by The Matt
Parallax (Clancy Brown)/The Avatar of Fear
In the Green Lantern canon, colors of the spectrum represent different emotions. Green is willpower. Orange is avarice. Blue is hope. Violet is love. Red is rage. Indigo is compassion. And finally, we have fear, as embodied by the color yellow. Each emotion has an avatar, a supremely powerful creature, some good, some evil, who serves as the living embodiment of its parent color. Parallax is fear. And for any Green Lantern, that fear is amplified two-fold. Power rings have a single limitation: the inability to affect anything colored yellow, it’s the kryptonite of the Green Lantern Corps. Only those Lanterns possessing night-incalculable willpower are able to bypass this weakness and fight back against Parallax.
As old as the birth of our universe itself, Parallax is powerful but always in search of a host. For a time in the comics, Hal Jordan was that host and, while possessed, he nearly brought about the destruction of the Green Lantern Corps., killing dozens of his fellow Lanterns and causing nigh-universal destruction to anything and everything in his path. It was a decade-long road to redemption for the character, several heroes, chief among them Batman, struggled for years to forgive Jordan for the trail of agony he blazed while under Parallax’s influence. Fittingly, Parallax appears to be the main source of conflict in the movie, appearing in trailers as a swirling cloud of yellow energy.
Carol Ferris (Blake Lively)/Boss, Love Interest
Every good hero needs a damsel in distress and, for a time, Carol Ferris fits that description in Hal Jordan’s life. The young CEO of Ferris Air, thus Hal Jordan’s boss, Carol is a superb pilot herself, often competing with Jordan both in the air and on the ground. Their relationship is the classic adversarial/inevitable romantic-sparks type. Though Hal is a noted ladies man, he’s known Carol since childhood and the pair will always carry a torch for each other… preferably from afar lest they start throwing punches.
While the movie version of Carol seems to be in constant need of rescuing, her comic book counterpart is no longer relegated to villain hockey puck status. Carol is now a member of the Star Sapphires. Girly-sounding? Oh yes, one step removed from calling your group the Little Ponies For Love And Peace Corps. Wielding the violet light of love, Carol now wears a power ring similar to Hal’s. While Love may seem like a non-threatening emotion, the power of a Star Sapphire grows in proportion to the purity of the love being menaced. If true love is in danger, there’s very little a Star Sapphire ring cannot accomplish to protect it.
Why this requires Carol to wear a combat bikini is anybody’s guess.
Good thing there’s no gravity in space. Otherwise I have no idea how she’d keep those puppies tucked in.
Green Lantern is shaping up to be a pretty faithful adaption of the comic book mythos. Fans may chafe a bit at the casting of wise-ass Ryan Reynolds as the straight-laced, stoic Hal Jordan, but it’s hard to argue with what’s on display in the amazing trailers. From the members of the corps., to their headquarters/home world of OA to the sheer, raw power emanating from villain Parallax, it looks like there’s a going to be a lot to love about Green Lantern come June 17th. Whether you enjoy it for the special effects, for the actors, or for the story, it’s recommended that you at least check out what looks like an exciting summer movie.
Tune in for Yell! Magazine’s review of Green Lantern, coming soon to a website near you!
Your faithful poozer,
TheMatt.
Matt Brissette belongs to the Brown Corps. He’s earthy, reliable and stable. In relationships, he’s more of a Pink: calming, gentle, feminine, and will definitely rub your feet if you ask nicely. Watch out for a sudden change of allegiance to the Red Lantern Corps. if he doesn’t get his little blue pill once every eight hours though. Expect rage, aggressiveness, a general lack of hygiene, and the occasional projectile vomiting.
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