Superman Defeated Green Lantern’s Greatest Enemies, Too

Green Lantern has some of the most powerful and terrifying enemies in the DC Universe. Villains such as Sinestro and Parallax are famous for being able to destroy planets, crippling civilizations around the world. That being said, while some villains may be difficult for Green Lantern, they may not be so difficult for someone like Superman.

In fact, a modern Superman story shows that the Man of Steel was able to defeat both Sinestro and Parallax quite quickly (and without a Green Lantern’s ring). In Superman #29, Kal-El is investigating the disappearances of several young children. As Superman investigates, he begins to think that it is the work of the Yellow Lanterns, as the Kryptonian discovers yellow energy on his investigations. Soon after this discovery, Superman would bump into one of the missing children, but unbeknownst to him, the child has been possessed by the power of Parallax and Supes is thrown against a building with fear energy. Superman tracks down the source of the yellow energy and, instead of finding Sinestro (as he expected), he sees the might of Parallax staring him down.

After a brief confrontation, Parallax takes control of Superman’s mind and body, turning him into a Yellow Lantern of fear and bearing a terrifying grin on his face. Before Parallax is able to do anything with Superman, Sinestro appears and begins to fight with the fear infused Kryptonian. Sinestro soon gets the upper hand after devastating fight in the skies, with Sinestro capturing the Last Son of Krypton in his hideout, and Sinestro warns Parallax against using too much of Superman’s energy, as they is no visible yellow sun for Superman to draw his energy from.

With the help of the Weaponers of Qward (who had been forced into serving Sinestro), Kal-El escapes from the clutches of Sinestro and defeats the Yellow Lantern with relative ease as Sinestro still hadn’t fully recovered from his last battle against Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern. Meaning that Superman, now, simply had to defeat the powerful and terrifying Parallax. Using Sinestro’s Yellow Lantern ring, Supes is able to overcome the fear of Parallax and trap the terrifying entity within the Yellow Lantern’s ring. The Man of Steel, however, promises not to let Sinestro abuse Parallax again, sending the trapped entity to the Green Lantern Corps to be handled with the necessary care and attention.

Obviously, Superman has a reputation for being the most powerful (some would say overpowered) DC hero, but it shows just how powerful the character is that he is able to defeat two of Green Lantern’s most fearsome enemies in one story. Additionally, this story also showed the ideals of Superman and the meaning of bravery. Being brave isn’t fighting in the absence of fear, it’s fighting regardless of fear, and this shows just how courageous the Man of Steel is as he fights against fear itself.

About The Author

Sam Hutchinson
(374 Articles Published)

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Writer living in Adelaide, Australia. Long-suffering post-graduate student and lover of pop culture from Game of Thrones to DC.
Twitter: @samchinson

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