DC Announces Official Name For Green Lantern's New 'Chrome Lanterns'

DC renames the Green Lanterns' new ring color and confirms it's here to stay. Every color beyond the original Emotional Spectrum has the potential to become an entire Lantern Corps, as DC has proven throughout the years. Even deadlier than the Sinestro Corps, Nekron's Black Lanterns pushed the entire DC Universe to the edge in Blackest Night with its army of deceased heroes. Their polar opposites, the White Lanterns, wield the Life Entity to heal and resurrect. Meanwhile, the invisible Ultraviolet Lantern Corps taps into a dark-matter parallel spectrum fueled by buried shame and self-hatred, and the 31st century features the incredibly rare Gold Lanterns equipped with rare technology.

The Chrome Lanterns are the latest addition to the DC Universe. Led by Allsight Guy Gardner and Jessica Cruz, the Chrome Lanterns break down the rigid barriers between the different forces of the Emotional Spectrum to unify their energies into one single power. Unlike the White Lanterns, the Chrome Lanterns can access and channel every single color across the full Emotional Spectrum at will and choose between them depending on the situation. However, they inevitably revert to their original baseline Corps colors when not putting a conscious effort to maintain their chrome form.

DC has delineated the Chrome Lanterns' lore pretty clearly in the pages of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. However, Guy Gardner just clarified one major detail about them.

The Chrome Lanterns Are Officially Named "Guardian Lanterns"

Green Lantern #40; Written By Jeremy Adams; Art By Scott Godlewski, Vasco Georgiev, And Romulo Fajardo Jr

After a string of solo adventures on Earth teaming up with Jade and Odyssey against enemies like the Big Belly Burger mascots and Major Force, Kyle Rayner reports to the Green Lantern Corps. To his surprise, the Green Lanterns have undergone several significant changes since he last interacted with his peers. Kyle can't believe Guy Gardner is now the Corps' Allsight, that Soranik Natu is now a heroic host to one of the Emotional Entities, and that the Chrome Lanterns exist. While explaining these changes to Kyle, Guy Gardner describes the Chrome Lanterns as the "Guardian Lanterns".

The Guardian Lanterns are different from the Alpha Guardians, which is the coalition of Lantern representatives from each Corps, who play host to each of the Emotional Entities. Soranik is the host of the Yellow Lanterns' Parallax, Razer is the host of the Red Lanterns' Butcher, Aya is host to the Green Lanterns' Ion, Saint Walker is host to the Blue Lanterns' Adara, Fatality is host to the Indigo Lanterns' Proselyte, and Larfleeze is naturally the most logical host to the Orange Lanterns' Ophidian. Besides carrying the Emotional Entities, the Alpha Guardians can also transform into "Chrome Lanterns" at will.

DC's Alpha Lanterns Meet Their Biggest Threat

Black Hand Forebodes The Black Lanterns' Return

Alexandra DeWitt’s shocking return at the end of Green Lantern #40 as the new Black Hand poses a huge threat to the Alpha Guardians. The Chrome rings require their hosts to fluidly cycle through active emotional output, while Black Hand's necromancy feeds specifically on the expiration of emotion. The Alpha Guardians must use the power of their multiple emotional entities simultaneously against an avatar who can rot them upon contact, meaning the Chrome Lanterns run the risk of having their amplified network overwhelmed and snuffed out by a wave of living decay.

Alexandra DeWitt’s resurrection weaponizes one of the most infamous editorial turning points in DC history against the modern Green Lanterns. During Kyle Rayner's early days as Green Lantern, Alexandra DeWitt was infamously murdered by Major Force in 1994. Over three decades later, DeWitt's pain "has been found worthy" of making her DC's new Black Hand, dragging her from the grave to test the Alpha Guardians, the Guardian Lanterns, and specifically Kyle Rayner himself, whose reunion with the Corps in Green Lantern #40 is certainly no coincidence.

Do you like the idea of the Black Lanterns' return?

Green Lantern #40 is now available from DC Comics