Parallax (character)

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.

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.

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 event, 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. 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. 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, his Qwardian yellow power ring taps into Parallax's power and awakens it.

Kyle Rayner and fellow Green Lanterns John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Hal Jordan, and Ganthet imprisoned 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'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. After the massacre of several Green Lanterns, Parallax leads an assault against Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner, and brings them to Qward. 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. 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.

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.