Green Lantern Corps: Rage of the Red Lanterns
So last movie, we dealt with the theme of whether or not you should rule through fear. In this film, the guardians, usually repressing emotions, will be slowly corrupted by fear. We will also see what an emotionless police force looks like from the Manhunters, and why the guardians and the green lanterns need emotion. Also, Anger vs Hope.
New characters:
Atrocitus: The leader of the red lantern corps. He is the last of his kind. His earliest memory of his red lantern ring is waking up with it in a river of his people's blood. He is constantly consumed by rage and pain towards those who did this. The only purpose he has left is to kill the guardians of the universe and anyone connected to them. He considers himself an avenging angel of death. He is massive and formidable. While his ring cannot create constructs, as his rage is too unfocused, he can shoot out an acidic fire of pure energy. He has a cat.
Soranik Natu : She is the new green lantern of Korugar, and Sinestro's successor. She’s modest and never wanted the ring. She was a doctor before becoming a lantern. She fears it will make her like Sinestro. She hates and fears him. Her constructs are mostly defensive, used to deflect attacks and capture opponents.
We begin in space, just beyond the planet : War World. Hal, John, and Guy Gardner are traveling here to shut down the illegal gladiator battles on the planet and bring Mongul II, the being running the battles and a disowned member of the Mongul royal family to justice. Cut to later, with Guy Gardner having to battle Mongul in an arena for the lives of the captured Hal and John. Mongul is defeated, and they bring him to Oa. The circumstance that led to Hal and Johns capture though, was Guys fault.
At Oa, today is the day Sinestro is set to be executed for his crimes on his homeworld of Korugar. Hal Jordan is to take Sinestro across the galaxy to Korugar in a transport ship, along with Guy Gardner, and Soranik Natu, the new Green Lantern of Korugar. Along the way, they must also bring Mongul to a galactic prison planet about ¾ this of the way there. John, meanwhile, as one of the green lanterns that best follows the guardians orders(unlike Hal), has been assigned to a secret mission by the guardians, he is being sent out to search for the two guardians(ganthet and Sayd) who left to create their own corps, and return them to Oa as criminals. Before leaving, he speaks to Hal, telling him to not do anything he regrets regarding Sinestro.
We get a conversation between Hal and Sinestro about how Sinestro killed a lot of Hal's friends, and they used to be Sinestro's friends too before he was ousted from the corp. Sinestro believes he did what was necessary. The universe is a violent and corrupt place. Sinestro believes those he kills die for the greater good. A few uninhabited planets on the path to Korugar have been destroyed somehow, and the lanterns are forced to change course, heading into an area of space uncharted by their maps. They are then attacked by a ship filled with mercenaries, here to free Mongul. Mid battle, red lanterns arrive out of nowhere, killing the mercenaries and Mongul with their fiery energy breath[spit?(vomit?)] seriously, someone in the comments section help me with that, I’m calling it vomit for now. Sinestro asks Hal to create a temporary hard light green lantern ring for him out of his own ring, but Hal refuses. Guy, Soranik, and Hal barely escape onto the desolate, scorched planet below them with a captive Sinestro. Hal sends a distress beacon to the guardians, and also to his partner John.
Meanwhile, John travels to Odym, a lush tropical planet, that despite being mostly uninhabited, has power signatures almost at the level of Oa. John is met above the planet's orbit by the blue lantern Saint Walker, who brings him to the blue power battery, the blue lantern corps, and the two rogue guardians. John learns they have embraced emotions unlike the other guardians, and created a new corps, channeling the power of hope, to assist the green lanterns in a great upcoming war, foretold by a prophecy the guardian's have hidden from the corps. John then receives the message from Hal.
On the red lantern corps planet, Hal, Soranik, Sinestro, and Guy are hounded by red lanterns, Soranik tends to Sinestro's injuries. Hal discovers the remains of a destroyed robot on the ground. It looks very old. We see there are many of these robotic corpses on this world.
They are eventually captured as Atrocitus arrives and beats them into submission, during the fight, Hal creates Sinestro a ring as a last resort. On Oa, the guardians receive Hal’s message, and realizing that the red lanterns of rage, being on the furthest end of the emotional spectrum, would be nearly impossible to defeat, and if they encounter green lanterns, the prophecy will come one step closer to passing. They decide to ignore Hal. Him, Guy, and Soranik must die.
The three lanterns and Sinestro are brought to Atrocitus’ throne at the foot of the red power battery. Atrocitus recognizes their clothing and weapons as guardian technology, and that's why he brought them down to be interrogated. Atrocitus explains his backstory( the guardians once used robots known as Manhunters instead of green lanterns to police the Galaxy. The Manhunters were corrupted and destroyed Atrocitus’s entire sector, he was the only survivor. The red lantern appeared to him. Red rings are sent out by Atrocitus to build his ranks, transforming any they find who feels great rage into mindless monsters that serve him. He has spent years waiting for someone who could lead him to the guardians so that he can slaughter them for creating the machines that killed his family in front of him. Atrocitus prepares to torture his captives for information.
John Stewart, meanwhile, is informed of the truth behind the sector Hal sent the message from by the rogue guardians, learning the story of a rogue guardian named Krona who turned the Manhunters against the Galaxy, and that Rage cannot be stopped by will alone, but hope and will combined. In the forgotten sector, Sinestro gives the coordinates of Oa to Atrocitus. The red lanterns are sent into the upper atmosphere to wait for the time to leave. Atrocitus then puts rings of Rage onto the three green lanterns, and Hal and Soranik both try and kill Sinestro, who tries to escape into a nearby abandoned ancient temple. Where the green lanterns chase him, filled with fury as they see the faces of those Sinestro killed. Sinestro defends himself with his green ring. Guy Gardner however, attacks Atrocitus. When it comes to Guy Gardner, the enemy he hates the most is the one in front of him at the given time.
The Blue Lanterns arrive, led by Saint Walker and John Steward, with Ganthet and Sayd there as well. The guardians watch the battle unfold through a viewing device on Oa, making the decision that this must be stopped at all costs. They cannot allow anymore lanterns to get involved in this battle though. They make a decision. Reactivate every Manhunter left behind in that sector.
The battle rages on, Sinestro is about to be killed when the blue lanterns appear, saving him. The enraged green lanterns ask why, and the blue show them hope, placing blue rings on them, which causes the removal of the red rings. All will be well.
Atrocitus battles Guy Gardner(who sees his abusive father through the rings rage) sees Ganthet and Sayd watching from above, and goes to attack them, ripping energy out of the red power core, and claiming to be their butcher. The rogue guardians attempt to apologize for what happened with the Manhunters. They were flawed in design, and the green lanterns were created to fix those flaws. They are sorry. Atrocitus almost accepts, when Manhunters show up to kill everyone.
Huge epic battle, like lord of the rings in space, Hal, Soranik, and Saint Walker try to get the ring off Guy, who resists. Sinestro, Soranik, and Hall all back to back. It is discovered the blue lanterns energy can bring green rings up to 200% power, The multiple corps being forced to unite, battle through the asteroid field from earlier, Manhunters defeated.
Ganthet and Sayd attempt to broker a truce between the red, blue, and green explaining the blackest night prophecy. (Abin Sur, the one who gave Hal his ring, once met a criminal of a race of aliens with the power to see the future. He was told that when all the sides of the emotional spectrum meet and unite( brightest day), a blackest night of death and destruction throughout the galaxy will follow. Eventually, the corps will unite again, but not after massive death and destruction, greater than anything ever seen. Brightest day is not today, but this is a sign it's coming, and with it, Blackest Night. The end of the universe. Sinestro is also allowed to listen, as he is the leader of the lanterns of fear. The green lanterns cannot survive another battle, so they let it happen.
Meanwhile, Guy Gardner still has his red ring, refusing to remove it, as he claims this is where he belongs. The alliance is made that none of the corps present today can attack the other, and the corps must make an attempt to find the other emotional lanterns hidden throughout the Galaxy. Ganthet and Sayd allow Sinestro to leave, despite the green lanterns protests, claiming he has an important role and cannot be executed. If he does, the blackest night will not be able to be stopped. Hal promises Sinestro after this is all over, he’s going to bring him in.
On Oa, Hal, Soranik, and John stand trial before the guardians. They ask that the truth of the corps be kept secret. John and Soranik agree. Hal basically calls them out on being tiny d*ck heads whose heads actually look like d*cks and if they actually stopped repressing emotion they would be able to see releasing a murder-bot army was the worst possible reaction they could have had. The guardians ask if he wants them to put on red lantern rings and go commit murders. Hal tells them to find the middle ground, and uses this pg-13 movies one designated f-bomb. Hal is then put on probation and told from now on he can only patrol the planet earth and to stay out of space. John is asked for the location of the blue lanterns. He gives it. Later, he uses the blue ring he still had to warn Ganthet and Sayd to get off their planet before the guardians can capture them.
Privately, the guardians discuss and argue whether or not they should do as Hal Jordan said.
End Credits: Some foreboding rock song begins. The guardian with a scar on its face heads below the guardian citadel into the bowels of Oa, to a secret area known by none except her. She is the guardian of Oa’s secrets. When something must be hidden, she is entrusted with it. Within is every secret ever hidden by the guardians. Manhunters, genetic experiments, parallax, the power glove of Krona, and the book of black, a book constantly rewriting itself, storing the tales of the green lanterns that are too dangerous to ever be read. Within is the truth of how Abin Sur died. Abin knew his days were numbered, and had refused to use his ring, fearing Scar were watching him through it. He instead used a ship. The malfunction in his ship that sent him crashing down to earth, was engineered by the scarred lantern. She killed him to hide the truth of the prophecy from the other lanterns, and she will kill again.
Connections to the DCEU:
Mongul II appears. Mongul I, a Justice league villain, is referenced.
Abin Sur was sent to Earth to try and stop Zod before he arrived, but his ship had been sabotaged, resulting in his death.
Dux-Starr, the red lantern cat appears, usually at Atrocitus’s side.
A cult of Darkseid worshippers is mentioned in passing on Oa.
Krona references