Guy Gardner (character)
| Green Lantern | |
|---|---|
| File:Guy gardner rebirth.jpg Guy Gardner as Green Lantern | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Green Lantern (vol. 2) # 59 (March 1968) |
| Created by | John Broome Gil Kane |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Guy Gardner |
| Team affiliations | Green Lantern Honor Guard, Justice League International |
| Notable aliases | Warrior |
| Abilities | Power Ring |
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.
History
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. 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.
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 closer at the time, he was chosen over Gardner as the one to receive the ring.
Jordan later meets Gardner and the two became friends, with Gardner sometimes assisting Jordan during his adventures. However during an earthquake, Gardner is seriously injured in the disaster and the Guardians recruit John Stewart to be Jordan's new backup Lantern. Later during a clash with Hector Hammond, Gardner suffers brain damage and was rendered comatose for a time.
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 decide to emulate their former brethren, the Controllers, and recruit their own Green Lanterns to directly attack and destroy the forces of the anti-matter universe. They subsequently revive and recruit Gardner into the Green Lantern Corps; however, Gardner's brain damage now manifests itself in the form of an arrogant, violent new personality. Five of the six renegade Guardians are slain by a wave of anti-matter and the sixth eventually reconciles with the rest of the Guardians, leading Gardner to believe from then on 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 goes on to serve the Corps for a number of years, eventually taking Jordan's place as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 when Jordan is on a mission to recruit new members into the Corps.
During his tenure as Earth's Green Lantern, Gardner becomes a founding member of the Justice League International after the original JLA disbands during the DC Universe-wide crossover, Legends. In a famous sequence, Gardner challenges Batman's position as League chairman; he goes so far as to say he didn't need his power ring to deal with Batman and takes it off. Annoyed by Gardner's taunts, Batman knocks out the Green Lantern with one punch.
A recurring joke involves Gardner trying to assume the leadership of the Justice League only to be passed over in favor of another character. He also has a longtime rivalry with Hal Jordan.
During his JL years, Gardner once again suffers a personality change as a result of a bump on the head, and for a while becomes a polar opposite of his normal self: kind, loving, generous, boyishly innocent, and politically correct to a fault. The writers had a bit of fun with this; one sequence shows him hitting his head on the underside of a table, regaining his old persona, and then whacking his head a second time as he stands up and reverting again. He also starts an on-again, off-again relationship with the superheroine Ice, which ends with her death at the hands of the Overmaster.
Guy Gardner Reborn
Eventually, forced to forfeit his Green Lantern ring after a grudge fight with Jordan, Gardner sets out on a quest to regain his power and identity. With the help of Lobo, Gardner acquires 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 begins with him using that ring. The yellow ring does not use a battery to recharge, but actually needs to be used against Green Lanterns to restore power. Gardner finds this out by accident when a member of the GLC fights him while he has absolutely no power.
As the yellow ring of Sinestro speaks Sinestro's native language, Korugarian, Gardner is entirely unable to communicate with the ring, although it seems to understand him to a degree and can translate alien languages into English.
Gardner only wore the yellow ring for a short while; the relaunched character was caught up in the new editorial direction for the Green Lantern franchise that led to the controversial Emerald Twilight storyline in Green Lantern (3rd series) #48–50, and it was decided to take this new ring from Gardner and re-invent the character even more drastically.
In the JLA Classified-based miniseries I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League, Guy assists the Super Buddies and is revealed to have kept his yellow ring. However, due to this idea's conflict with Guy having no ring in Green Lantern: Rebirth, the series raised many questions still left unanswered.
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 see him struggling with his newfound powers. He has difficulty changing his body to any kind of weapon, and these transformations sometimes cause him pain. After a breakdown that leads to a confrontation with Superman and Supergirl, with some soul-searching help from his ancestor, Gardner finally comes into his own, able to use his new powers and able to form just about any tactical non-energy based weapon from his body, from guns to bombs, as well as absorb some forms of energy and redirect them through his various 'weapons'. His most underused ability, the knowledge of warriors from across space and time, is 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 woman who carried the Vuldarian seed, and Dementor was born. Dementor is sent to Hell, but eventually reveals that he was the one responsible for Gardner's constant personality shifts (in a sense, retconning Gardner's history to explain why his personality changed drastically over the years). In the last issues he finally deals with his "family", as well as revealing another side of his Vuldarian powers, the ability to heal mortal wounds, such as regenerating a heart.
After the "Warrior" series was cancelled, Gardner continues appearing around the DC Universe. He is seemingly killed during the Our Worlds At War crossover. However he is later discovered to be trapped in a pocket of Hell in General Zod's country of Pokolistan. After freeing himself, his Warrior powers are seemingly boosted. He declares it is his job to do things heroes like Superman couldn't. However, this new direction was short lived.
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, 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]
Powers and abilities
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.
Vuldarian powers
Guy learned of his Vuldarian heritage and inherant powers, which included limited shape-shifting abilities in which he could create weapons out of his body. At first, these transformations caused him pain. 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.
Trivia
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 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.