Tomar Re

Origin

Tomar Re was working as a scientist on his homeworld Xudar, when he was approached by the Guardians Of The Universe who wanted him to become one of their Green Lanterns. Tomar became an important member of the Corps as he trained numerous recruits and served as a member of the honor guard.

Creation

Tomar Re first appeared in Green Lantern #6 in 1961 in a story written by John Broome.

Major Story Arcs

Mission to Krypton

Soon after completing his probationary period, Tomar-Re was dispatched on a mission to rescue the population of Krypton. The Guardians had at this point considered making the Green Lantern Corps independent of Oa. They prophesied the offspring of Jor-El and Lara of Krypton in Space Sector 2813 would be genetically perfect, and birth an ideal future leader of the Corps.

It was discovered that the planet Krypton would explode due to the core of the planet being unstable. Tomar was dispatched to delay the planet’s destruction until the inhabitants found a way to fix the problem. Evacuation of the population was not an option. Two hundred fifty thousand years ago, a device called the “eradicator” was developed as weapon against alien intervention. The eradicator created a defect in the natives’ genetic structure designed to “tie” the Kryptonians to their homeworld. The Green Lantern worked unseen by the natives of Krypton.

Tomar scoured the skies of space looking for a certain material, stellarium, that would absorb the planet’s radiation. It took months to gather enough of the element, but Tomar-Re worked feverishly to complete his task. It was in the Ariel star system that Tomar-Re found a deposit of stellarium. He was unable to see that Ariel itself was also unstable, and after mining stellarium the star went nova destroying the system and blinding Tomar from the radiation.

He soared the skies blinded, wanting to get the material back to Krypton. The only thing guiding him was the power ring that saved his life during the super nova. But Tomar wasn’t in time to save Krypton and the planet exploded before he could arrive. Kal-El was only saved by the Manhunters who helped in him getting to Earth.

Meeting Hal Jordan

As the years passed, Tomar-Re earned his legendary status in the Green Lantern Corps. The emerald warrior of Space Sector 2813 developed a devise called the Zathon Ray Communicator which warned against disasters. One day, while holding back a migrating group of blood grass, he was visited by Hal Jordan of Earth. He was saddened that his good freind Abin Sur died and that Hal was his replacement. The two Green Lanterns were soon summoned to Oa to convene a meeting regarding the threat of LEGION. Along with Salakk of Slyggia, the three Green Lanterns approached the Great Book of Oa for answers to the LEGION problem. Jordan was soon put alongside Kilowog who trained him in the ways of the Green Lantern. The Green Lanterns were put to the test when LEGION arrived on Oa. The planet was soon overun by the LEGION and the Green Lanterns were forced to retreat. The last ditch effort of Hal Jordan saved Oa and freed it from the grasp of the Legion.

Following the defeat of LEGION, the more intensive aspects of Hal Jordan’s training would be continued by Sinestro of Korugar. The Green Lantern of Korugar was a model for all to follow, his sector the most orderly in the universe. It was unknown to the Corps that Sinestro ruled with an iron fist. Katma Tui led a revolt against Sinestro, and Tomar Re was one who found that Sinestro had gone far over his mandate as a Green Lantern. Sinestro was put on trial and found guilty. Tomar recommended Katma Tui to serve as a Green Lantern in her sector of Korugar.

In the years to come, Hal and Tomar would come to each other’s assistance on many occasions. One such time, was on the world of Aku. He was unable to aid the world and called for more Green Lanterns. Hal was the first to arrive on the planet and helped aid in the fight against an invasion of monsters who were on the planet.

The Green Lantern of Xudar kept a watchful eye on Hal Jordan. He attempted to give Jordan early warning of a violent “cosmo-storm” that had struck Xudar. The storm had strange effects on his power ring and would likely do the same to Jordan’s ring. Tomar-Re was unable to deliver the warning in person due to an important case on Xudar. Jordan’s ring did indeed act peculiar. He had been fighting the suervillain known as Sonar when the ring gave out. Suspecting something might be wrong, Jordan ordered his ring to create an emergency pocket of energy to remain near at all times to protect him if he was hurt or killed by Sonar. With this, he was able to defeat Sonar. When the cosmo-storm cleared, Tomar-Re was able to send an energy image to make sure Jordan was safe. Apparently, some of the Xudarian’s message made it through the storm, subconciously picked up by Jordan’s ring which put two and two together.

On another occasion, Tomar was one of the Green Lanterns who were to capture by group of criminals on the Guardians’ prison planet. The group wanted to destroy the Green Lanterns and were succesful in killing a number of Green Lanterns including including Davo Yull of Pharma and Chogar of Tyrea.

When Tomar retired he was made one of the Green Lanterns Honor Guard, a title that pleased Re very much. Even though he was retired, he would still be active in activities of his emerald comrades. Throughout his career, Tomar-Re never forgot the destruction of Krypton. He met Superman when the Guardians of the Universe enlisted the Man of Steel to help defeat the Weapons Master, who had usurped control of the power rings.

Tomar was a mentor to many of today’s Lanterns.

Death

During the so called Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Central Power Battery that charged all of the Green Lanterns’ rings was attacked by the Anti-Monitor. The Monitor put fifteen Green Lanterns in stasis which then unleashed their powers on the Green Lanterns who were trying to help. Tomar-Re was utilized by the Central Battery to communicate with the Guardians and the Corps. The Battery had learned of the nature of the Anti-Monitor when he had taken control of it. The repository of power explained why the Corps should save the Dark Moon of Qward, the Genesis Point for the Anti-Monitor. The moon’s destruction would free the Anti-Monitor from all constraints of the material world. The Green Lanterns set out for the Antimatter Universe to stop Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan’s mission to destroy the Qwardian moon.

The Green Lanterns engaged in battle. Xax of Xaos was one of the first of the Corps to fall against the Weaponers of Qward. Tomar and Hal fought side by side against Hal’s enemy Goldface. Many Green Lanterns would fall during the battle and Tomar was one of these. As he was dying, Tomar-Re fulfilled his final duties as a Green Lantern, passing his ring on to a worthy successor. Tomar-Re’s ring lifted off his finger and hovered in front of John Stewart. This surprised the assembled Green Lanterns, as Stewart was already one of them. The ring told Stewart he was wearing Hal Jordan’s power ring. Both rings hovered in the air before settling on to their rightful owners. Hal Jordan was given back his power ring. Tomar-Re saw that things were right before he finally slipped away. John Stewart conferred the final honor in the name of the Guardians. Hal Jordan was a Green Lantern once again.

One of Tomars dying wishes was that John would serve as a Green Lantern. Tomar-Re’s body resided in the Crypts of Oa, until Oa’s destruction at the hands of Hal Jordan- Parallax. The people of Xudar still speak of Tomar’s legends and will never forget their one true hero.

Tomar Re was later resurrected as a Black Lantern. He attacks Soranik Natu, Princess Iolande and the injured lanterns.

Powers And Abilities

Tomar Re is a bearer of the Green Lantern Ring and one of the most powerful of the Corps. The abilities the ring grants him are:

• Animating: A Green Lantern can will things to move how he wants.
• 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.
• Communicator: The ring can act as a personal communicator between Green Lanterns. They have also been seen connected to telephones.
• 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. The only rules that the Guardians of the Universe implement on the creation of a individual costumed is that the ring bearer display the insignia of the Green Lantern Corps.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Invisibility: The ring can make the wearer or anything else invisible.
• Matter Manipulation: A Green Lantern can use their ring to manipulate nearby matter, such as water, for various purposes such as a construct that acts like an energy construct but can block something yellow and may serve a purpose that an energy construct couldn’t perform.
• Phasing: The ring allows the user to go through walls. This ability however required great concentration on the bearer of the ring
• 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.
• 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 Cubewas used to recharge a depleted ring, although this is not an ideal solution and is available if there are no other options.
• 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.
• 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. This could be seen in the recent Sinestro Corps War when Sallak used his ring to incase an enemy in a force bubble an incinerate him.
• Transforming (former): 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 ( Barryand Jay) to light protons in order to free them from prisons.
• 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.
• Sub-routines: The power rings have inner programmings or mechanisms which can executed without the users permission. One such sub-routine is the autoshield. This shield automatically protects a wielder from external harm and has been proven to be capable of protecting the wielder from planetary level attacks.

Retconned

Radiation: Besides light based radiation used to create the energy constructs associated with a Green Lantern, the ring can simulate various forms of radiation. One example of this is the ability to simulate the radiation of Green Kryptonite, a form of radiation that is harmful to Superman. However, this ability is no longer valid and has been retconned.

Time travel: The ring allows the wielder the ability to travel through time, though the process requires great willpower.

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.

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 be changed and can be overcome by veterans who have the ability to overcome great fear. Hal Jordan was of the first of the Green Lanterns to show that this weakness could be overcome.

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. Sinestro stated to Hal that it was possible for a Green Lantern to store his.her battery in a pocket Universe and take it with them wherever they went but so far Hal has not displayed the ability to do 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. Blue Lanterns rings also have the ability to purge the negative effects that a Red Lanterns Ring can cause upon the wielder of a Green Lantern Ring.

(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. This restriction was lifted by the Guardians of the Universe during the War of the Green Lanterns

Statistics

Green Lantern Status: Deceased

Space Sector: 2813

Sector Partner: Service pre-dated sector partners

Homeworld: Xudar

Predecessor: Zharan Pel

Successor: Tomar Tu

Other Versions

In a alternate time line, Tomar Re is shown to be the host of Parallax.

Tomar’s Oath

“And I shall shed my light over dark evil,

For the dark things cannot stand the light,

THE LIGHT OF THE GREEN LANTERN!”

Other Media

DC Animated Universe

Tomar appears in two-part Justice League episode, “In Blackest Night,” and then later in the Justice League Unlimited episode, “The Return.” Both appearances were non-speaking cameos.

Duck Dodgers

In the Duck Dodgers episode, “The Green Loontern,” Tomar Re is one of the first Green Lanterns to be captured by Sinestro. Although uncredited, he is voiced by Joe Alaskey.

The Batman

Tomar is also seen in The Batman episode, “Ring Toss,” as a hologram briefing Batman about Sinestro’s escape from prison.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Tomar appears as a background character in the episode, “The Eyes of Despero.”

Green Lantern: First Flight

Voiced by John Larroquette, Tomar appears in the animated movie, but is one of the Green Lanterns that are killed by Sinestro with his new Qwardian yellow power ring.

Green Lantern (2011)

Tomar Re appeared in the live-action film starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, Mark Strong as Thaal Sinestro, and directed by Martin Campbell. Tomar serves as Hal’s guide while on Oa. Geoffrey Rush lent his voice for Tomar in the film. The movie was released June 17th, 2011.