Sandbox / Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)

Green Lantern 2814.4: Kyle Rayner/Ion/White Lantern/Omega Lantern

The Torchbearer

^{Click here to see Kyle as the "Omega Lantern"} 

Species: Human

First Appearance: Green Lantern Vol 3 #48 (January 1994)

Green Lantern 2814.4. The Torchbearer. The White Lantern. The Omega Lantern.

Though not as famous outside of comics as Hal Jordan or perhaps even John Stewart, Kyle Rayner is definitely one of the most popular for comics fans — especially those born in The '80s or The '90s. During his era, between the time of Emerald Twilight and Green Lantern: Rebirth, he was the Green Lantern. The Last of His Kind.

Kyle Rayner, a struggling artist, was just an average young man until Ganthet, the last Guardian of the Universe, appeared to him in a back alley and handed him the last Green Lantern power ring. Kyle was charged with preserving the light of the Green Lantern Corps, and for years was the only Lantern remaining in the universe.

Kyle briefly gained the power of the Will Entity, Ion, and used it to rebuild the Central Power Battery and revive the dead Guardians. Not long after, he was instrumental in the rebirth of Hal Jordan and revival of the Corps. Today, for keeping the Green Light alive, Kyle is renowned as the Torchbearer and one of the Corps' Honor Guard.

Later Kyle became a member of the New Guardians, a group of Lanterns from every Corps (sans Black and White) before mastering the rings of every single Corps, allowing him to become the White Lantern. He would later give up this ring for a short time, in order to negotiate a peace treaty between the Citadel and the Omega Men. He was apparently executed by the Omega Men on live TV. In actuality, he was revived, and would join the group himself. After regaining his ring, he was dubbed the Omega Lantern. Once the Omega Men overthrew the Citadel, Kyle returned to Earth.

Being not quite as famous as Hal, Kyle often has trouble finding a permanent series in comics. However, he can most often be found in pages of Green Lantern Corps. comics, following the group's return in the mid-2000s.

---

• A God I Am Not: Kyle has an odd tendency to stumble face-first into omnipotence, but he maintains this attitude - and is actively afraid of it by the time he received the Life Equation. The first time it happened, he had almost unlimited powers during the Ion arc until Superman pointed out that people were starting to worship him. This realization led him to give up the Ion energy and rebuild the Central Power Battery. Later, he does the same thing with the Life Equation, with its vast Reality Warper powers growing beyond his conscious control, and splits it between the seven rings of the White Lantern Corps.
  • Circle of Fire reveals that a part of Kyle is tempted to give into A God Am I, something affirmed by the end of New Guardians but his better self keeps that desire in-check. Except in Future's End
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • New Guardians claims that he has the rare potential to channel all seven colors of the emotional spectrum, and he succeeds, becoming a White Lantern.
  • However as of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #17 he has lost access to these abilities and once again becomes a Green Lantern.
• Always Someone Better: Early in his career, Kyle had a raging inferiority complex and despaired of living up to the legacy of Hal Jordan. He gets over this after Green Lantern: Rebirth, as a pep-talk from Hal (who had punctuated his first returned fight with Sinestro with a coldly angry "No. You will respect him" when Sinestro sneered about the "alley rat") developing his own relationship with Hal makes Kyle realize that they have different strengths and talents.
• Art Attacker: Being an artist with the power to make shapes with his mind, his constructs are particularly detailed, and he generally treats them as he would artwork that is gradually refined. In-universe it's said that his constructs are initially "sketched" into exsitence before becoming more solid, and he has even edited them, making slight alterations to ones he has already "finished."
• Ascended Fanboy: Kyle grew up admiring Batman and Superman. Now he works side by side with them.
  • Averted with Green Lanterns, however, as he didn't particularly like them.
• Audience Surrogate: Him being a fan of comics and more of an everyman in comparison to Hal made him this for a while. In The Omega Men, he went back to it, having the most "normal" morals in the series.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Youngest of the Four Horsemen of the Corps and the JLA during his tenure on the team. By the time he's serving on the reformed Green Lantern Corps, he is experienced enough to have the respect of Hal, Guy, and John; but while he served on the JLA, his inexperience coupled with his youth meant that he was obligated to prove himself.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kyle is often regarded by his enemies as one of the most dangerous and unpredictable Lanterns ever (yes, more than Guy Gardner), not because of his determination or a lack of mercy, but because as a comic artist his mind works creatively and thus he has no problems with beating the hell out of you with a giant teddy bear or making a Magical Girl and letting her kick your ass while he stands on the sidelines snarking. He's just too damn unpredictable, which is one of the reasons (besides his ability to overcome fear) he was chosen as the last of the Green Lanterns.
  • That's not even getting into what happened to the thugs who beat up his friend Terry Berg. Friggin' BATMAN told him he crossed a line.
• Big Brother Worship: Exhibits this behavior towards Hal, John, and Guy. According to Soranik, Kyle is "always chasing after his big brothers."
• Cartwright Curse: It's reached memetic levels in and out of universe. Of the four major girlfriends he's had, three have been killed off (the fourth broke things off when Kyle opened his fat mouth at exactly the wrong time). The two superpowered ones came back, but "people I care for die" has become a part of his character.
• Character Shilling: When he replaced Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. Having folks like Martian Manhunter, Superman and Batman say what a terrific guy you are, completely unsolicited, led to much eye-rolling even amongst fans of the character, who felt that such shilling validated many complaints that haters of the character had. Luckily, Rayner managed to survive the shilling and was officially rescued from the scrappy pile.
  • It's been widely joked that Kyle got shilled specifically because DC were pissed off that fans (rightfully) saw how The Death of Superman and Azrael becoming Batman were temporary plotlines. DC were deadset that Kyle would stick, hence the shilling. However, Grant Morrison refused to give Kyle the same treatment in JLA. Yes, most of the team respected him, but he had to work to really be seen as something more than a rookie. And The Flash was open about his initial dislike of Kyle and it took a good amount of character development for them to become friends. As a result, Kyle Rayner grew his own crop of decidedly enthusiastic and loyal fans...
• Chick Magnet: He's considered very attractive and has dated a lot of attractive women. He's introduced as having just broken up with Alex, and would later have long-term relationships with Jade, the green-skinned model daughter of Alan Scott. After that, Kyle would date Donna Troy, who's basically a younger-looking Wonder Woman, who is acknowledged in-universe as one of the world's most beautiful women. After that, Kyle dated Soranik Natu, the scientist daughter of Sinestro. After that, he would date Carol Ferris, as she found herself more in love with Kyle than Hal Jordan. While working with the Omega Men, he also had a relationship with beautiful space princess Kalista, though with that one it wasn't clear if she really had feelings for him; at the very least, they had a physical relationship.
• Chosen One/Closest Thing We Got: Zig-zagged. The original scene with Kyle has him in an alley behind a bar, getting some fresh air when Ganthet shows up and says "You'll do" and hands him the ring. This plays into Kyle's character arc for the first several years with him and others doubting his worth; even Ganthet, who chose him, doubts the decision at one point. However, he earns his place as the Torchbearer, restoring the entire Corps and resisting the temptation of ultimate power. It reads like a Chosen One story in some places, but it doesn't seem like this was anyone's plan, certainly not the Guardians.
  • Geoff Johns has commented that despite the actual sequence of events, he considers Kyle to be as chosen for the Corps as any other Lantern. New Guardians later puts forth that Ganthet perhaps did sense something special about him when giving him the ring.
• Combat Pragmatist: He has a habit of going for his opponent's eyes, especially in situations where he's de-powered/doesn't have the ring.
  • He's also not adverse to letting the ring do all the work (and by "work", we mean he'll make a girl that will kick you in the lantern) while he just sort of hangs around and makes fun of you.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Supposedly modelled after Keanu Reeves in his original appearances.
• Deadpan Snarker: He snarks when the situation is too much for him.
• Death by Origin Story: His girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt was tragically murdered by Major Force early in Kyle's career as a Green Lantern, with the villain leaving Alexandra's body in the fridge for Kyle to find just to torment the young man.
• Depending on the Artist: His first costume was deceptively complex and subtle details would change from issue to issue. Handwaved by his artistic nature changing his outfit based on what he thought was cool at the time.
• The Determinator: Even among an entire group whose power is fueled by Determination, Kyle stands out.
• Disappeared Dad: He was raised by a single mother, Moira Rayner. This has an odd effect on him as he gravitates subtly to potential father-figures in his life, such as the other members of the Justice League or Ganthet.
• Dork Knight: He is a very dorky lover of drawing and superheroes.
• Enemy Without: In Green Lantern: Circle of Fire, Kyle accidentally creates a sentient construct named Oblivion who is the externalization of the dark impulses that he represses. Unfortunately for Kyle (and the world), Oblivion is also all-powerful and hellbent on destroying JLA (1997). Even more unfortunately, he reappears in New Guardians as a result of Kyle's possession of the Life Equation.
• Evil Uncle: His first team-up with Connor Hawke had his uncle Zachary pose as his missing father Aaron to manipulate Kyle into assisting in a domestic terrorism plot. Zachary Rayner doesn't reveal the truth to his nephew until the scheme is thwarted and he is nearly dead.
• Executive Meddling: invoked How he was created, of course, but also an interesting inversion: despite DC editorial mandate insisting Kyle was going to be the only Green Lantern following his debut, every writer on his comic for ten years did their level best to sneak the Corps back in, though only Jade and John Stewart kept their rings for any real length of time.
  • Writer Brad Meltzer desperately insists that Kyle's defeat at the hands of Deathstroke in Identity Crisis was this because the big-wigs at DC Comics wanted to pump up Deathstroke's status as a badass, every time the fans mention it. In the fight in question, despite the fact that Kyle had the most powerful ranged weapon in the universe on his hand, and despite the fact that Kyle is recognized as having one of the strongest wills in an organization powered by willpower, Kyle not only moves in on Deathstroke (who is a much better fighter than Kyle) in order to punch him, but he comes very close to losing a battle of wills with the villain. Yeah...
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: His quest to find his missing father in his first team-up with Connor Hawke ends with him learning that the man he assumed was his father was actually his uncle Zachary pretending to be Aaron Rayner.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine
• Generation Xerox: As per tradition, Kyle as Earth's main Green Lantern formed a partnership with the Flash of his era, in this case, Wally West. Unlike Hal and Barry, the two couldn't stand each other at first.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Mainly with Connor Hawke aka Green Arrow II. Also with Guy after the Sinestro Corps War. Also with Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Well, "normal" by Green Lantern standards. As Ion and White Lantern, Kyle has wielded massive amounts of power, but he prefers being "just one of the guys" in the Green Lantern Corps.
• Incompatible Orientation: After learning that his assistant Terry Berg is gay and has a Precocious Crush on him, Kyle makes it clear that he values Terry as a friend, but can't reciprocate his feelings because he is straight (and also because the age gap is too wide on account of Terry being 16 and Kyle being in his 20s).
• Informed Attribute: Kyle's status as "The most creative Lantern" could be considered this. This perception comes less from Kyle, and more from the way writers have changed how they write the Lanterns. In Hal's Silver Age tales, the ring's abiltiies were far greater than merely creating constructs, it could do almost anything. Consequently, the solutions of that era were a lot more varied than modern lanterns can pull off. Kyle has a more limited toolset to work with, and we've never seen what he can do with the more capable rings of old.
  • He does demonstrate this in New Guardians and beyond as the White Lantern, finding new ways to use the emotional spectrum.
• In-Series Nickname: Christopher Priest had people jokingly mock Kyle's original costume by calling him "Crab Face Guy." Kyle's detractors ate it up.
• Interspecies Romance: For a time, he was a couple with Korugarian Green Lantern Soranik Natu.
• It's Not Porn, It's Art: He used to date Donna Troy. They broke up when she caught him sketching a nude of a woman who lived in his building.
• Jumped at the Call: More like performed a triple somersault at the call.
• Last of His Kind: His initial gimmick was that he was the last active Green Lantern after Hal decimated the Corps as Parallax. After a few unsuccessful attempts at re-forming the Green Lantern Corps on his terms and giving Jade her own power ring a couple of times during a period where she lost her powers, Kyle would no longer be the last Green Lantern when he gave John Stewart a new power ring in Judd Winick's run and the Corps was finally re-formed during Geoff Johns' run.
• Likes Older Women: It's not entirely clear how much younger Kyle is than Hal, but it's in the region of 10 to 15 years, and in New Guardians, he ended up dating Carol Ferris, Hal's ex and contemporary. One of the New Talent Showcase stories even implied that she was pregnant, though that never ended up going anywhere.
• Mr. Fanservice: Kyle seems to be subject to the most gratuitous and numerous butt-shots in any comic he's in. Considering he's a Lantern, that's a lot. It's even acknowledged in-universe he has a nice butt.
• Mr. Imagination: Being an artist, he has one of the most powerful imaginations in the entire corps to take advantage of the ring, coming up with creative ways to beat bad guys. This is why he's picked to train the much more functional Simon Baz, who quickly finds out the hard way how embarrassing getting beaten up by Kyle can be.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Considering the three previous Earth Lanterns can't really age up anymore without their exploits becoming unfeasible (they're presumably in their forties now), Kyle will probably be stuck in his twenties forever.
• Perma-Stubble: In The New Guardians series.
• Pretty Boy: Generally drawn much prettier than the older Earth Lanterns to highlight his youth and more light-hearted personality.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Based on some of his constructs, the guy reads a lot of Shōjo.
• Reality Warper: The first time he was Ion. He regains this ability after becoming a White Lantern, which attracts the notice of the New Gods and triggers the "Godhead" event.
• Red Baron: After he wills his White Lantern ring back to him and seemingly single-handedly turns the tides of the Omega Men's war with the citadel, he's dubbed the Omega Lantern.
  • He's also frequently called "The Artist," derisively by those who don't know him, and with fear/reverence by those that do.
• Screw Destiny: Kyle experienced multiple futures over his early career that suggested that the Green Lantern Corps was never reformed. Then he helped to rebuild the Corps.
• Sequential Artist: He is a professional comic book artist and writer. If he's fighting alongside other Lanterns, this tends to be shown as influencing his style of combat. In the New 52 Green Lantern run, this is actually cited by ARGUS as a possible clue to his at the time secret identity.
• Shout-Out: A lot of Kyle's constructs are taken from Manga and Anime.
• Signature Style: Apparently his art style is distinct enough for people to figure out his identity based on his constructs. Also the way his constructs appear (being first "sketched" into existence before becoming more solid) is a dead giveaway.
• The So-Called Coward: Got a lot of grief early on because, unlike Hal, he actually felt fear and doubt over his role as a Green Lantern. While the other Earth Lanterns settled into their positions fairly quickly, he was openly intimidated by it. Eventually, his ability to feel fear and overcome it was what helped him avoid Parallax's influence in Rebirth.
  • It has been pointed out, in-universe, that he is the living incarnation of the old saying that "courage is being afraid, but going ahead anyhow", and it has been remarked at least twice that it is the fact that he does become afraid that makes him a better Lantern than Hal Jordan. Hal has agreed with this, stating that while he's the best with Green, Kyle is the greatest Lantern full stop.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: At the end of his first solo series, Kyle concludes that there is nothing left for him on Earth and that he belongs in space. He doubles down on this sentiment during the Geoff Johns run of Green Lantern, remarking upon how he feels more at home on Oa with the Corps than he did on Earth:
  Kyle: I never liked cops. Not until Hal and the Corps came back. It was the first time, I really felt like I belonged to something. I wasn't the "artistic" kid in school or the rookie on the League. I was one of the guys.
• Suddenly Ethnicity: Kyle was firmly established as being a proud Irish-American in his early appearances, and could even speak Gaelic to his mother, an immigrant who supposedly met his father back when they were living in Ireland. When Judd Winick took over, Kyle's father was retconned into being Mexican-American, with his name changed from Aaron Rayner to Gabriel Vasquez.
  • This aspect of Kyle's identity was reinforced during New 52. Omega Men depicted him as a fluent Spanish speaker and referenced a Mexican grandmother he was apparently close to as a child, and New Guardians retconned his father into being a white man who was actually named Aaron Rayner. Taken together, these facts seem to imply that Kyle's Mexican roots come from his mother; but since other aspects of New Guardians have been tossed out, the continuity of this is questionable.
• Technician vs. Performer: The Performer to John Stewart's Technician, since Kyle is an artist whose greatest strength is his unpredictability and creativity, while John is an architect and is much more meticulous but also rigid in his constructs.
• Token Good Teammate: On the Omega Men. While no one in the group is particularly evil, all of them are very dark anti-heroes at best, Primus aside (maybe). Kyle framed the conflict between the Omega Men and the Citadel as a more typical superhero, with an oppressive government and a band of rogues looking to overthrow them.
• Tulpa: His imagination combined with his talent with the ring has led to him unintentionally manifesting aspects of his psyche as independent beings. The first was Oblivion, a manifestation of all his negative emotions, modelled after an original drawing he made in his youth. To fight Oblivion he unconsciously made five Green Lanterns that believed themselves to be from alternate timelines that represented his positive mental attributes.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Wally West. The two initially did not get along, but eventually became good friends. They just constantly jab at each other.