Nero (comics)
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Nero is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe. The character was created by Judd Winick and Darryl Banks in Green Lantern vol. 3,#132 (January 2001).
[edit] History
Nero was a destructive and mentally disturbed artist who was given a yellow Power Ring by the Qwardians, similar to Sinestro's. During his stint in the mental asylum, he was treated for several mental disorders such as schizophrenia, paranoid delusions, and bi-polar issues. Nero claimed his parents were abusive, although given his state of mind, such assessments should not be taken at face value.
Nero was the second attempt by the Qwardians to take down the new Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, the first being Fatality. In order to find someone with the same imagination and artistic skill as Rayner, the Qwardians found Nero who had a history of drawing violent and dark pictures in his asylum. Nero was designed as the "archenemy" of Kyle Rayner, seeing how both are artists with limitless imagination. He broke from the asylum only to be confronted by a combination of both the original Green Lantern Alan Scott and Kyle Rayner. A battle ensued, with Alan Scott seriously wounded by Nero, Kyle had to retreat and call upon the assistance of the JLA. Kyle Rayner asked the JLA not only to stop Nero, but they also had to be prepared to kill him reasoning that it is chaos to give an insane inmate the most powerful weapon in the Universe. While the JLA declined his request, they were unable to stop him in several skirmishes of hit-and-run. In the end, the Flash found tapes of his parents and Kyle played the images. Eventually, the images consumed Nero, terrorizing him and admitting to self destruction.
Nero returned a short time later when the residual Central Power Battery energy made itself known (it was left in the sun following the sacrifical reignition by Hal Jordan in the crossover The Final Night). Both Kyle and Nero's power levels were greatly increased and they waged war in space to see who would lay claim to the power. Kyle was eventually able to defeat Nero and claim the power (which caused him to become Ion for the first time) and it was believed that Nero was taken or rescued by the Qwardians.
Nero was seen when the villainous Ultra-Humanite (I) imprisoned all super-powered beings of Earth and brainwashed them into becoming his private army.
[edit] One Year Later
Alex Nero returned in Ion #4, revealed as having masqueraded as Kyle during previous issues by Hal Jordan, who confronted him for his crimes. Nero is presumed responsible for the massacres once thought to have been committed by Kyle. In Ion #5, after a battle with Kyle and Hal Jordan, he is rendered into a vegetative state after being overwhelmed by Ion's power. Before he becomes totally vegetative, he reveals that he was forced to masquerade as Ion by an unknown group. Kyle proceeds to Oa to seek answers from the Guardians of the Universe, bringing Nero with him. However, when Nero awakes on Oa in the Guardians' presence, he seems to spontaneously release a massive amount of energy, as if exploding. Held captive by the Guardians of the Universe, still broken and unstable but now conscious again, revealed that he couldn't name his mysterious contractor. The Guardians confirmed that whoever has set Alex Nero (and Effigy) against Kyle, had altered Alex's mind, expunging all his knowledge about him.
[edit] Powers and abilities
As with the Green Lantern power ring, Nero is able to make solid light constructs with his will power. However, combined with his mental disabilities, there is nothing to hold him back from using his raw imagination. Even with Rayner's experience and imagination compared to his fellow Green Lanterns, Nero was able to simply create a much larger and vile army at his will with his power ring due to his psychosis, Kyle theorized. If not for the intervention of the JLA in the first fight, Rayner would have been in trouble. But as the future came to prove, Kyle defeated Nero in a physical battle over the omnipotent Ion energy.