Justice League Introduced A New, Truly Surprising White Lantern

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Justice League #6 by Scott Synder, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez, and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.

The Justice League is the assemblage of the greatest heroes of the DC Universe, and as such they’ve been put in some tight spots many times before. But what Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom have put the team through in the first arc of this new volume of Justice League is something else.

In many ways, Luthor and his team won the fight before it even got started, so thoroughly had they prepared for their clash with the heroes of the Justice League and by unlocking the new powers of the Still Force and the Invisible Emotional Spectrum, the heroes are outnumbered, overpowered and outmatched by their villainous counterparts.

However, as a certain space fighter pilot once said, “as long as there’s light, we’ve got a chance” and that’s all the Justice League need to fight back. By learning to lean into the powers that are ripping them apart, the Justice League hold the key to stopping the Legion of Doom in their tracks and along the way, they tap into one of the most powerful fundamental forces in the DC Universe, the white light of life itself. The real shocker, is just who gets to wield the white light, and what it means for the Legion of Doom now they’re up against the foundational force of creation itself.

Let There Be Light

Justice League #6 starts with the Justice League seemingly defeated. Green Lantern has been corrupted by the Ultraviolet Light of Shame, The Flash has been immobilized by The Still Force, Superman and Martian Manhunter are being piloted from inside their bodies by Lex Luthor and The Joker, who took out Batman and Hawkgirl to get there. However, the heroes of the DC Universe aren’t ones to go down without a fight, and this issue we’re treated to a knock-down drag-out brawl between Batman and Lex Luthor, inside Superman’s bloodstream. The Dark Knight puts up a good fight, but ultimately Lex Luthor is able to use the power of his mystical doorknob to banish the Justice League back to the Hall of Justice, and claim the power of the Totality for himself.

While all that had been going on, Sinestro had been laying siege to the Hall of Justice with his Ultraviolet Lantern Corps, as Umbrax — the dark sun at the heart of the Invisible Emotional Spectrum — was converting every human on Earth to be a member of its Corps. The Ultraviolet Lanterns are powered by their worst selves and their deepest shame, and with Earth in his clutches, Sinestro has found an entire planet’s worth of self-hating, self-destructive people to enlist into his Corps.

However, John Stewart makes a realization that changes everything. John thought Cyborg was blocking the signal, stopping him from succumbing to the power of the Ultraviolet Spectrum, but Cyborg has been too busy managing the shields keeping the rest of the Ultraviolet Corps out; John has been blocking its influence all on his own. Realizing this, John puts together a plan to break Sinestro’s hold over the Earth by connecting all the minds of everyone possessed by Umbrax and showing them how to turn their shame into strength, and with the help of The Flash’s Speed Force powered sports car, he can zip around the world dozens of times, connecting everyone and showing them the way.

With the help of Barry Allen slowing down and connecting to the Still Force, John Stewart is able to spread the Justice League’s message throughout the world, and that message is… Lex Luthor is right. Humanity is a cruel, petty and vindictive species, but if all of us can come together and make a conscious decision to try and be better, then humanity can achieve great things. As the message is received, Umbrax’s hold over the people of the Earth begins to weaken, but it isn’t replaced by the Green Light of Willpower or even the Blue Light of Hope, but the White Light of Life, as Earth itself becomes a White Lantern.

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That’s Life

The White Lantern Corps first debuted in Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Blackest Night event, as a counter to Nekron’s Black Lantern Corps which represented Death. It’s ironic that the White Lantern power has resurfaced to help the Justice League take down Sinestro, because he was actually the first White Lantern, though he didn’t wield it for long.

It was the power of the White Lantern which allowed the heroes of the DC Universe to break Nekron’s spell over their resurrected colleagues and saw to the rebirth of several classic DC characters, including several members of this incarnation of the Justice League, including Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl (though it was Shiera rather than Kendra, Kendra is a reincarnated Shiera, so there’s still a link there).

The most experienced wielder of the White Light of Life is Kyle Rayner, who learned to master each of the seven core forces of the Emotional Spectrum and became the White Lantern, though he ultimately chose to split the power among a new White Lantern Corps, lest he become too powerful. Kyle lost his link to the White Lantern energy in an attempt to resurrect the Blue Lantern Corps of Hope and since then has been a regular Green Lantern, and the White Lantern Corps hasn’t been heard from since.

Justice League #6 signals the return of one of the most powerful forces in the DC Universe in a big way, and is somewhat reminscent of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s JLA "World War III" storyline, in which everyone on Earth was granted superpowers and teamed up to fight the elder god of hatred and war, Mageddon. It remains to be seen whether everyone on Earth is now a White Lantern or if the planet itself is the White Lantern, similar to Mogo of the Green Lantern Corps.

The next issue blurb promises to “Fight Planet With Planet” so we’re definitely going to get a showdown between the White Lantern Earth and Umbrax in a couple of weeks, and if it’s anything like the rest of Snyder, Jimenez and Jim Cheung’s work on Justice League, it’s going to kick all sorts of ass.