10 Best Green Lantern Variants In DC’s Multiverse

While other DC heroes make a big deal of having new heroes take on their mantles, for Green Lanterns, it’s not only normal but expected. The ring is designed to be passed from user to user, and there are thousands of them throughout the DC Universe. Yet it isn’t just DC’s main universe that relies on the power of Green Lantern.

Over the years, DC has shown that many universes are known for calling on the power of Green Lantern. Some of them have Lanterns with the same identity as existing heroes. Others, however, are completely unrecognizable, even if they do find ways to channel emerald energy for themselves. The best of the best has remained in fans’ memories everywhere.

10 Alan Scott Became The Protector Of The Green (Earth 2)

First Appearance: Earth 2 (Vol. 1) #1 By James Robinson, Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott, Alex Sinclair, Dezi Sienty

The New 52 version of Earth-2 gave Alan Scott an entirely different origin than the one fans were familiar with. On that Earth, Alan Scott became the avatar of the Green, which for some reason made him resemble Green Lantern rather than Swamp Thing. With his connection to the Green, as expected, he had control over all plant life. That wasn’t the limit to his power, though.

As the avatar of the Green, Alan Scott could tap into immense reserves of magical power. He proved capable of fighting hand-to-hand with New Gods, reviving himself, and even preventing the planet itself from being teleported away. With Superman and Batman gone on his Earth, Alan became the most powerful superhero left to protect the planet.

9 Power Ring Inflicts His Own Terror On Everyone Around Him (Earth 3)

First Appearance: Justice League (Vol. 2) #33 By Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, Eber Ferreira, Rod Reis, Nick J. Napolitano

Power Ring’s origin and history have been pretty malleable over the years. Since they’re meant to reflect Green Lantern, they have to reflect many of the shifting elements of the character introduced over the years. However, few of them have been as well done as the New 52 Power Ring, which connects the character to one of the best mysteries in Green Lantern lore.

The New 52 Power Ring inverts many elements that make Hal Jordan work as a character to create a hilarious yet fascinating villain. Unlike Hal, Harold Jordan is absolutely terrified of everything around him, which makes him the perfect target for the Ring of Volthoom. The Ring constantly feeds off his fear while urging him to be horrible. Readers might almost feel bad for him if he wasn’t engaging in so much super-villainy.

8 Abin Sur Protects A Golden Age Pulp Earth (Earth 20)

First Appearance: Final Crisis: Secret Files (Vol. 1)#1 By Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones

Green Lantern fans are rarely given a reason to think about Abin Sur. He’s the reason the Green Lantern Corps ever came to Earth, but he’s marginalized because he’s gone before anything “important” happens. Earth 20 changes all that by making Abin Sur the main Green Lantern.

Another character from the Multiversity series, Abin Sur exists on a much more pulpy version of Golden Age DC Earth. Without characters like Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, Abin is one of the planet’s main big guns and protects humanity as a member of the Society of Super-Heroes. Earth-20’s Abin Sur has an awesome design that intentionally cranks up his more alien features, making him more detached from the world even as he defends it. Honestly, it’s a shame DC hasn’t done more with the Earth 20 concept.

7 Star Sapphire Protects A Gender-Swapped Earth (Earth 11)

First Appearance: The Green Lantern (Vol. 1) #11 By Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, Tom Orzechowski

Earth 11 is effectively a world where all the heroes have been gender-swapped. Fittingly, on that Earth, Star Sapphire takes on Green Lantern’s role as a hero and member of the Justice Guild. Readers got their first glimpse of the character when she teamed up with Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern, which is easily one of the best Green Lantern comics of the last five years.

In that series, Morrison and Sharp cleverly turned many classic Silver Age tropes on their heads. Much like Silver Age Hal, one of Carol Jordan’s frequent enemies is a possessive ex wielding powers he doesn’t entirely understand. Still, it doesn’t stop her from doing her job with the Sapphires or the Justice Guild. She’s easily got the best Star Sapphire costume shown in ages.

First Appearance: Tangent Comics: Green Lantern (Vol. 1) #1 By James Robinson, John Ostrander, Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett, J.H. Williams III, Georges Jeanty, Mike Mayhew, Ryan Sook, Mick Gray, Wade Von Grawbadger, Drew Geraci, Lee Loughridge, Dave Lanphear

In the ‘90s, DC created an alternate publishing line called Tangent Comics. With Tangent, they re-imagined all of their most popular heroes. While not all the new characters worked, the Tangent Earth’s Green Lantern was among the best. Rather than make a variant of what already existed, they hearkened back to the Golden Age Green Lantern’s magical history to create something entirely new.

This new Green Lantern was a mysterious young woman with a lantern that granted her many strange mystical abilities. She could briefly resurrect the dead with her Lantern and travel across dimensions. Her mystical abilities allowed her to solve deadly mysteries and help people that normal superheroes wouldn’t stand a chance with. She’s far from one of the most powerful magic DC heroes, so she works harder to overcome challenges.

5 Leonard Lewis Became A Green Lantern From The Tree Of Life (Earth 27)

First Appearance: Just Imagine: Green Lantern #1 (Vol. 1) By Stan Lee, Dave Gibbons, Dick Giordano, Alex Sinclair, Bill Oakley

In the early 2000s, DC Comics released the Just Imagine line of comics, re-imagining the DC heroes. This time, the powers of Green Lantern went to college professor Leonard Lewis. However, rather than attaining powers from the furthest depths of space, he was granted divine magical powers from the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil.

Unlike other versions of Green Lantern, Len didn’t rely on creating hard light constructs. Instead, he was a powerful telekinetic who could control the Earth and the weather. While most of the Just Imagine concepts didn’t work, this one felt cool because it gave Green Lantern a singular focus on protecting humanity from itself.

4 Kingdom Come Alan Scott Lost Touch With Humanity (Earth 22)

First Appearance: Kingdom Come #1 (Vol. 1) By Alex Ross, Mark Waid, Todd Klein

Kingdom Come is considered one of the best Elseworlds comics because it presents a world of superheroes who have become too powerful to maintain their connection with humanity. Perhaps few represent that idea more than Earth-22’s Alan Scott, who eventually integrated the Lantern’s power into his armor. He created a massive space station in the sky with that power, watching over Earth from above like a god.

It took Superman’s return for Alan to regain his connection with the world. Eventually, they turned his station, New Oa, into a base for heroes to operate out of. He doesn’t get nearly the spotlight as the other Kingdom Come characters, but that awesome Alex Ross design makes him unforgettable.

3 Tai Pham Took On The Green Lantern Role From His Grandmother (Earth 98)

First Appearance: Green Lantern: Legacy (Vol. 1) #1 By Minh Lê, Andie Tong, Sarah Stern, Ariana Maher

On Earth-98, Hal Jordan wasn’t the first human Green Lantern. Instead, it was a woman named Kim Tran, who passed her ring on to her grandson, Tai Pham. Though the ring agreed, resulting in him being the youngest Green Lantern ever at thirteen years of age.

In his world, Tai is responsible for protecting Coast City, just as his grandmother did in the past. He lacks the training of more experienced Green Lanterns, but he has John Stewart around to show him the ropes. Still, his youthful exuberance allows him to devise solutions that even other Green Lanterns might not.

2 Magic Lantern Chooses Peace Over War (Earth 47)

First Appearance: The Multiversity Guidebook #1 By Grant Morrison, Chaz Truog, and various others

Magic Lantern comes from an Earth that seems stuck in the “love renaissance” of the ‘70s. It isn’t just his Earth, though, as his Guardians don’t seem as stuffy, either. As a result, he gets to show up as a superhero who doesn’t wear a costume other than a shirt with the classic Green Lantern symbol on it.

However, he’s still capable of taking his job seriously. When needed, he’s worked with Hal Jordan and other Green Lanterns across the multiverse. Like most heroes, he prefers peace to fighting it out, but he is skilled enough with his ring to fight when he has to.

1 Iron Lantern Merged Iron Man And Green Lantern’s Abilities (Earth 1999)

First Appearance: Iron Lantern #1 By Kurt Busiek, Paul Smith, Al Williamson, Andrew Pepoy, Greg Adams, Bob McLeod, Tom Palmer, Al Milgrom, Christie Scheele, Digital Chameleon, Richard Starkings, Comicraft, Albert Deschesne

Iron Lantern is sadly a Lantern that DC will never be able to seriously reference again. He comes from DC and Marvel’s Amalgam Universe, where both universes were fused together briefly. Within that universe, Hal Stark has a mix of both Hal Jordan and Tony Stark’s origin, and wears a suit of armor made out of energy that’s meant to keep his heart beating.

Iron Lantern makes perfect sense, as both heroes rely on other objects to grant them their superpowers. It makes more sense that he might create more armors, as he can reshape his armor as necessary. More than any other multiverse Green Lantern, Iron Lantern had so much untapped potential thanks to all the history from both characters available. Unfortunately, the Amalgam Universe is gone and isn’t coming back anytime soon.