Who is SINESTRO?
SINESTRO, complete name Thaal SINESTRO, is an alien supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, SINESTRO is the former mentor of Hal Jordan and the arch-nemesis of the entire Green Lantern Corps. SINESTRO first appears in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #7 (July–August 1961).
Comics where SINESTRO first appeared
In its original comics incarnation SINESTRO was already a villain when we first see him. SINESTRO's good-cop-gone-bad origin made him unique among GL foes and allowed writers to have fun with Lucifer's fall from Heaven/the Snake's expulsion from the Garden analogies. SINESTRO's banishment led him to the Anti-Matter universe.
In the 1990s retcon SINESTRO was selected by the Guardians of the Universe to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps for his honor and fearlessness. At his height, he was considered to be the greatest of all the Green Lanterns, and Sector 1417 was almost entirely devoid of crime and lawlessness under his vigilant protection. The Guardians had never erred in their judgment before, and he would later be considered one of their greatest mistakes.
His skill and prowess was so great that he was assigned as a mentor to a number of rookie lanterns showing similar promise, the greatest of which would be his last student Hal Jordan. Ganthet,one of the Guardians of Oa, had specifically requested that the two train together, and they quickly became great friends.
Hal Jordan discovered that SINESTRO forced his planet to worship him and that he had a very strict and unjust set of rules. After being gone so long, Korugar's citizens rebelled and SINESTRO lost control. After a short battle, Hal knocked some sense into SINESTRO. Oan manhunters brought him in to Oa and he was tried. After Hal testified against him, SINESTRO swore revenge against Hal and the Corps right before he was banished to Qward in the Antimatter Universe.
SINESTRO in the Antimatter world of Qward, met a race of warriors and scientists known as the Weaponers of Qward, who bore a fierce hatred of the Guardians and all Green Lanterns. By exiling SINESTRO to a world ruled by evil beings who specifically hated him as a Green Lantern, the Guardians hoped to humble him. Their attempt at punishment would be a major miscalculation, however. SINESTRO believed himself to have been wronged by his former masters and now hated them just as much as the Weaponers did. Through their mutual hatred of the Guardians, SINESTRO and the Weaponers became allies, with the Weaponers offering to help SINESTRO gain revenge on the Guardians and the Corps.
The Weaponers creaded a yellow power ring for SINESTRO to use, the Weaponers sent him back to the "positive matter" universe to seek his revenge. SINESTRO quickly became the Green Lantern Corps' most powerful nemesis, partially due to a weakness (at that time) in their power rings that prevented them from directly affecting the color yellow. Despite this, skilled Green Lanterns like Jordan, SINESTRO's most hated enemy, always found ways to defeat him.
Here's a sample of a fight between Hal Jordan and the Yellow Ring wielding SINESTRO
Following the events in the story Crisis on Infinite Earths, Sinestro murdered an entire star systems until he was finally subdued by the Green Lantern Corps of Earth. Now guilty of multiple acts of genocide, Sinestro was put on trial again by the assembled membership of the Green Lantern Corps. He was found guilty, they condemned him to death and executed him, but Sinestro managed to cheat death itself by sending his essence into the Central Power Battery, and shut it down. While in the Battery, he also made a startling discovery about the ancient weakness to yellow within the Green Lanterns' light. Hal Jordan entered the Battery to desperately try to restore the powers of his fellow Lanterns, and ultimately defeated Sinestro, whose spirit was condemned to remain trapped inside the Central Battery, powerless, for eternity. Yet Sinestro had earned an even greater personal victory as the so-called "Yellow Impurity" turned out to be a sentient entity known as Parallax, the living embodiment of fear. He also discovered the battery's power source was Parallax's green counterpart, Ion, the embodiment of willpower.
Thanks to Sinestro's actions, Parallax successfully infected Jordan's mind, leaving the so-called "greatest Green Lantern" vulnerable to fear for the first time in his life and setting up Sinestro's ultimate triumph. Hal Jordan under the influence of Parallax, went on a rampage and massacred most of the Green Lantern Corps. As a last-ditch effort to halt Jordan's rampage, the Guardians freed Sinestro from the Central Power Battery and sent him to stop Jordan. Though Jordan snapped Sinestro's neck after the battle, apparently killing him, it would later be revealed that what the Guardians had actually extracted from the Battery was a hard-light construct of Sinestro, created by Parallax and mentally puppeteered by the real Sinestro from within the Battery. Parallax promptly finished off the Green Lantern Corps by absorbing the Central Battery's energies into himself. With the Battery destroyed, Sinestro escaped and went into hiding as he watched Jordan become what he'd always hated Sinestro for being: a traitor and a murderer reviled by his friends and his allies. When the last surviving Guardian, Ganthet, gave the last remaining power ring to Kyle Rayner, Sinestro became obsessed with the young Earthman, realizing that despite Jordan's downfall, his plot to extinguish the Green Lanterns' light had failed.
After a few more skirmishes with the new Green Lantern, and later a revived Green Lantern Corps, SINESTRO retreated to the antimatter universe. He made a pact with the Anti-Monitor and embraced the doctrine of spreading fear. SINESTRO decides to found the SINESTRO Corps, offering yellow power rings and a role in the Corps to the most feared and savage warriors of the universe.
Unfortunately for SINESTRO there are other villains who wanted his spot as leader of the fear-inducing yellowring-wielding corps. SINESTRO faced his would be usurper, Mongul, who already gained a multitude of yellow ring wielders. Though Mongul was the stronger physical opponent, SINESTRO revealed that he had installed security directives in the yellow power rings to prevent them from harming him. SINESTRO overpowered Mongul and imprisoned him in his ring. SINESTRO once again was unanimously hailed by the rest of the SINESTRO Corps as their one true leader.
The Blackest Night event finds the dead rising up as Black Lanterns, a weapon is needed to fight this undying enemies. The weapon came in the being known as the Entity but like Parallax it needed to bond with someone in order to fight against Nekron and the Black Lanterns. SINESTRO stopping Hal Jordan joined with the Entity. The white ring then stated to SINESTRO "Thaal SINESTRO of Korugar. Destiny Awaits", at that moment he transformed into a White Lantern.
Though Sinestro's time as a White Lantern was short lived and he went back to instilling fear.
SINESTRO
Animated Appearance
Challenge of the Super Friends
Sinestro has been prominently featured in Challenge of the Super Friends as part of the "Legion of Doom" voiced by Vic Perrin for the first three episodes and from then on by Don Messick.
DC Animated Universe (Timmverse)
Sinestro then appeared in Superman: The Animated Series episode "In Brightest Day..." voiced by Ted Levine. He battles against the newly-recruited Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. This incarnation of the now red-skinned villain would go on to appear in the Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Static Shock animated series.
Duck Dodgers
Sinestro appears in the Duck Dodgers episode "The Green Loontern" voiced by John de Lancie. He attempts to kidnap all the Green Lanterns. He is stopped by Dodgers himself. Dodgers pointed out his Devilish appearance to him.
The Batman
In the 2007 episode Ring Toss of The Batman, Sinestro finally got to fight his original nemesis Hal Jordan again, along with ring wielding Batman and Penguin.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Our first glimpse of the once heroic Sinestro outside the comicbook pages is in Batman: The Brave and the Bold's The Eyes of Despero! The episode depicted Sinestro falling from the good graces of the Green Lantern Corps.
Green Lantern : First Flight
Victor Garber voices Sinestro as the main antagonist in the Warner Premiere animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight. In the film, Sinestro is a respected member of the Green Lantern Corps who believes the Guardians and the Corps aren't proactive enough to maintain order of the universe. Seeking to overthrow Oa in order to instill his brand of order through fear, he collaborates with Corps member Boodikka and dictator Kanjar Ro in search of the Yellow Element to create a weapon that could destroy the Corps. He later frames the newly recruited Hal Jordan for Ro's death before seeking the weapon made from the element by the Weaponers - the yellow ring and power battery. After Sinestro defeats the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps, Jordan absorbs the Guardians' Green Element power source and challenges the despotic Korugarian. The yellow power battery is destroyed by Jordan and Sinestro's ring, along with his hand, is crushed by Kilowog. Sinestro's was most likely put into a prison cell for his crimes. When Sinestro takes possession of the yellow ring, his costume is changed from a Green Lantern uniform to his Sinestro Corps uniform. The ring itself, however, is just a yellow copy of a Green Lantern ring, although much more powerful thanks to the yellow weakness of the green rings.
LIVE MEDIA APPEARANCE
Charlie Callas
The first live appearance of Sinestro was In 1979, he was played by comedian Charlie Callas in the Legends of the Superheroes live action TV specials.
Mark Strong
Mark Strong will portray Sinestro in the live-action film, Green Lantern set for release on June 17, 2011.
POWERS & ABILITIES
Note: Due to the nature of comicbooks being an on-going tale, the character's powers along with his appearance, is in a constant state of flux.
Fear Attunement: possibly due to being trapped in the central power battery and connecting at a fundamental level with Parallax, Sinestro has an innate understanding of the fears of others, even without access to his ring. He also seems to have some form of mental link with his corps members which possibly is attributed to his understanding of others fears as well.
Strength levelClass 100+; while using constructs created by the ring Sinestro is effectively able to lift/move tremendous weights far heavier than 100 tons with little effort. Without the ring Average: Sinestro possesses the strength level of an average adult male Korugaran who engages in moderate regular exercise capable of press lifting at least his own weight.
Sinestro's Yellow Ring is a source of limitless power, and thus there is no theoretical limit to what it can do, but here are some abilities it has been shown to have. Its user must be a expert at instilling fear.
Artificial Intelligence: Every ring has a connection to the Main Battery on Qward, which taps into Parallax. It acts as an "on-board computer," telling the wearer what they need to know. It can either respond out loud, or silently directly to the wearer's mind. The AI contains a large database of information that may be crucial to a "Sinestro's" success. The ring also translates nearly every language to and from the wearer, which is why the Corps can communicate with each other. When the bearer of a Sinestro Corps ring dies, the ring will seek out a suitable replacement for their sector, someone capable of instilling great fear.
Communicator: The ring can act as a personal communicator between Sinestro Corps members.
Energy absorptions:The user can absorb and store most forms of energy.
Timetravel: The user can travel forward in time.
Translator of languages: The ring can translate languages so that the user can understand.
Costumes: The wearer of the ring may create a Sinestro Corps uniform.
Energy Beams, Bubbles, Force-Fields, and Blasts: The rings can also project beams, form protective bubbles and force fields, and fire destructive blasts. The power ring can contain immense amount of forces.
Energy Constructs: The rings can construct anything the wearer can imagine from hard-light energy, as long as they are willing to make it. The more determined the wearer is, the more complex and intricate these things can be. The constructs can even be so complex as to form working machines, computers, and even people.
Flight: The ring allows the wearer to fly in atmosphere or in space, and can achieve light-speed, moving from planet to planet in a matter of hours.
Mind Control: The wearer of the Ring can use it to plant post hypnotic commands or control a person.
Mirages: The Ring can create mirages/illusions. This would often be used to create images of monters or other horrific creatures or tableus.
Phasing: The ring allows the user to go through walls.
Probing: The ring can probe the Lantern's or another person's mind, allowing him to uncover memories or the person's thoughts, often to use them against to instill great fear.
Radiation: Besides light based radiation used to create the energy constructs associated with a Sinestro Corps member or a Green Lantern, the ring can simulate various forms of radiation.
Recharging: The rings need to be recharged by means of a Power Battery. Other large sources of power may be used to recharge a power ring, however effectiveness may vary. The internal power source of a Manhunter Android is, in effect, the same as a power battery, and can be used to recharge a power ring. As a member of the Sinestro Corps recharges their ring, they generally quote the Sinestro Corps oath.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SINESTRO : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Thaal_SINESTRO_(New_Earth) : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Thaal_SINESTRO_(New_Earth)/Gallery : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Thaal_SINESTRO_(New_Earth)/Quotes : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Thaal_SINESTRO_(New_Earth)/Images : http://www.comicvine.com/SINESTRO/29-10448/ : http://geekosity.blogspot.com/2010/04/SINESTRO-taxicab-or-evolution-of.html :
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