Larfleeze

Origin

Several billion years ago a group of thieves consisting of Larfleeze (who was their leader), Chattle, Flob, Blooch, and Turpa of the planet Ogatoo performed for a mysterious buyer what was perhaps the greatest heist ever pulled in the history of the universe. The group stole a monumental amount of treasures and relics from the planet Maltus, including a box containing Parallax and a section of an ancient map that had originally belonged to Krona.

While escaping the planet, Chattle was captured by The Manhunters but the other four escaped with both the box and the map. Upon studying the map Larfleeze, Chattle, Blooch and Turpa traveled to Okaara in The Vega System where, following the death of Flob at the hands of a giant man-eating plant, they discovered the Orange Lantern Central Power Battery upon falling into an ancient underground palace.

Overwhelmed by it’s power, Larfleeze, Blooch and Turpa began desperately fighting for the power battery and as they did The Guardians of the Universe and an army of Manhunters descended upon Okaara in an attempt to retrieve the box containing Parallax. However, because of it’s proximity to Larfleeze and the others, The Guardians could not get within reaching distance of the box.

The Guardians and Manhunters who tried were incinerated by the Orange Light of Avarice. More Guardians and Manhunters fell to the Orange Light in the midst of the chaos, along with Blooch. The remaining Guardians decided to make a deal and, once Larfleeze and Turpa learned that the Guardians weren’t after the Orange Light, they became more inclined to listen.

In return for Parallax, The Guardians would give control of the Orange Light of Avarice as well as the entire Vega System over to the one who survived the struggle for the Orange Lantern, that survivor was Larfleeze. The deal was hammered out, Parallax was returned to the Guardians and Larfleeze became Agent Orange.

The Guardians also promised that neither they nor anyone affiliated with them would ever come back, so long as Larfleeze kept up his end of the bargain and did not allow The Orange Light to shine beyond the borders of The Vega System. That did not stop people from coming to look for the Orange Light of Avarice, however and, over the billions of years Larfleeze spent festering in an ancient underground palace, countless people were murdered and their souls became slaves to Larfleeze’s will.

Major Story Arcs

The Return of…Agent Orange

For further details see: Agent Orange

During the 21st Century, Larfleeze overlooked a couple of trespasses made by The Green Lantern Corps simply on account of the fact that they were just trying to capture members of The Spider Guild and The Sinestro Corps…but then one day The Controllers, a race who split off from the Guardians ages ago, came looking for the Orange Light of Avarice and they did so during Larfleeze’s feasting time.

Infuriated by their trespass, Larfleeze slaughtered all of the Controllers and took their souls. Later, while a Green Lantern named Stel was pursuing a Sinestro Corps soldier into The Vega System, Larfleeze summoned the soul of Blume, a massive creature whom he had previously taken control. Blume devoured the Sinestro Corps Lantern and then turned it’s attention to Stel.

Under orders from Larfleeze, Blume tore off all of Stel’s limbs and branded him with the symbol of the Orange Light of Avarice. When Stel’s body was brought back to The Guardians of the Universe for examination, they were shocked to see the symbol. Without warning, a pillar of orange flames burst forth and created an energy construct of Larfleeze which would allow him to communicate with The Guardians.

He was furious with them and began blaming them for The Controllers’ actions as well as taking his feasting time away from him. He then started making demands but his transmission was cut short by Scar, who declared that the next law to be placed in The Book of Oa would be that The Vega System is no longer off-limits to the Guardians of the Universe.

The other Guardians agreed and led a massive army of Green Lanterns into The Vega System where they stopped many of the criminals who were using it as a safe haven from escaping. The Guardians and the Green Lanterns then made their way to Okaara where Larfleeze unleashed the souls of his victims…including those of The Controllers.

A vicious fight broke out and, as the Guardians and the Green Lanterns attempted to fend off the attacking energy beings, one Green Lantern named Gretti was consumed by one of the orange construct of Glomulus and, in turn, became one of Larfleeze’s slaves. As the fight continued Hal Jordan got separated from his allies and fell down a large chasm where Larfleeze just so happened to be waiting for him. When Larfleeze sensed the presence of the Blue Lantern Ring on Hal’s finger, he became intoxicated by the power it was emitting. Larfleeze made himself known to Hal and demanded that Hal surrender the Blue Lantern Ring over to him immediately.

With his orange light constructs fighting the Green Lantern Corps outside and Hal Jordan unable to escape, Larfleeze felt free to briefly return his attention to his feast. As Larfleeze ate, he told tales of the fools who tried to take what was his away and also made mention of the Green Lanterns he had slaughtered in ages past. When Larfleeze returned to the subject of the Blue Lantern Ring, he asked what it was “full” of and the ring asked what Larfleeze hoped for. Larfleeze responded, with the symbol of the Blue Lantern Corps glowing in his eyes, that he desired a great many things and that what he hoped for was the Blue Lantern Ring.

Due to Hope being a selfless emotion and Larfleeze was a being controlled by Greed, it rejected Larfleeze and shocked him with a burst of it’s energy preventing Larfleeze from removing it. This gave Hal the chance to get the one-up on Larfleeze but only for a second. Larfleeze proved to be too powerful for even Hal in his current state to handle and was promptly swatted aside. Hal did not refuse to give up however and the two came to a standstill.

Hal offered a trade. The Blue Lantern Power Ring in return for the tale of how Larfleeze came to be Agent Orange. Larfleeze told him the story and, when he tried to take the Ring from Hal, the ring once again rejected him. Larfleeze declared that Hal was a “welsher” and had had enough with his bartering. Hal desperately pleaded for Larfleeze to retain patience while he tried to get it off but Larfleeze, not wanting to wait, formed a large energy construct in the shape of a massive sword and sliced Hal’s right arm off and took the Blue Ring for himself. As he did it welcomed Larfleeze to The Blue Lantern Corps.

However…Larfleeze quickly learned that the Blue Lantern Power Ring had tricked him by using his own hope of obtaining it against him. This sent Larfleeze into a rage but gave Hal the distraction he needed to press onward with his attack against Larfleeze. As the two continued to fight, the Guardians of The Universe as well as the rest of the Green Lanterns came to Hal’s aid.

Hal took advantage of the situation to snatch The Orange Lantern Central Power Battery from Larfleeze’s hands which almost resulted in him becoming the new Agent Orange until Larfleeze quickly snatched it back out of Hal’s hands. Infuriated, Larfleeze grew to massive proportions and attacked the Guardians and the Green Lanterns without mercy. As the fight raged on, Hal was pestered once more by the Blue Power Ring asking him what he hoped for. When Hal said that if “they” got out of the situation alive then he hoped the Blue Lantern Power Ring would stop asking him that question. The ring registered Hal’s sincerity and unleashed it’s full power upon Larfleeze.

It then separated itself from Hal and departed in search of it’s new wielder, this infuriated Larfleeze further. Just as he was about to attack once more, the Guardians of the Universe proposed the idea of forming another treaty. The Guardians asked him what he wanted in order to bring an end to the conflict. Larfleeze whispered to the Guardians that he wanted to know where he could locate and obtain a Blue Lantern Power Ring and that if they told him what he wanted to know he would not cause the Guardians of the Universe anymore trouble.

The Guardians of the Universe agreed and hours after they departed from Okaara, Larfleeze’s minions secretly made their way to Odym where they launched an all-out assault on Ganthet, Sayd and their Blue Lantern Corps.

Blackest Night

For further details see: Blackest Night

While the battle for the blue light raged, Blackest Night kicked in and, as prophesied, the dead began to rise across the universe as Black Lanterns. While monitoring the battle with Ganthet from his hiding place on Okaara, Larfleeze was confronted by the animated corpses of the people his light devoured. Unable to defeat them, Larfleeze was saved by the intervention of the red lantern Atrocitus. But Atrocitus’ intentions were far from altruistic as he attacked Larfleeze and demanded that the glutton hand over the orange battery to him.

Larfleeze was saved once again by the arrival of Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Carol Ferris, Indigo-1, Saint Walker, Ganthet, and Sayd, who recruited Larfleeze and Atrocitus to their group in order to battle the black lanterns. Larfleeze agreed, but on condition: That he be given a Guardian. Knowing that victory over the black lanterns is not possible without the orange light, Sayd promised him that, after Blackest Night is over, she would forever pledge her servitude to Larfleeze.

Larfleeze joins their group and goes to Earth to fight the black lanterns, and their master, Nekron. Not being able to destroy the lord of the unliving by themselves, the lanterns need back up. To this end, Ganthet activates a protocol in each of their rings, designating a 24 hour deputy lantern. Larfleeze’s ring chooses Lex Luthor.

This backfires as Lex is consumed by the orange light and tries to take Larfleeze’s battery, along with everything else he sees. In the end, Larfleeze is able to overpower him and assert his dominance as the one and only Agent Orange. At the end of the conflict Larfleeze tosses Lex back to Hal and the other lanterns, telling them that he is of Earth so they will figure out how to punish him. Carol laughed at this and commented that Larfleeze just did what they thought he would never do, actually gave something to someone.

Brightest Day

For further details see: Brightest Day

Following the end of Blackest Night Larfleeze has entered a truce with the other corps, but before he returns to his home something is still bugging him. He tracks down Lex Luthor, who is shown free of his ring but still obsessed with having one. Larfleeze, with Sayd in tow, attacks him once more and tells him he still hungers and that Lex’s comments about the greed of humans has peaked his curiosity. He asks Lex a simple question: What is the most valuable thing on Earth? Lex answers that it’s power, which Larfleeze says he has plenty of and there must be something else, to which Lex’s answers, “Land.”

Due to Lex’s response, Larfleeze starts to live on Earth and begins ransacking local towns of everything he can get until it looks like he’s living on a garbage dump. Hal comes in and asks him why he’s still living here, to which Larfleeze comments he has discovered what he truly needs to find in the universe and its right here on Earth, someone who will bring him everything he has ever wanted. That someone, Santa Clause.

While Hal is trying to convince him that Santa Clause isn’t real and ask him how he captured the Orange Entity inside his lantern, Hector Hammond arrives and attacks them. He uses his powers to steal Larfleeze’s lantern. When Larfleeze tries to grab it back, Hector eats it, thus freeing the entity which takes over Hector’s body and makes him one with it. Larfleeze replies that the way he locked up the Orange Entity was much harder than he let on, implying that with Hector now in tow it was going to be even more difficult. However the battle is interrupted by Hector fleeing the scene to go find Carol, the one thing he really wants. Hal says he has to leave to find her in Las Vegas, but Larfleeze insist on tagging along and he isn’t taking no for an answer.

Once they arrive in Vegas Larfleeze realizes he’s finally found where he really belongs, a city dedicated to greed and even brags about “All You Can Eat Buffets.” However his meal is interrupted by the Predator breaking in, having taken over the body of a stalker. Larfleeze attacks him but is showed images of his family and of his history. Carol is able to tame the Predator and she, along with Hal and Larfleeze are brought to the Star Sapphire’s homeworld Zamaron where Carol is made the new Zamaron Queen, which Larfleeze wants to be.

While on the planet Zamaron Larfleeze is learning that without his battery he can no longer hold onto his projections and create his corp. He strikes out against Hal in anger, but he is stopped when Saint Walker contacts them to let him know that the Blue Lantern Entity is now on Earth and has chosen a host. Larfleeze joins Hal as they go in search of her, and when they find her she tells Larfleeze that his family is still alive, and they miss him, which is something so startling it almost brings Larfleeze to his knees.

However he doesn’t have long to take this in, as the Indigo Tribe and their entity Proselyte have come to Earth. They are then joined by the Flash who is shouting down Hal, trying to lecture him on the dangers of teaming up with villains, however Larfleeze interrupts the conversation as he steals the Flash’s wallet, proving that even without his wallet he’s still very powerful thanks to being the soul possessor of the Orange rings. This is all interrupted as a they are faced with the appearance of the force who has been capturing these entities and learn that it is Krona, the rogue Guardian. Larfleeze joins forces with the other New Guardians as they attack Krona, but he brings out his secret weapon, revealing he has captured Hector Hammond and the orange entity Ophidian. Hammond unleashes a mental attack on each of them, leaving them battered and broken as Krona leaves with Parallax.

Larfleeze follows Jordan and the other New Guardians out into space to try and find Krona before he reaches Zamaron, but they find that their too late and he has already captured the Predator, the last of the entities. Sinsestro and Carol Ferris join Hal and Larfleeze, as they race off to Ryut to find Krona, but he isn’t there. Instead they are greeted by the Book of Black, which Sinestro says houses all that the Guardians wanted to keep secret. Larfleeze instantly jumps on this because he wants to know these secrets, causing several black chains to spring out and attach themselves to the New Guardians, showing them visions of how Krona was the one responsible for the Massacre of Space Sector 666. They are let go of the chains but Larfleeze spots his lantern being spit out of the book. Hal warns him not to touch it but its too late, he has already grabbed it and won’t let it go, even as Lyssa Drak pops out of it and sucks Larfleeze into the book. She absorbs the rest of them as well except for Hal Jordan who is able to escape, only to see that Larfleeze and the rest of the New Guardians are gone with their rings dropped to the ground behind them.

War Of The Green Lanterns

When Krona’s attack traps the other six New Guardians in the Book of the Black, Hal is able to escape with their rings. Although he initially discouraged John Stewart from using the ring due to its psychological effects, Hal later uses Larfleeze’s orange ring in conjunction with Sinestro’s ring to hold off the attacking brainwashed Green Lanterns long enough for Guy Gardner to break Parallax out of the Central Power Battery and restore their comrades to normal. While trapped inside the Book of the Black, Larfleeze is forced to relive a childhood memory of slavery. Larfleeze is later freed from the book by Kyle Rayner. When his orange ring returns to him, Larfleeze is initially fearful, saying “Keep it away from me!” Once the ring is on his finger, however, he returns to his usual mindset, declaring it “Mine!”

Larfleeze Christmas Special

Larfleeze waits up all night on Christmas Eve only to be outraged when he discovers that Santa hasn’t brought him anything. In a fit of anger he attacks every costumed Santa in sight, and attempts to melt the North Pole. Hal Jordan stops him and explains the concept of Christmas spirit to him, suggesting that Larfleeze try giving things away to those who need them. Larfleeze then gives away all his possessions, only to declare that he dislikes Christmas spirit. Hal flies away after asking Larfleeze if he actually needed anything on his list. Later that night, Larfleeze stares at a part of his list, on which he had written “my family”.

The New 52

Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern from sector 2814 had apparently become a magnet to the other Lantern Corps rings, which forced Kyle to face off with the second-in-commands from the Sinestro Corps, Red Lantern Corps, Earth’s Star Sapphires and Indigo Tribe. Kyle with the help of Saint Walker from the Blue Lantern Corps tried to reach Oa for some answers, but on their way an orange ring approaches Kyle with Saint Walker claiming if there’s only one orange ring then its former bearer must be dead. However, Saint Walker hadn’t seen it that there are multiple orange rings, just all inactive, as revealed in the prelude to Blackest Night. It is subsequently revealed that Kyle’s orange ring was actually the Glomulus construct posing as a ring, apparently leading the other rings to Kyle as part of a larger plan that led to Larfleeze crashing through Oa and leading an Orange Corps assault on the Guardians.

While Larfleeze battles the Guardians with the help of the enslaved Sayd, the six Corps members join the fight. Kyle gets the Indigo Lantern Munk to teleport the six Corps members and Larfleeze out of Oa to the planet Okaara. When they reach Larfleeze’s palace, Sayd tells them the story behind the malfunctioning rings: a strange extra-universal solar system originating from a rip in space-time at the center of the galaxy had pulled their rings away from the Lanterns. It had attempted to do the same to Larfleeze, but he was able to resist by holding onto his Orange Lantern.

The team of Lanterns (minus Bleez, who returned to the Red Lantern homeworld of Ysmault in Sector 666) investigate the new solar system (called the “Orrery”), deciding to split up in groups of two to cover more ground. Kyle and Glomulus arrive on the Orrery’s tenth world, only to find the populace fleeing in terror at the site of Glomulus, since he bears the mark of the “beast”, that world’s sworn enemy. The beast is revealed to actually be Larfleeze. The populace summons their protector, an archangel named Invictus who dwells in the heart of the system’s sun, to destroy the duo.

Rebirth

Larfleeze makes his debut in Hal Jordan an the Green Lantern corps issue 10. Towards the ending of the issue we see that Brainiac approaches Larfleeze and hands over the bottle. It seems that Brainiac is his insubordinate. However, at one point it has been made clear that this is Brainiac 2.0 also known as “the collector of organic life-forms” throughout the universe. Mentioning that he’s the collector provokes Larfleeze’s well-known avarice! It all belongs to Larfleeze! In the meantime, the Sinestro corps and the Green Lantern corps are going at each other without holding back. Larfleeze is furious and tells them to knock it off at once. He couldn’t care less about a fight, but his motives on the matter are clear: they are his “belongings” and he doesn’t want to lose them. Consequently, he couldn’t bear it anymore and releases all the lanterns with the aim of stopping the fight. This, however, is all staged by the lanterns. The event has an outcome wherein Larfleeze loses.

Powers & abilities

Being a “one man Corps”, Larfleeze is immensely powerful – more so than any ordinary Lantern. He has demonstrated the ability to fight dozens of ring-bearers at the same time. The orange light has the ability to create orange light replicas, referred to as “constructs”, based on the identities of those it kills. As Larfleeze is too greedy to share his rings, save for one given to Lex Luthor at Ganthet’s insistence, he uses his ring’s ability to create constructs in order to field an entire army of Orange Lanterns to face his foes for him. His connection to his power battery allows him to maintain the constructs indefinitely, so long as he devotes attention to doing so. Notable Orange Lantern constructs include:

• Blume (of Sector 2751): A giant extraterrestrial head that proclaims himself a god of hunger so that he can intimidate the inhabitants of planets into feeding him their valuables. After failing to do the same to Larfleeze, he is made into an Orange Lantern construct and now patrols the Vega system.He consumes the Sinestro Corps member of sector 2825 and brands Green Lantern Stel with the symbol of the Orange Lantern Corps. During the Blackest Night event, his body is shown being reanimated as a Black Lantern.
• Clypta (of Sector 2829): An Orange Lantern from the Thieves’ System that is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night event.
• The Controllers: Arrive on Okaara searching for the orange light in order to create their own Corps. Upon finding the orange power battery, they are confronted by Larfleeze and killed by his Orange Lanterns. Later they are also shown to have been assimilated into his army of constructs.
• Glomulus (of Sector 2826): A former tavern cleaner on Okaara. While there, he is only allowed out of his cage to eat whatever food falls on the floor. After accidentally getting a taste for blood, Glomulus eats everyone in the tavern. Free, he makes his way into the woods and finds himself at Larfleeze’s palace where he is consumed by Blume. His identity is stolen, turning him into an Orange Lantern. During the Blackest Night event, his body is shown being reanimated as a Black Lantern. In promotional art for the new series Green Lantern: New Guardians, Glomulus is shown to be the representative of the Orange Lantern Corps; subsequent information reveals that he was initially a construct posing as an Orange Lantern ring to latch on to Kyle Rayner for an unknown purpose.
• Gretti (former Green Lantern of Sector 2828): Literally torn limb from limb by Larfleeze’s constructs during the Green Lantern attack on Okaara. After his defeat, his identity is stolen, turning him into an Orange Lantern. During the Blackest Night event, his body is shown being reanimated as a Black Lantern.
• Guardian of the Universe: While Larfleeze’s thieves guild and the Guardians fought for the orange power battery, the power of the orange light is unleashed, killing one of the Guardians in the process. He is shown as being turned into an Orange Lantern construct. In Green Lantern vol. 4 #45, a male Guardian is shown being reanimated as a Black Lantern on Okaara.
• Larfleeze: After reclaiming his power battery from Hal Jordan, Larfleeze withdraws the Orange Lantern Corps into his battery and uses the combined power to create a gigantic avatar of himself in order to attack the Green Lantern Corps. Larfleeze later sends a life-sized avatar of himself to lead the attack against the Blue Lanterns on Odym.
• Nat-Nat: An Orange Lantern from Limey Rock that is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night event.
• Sound Dancer (of Sector 911): An Orange Lantern from the Obsidian Deeps that is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night event. The Obsidian Deeps make up the lightless sector that Green Lantern (F Sharp Bell) Rot Lop Fan is from.
• Tammal-Tayn (of Sector 2813): An Orange Lantern from the planet Fylip that is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night event.
• Turpa: A member of the guild of thieves Larfleeze formerly belonged to. Together the guild steals the Guardians’ map to the Orange Power Battery, and upon finding it are so overcome with greed that they fight one another for it. Turpa is killed by the power of the orange light before Larfleeze and Blooch fight to the death for the orange power battery. He is shown as having been turned into an orange light construct.
• Warp Wrap (of Sector 2): An Orange Lantern from the planet Cairo that is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night event.

As a consequence of being the only wielder of the Orange Light, Larfleeze suffers from extreme paranoia and greed. His greed can be subdued in the presence of the Blue Light, but his avarice is never fully satiated.

The Entity

The entity of greed that Larfleeze keeps chained within his Orange Lantern is a snake-like being called Ophidian the Tempter. It was the first being to consume more than it needed, and thus became the first example of avarice in the history of the universe. It speaks to and wields its corrupting influence over whoever possesses the Lantern. When Krona dispatched Hector Hammond to find Larfleeze and the Lantern, Hammond consumed the Lantern and became the host of Ophidian in much the same way as Hal Jordan had once been the host of Parallax.

After joining Krona, Ophidian used its powers to pinpoint the location of the Butcher, the entity of rage that Atrocitus was on the search for. Once Krona had collected all the entities, he launched an attack on Oa, where Ophidian and its fellow entities each possessed a Guardian. After Krona was killed by Hal Jordan, Ophidian was released from his hold and is currently roaming at large in the universe.

Other Media

Video Games

Larfleeze appears in the super hero online video game, DC Universe Online. He is attempting to steal presents and other Christmas decorations to ship them to Okaara, because he feels betrayed by Santa, who didn´t bring him anything.

Television

Larfleeze appeared in Green Lantern the Animated Series voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.