5 Reasons Why Sinestro Is Green Lantern’s Best Villain (& 5 Alternatives)

When it comes to an intergalactic police force, the likes of the Green Lantern Corps are one of the best. Fueled by their willpower and skill, the Lanterns have faced dozens of foes over the years. While a few like Evil Star end up being joke villains, there’s always one who stands out: Sinestro, who may appear in the upcoming HBO Max Series.

The leader of the yellow lanterns, Sinestro has proven himself time again as one of the GL’s most vicious and terrible foes, striking out to “better” the galaxy in his image. And yet, there are some fans who would argue Sinestro pales compared to others.

10 Sinestro: Former Lantern

It’s always interesting to see heroes fall from grace. While Sinestro is “championed” as the leader and wielder of the Yellow Lantern, before all of that, he was a Green Lantern. Utilizing the power to become a dictator of his own planet, his actions were unknown to the Guardians for some time.

That is until he was assigned to be the partner and friend of Hal Jordan. Sinestro ended up training Hal, teaching him his methods before Jordan uncovered his actions and arrested his mentor. Stripped of his rank, Sinestro resorted to his evil ways but did return to the Green Lantern ranks in the New 52.

9 Alternative: Black Hand

Although the Green Lanterns have faced down plenty of foes, most of them do take a backseat to Sinestro. And while some like Polaris, Krona, and even Mongul deserve a mention, Black Hand needs a bit more explanation.

Originally a low-level villain known as William Hand who harnessed power off of the Green Lantern’s energy, Black Hand changed drastically over the years. After Jordan turned his hand to salt, the villain ended up becoming a black lantern and instigating the events of Blackest Night, which saw him killing and resurrecting dozens of heroes and villains for the dark lord Nekron. Not bad for a former D-lister.

8 Sinestro: First Yellow Lantern

While Green Lanterns stand for hope, the Yellow Lanterns have stood for fear. That’s largely due to Sinestro being the galaxies’ first Yellow Lantern. After being discharged from the GL’s, Sinestro was banished to the antimatter universe by the Guardians.

Rather than atone for his ways, Sinestro instead made a pact with an alien race known as the Weaponers of Qward and had them craft a Yellow Lantern for him. Powered by fear, Sinestro returned to his own galaxy and began his reign of terror.

7 Alternative: Atrocitous

Like Sinestro, the rage-filled alien known as Atrocitous was the first lantern of his Corps, the Red Lanterns. Originally hailing from sector 666, Atrocitous was one of five survivors of a devastating attack on his planet and resorted to rage as a means of revenge.

When he was imprisoned by the Green Lanterns, Atrocitous’s rage gave birth to the first Red Lantern. Known for slaying dozens of famous GL’s and fatally wounding Abin Sur, the original bearer of Jordan’s ring, Atrocitous is one of the more dangerous foes of the corps alongside his weird cat, Dex-Starr.

6 Sinestro: Became The Galaxies Police Force

For the most part, the Sinestro Corps has been seen as a source of evil and fear throughout the galaxy for good reason. Yet, during the end of the New 52 and the beginning of the Rebirth era of DC comics, the Green Lantern Corps(a great source of memes) vanished from the universe.

In its absence, the Sinestro Corps became the new galaxy police force,  establishing a Warworld as a base of operations in the center of the galaxy. With an old Sinestro at its head, the Corps established a strange and violent semblance of order in the galaxy.

5 Alternative: Carol Ferris

Personal connections between a hero and villain always help to make the connection and rivalry stronger. While Sinestro has the added benefit of being a former Lantern, that’s nothing compared to Carol Ferris, Hal Jordan’s on-off girlfriend, former best friend, and member of the Star Sapphires.

When a gem comes into contact with Carol, she becomes the villainous Star Sapphire, a group of aliens who are said to protect love throughout the cosmos. While that sounds good, the Sapphire was still somewhat villainous and put Carol against Hal multiple times before she eventually became their queen.

4 Sinestro: Not Pure Evil

Despite all the vile deeds that Sinestro has committed over the years, it is worth noting that he’s not pure evil, or rather, his methods aren’t always wrong. Yes, he was a totalitarian ruler which is terrible, but he also did do some good for the galaxy.

When the Green Lanterns vanished, Sinestro took over and instilled his form of peace for the galaxy. Even then, he had some sense of right, not allowing his Corps to kidnap children. Even before that, Sinestro was readmitted to the Green Lantern Corps and did some serious good.

3 Alternative: Parallax

There are some who would say that the powerful villain Parallax is better than Sinestro. A parasitic entity that was contained within the Green Lantern, Parallax was originally none other than Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern.

After losing Coast City to a madman, Jordan went insane and the entity Parallax was unleashed, using him as a vessel. Responsible for influencing Hal and destroying the Green Lanterns, Parallax would later use Kyle Rayner as a vessel before being approached by Sinestro himself.

2 Sinestro: Controlled Parallax

The reason why Parallax isn’t better than Sinestro though is a simple one: he’s been a puppet from time to time. First following Sinestro’s orders during the Sinestro Corps War, the Yellow Lantern upped the ante in the New 52 and Rebirth era when he controlled Parallax.

With the Green Lantern’s gone, Sinestro utilized the power and energies of Parallax to make the Yellow Lanterns the galaxies’ police force. By making Parallax basically his equal and controlling him in a sense, Sinestro proved his might and strength over fear.

1 Alternative: Hector Hammond

Now, thanks to the disastrous Green Lantern movie, viewers might not think too much of Hector Hammond. Putting one of the worst DC movies behind them and looking at the comic version of Hammond, fans may still not think much of a telepathic villain with a giant head. And yet, Hammond is one of the GL’s more intriguing villains.

Equipped with insane telepathy skills, Hammond has been a foe of the GL’s for years, originally taking on Hal Jordan and then Kyle Radner. Over the years, Hammond has evolved into an intriguing albeit weird-looking villain. Add that to the fact that he sees himself as Jordan’s “friend,” and Hammond makes for one freaky baddie.

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