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The Green Lantern series introduced the Black Lantern Corps, created to be antithetical to the various corps within the Emotional Spectrum by Nekron, one of DC’s numerous personifications of Death. The 2009 storyline, Blackest Night, saw Nekron use ominous black rings to raise the dead from across the DC Universe, amassing an army that blackened the skies, killed beloved characters, and forever changed the landscape of the DC Universe as it was then known.
Included in the ranks of the Black Lanterns were some of the most powerful beings from across the stars, with none more powerful than the Spectre, the Anti-Monitor, and Nekron himself. But who among these titans could be considered the most powerful of the dark villains?
The Spectre
Among these three characters, the Spectre is perhaps the oldest character in terms of publication history, as he first appeared in 1940’s More Fun Comics #52. Created by artist Bernard Bailey and writer Jerry Seigel, the Spectre was a vengeful spirit, driven to seek justice for the murder of police officer Jim Corrigan, who became his host. Over the years, this mission would broaden for the Spectre, being written in more modern interpretations as the embodiment of God’s Wrath. As such, DC’s Spirit of Vengeance is a powerful and ultimately unpredictable figure.
Over the years, the Spectre has taken on many hosts, although at the time of this event, he inhabited Crispus Allen, a Gotham City police officer. Having been previously killed and resurrected, a black ring attaches itself to Allen as it had other characters who had previously perished and then returned. This action effectively sealed the Spectre within, but allowed the Black Lantern to use the vast power of the entity. This power allowed the Spectre to withstand the typical means of destroying a Black Lantern (two or more lantern lights focused on a host). In order to defeat this powerhouse, Hal Jordan allowed himself to be possessed by Parallax once more, tearing the Spectre from his Black Lantern host. Even though he was very powerful, the Spectre was beaten by Parallax, an entity that most likely couldn’t have withstood the power of neither the Anti-Monitor nor Nekron.
The Anti-Monitor
DC’s original Crisis on Infinite Earths (by Marv Wolfman and George Perez) saw the villainous Anti-Monitor, an ancient anti-matter being, consume countless worlds in his anti-matter cloud. With the combined power of hundreds of heroes across the multiverse, this god-like figure was eventually defeated. Following this conflict, the entire history of the DC Universe would be shifted, and the Anti-Monitor would appear in numerous events as a means of escalating the conflict, even becoming a Yellow Lantern during the “Sinestro Corps War,” although he is seemingly killed by Superboy-Prime during this event.
Possessing a power great enough to collapse the multiverse, Nekron uses the Anti-Monitor as a power source for his Lantern power battery. While most Black Lanterns are mindless husks who act purely on the will of Nekron, the Anti-Monitor is unique in that he isn’t a full Black Lantern. Following a confrontation with Guy Gardner and a number of Lanterns from various Corps, the Anti-Monitor is killed, though his corpse is sucked into the battery to be once more used as a power source. Near the close of Blackest Night, the Anti-Monitor would be given a white ring, effectively freeing him from the power battery, even though he would still be banished to the Anti-Matter Universe by Nekron.
Nekron
Of the Black Lanterns, there are none whose power matches that of the progenitor himself. Even though he was seen most prominent in Blackest Night, Nekron, Lord of the Unliving, first appeared in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #2 (by Mike W. Barr, Len Wein, and Joe Staton) back in 1981 as the cosmic being who gave Krona the power to fight the Guardians. He would appear infrequently after this story, primarily with plots to escape the Dimension of the Unliving and find his way into the main DC Universe, with these appearances only hinting at the true scope of his power.
Using the black rings, Nekron was able to work toward his goal of consuming every living thing and ultimately destroying the white Entity, the embodiment of life. Making powerful beings like the Spectre and the Anti-Monitor his puppets, Nekron nearly sees this plan come to fruition, but the intervention of Hal Jordan and the destruction of the power battery sees the Lord of the Unliving defeated and destroyed. Free of the influence of the Black Lantern, the Anti-Monitor likely could have defeated Nekron, but without full control of himself and with his death at the hands of the corps, the Anti-Monitor was at Nekron’s mercy. With his power growing by the second, it is likely that nothing outside of the white light could have stopped Nekron.
With a new Black Lantern having recently returned to the DC Universe, it is very possible that the dark Lord of the Unliving will rise again with a new plan to bring death to all life in the universe.
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