformed into the most powerful villain Earth has ever faced. Green Lantern must stop the evil Sinestro and the invading hordes of aliens determined to destroy humanity and take over Earth. Written By: Christopher J. Priest Publisher: iBooks (April, 2005) ISBN-10: 1416504273 ISBN-13: 978-1416504276