Parallax is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of the Green Lantern Corps. It is the embodiment of the emotion of fear, and serves as the power source for the Sinestro Corps.
Publication history Created by writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks for Green Lantern vol. 3 #48 (January 1994), Parallax was originally devised as the new supervillain identity for Green Lantern protagonist Hal Jordan who had gone mad with grief after a catastrophic loss. After Jordan sacrificed himself to reignite Earth's Sun in the 1996 crossover storyline "The Final Night" and his soul became the newest host of the Spectre, 2004's Green Lantern: Rebirth once again cast Jordan as a heroic Green Lantern and explained Parallax as an ancient entity embodying the yellow light of fear which possessed Jordan and drove him to his villainous actions. Parallax was revealed to have been once imprisoned within the Central Power Battery on the planet Oa, creating the impurity that previously rendered the rings useless against anything colored yellow.
In 2009, Parallax was ranked as IGN's 92nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
Fictional character biography
In 1994, in an effort to generate interest in its Green Lantern comics, DC replaced Hal Jordan, who had been the primary Green Lantern since the late 1950s, with the character Kyle Rayner, and eliminated the Green Lantern Corps which had served as supporting characters in the series. This was done in the story "Emerald Twilight", beginning in Green Lantern vol. 3 #48 (Jan. 1994). After Mongul destroys his home town Coast City, Hal Jordan descends into madness, destroying the Green Lantern Corps, killing his friend Kilowog and all of the Guardians, except for Ganthet. After this, Jordan assumed the name Parallax and became a supervillain. In the crossover Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, Parallax attempted to rewrite history to stop the destruction of Coast City by using chronal energy, pulled from the universe by the combined power of the rings of the Green Lanterns he had killed. While Kyle Rayner became the primary Green Lantern of Earth for the next decade, Hal Jordan terrorized the DC universe as the villain Parallax and attempted to make Cyborg Superman pay for the destruction of Coast City.
During The Final Night storyline, Jordan sacrifices himself to reignite Earth's sun after it is nearly completely eaten. His soul not at peace, Jordan becomes the new Spectre to seek redemption for his actions as Parallax.Day of Judgment #5 (November 1999) The 2004 miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, reveals that Parallax is an ancient embodiment of fear who possessed Jordan during the events of Emerald Twilight.Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #4 (December 2005) The Guardians of the Universe imprisoned Parallax within the Central Power Battery on Oa using fear's opposite energy, willpower, embodied by one of the fear's counterparts, Ion. Parallax had lain dormant for billions of years, its true nature hidden by the Guardians to prevent anyone from trying to free it. Parallax eventually came to be referred to as simply "the yellow impurity", a flaw, whose nature was kept secret from the Corps, that made their rings useless against the color yellow. When Sinestro is imprisoned in the Power Battery, he awakens Parallax and leads to Jordan being chosen by it.
Kyle Rayner and fellow Green Lanterns John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Hal Jordan, and Ganthet imprison the parasite back in the Central Power Battery on Oa. Despite this reintroduction of the "yellow impurity", the power rings' weakness against yellow no longer applies, as experienced wielders are now able to consciously recognize and overcome it. It is still, however, a considerable weakness for new Green Lantern recruits and rookies, who must be taught the impurity's nature and how to combat it.
Sinestro Corps
Sinestro's Sinestro Corps captures Kyle Rayner with the intention of making him Parallax's new host. Sinestro reveals to Kyle the existence of Ion. Sinestro also informs him that Ion is actually an energy entity that needs a host, similar to Parallax, and it is now attached to Kyle's soul. Sinestro removes the Ion entity from Kyle, who is immediately taken over by Parallax. Parallax then clothes itself in a new uniform (which appears as a combination of Kyle's original Green Lantern costume and the costume Hal Jordan wore as Parallax) and returns to Qward with the Sinestro Corps. Parallax becomes a herald of the reborn Anti-Monitor alongside Hank Henshaw, Superman-Prime, and Sinestro himself.Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special (August 2007) After the massacre of several Green Lanterns, Parallax leads an assault against Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner, and brings them to Qward.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #21 (September 2007) The "Lost Lanterns" arrive to rescue the captured Lanterns. During the battle, Parallax murders Jack T. Chance after making him experience his repressed fear of his abusive family.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #22 (August 2007) Kyle and Parallax confront each other in a room constructed by Kyle's memories. Kyle changes into Ion and fights Parallax and later conjures a power ring and his original costume. After fighting Parallax for a while, Kyle stabs Parallax and regains his self-worth when he sees a painting that his mother made years ago.Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Parallax (November 2007)
Soon after, Guy comes to Parallax with Kyle's mother's painting. This, along with Hal's aid, allows Kyle to fight Parallax from within, and the two manage to escape from Parallax. Now in its original form, Parallax begins to attack Hal, Guy, John, and Kyle. Ganthet and Sayd arrive and imprison Parallax within the Earth Lanterns' four Power Batteries.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #24 (December 2007)
Blackest Night While Jordan and his allies defend Coast City against the Black Lantern Corps during the "Blackest Night" storyline, the Black Lantern Spectre attempts to claim him. Believing that the Spectre fears Parallax, Hal Jordan has Ganthet summon the power batteries that currently held it. Once summoned, Hal allows Sinestro to release Parallax and, once it is free, provokes it into merging with him. A resulting explosion of yellow light quickly fades and soon reveals that Parallax is in full control of Hal and eager to challenge the Spectre once more.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #50 (March 2010) Parallax tears into the Black Lantern Spectre's body, freeing the real Spectre and destroying the facsimile. Parallax then attempts to destroy the Spectre, who uses his own fear of it, coupled with the love Carol Ferris feels for Hal, to separate Parallax from its host. Parallax is then pulled away by an unknown force to an unknown location.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #51 (April 2010)
After Sinestro becomes a White Lantern, he views the history of the emotional spectrum and learns that Parallax was originally an insect who was transformed after becoming the first creature in existence to feel fear.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #52 (May 2010)
Brightest Day
During the "Brightest Day" storyline, Parallax is revealed to have been transported to planet Ryut, where a cloaked villain traps it in an energy bubble and chains it to a monolith bearing the Sinestro Corps symbol.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #53 (June 2010) Around Parallax are other monoliths bearing the symbols of the other Lantern corps. When Hal Jordan, the Flash, and the rest of their allies try to find the emotional entities, they locate Parallax, who possesses Flash after it senses the hero's concerns for Jordan's safety.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #59 (November 2010) By inhabiting the living generator of the Speed Force, Parallax is even more powerful by combining the extradimensional energy the speedster creates with its own powers. Parallax intends to possess Hal Jordan, but is stopped by an unknown being. The compassion entity, Proselyte, frees the Flash from Parallax's control by reigniting his emotion for compassion over his fear. The hope entity, Adara, confronts the cloaked villain, who reveals that all this is actually a ruse so that he could capture them all — which he does — revealing himself to be the renegade Guardian Krona.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #60 (December 2010)
War of the Green Lanterns When Krona attacks Oa, he places Parallax inside the Central Power Battery, restoring the yellow impurity and giving him control over almost all Green Lanterns.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #64 (May 2011) Hal, John, Guy, Kyle and Kilowog resist Parallax's influence due to their past experience with it, but Kilowog is captured while the other four escape by removing their rings. With no other weapons available, the four Earth Lanterns use the rings of the other Corps to fight off Krona's forces, culminating in Guy using the rings of the Red Lantern Corps and the Star Sapphires simultaneously to remove Parallax from the battery.Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10 (May 2011) After Krona's defeat, Parallax escapes with the other entities and is left at large.Green Lantern (vol. 4) #67 (July 2011)
The New 52 In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, it is shown that Parallax is in the Yellow Central Power Battery, where the entity stays until he is released by Sinestro at the conclusion of the "Wrath of the First Lantern" story. To destroy the First Lantern Volthoom, Sinestro allows Parallax to possess him, but maintains control of his body. Their effort in defeating Volthoom, however, proves to be unsuccessful, with Volthoom only being defeated when Hal returns as a Black Lantern and summons Nekron to restore Volthoom's mortality. After Volthoom's defeat, Sinestro as Parallax proceeds to kill the Guardians of the Universe, sparing only Ganthet and Sayd. Sinestro then states his intention to travel far from Oa and release Parallax.Green Lantern (vol. 5) #20 (May 2013)
In the "Lights Out" story, the Entity reveals that all of the emotional entities are dying and must return to the place of their origin, except Parallax because it is currently entrapped.Green Lantern Corps #23 (August 2013) In the aftermath, it is revealed that Parallax is still bonded with Sinestro, who controls the entity.Sinestro #5 (August 2014) After the Green Lantern Corps is apparently dissolved, Sinestro releases Parallax within the core of Warworld's base, to try to prevent the destruction of the new headquarters of the Sinestro Corps.Sinestro #13 (July 2015)Sinestro #14 (August 2015)
DC Rebirth In 2016, DC Comics implemented a relaunch of its books called DC Rebirth, which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to The New 52. Parallax is being hosted by Sinestro again as he has plans to rule the universe with fear.Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #1 (July 2016) The power of Parallax is increased by Sinestro to one thousand percent of the power of fear to face Hal Jordan, who has returned as Green Lantern.Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #6 (October 2016) Before Sinestro attacks him, he discovers too late that his and Parallax's powers have decreased due to Soranik Natu rescuing people from being imprisoned and escaping with them. Hal then uses his energies as a living construct to incinerate the Fear Warlord. Sinestro tries to use Parallax's powers to stop Hal, but fails as Hal destroys the base of the Sinestro Corps, Warworld, seemingly killing both Sinestro and Parallax in the process.Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #7 (October 2016)