Guy Gardner (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Green Lantern | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Guy Gardner is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. He is a core member of the Green Lantern family of characters, and for a time (late 1980s and early 1990s) was also a significant member of the Justice League family of characters. He was created by John Broome and Gil Kane (who patterned him after actor Martin Milner [1]) in Green Lantern #59 (March 1968), although the character was changed significantly in the 1980s by Steve Englehart and Keith Giffen who turned him into a boorish, jingoistic parody of an ultra-macho "red-blooded American male." This remains the character's most recognized interpretation to date.
Out of the current 7200 Green Lanterns, Guy is Lantern Number One of the Green Lantern Honor Guard.
Contents |
[edit] Character Biography
[edit] Early life
Gardner's roots lie in Baltimore, where he was raised by his parents, Roland ("Rolly") Gardner and Peggy Gardner. Rolly was an abusive alcoholic who beat Gardner repeatedly. Gardner worked very hard in school to try to win his father's approval, yet all his achievements were dismissed out of hand. Instead, Rolly lavished attention and compliments upon Gardner's older brother Mace, who, it seemed to Gardner, could do no wrong in their father's eyes. Gardner's only escape at this time was General Glory comic books, even modeling his bowl haircut on Glory's sidekick, Ernie.
During his mid-teens, Gardner finally decided that nothing he ever did was going to be good enough to win his father's affection, and the young boy became a juvenile delinquent. Gardner was straightened out from his downward spiral by his older brother, who had become a police officer. Mace's pressure and advice knocked some sense into Gardner, and Gardner then went to college, working his way through to support himself, and emerging from Michigan University with bachelor's degrees in education and psychology. One of his closest friends at U of M was John Henry Irons. During his time at Michigan University, he also became a nationally renowned football hero, but had to abandon that career due to injuries.
After college, Gardner worked as a social welfare caseworker, dealing with prison inmates and their rehabilitation. He abandoned this line of work, however, fearing it brought out his innate more aggressive nature. Moving on, he became a teacher for children with disabilities.
[edit] Green Lantern Corps
When the alien Green Lantern Abin Sur crashlanded on Earth after being mortally wounded by the villain Legion, he commanded his power ring to find a man honest and fearless enough to pass his power on to. The ring found two suitable candidates: Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan. Because Jordan was the closer of the two at the time, he was chosen over Gardner as the one to receive the ring.
Jordan later met Gardner and the two became friends, with Gardner occasionally assisting Jordan during his adventures. However, during an earthquake, Gardner was seriously injured and the Guardians instead recruited John Stewart to be Jordan's new backup Lantern. Later during a clash with Sinestro, Gardner suffered brain damage and was rendered comatose.
Several years later, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Guardians of the Universe split into two factions over how to confront the Crisis. A minority faction of six Guardians decided to emulate their former brethren, the Controllers by recruiting their own Green Lanterns to directly attack and destroy the forces of the anti-matter universe. They subsequently revived and recruited Gardner into the faction of the Green Lantern Corps; However, Gardner's brain damage now manifested itself in the form of an arrogant, violent new personality. Five of the six renegade Guardians were slain by a wave of anti-matter and the sixth eventually reconciled with the rest of the Guardians, leading Gardner to believe that he is "the last true Green Lantern" and the superior of all other GLs, particularly Jordan. Following the Crisis and the Guardians' departure from Oa, he went on to serve the Corps for a number of years, eventually taking Jordan's place as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 when Jordan was off-world on a recruiting mission for the Corps.
During his tenure as Earth's Green Lantern, Gardner became a founding member of the Justice League International after the original JLA disbanded during the DC Universe-wide crossover, Legends. In a famous sequence, Gardner challenged Batman's position as League chairman; Stating he didn't need his power ring to deal with Batman, he removes it. Batman, annoyed by Gardner's taunts, knocks him out with a single punch.
A recurring joke involved Gardner trying to assume the leadership of the Justice League only to be passed over in favor of another character. His longtime rivalry with Hal Jordan is also a recurrent theme.
During his JL years, Gardner once again suffered a personality change as a result of a blow to the head, and for a while became the polar opposite of his normal self: kind, loving, generous, boyishly innocent, and politically correct to a fault. It became a running gag with the writers; one sequence shows him hitting his head on the underside of a table, regaining his old persona, and then hitting his head a second time as he stands up and reverting back again. He also started an on-again, off-again relationship with the superheroine Ice, which ended with her death at the hands of the Overmaster.
[edit] Guy Gardner Reborn
Eventually, forced to forfeit his Green Lantern ring after a grudge fight with Jordan, Gardner set out on a quest to regain his power and identity. With the help of Lobo, Gardner acquired the yellow power ring of Sinestro from Oa's Crypt of the Green Lantern Corps (Guy Gardner Reborn #1–3), and his own comic series began with him using that ring. The yellow ring didn't use a battery to recharge, instead needing to be used against Green Lanterns' power rings to restore its power, which Gardner discovered by accident when a member of the Corps fought him while his ring was powerless.
As the yellow ring of Sinestro spoke Sinestro's native language (Korugarian) Gardner was unable to communicate with the ring, although it seemed to somehow understand him, translating alien languages into English.
Gardner only wore the yellow ring for a short while before being it being destroyed during the Emerald Twilight storyline, re-inventing the character.
In the JLA Classified-based miniseries I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League, Guy assisted the Super Buddies and was revealed to have kept his yellow ring which created some difficulties, due to the conflict with Gardner having no ring in Green Lantern: Rebirth.
[edit] Warrior years
When Hal Jordan, under the influence of Parallax, destroyed the Green Lantern Corps and becomes Parallax, Guy Gardner led a group of heroes to Oa to find out what had happened. In battling Parallax, Guy Gardner's ring is destroyed and he was forced to find an alternate means to acquire power.
On Earth, Ganthet first came to Guy Gardner to offer him the last Green Lantern power ring. When Gardner refuses, Ganthet chooses Kyle Rayner. (Green Lantern: Secret Files & Origins #1)
On an expedition to the Amazon with a rich entrepreneur, Gardner finds a chalice in a cave. He drinks from it, and becomes Warrior. Gardner discovers that his past was not what he thought it was. He is actually the descendant of a space-traveling race called the Vuldarians. This discovery eventually leads him to discover new powers within himself. These powers allow him to resume his role as a superhero. He also establishes a superhero theme bar called Warrior's as both a source of income and a base between his adventures.
His early days as Warrior saw him struggling with his newfound powers. He had difficulty changing his body into any weapon, and his transformations often caused him pain. After a breakdown that led to a confrontation with Superman and Supergirl, with some soul-searching help from his ancestor, Gardner was finally able to use his new powers to form most non-energy-based weapon from his body, as well as absorb some forms of energy and redirect them through his various 'weapons'. Another ability, his capability to use the knowledge of warriors from across space and time, was rarely used and mostly forgotten.
It is during this time that Gardner fought against Dementor, also a product of Vuldarian breeding. Dementor's father had raped a Vuldarian woman. Dementor was eventually sent to Hell, where he eventually revealed that he was the one responsible for Gardner's constant personality shifts (in a sense, retconning Gardner's history, explaining why his personality changed drastically over the years). In the last issues he finally dealt with his "family", as well as revealing another side of his Vuldarian powers, the ability to heal mortal wounds.
After the "Warrior" series was cancelled, Gardner continued to appear in the DC Universe. It was thought he was killed during the Our Worlds At War crossover. However, he was later discovered to be trapped in a pocket of Hell in General Zod's country of Pokolistan. After freeing himself, his Warrior powers were apparently enhanced. He declared it his job to do less ethical things heroes like Superman couldn't. However, this new direction was short lived.
[edit] Return to the Corps
During the 2005 miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth, Gardner's Vuldarian DNA is strangely overwritten by his human DNA when Parallax possesses Gardner and several Green Lanterns. Hal Jordan's ring splits in two and Gardner's ring is restored to him. Eventually, Parallax is defeated by the combined effort of all five active Green Lanterns, including Gardner. The Guardians then select Gardner as one of the senior officers of the new Green Lantern Corps.
In the 2005–2006 miniseries Green Lantern Corps: Recharge (written by Dave Gibbons), the Guardians assign Gardner to be one of the Corps' three main instructors, along with Kilowog and Kyle Rayner. The trio is responsible for the training of the new Corps, to which the Guardians intend to name 7,200 members. Gardner is not at all appreciative of his new role, and when he complains to the Guardians, they tell him that success in training new recruits could lead to him being given a new position.
Gardner plays a significant role in defeating the Spider Guild attack on Oa in the 2005–2006 miniseries Green Lantern Corps: Recharge. Discovering that trainee Soranik Natu has disappeared into the forbidden Vega star system, which the Guardians' pact with the Psions of Vega forbids Green Lanterns from entering, Gardner and Kyle Rayner lead a rescue mission in direct violation of Oan policy. Once there, the Lanterns discover the Spider Guild Nest and determine that its next target is the Oan sun. Returning just as the attack commences, Gardner gathers the frightened trainee Green Lanterns and rallies them with a speech that impresses even his long time rival, Hal Jordan. Gardner's performance in repelling the attack results in his promotion to Lantern #1 of the Green Lantern Honor Guard, a position of authority over other Lanterns. In this new role, Gardner is expected to "think outside the box" and "do the jobs other Lanterns can't", a function well-suited to his irascible personality.
In his new role as Lantern #1, Guy leads the Corps in the defense of Oa against Superboy-Prime, creating a wall of energy to slow the rampaging teen and calling a "code 54", authorizing the use of extreme force. Guy supervises the final capture and imprisonment of Superboy-Prime, locking the dangerous alternate Superboy in a red Sun Eater provided by Donna Troy and organizing a constant watch of 50 Lanterns to keep him imprisoned.
After serving for one year following the assaults of Superboy-Prime and the Spider Guild, then assisting lantern Soranik Natu on a dangerous mission, Guy was finally granted shore leave. Unfortunately, his relaxation was cut short when he was tracked down by Bolphunga the Unrelenting and forced to defend himself without the aid of his ring.
Around the same time, Guy assisted Hal Jordan on an unsanctioned mission to the Manhunter homeworld, Biot. Through Hal and Guy's efforts, several long-lost lanterns (including Arisia, Chaselon, Jack T. Chance, Graf Toren, Honnu, Ke'Haan, Laira, and Boodikka) were freed from imprisonment by the Cyborg Superman. Upon returning from the mission, Guy was punished by the Guardians and forced to endure one month as one of the 50 lanterns on "Prime Duty." This entails guarding Superboy Prime's special cell with "...no reading, no eating, no talking, no ring messaging, no Sudoku, no yelling, no chewing gum... and no drinking." While on guard, Guy's ring will even take care of his necessary sustenance and waste removal. Lanterns of the Honor Guard, like Guy, are allowed to break the rules three times before expulsion.
According to Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns in a recent Newsarama interview, Prime won't be escaping under Guy's watch. "Not at all. That’s ridiculous. Anyone who’s read Guy Gardner for the last two years in Green Lantern or in [Green Lantern] Corps knows that he’s a much better, stronger character than that. And even in the old Giffen stuff, he would probably break some rules, taunt the other heroes, and drink a beer or two, but he wouldn’t be that much of an idiot. He was never that much of an idiot, and certainly not with what I’m doing with him, or with what Dave Gibbons is doing with him in Corps. He has his moments, and he’s a really fun character, but he’s definitely not going to be a moron. His role is not DCU Moron. His role is DCU Shitkicker." [2]
[edit] Powers and abilities
[edit] Power rings
Guy Gardner was trained to use a Green Lantern power ring, which is only limited by the user's will power. He later acquired Sinestro's Qwardian power ring, which was later revealed to be based on the bearer's control of fear. He used both for basic Lantern abilities including constructs, flight, and energy projection. In Green Lantern: Rebirth #6 it is mentioned that Guy Gardner's ring is constantly sparking with energy, as if unable to contain the power of his will.
[edit] Vuldarian powers
Guy learned of his Vuldarian heritage and inherent powers, which included limited shape-shifting abilities in which he could create weapons out of his body. At first, these transformations caused him pain and he was unable to shrink from his 7-foot height. During the return of Parallax, he suffered a meta-human power discharge and his vuldarian abilities went into recession. Coincidentally, when he awoke he was near Hal Jordan's power ring which has the ability to duplicate itself. Gardner once more had a power ring, and following the return of the Guardians of the Universe, he was once again a Green Lantern.
[edit] Other media
- Guy Gardner has only been portrayed once in live action. In 1997, Matthew Settle played him in a Keith Giffen-inspired pilot for a proposed TV series Justice League of America with veteran actor David Ogden Stiers (M*A*S*H, The Dead Zone) as J'onn J'onzz. The character appeared to be a combination of several Green Lanterns, with Gardner's costume, Kyle Rayner's looks, Hal Jordan's way with women, and Alan Scott's simpler ring constructs.
- Guy had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Animated Series episode "In Brightest Day" as a camera thief/mugger.
[edit] Other version
Guy Gardner will be appearing in Justice League Unlimited #32.[3]
