Abin Sur

Abin Sur is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was a member of the Green Lantern Corps and is best known as the predecessor of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, whom Abin Sur's power ring chose as his replacement. After the Infinite Crisis events, details of Abin Sur's past are altered, and he was revealed to be a brother-in-law of Sinestro and uncle of his daughter Soranik Natu.

Abin Sur has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily in association with Green Lantern. Peter Mark Richman, Corey Burton, and Arnold Vosloo have voiced the character in animated television series and films. Furthermore, Temuera Morrison portrays Sur in Green Lantern (2011).

Abin Sur first appeared in Showcase #22 and was created by John Broome and Gil Kane.

Originally a history professor on the planet Ungara, Abin Sur is appointed Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814 in the mid-1860s. As a child, he became best friends with Ruch Ehr and later, by association, Munni Jah. The two were a couple and Abin secretly loved Munni, but never spoke openly of this.

While on patrol, Abin is attacked and pursued by the being known as Legion. Badly injured and with his spaceship seriously damaged, he makes an emergency landing on the nearest habitable planet (Earth). Due to his injuries, Sur was aware that his death was inevitable and he uses his ring to search for a successor, a man without fear. The first possibility was Clark Kent. Since he was not native to Earth, he is not chosen. The next candidates were Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. As Hal was closer, the ring chooses him as the most suitable replacement and brings him to Abin, who gives him the ring before dying.

It is later revealed that part of Abin's soul is being tortured in Hell, with another part accompanying Hal Jordan during his time as the Spectre. Eventually, he frees his soul from Hell and assists Hal on several spiritual adventures and metaphysical dilemmas. Abin's friends, Ruch Ehr and Munni Jah, later summon his spirit to undergo the Karamm-Jeev Descent, a process of reincarnation in which he will be reborn as their daughter Lagzia. Abin is initially hesitant, as the Descent will destroy his current self. However, he relents after meeting the spirit of Lagzia, who exists alongside his past and future incarnations.

During some point in his life, Abin had a son, Amon Sur, who became the leader of the Black Circle crime syndicate. Amon is angry at his father for abandoning him for the Corps, and decides to take his anger out on all Green Lanterns. Amon later receives a duplicate of Sinestro's ring and joins the Sinestro Corps.

During Sinestro Corps War, it is revealed that Abin discovered a prophecy concerning the multiverse, the power of the emotional spectrum, and the Blackest Night prior to his death. Green Lantern: Secret Origin reveals details of Abin's quest to learn more about the Blackest Night as he interrogated the Five Inversions on Ysmault, who had foreseen the prophecy. He learns that Earth is the birthplace of the Black: the antithesis of the emotional spectrum that the prophecy predicts will "consume all light and all life." He discovers that the prophecy foretells his own death, when his ring fails him in his time of greatest need. He subsequently journeys to learn more about the Blackest Night and stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. During his quest, Abin begins to lose his faith in his willpower and his ring, and begins to feel fear. Abin's weakened power enables his prisoner Atrocitus to break free and attack him, causing his ship to crash on Earth. Abin is mortally wounded in the crash, leading his ring to choose Hal Jordan as his successor. Only two Guardians, Ganthet and Sayd, as well as a Zamaron tribe, take Abin's discovery of the prophecy seriously.