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Human Target #3 reveals the surprising truth that the toughest Green Lantern in the DC Universe secretly fears another Lantern.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Human Target #3, on sale now from DC Comics.
The main purpose of Christopher Chance, aka the Human Target is deception. The primary goal of just about any mission he takes on involves making someone believe that he is someone he’s not, and use that belief to his advantage. However, during the course of his work, Chance sometimes manages to shed light the truth, which was the case in The Human Target #3 (by Tom King, Greg Smallwood, and Clayton Cowles).
In the issue, Earth’s most unruly Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, has been harassing Chance for spending romantic time with former Justice League International member Ice, with whom Gardner once had a relationship. To get the overbearing alpha male off his back, Chance makes Guy believe that another Green Lantern has come to lay down the law: Hal Jordan. According to another Lantern, John Stewart, Guy has an innate fear of Jordan which makes him not only listen to his fellow Lantern but also obey his orders.
One of the most probable reasons for Guy’s innate fear of Hal may stem from a challenge the brash Gardner once made to the more venerable Lantern. Believing himself to be the best out of all the Lanterns, Guy wanted to usurp Hal’s place as the Green Lantern of Earth. This challenge culminated in the two coming to blows in 1992’s Green Lantern #25 (by Gerard Jones, Tim Hamilton, Joe Staton, and Mark Bright) in which Jordan emerged victorious after an issue long brawl with a punch reminiscent of the blow Guy took from Batman during their much-lauded confrontation in Justice League #5 (by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis).
Another even more understandable reason could have to do with the infamous Emerald Twilight story. During the course of that event, Hal Jordan (who was grieving the loss of Coast City in the aftermath of Reign of the Supermen) snapped and took on the entire Green Lantern Corps, killing most of its members and taking their power rings. That eventually ended with Jordan absorbing the remaining power in the Corps’ Central Power Battery and terrorizing the DC Universe as the villainous Parallax for several years afterward.
During the time of Parallax, Guy was not a member of the Corps, but this does not mean that he was unaware of what was happening. In fact, Gardner once told the story of how, after Hal’s transformation, the Guardian Ganthet approached with an offer to become the only Green Lantern. After years of desiring such a position, Gardner pridefully turned him down, explaining that he didn’t want to be a “desperation pick.”
Perhaps this was just an excuse, and was actually the first sign of Gardner’s true feelings about Jordan. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that he turned Ganthet down due to his own fear. At that specific moment, Guy was faced with the fact that Hal had just decimated the entire Green Lantern Corps, killed most of his friends, and was now a cosmic threat with immense power granted to him by the very thing that granted all Green Lanterns their power, the Central Power Battery. Added to that is the fact that, even before he became Parallax, Hal was essentially the only person who could check Guy’s behavior, making Gardner’s fear of him not only warranted but completely understandable.
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