Sinestro

SINESTRO

Real Name: Unrevealed

Class: Extraterrestrial (Korugarian) technology-user

Occupation: Intergalactic criminal, formerly anthropologist, Green Lantern

Group Affiliation: The Society, formerly Green Lantern Corps, Injustice League I, Secret Society of Super-Villains

Known Relatives: Soranik Natu (daughter), Witch Queen (sister), unnamed father

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Oa, formerly Korugar

First Appearance: Green Lantern II #7 (July-August 1961)

Powers: Sinestro was a master tactician and a superior combatant. Sinestro was fearless and had the ability to analyze and act on any given situation without hesitation. His primary weapon was his power ring, which is virtually identical to the power rings used by the Green Lantern Corps, except that it only utilizes the yellow range of the spectrum. Sinestros’ power ring was capable of doing almost anything he could imagine. Examples of its’ powers include flight, phasing, creating giant objects formed of energy, and force fields. Sinestro’s power ring could also counter the abilities of any Green Lantern’s power ring.

History: (Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant #1 (fb)) - Sinestro was an undistinguished anthropologist on his homeworld Korugar. His need for a sense of order led him to undertake the reconstruction of the remains of a long-dead civilization. His work was undone when Prohl Gosgotha, a seriously injured Green Lantern, crashed into the ruins. Prohl gave his power ring to Sinestro and asked for his help defeating the Qwardian Weaponer that had wounded and pursued him. Sinestro bested the Qwardian, but when Prohl asked for the ring back so he could survive long enough for help to arrive, Sinestro held back. Sinestro loved the power of the ring, and refused to give it up. When Guardian Ganthet arrived on the scene he found Prohl dead, and not knowing the circumstances, let Sinestro keep the ring and made him Green Lantern of Space Sector 1417. He soon became one of the most distinguished members of the Green Lantern Corps.

(Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn #5, 6) - Sinestro and the Corps defended Oa against an attack by Legion. The Corps failed to prevent Legion from reaching the inner sanctum of the Guardians of the Universe, but rookie Green Lantern Hal Jordan defeated Legion before he could harm the Guardians.

The Guardians often referred new members of the Corps to Sinestro for training, and his long list of trainees includes Earth’s Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Sinestro and Hal formed a bond of friendship, and after the training was complete Sinestro returned to his home planet. Sinestro became the first Green Lantern to be corrupted by the power of his ring, and he soon set himself up as dictator of Korugar. Sinestro neglected his duties as a Green Lantern, and was stripped of his ring by the Guardians. They further punished him by banishing him to the anti-matter universe of Qward. Sinestro swore vengeance, and he adapted himself to his new life. Sinestro became allies with the Weaponers of Qward, who were able to construct a duplicate of the Green Lantern power ring for him. Sinestro then returned to the positive-matter universe, and sought revenge against the Guardians and the Corps.

(Green Lantern III #100) - Sinestro held the Guardians of the Universe hostage, but was forced to flee by Green Lantern Hal Jordan and time-traveling Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. Sinestro then tried to set an asteroid on a collision course with Oa to destroy the planet, but was foiled by the GLC and had his ring taken away. When the Guardians returned Kyle to his own era Sinestro remotely commanded his ring to create a giant hand and shoved Hal Jordan into Kyle, so when Kyle returned to his own time Hal was sent along as well.

(Green Lantern III #106) - Sinestro escaped from the Guardians, but Hal Jordan returned from the future, defeated Sinestro and destroyed Sinestro's yellow power ring.

(Green Lantern II #124) - Sinestro's hatred for Green Lantern started to extend to a hatred of all Earth, and he destroyed the New Age Museum dedicated to space travel. Sinestro fled to Korugar, and hid in his father's Null Chamber, where addicts paid his father to have most of their vital energies drained so they could experience near-death. Green Lantern pursued Sinestro, and Sinestro trapped him in the Null Chamber. Lantern escaped thanks to Katma Tui, they battled and with the fight turning against him Sinestro fled to Qward.

(Green Lantern II #125) - Sinestro returned from Qward only to be confronted by Lantern, who bested him and stripped him of his power ring, forcing him to retreat to Qward. Sinestro had the Weaponers of Qward construct a more powerful ring from him. Lantern had followed him, but his power ring was useless in Qward, and barely saved his skin by using a Weaponer's thunderbolt to distract Sinestro so he could return to Earth.

(Green Lantern II #127) - Sinestro traveled to Oa to aid the Qwardians in their takeover of the planet, but they made it clear they viewed him as a tool whose use was at an end. Indignant, Sinestro helped Green Lantern destroy a yellow vortex that was preventing the GLC from defending Oa from the Qwardians.

Sinestro and Hal Jordan clashed many times over the years, and Sinestro was eventually imprisoned on the planet Oa. When he finally escaped he started a galactic massacre, obliterating entire solar systems and their civilizations. The level of destruction brought the entire force of the Green Lantern Corps against Sinestro. The Corps took justice into their own hands, and decided to execute Sinestro. Sinestro had the last laugh, since those executing him did not know that the Guardians had programmed their Central Power Battery to self-destruct, should a Korugarian be destroyed by its' energy. Shortly after Sinestro died his soul was absorbed into the Power Battery, and the Battery crumbled. Hal Jordan entered the Battery and battled Sinestro’s soul to keep the Battery from being completely destroyed. Sinestro's soul remained within the ruins of the Battery, denied a final rest.

(Green Lantern III #49, 50) - Hal Jordan went renegade after Coast City was destroyed, and sought to drain the central power battery. In desperation the Guardians freed Sinestro from the central power battery in order to defend it. After a brutal battle Sinestro was defeated, but he told Hal he saw how evil he'd become and in that respect Hal was the loser. Hal then snapped Sinestro's neck.

(Green Lantern: Rebirth #3-5) - Sinestro invaded the JLA Watchtower and attacked Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and Green Arrow. Sinestro revealed that he was the one responsible for awakening Parallax in the Central Power Battery and aided him in corrupting Hal Jordan. Sinestro nearly had the heroes beat until Arrow charged the power ring and use it to send an arrow into Sinestro’s chest. The effort severely drained him, but it bough them the time they needed. Hal’s soul returned to his body, and as Green Lantern he stood up to Sinestro. They battled and the strain of the fight cracked Sinestro’s ring open, sending him into the Anti-Matter Universe.

(Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1) - Sinestro and the Society massed in Metropolis. They were confronted by an army of virtually every hero on Earth, and the heroes and villains engaged in an epic battle.

(Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1) -With the reborn Anti-Monitor as his guardian, Sinestro formed his own Sinestro Corps. He enslaved the Weaponers of Qward and had them construct a yellow central power battery and 3600 yellow power rings, which he sent out into the known space sectors, each ring choosing a bearer capable of instilling great fear. Sinestro gathered his Corps on Qward and told them their mission, using fear to make the chaos of the universe bend to their will, and to replace it with law and order. Their first step was to burn anyone that would oppose their plan, so they had to destroy the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro sent a squad of Corps soldiers to Oa, where they managed to kill a number of Green Lanterns and break Superboy Prime and Cyborg Superman out of their sciencells, adding them to their ranks. Sinestro had a yellow power ring kidnap Kyle Rayner from Oa, and removed the Ion willpower entity from him. Sinestro imprisoned the entity, and promised to make Kyle feel fear. He revealed that his Corps member Despotellis was the sickness that killed Kyle’s mother. Kyle swore he’d kill Sinestro, but Sinestro reminded him that the GL power rings would not allow their user to commit murder, and that any threat from a Lantern was an empty one. Sinestro promised to target all the loved ones of the GLC, and Kyle finally fealt fear. This allowed Sinestro to infect him with Parallax. Sinestro brought Parallax before the Anti-Monitor, and they prostrated themselves before their master.

(Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1 (fb)) - Sinestro presented the Anti-Monitor to Superboy-Prime. Superboy played along, but he was horrified that the Anti-Monitor, the being that had destroyed his Earth, was reborn. He planned to pretend to follow Sinestro until he had the opportunity to make the Anti-Monitor bow to him.

(Green Lantern IV #21) - Sinestro sent out and a number of his corpsemen across the space sectors to pick off Green Lanterns one by one, killing dozens. He promised Superboy Prime and Cyborg Superman that they would both get everything they desired, that fear would deliver it to them.

(Green Lantern Corps II #14) - The people of Korugar held a rally demanding that Soranik Natu lead them into a new age of prosperity, such as Korugar used to have under the protection of the GLC. Natu reminded her people that as a member of the Corps she couldn’t condone her people overthrowing the government. Sinestro appeared and engaged her in battle, taking their skirmish to the skies. He bested Natu, but told her he would leave and allow the Korugarians to think she was the victor. He knew she rejected power, and feared that it would corrupt her and turn her into someone like him. Sinestro made it clear he needed someone to keep his planet safe, and she was obligated. He told her to embrace power, and stop fearing the Guardians, because they would soon be no more. Sinestro let her fall to Korugar, and just as he suspected, she kept up the premise of being their champion against Sinestro as a matter of duty.

(Green Lantern IV #22) - Sinestro returned to Qward, and demanded to know if his Corps had defeated Hal Jordan, but Hal had fled to the planet’s catacombs.

(Green Lantern IV #23) - Hal defeated Lyssa Drak, and freed Guy and John Stewart. Because Hal’s power ring was running low on energy he was forced to don a number of Sinestro Corps rings, his time infected by Parallax gave him a limited mastery over fear. Sinestro appeared and showed Hal he had no true understanding of fear, but just then the Lost Lanterns returned, having rescued Ion from the Anti-Monitor, and the Lanterns returned to the positive-matter universe. The Guardians foresaw the Blackest Night prophecy coming to pass with the rise of the Sinestro Corps, and did the unthinkable, rewriting the Book of Oa. The first of their temn new laws stated that the Corps power rings were authorized to use lethal force against the Sinestro Corps. Cyborg-Superman announced to Sinestro that Warworld was ready, and waiting to attack the Sinestro Corps next target….Earth.

(Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Cyborg-Superman #1) - Warworld approached Earth, and Sinestro laid out his plan of disabling the JlofA to Cyborg-Superman, and tried to get a rise out of him by mentioning the possibility of an encounter with Superman. Cyborg mused that he was long past taunts, or wanting revenge, and he looked forward to pursuing his and the Anti-Monitor’s agenda of the end of all life and betraying Sinestro. The Sinestro Corps damaged the JlofA satellite, battered the League, and Warworld entered Earth’s orbit.

(Green Lantern IV #24, Green lantern Corps II #17) - Sinestro communicated with Hal via his power ring as the Sinestro Corps invaded Earth. He intended to conquer the planet, making it a symbol of the Sinestro Corp’s power and their ability to control any planet. He intended to makes saves of the Earthlings, and execute anyone who did not submit. He was also going to turn Coast City into a mass grave again, and informed Hal that the first victims would be Jim Jordan and his family. Hal flew to Jim’s side and saved his family from being murdered by Parallax. Hal freed Kyle from Parallax and defeated the parasite, but the rest of the Sinestro Corps continued their assault on Earth, only momentarily being held back by Earth’s heroes, and the GLC, who had traveled from Oa to protect the planet. The Anti-Monitor arrived on Earth, and the GLC tried unsuccessfully to engage him in battle. Sinestro was enraged that one of the Lanterns present was Soranik Natu. He couldn’t believe that she’d left Korugar, and called her a traitor. He promised he’d kill her for her betrayal, but she promised him the same. The Guardians had uncovered the Anti-Monitor’s plans of collapsing the multiverse, so they empowered GLC rookie Sodam Yat with the power of Ion and set him on the Anti-Monitor.

(Green Lantern IV #25) - The Sinestro Corps continued their war on Earth while Hal and Kyle went to Coast Citry to protect it from Sinestro, and Hal issued a radio broadcast asking the residents to flee. Not a soul left, everyone had faith Hal would save them from Sinestro. Sinestro and a number of his soldiers engaged Hal and Kyle, and Sinestro told them he’d already won the war. His actions made the Guardians rewrite the Book of Oa, and now that the GLC could use lethal force they would be feared. Sinestro always wanted the GLC to be a more totalitarian police force to bring order to the universe, and he’d succeeded. Sinestro and Hal’s rings were both drained of power, and they squared off in hand-to-hand combat. Hal won, and told Sinestro he was under arrest. In NYC the Anti-Monitor tapped into Earth’s energy and prepared to unleash an anti-matter wave to consume Earth. The GLC ruptured the heart of Anti-Monitor’s Warworld, the Sinestro Corps central power battery, and created a shield around Warworld and the Monitor. The ensuing blast nearly destroyed the Anti-Monitor, and he was finished off by Superman-Prime, who betrayed him for having destroyed his home, Earth-Prime. With the Anti-Monitor destroyed, Sinestro vanquished, and having no way of recharging their rings the Sinestro Corps fled Earth to lick their wounds.

Comments: Created by Gil Kane & John Broome

Sinestro received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #21, Who's Who Update '88 #3, Who's Who in the DC Universe #1 and Green Lantern Secret Files and Origins 2005. He received a profile in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #20 under the Secret Society of Super-Villains entry.

Green Lantern III #47 showed Olivia Reynold's line of proposed GL action figures, including a Sinestro figure.

Green Lantern III #55 showed a picture of Sinestro when Green Lantern Alan Scott told the history of the Green Lantern Corps.

In Green Lantern III #150 Ion looked into the past saw Sinestro.

In Spectre IV #15 and #16 a race of energy beings took the forms of people Spectre (Hal Jordan) knew from his past so that he could better comprehend their appearance. One of the energy beings appeared to Hal as Sinestro.

Sinestro had cameos in Green Lantern IV #8, Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 and R.E.B.E.L.S. #10, 11.