Since the announcement, fans have clamored at the possibilities of the new DCU baddies that could be introduced in HBO’s Lanterns, with the Green Lantern mythos having quite a wide array of unique foes. Many instantly jumped to Sinestro, Black Hand, and even Atrocitus, which is crazy to think of when all we had to go off of was that the series would follow a murder in the American heartland. Comments and clues from the first two episodes may hint at who’s really pulling the strings behind the scenes, and it may actually be one of those guesses, or all of them?
Who Are the Five Inversions in DC Comics?
In Episode 2 of Lanterns, we learned that Manhunters are afoot in Rushville, well, at least one. Manhunters are the root cause of the Inversions; years ago, bringing their twisted sense of justice to Sector 666. A programming manipulation caused by the rogue Guardian of the Universe, Krona, led the Manhunters on a bloody rampage that caused a massive genocide in the sector, leaving only five survivors.
Those survivors being Qull, Roixeaume, Dal-Xauix, Orphram, and Atrocitus, would become known as the Five Inversions.
What Is the Empire of Tears?
The Inversions would form the Empire of Tears, an army comprised of magic-wielding demons. This was at a time when magic was ever-present throughout the galaxy, a time that would come to an end when the Guardians decided to rid the cosmos of sorcery and instead pursue a dominance of science.
After being defeated by the Guardians, the Inversions remained imprisoned on the planet Ysmault, which became restricted to anyone, even Lanterns. That was until Green Lantern Abin Sur ended up there.
Atrocitus and the Inversions would go on to become the first members of the Red Lantern Corps.
What Did the Five Inversions Tell Abin Sur?
On a routine sweep, Abin was in pursuit of an Ungaran ship that crashed on Ysmault’s surface. There he finds Qull, crucified and offering three free questions, anything Abin could want to know. Through his interactions with the Inversions, he learns of a great dark prophecy and whispers of his own demise, with Qull revealing that in a time of great need, Abin’s ring would fail him and he would die. Abin would become obsessed with his fate, to the point that he rejected all flight and travel with his ring, opting for a spacecraft instead.
The dark prophecy Abin would learn of was the Blackest Night, and that Earth was the birthplace of the Black, the opposite and antithesis to the emotional spectrum and that would consume all life. Abin would frequently journey to the planet for more answers, until the group’s leader, Atrocitus, forbade any more talk of the prophecy to Abin.
All of this information and panic would lead to Abin’s willpower deteriorating, significantly weakening him. This great moment of need would come while transporting Atrocitus to Earth, with Sur taking him from Ysmault and allowing himself to be overpowered by the red demon, causing their fall to Earth. This attack would claim Abin’s life, leading to Hal obtaining his power ring and becoming the Green Lantern.
How Does Atrocitus Connect to Black Hand?
Once freed and on Earth, Atrocitus used a blood magic ritual, reciting the oath that would become the creed of the Red Lanterns and uncovered the name of the herald of the Blackest Night. He used pieces of a gun to construct a cosmic divining rod that would lead him right to Hand and eventually become the weapon he uses to drain Lanterns’ rings of their energy. Atrocitus was defeated by both Sinestro and his fledgling Lantern, Hal. The red demon would be taken back to Ysmault, where he and the Inversions would tempt Sinestro with his own prophecy. Unfortunately, for them, Sinestro is a much harder cookie to crack than Abin was.
During production on Lanterns, many fan theories and rumors spoke of Black Hand potentially being the big bad here. It was Garrett Dillahunt’s casting as William Macon in Lanterns that caused the ears of many fans to perk up in relation to William Hand, the human alter ego of Hand. We don’t know much about Macon yet, but we do know that he’s up to nothing normal.
Are the Five Inversions Really Behind What’s Happening in Rushville?
What do we know so far in Lanterns? We know that some of these details between the comics and the episodes we’ve seen so far seem to line up. We know that Abin Sur’s crash and the location of that crash are important details to the plot, and what caused that crash may still be a mystery. We know that Hal’s current working theory is that Abin brought a Manhunter with him to Earth and that they believe that Manhunter was responsible for his death, but was it? Was it even actually a Manhunter?
I don’t doubt that there is a Manhunter in this show, somewhere, but I do doubt that they are the true antagonist here. I know that we have an insurgency of extraterrestrials in and around Rushville that fear the Manhunters for the very same reasons that the Inversions do: that they too are victims of their conquest of “justice” that left their populations bare.
We know that these aliens are here for vengeance, literally from their own mouths. At the tail end of episode 1, during Hal’s scuffle with Waylon, the arrested suspect from the shooting. Hal asks what the hell they’re even doing on earth and confirms its for “vengeance.”
Is John Stewart Going to Ysmault in ‘Lanterns’?
Some other potential clues come from the Lanterns trailers, with both featuring sequences set on a presumably alien planet, with what looks to be John Stewart and the Halogram present on said planet. Another key detail is how desolate it is, and that it’s littered with bones. Of course it’s a large galaxy, and there are thousands of planets they could be on, but this one just seems to line up very nicely.
We can presume this isn’t set in 2026 Rushville because it’s not winter, and also because there’s this giant, wrecked spacecraft lingering in the air. The skull picked up in the trailer also doesn’t seem to be human. That isn’t a direct way of assuming this isn’t Earth, as we know plenty of aliens are on Earth, but what seems to be further proof that this is an alien planet is its look, devoid of life and totally barren. Could John himself be venturing to Ysmault himself to speak with Qull?
A prior mention of a growing Insurgency on Earth is another pretty big clue. These aliens, led by Antaan, have come to the planet in search of the Manhunter that exterminated their people. Antaan claims that a Green Lantern apprehended the android and gave them their word that it would be executed. These aliens quite literally paint a picture for John of just how vicious and cruel the Manhunters were towards their people. The Empire of Tears were wiped out millions of years ago, but there’s always a chance these are remnants, or just other victims of the Manhunter purge.
Check out some of our other coverage of Lanterns and make sure you’re following along week-to-week to stay in the loop with reviews, recaps, and features. Check out the trailer for Lanterns below!
