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yellowocaballero · 1 year

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Feel free to ignore this ask but I would absolutely love to hear about your 4 season rework of green lantern

YOU'RE MY FAVORITE ANON YOU'RE MY FAVORITE ANON OF ALL TIME GO TO BED KNOWING I LOVE YOU MOST.

OK. This isn't all of it. This is season 1. But it's SUPER LONG, so I'm putting it under a cut. I have rewritten the Emerald Knight/Zero Hour thing and completely rewritten Kyle Rayner from scratch you are SO fucking welcome.

TL;DR:

Kyle is a furry wannabe Steven Universe storyboarder who trips and falls on a ring some weirdo green guy dropped on his head. Using the power of his influencer girlfriend, nerdy neurodivergency, and being an insane attention whore, Kyle becomes the world's first influencer superhero.

And in which we learn how justice isn't so just, that a peacekeeping institution without humanity is cruel, that social structures that give men absolute power and brainwash them with superiority complexes are recipes for mass shootings, and that an immigrant kid is the only person left who can tear down the idealized image of the American Dream and expose the rotten corruption within.

Emerald Knight

I'll phrase this as if you are a normal person who makes good use of your limited time on Earth and doesn't know anything about Green Lantern:

Hal Jordan is an All-American military test pilot, star member of the intergalactic police force The Green Lanterns, and a hero to Earth. He's had a long and illustrious career as a superhero, from founding the Justice League to serving as the star warrior of the Green Lanterns. Hal Jordan's the cornerstone of an institution. The institution known as peace. His ring can create anything and do anything, so long as he has the will. If he wants something bad enough, his ring can make it. The ring runs on an all-powerful battery that's powered by bravery, free will, and sheer focus.

Tragedy strikes. Hal Jordan loses a fight, to catastrophic consequences. His home Coast City, a city that's enjoyed his protection for over twenty years, is destroyed. Nuked. All that's left is a crater. Everyone Hal Jordan has ever known or loved - everybody he's ever fought for - is gone. He has failed everybody. His ring has failed him.

Hal approaches the Guardians of Oa, the leaders of the police force he's served. He asks them for help - if they can use their incredible power to remake Coast City and set things right again.

The Guardians say it's not their job. They fight crime, they don't rewind time. They aren't a humanitarian organization. Ask for other help.

Hal asks for other help. He asks every superhero he can find, every friend he's ever made - there's nothing anybody can do. Desperate, he returns to the crater of Coast City. He makes a wish. He wants something harder than he's ever wanted anything before: his home back.

For a minute, it works. Coast City is there again. They're alive. He's home.

Then his ring is shut off. A Guardian of Oa appears before him, a leader of the Green Lantern Corp and the head of their home planet and home base known as Oa. He's broken an essential rule of the Green Lantern Corp - that you never, ever use your ring selfishly, or for personal gain - and he's being brought back to Oa for a disciplinary hearing.

Even at his hearing, Hal asks for help. He tells the Guardians that he doesn't understand. They sit on the Green Lantern battery, the largest and most powerful energy source in the galaxy, why can't he use it to resurrect his town? It's not for you, the Guardians say, it's for everyone. But Hal worked for the police force for 20 years! He put his blood, sweat, and tears into the Corp. Doesn't he deserve something back? It's not about you, the Guardians say. It's about truth, justice, and harmony. Our obligation is to defeat evil. They're focused on the greater good, they can't sweat the smaller stuff. Their purpose is to fight evil, not create good.

For the last time, Hal asks them for access to the battery. They say no.

Hal snaps. His ring bursts. His power reflects his will - what he wants more than almost anything. And almost every Guardian is sliced in half.

He put 20 years into this organization and they threw him away. He fought for Truth, Justice, and Harmony and look where it got him - he lost everything. The greater good did nothing for him. The greater good did nothing for his town. The greater good is resurrecting his town. So if he does some smaller stuff it's justified, because he's going to act for the greater good of Earth and his people.

If they won't give it to him, he'll take it. He'll charge himself in the battery, attain full power, and serve the greater good. The entire Green Lantern Corp (GLC) tries to stop him, and he destroys their rings. He pushes them aside. More and more GLs are called in, and he defeats them all. He's the greatest of them, and what he wants he's going to get.

Hal's always had a best friend, named Kilowog. He was a corpman through and through. If Hal was their strongest warrior, Kilowog was their most dedicated. He believes in what they do. He's a very good person. Hal knows he is a better person than Hal ever was.

Kilowog gets through to him, just a little. This wouldn't just destroy the battery. It would hurt people. He's a warrior, he has to uphold their values. Even if the GLC has failed him, the people haven't. He makes Hal stop and think.

So Hal thinks. All the GLC has ever cared about is fighting evil, no matter the cost to themselves. But they have to be the evil ones. They aren't allowing Hal to create good. Evil has to be fought, cannot be tolerated, and nothing else matters as long as good is created. He can't tolerate it. He has an obligation not to tolerate it. He has to destroy the Green Lantern Corp.

His friends and his warriors - they chose to participate in this evil. They were warriors of the system that failed him, and he has to punish them too. You punish bad. Everybody's bad, because they hurt Hal and never healed him, and you punish bad.

Kilowog tries to stop him. Hal kills Kilowog. Hal stands over his friend's corpse, the best man he ever knew, and realizes that he's bad too.

He's done it. He's found the battery. He steps inside the battery and supercharges his ring. If he wants it bad enough, he can do it. And he wants it so, so -

But Hal's always known. The ring can do anything he wants, but it cannot ressurect the dead. He knew. But it was his only shot. And it was a failure. Evil is all that's left. Good is gone.

Hal blows up the battery. Oa, everybody on it, and himself.

Everything is destroyed. Every lantern on Oa dies and every deployed Lantern loses their ring. The records, history, system, home - everything once known as the GLC is wiped out. Only one ring remains - Kilowog's ring, the one thing Hal couldn't bear to destroy.

Miraculously, one Guardian clings to life. He follows Hal Jordan's trail, on the brink of death, searching for nothing but the next wielder of the ring. The rings choose the wielder, but this ring is grieving and can't search. There will be no chosen one, no special hero. Anybody will do. The GLC just has to survive.

The last Guardian of Oa lands in the back alley behind a nightclub. A human man is standing there, fighting the urge to throw up. He's a lightweight, but he really wanted to look cool in front of his girlfriend and win that drinking contest. When he sees the little blue man, he's pretty sure he's hallucinating.

"Are you, like, okay?" the man asks. He's mildly concerned.

The dying alien needs to tell the man everything. About the GLC, about how to keep it alive. What happened to them and how to avenge them. What a ring is, how to charge the ring, how to use it, anything.

But he spends his dying breath on something else completely:

"Help them."

The alien dies, and his body disapears. The man blinks at the empty alleyway, distantly aware that he just got Obi-Wan Kenobi'd.

"I should drink less," Kyle Rayner says, and goes back inside the nightclub.

KYLE RAYNER: WHO THE FUCK IS KYLE RAYNER?

Kyle Rayner is nobody.

Okay, that's a lie. Kyle Rayner is somebody to Kyle Rayner. And his girlfriend Alex. That's two people! He's practically popular!

Kyle immigrated from Korea to Los Angeles about a year ago. He's twenty three, permanently enthusiastic, and learned English through being SUPER overly online. He spends all of his time on Overwatch, MMOs, Twitter, and FurAffinity. His life is Hollywood, Triple AAA games, American comics, and Cartoon Network. He was kind of a big name in the Steven Universe fandom, not to brag. He worked as an animator in Korea (on his fifth favorite American show! No, he was not credited.), but the pay was complete shit and he was tired of doing the grunt work for somebody else's dream. Kyle's going to write his own comic book, show run his own cartoon. He's going to taste the limelight and experience complete Creative Freedom. Those are the two most important words in the world to him: Creative and Freedom.

America's where the action is. Why not move there? Kyle doesn't exactly have any friends or family in Korea. Nobody knows or loves him. It's Hollywood time, baby! He's making it big!

Kyle's creative, independent, a free thinker. He's also an obsessive and compulsive nerd. He'll draw for ten hours completely focused, and he can't be disturbed or distracted. His brain never stops churning out new ideas. He wants a million things, he knows just how to make them, and he has the focus and self-discipline to sit down and get to work.

This will make him the perfect Green Lantern. He doesn't know this. He's just completely sure it'll make him wildly successful in America!

What? No, he doesn't know much about superheroes. They aren't comic characters, why should he care. Didn't Superman save a town or something the other day? He doesn't watch the news. Anyway, Alex, check it out! This green Obi-Wan Kenobi dude gave me this fucked up ring! Isn't it cool, Alex! What is it?

ALEX DEWITT: WHO THE HELL IS ALEX DEWITT?

Alex Dewitt is somebody. Or she will be. Any day now.

Kyle's girlfriend as of a year, met at a ComicCon. L.A. B-list influencer. The worst kind of influencer. She does alright, enough to make a living. Her job involves being a hot woman posing on a beach. And a hot woman drinking a latte. And a hot woman promoting a brand of jewelery. And a hot woman on a boat. And -

She's tired of doing the grunt work of pretending to live somebody else's dream. Her only freedom is what sponsored dress to wear for the next shoot. She's a hot face in an attractive crowd and she hates it. There's no room for freedom of expression, no room for individuality. Every time she tries to talk about politics or justice or morality or truth or immigration policies on her Twitter she gets a thousand replies about how she can't know anything about it, get back to posting thirst traps.

Alex wants to do something nobody's ever dreamed of before. She'll get famous for her mind and her talent, not just her body. Alex will create something amazing. Any day now. She'll make it. Eventually.

Alex and Kyle haven't been dating for too long, but they love each other fiercely. Alex loves Kyle because he's free thinking and creative where she's linear and straight-forward. Kyle introduces a creative mindset to her art, and she introduces a business minded and hustler approach to his. She's not good with the big picture ideas and he's not good with the details. Kyle dreams it, Alex achieves it. Nobody on Discord believes Kyle when he says he's dating a model. They shouldn't. But he is. Kyle is also surprisingly hot.

Alex, who does watch the news: "Holy shit, that's a Green Lantern ring." Kyle: "It's not grave robbing if the alien guy gave me it and then died, right?" Alex: "Green Lantern's an American superhero! He helped found the Justice League! Nobody's seen him since his city's blown up, but -" Kyle: "Wait, that hole in the ground we took aesthetic pics in front of was a city?" Alex: "The aesthetic is a social commentary." Kyle: "Barely know what that is! So does this mean we can keep it or what?" Alex: "Depends on if you want superpowers or not." Kyle: "Highly photogenic superpowers? :D"

Should they find one of the other few human GLs and give it back? Probably. But hey, nobody's looking for it. This is LA, baby. It's finders keepers. And they just scored the find of a century. This is the big break they're looking for. This is their ticket to the big time.

This…is going to make Alex go ABSOLUTELY VIRAL.

GREEN LANTERN GOES VIRAL.

Turns out, when two attention whore Los Angeles twenty three year olds score the flashiest superpowers in existence, they get as many clicks as they want. As everybody knows in L.A.: if you want it hard enough, you can get it. #grindallday #hustlelife

Kyle is the first superhero with a TikTok. He's the first superhero with an everything. Being an influencer is being a businessman, and Alex has always known how to play the cut-throat game. She bills him as the first Gen Z Superhero and books him on everything. YouTube celeb videos, TikTok after TikTok where he makes 3D glowing green memes, charity Twitch livestreams, Instagram lives where he has his ring create suggestions from the comments. Kyle collabs with some of the biggest Korean influencers. He's gone international.

He also, like, fights supervillains. He's actually really good at fighting supervillains. His determined will, his absolute focus, his unbounded creativity - he's a genius of a Green Lantern. Kyle doesn't know this. He just thinks being a superhero is kind of easy. But do you know what's not easy? Building a website. With Squarespace, you can -

Alex has found a schtick. She has the unique billing. Who else can put "superhero girlfriend" on their Insta bio? She's an A lister in no time. She's created a dream life and it's flying off the shelves: who hasn't fantasized about being a superhero's girlfriend? Who hasn't wondered what that's like? If you click on her Insta, you can see that it's so totally awesome!

They don't have secret identities. They are incredibly irresponsible. But that was obvious.

Kyle is adored by the entire 12-25yo male demographic, but Alex is respected now (and adored by the 12-25yo female demographic). Nobody cared about the opinions of yet another L.A. B-list influencer. But a superhero girlfriend? Advocacy is practically her job. People are listening to her. Now people want to hear her opinion on everything, from immigration issues to enviornmentalism. She could probably start her own charity or something! She can #raiseawareness of anything!

She does not #raiseawareness of Hal Jordan. Nobody really knows where he is.

His friends knew he was going insane with grief, and the world knew he disapeared. The other Earth GLs (John Stewart and Guy Gardner) had their rings broken, and they both had to retire in grief for the loss of their superhero identities. And for Hal, who everybody is quietly sure killed himself.

And then.

THIS ASSHOLE.

Whose ring didn't break. Who came out of nowhere. Who's never even spoken with another superhero ("Uh, there's, like, Superman?" Kyle says, sweating. "And…Batman? Is Batman real? They were joking about Batman, right?"). Who his shamelessly exploiting the Green Lantern reputation and legacy for clicks and ad revenue. Whose influencer girlfriend is posting TikToks of them going out for romantic moonlit flighs. Who, infuriatingly, is excellent with that ring.

The Justice League didn't take action for a while. He probably wasn't even a real Green Lantern, just a copy riding off the image. Somebody from the GLC will come down and take care of it. And if he is a real GL, then they'll drag him back up to Oa by the ear for boot camp. But time passes, and nobody comes.

Guy and Kyle can't raise their old comrades in the Corp. They can't get in touch with Kilowog. Everybody's vanished. The only Green Lantern seemingly left in the galaxy is that fucking TikTok kid.

Finally, Guy and Kyle knock on Kyle and Alex's door. They tell them to come back with a warrant. Kyle's ring starts going nuts. They let them in. And, finally, after months, Kyle learns what the fuck the Green Lantern Corp is. John tells him that he has to use the ring as intended, or to give it to somebody who will. You're carrying a sacred duty and you're using it for clicks.

Kyle: Kyle: Kyle: Kyle: "I'M A FUCKING COP?"

Obviously, Kyle will not be a cop. But he does feel guilty, and he does know that the world needs an actual superhero. Not whatever the hell he is (he did save LA from a lava monster yesterday, though!). He tries to give John the ring back, but it won't work for him. Kyle's the only GL they have. They're kind of depending on him. Kyle hates this.

At the very least, he promises to travel to Oa and just see if anybody's alive over there. Kyle can tell that Hal Jordan was 10x the guy he was, and his friends deserve to learn the truth about what happened to him. And, maybe, the world can get a real Green Lantern back. Even if everybody and the kpoppies agree that the new guy is way better than the old guy, since he didn't shoot promotional videos for the US Military and isn't a bootlicker. And SPACE, BABY!

#GREENLANTERNINSPACE TRENDS

After a while of Space Adventures (Kyle takes a wrong turn at Space Albuquerque and ends up teaching Lobo what hentai is (Kyle is now Lobo's hentai dealer)), Kyle finally shows up at Oa. Time to finally figure out this mystery, ask all the cop motherfuckers what's going on, and - OK, worng coordinates. Where's Oa. Anybody? Anyone?

As Kyle floats in the atoms of a destroyed planet - as Kyle still feels the ghost of its heat - his ring speaks to him, for the very first time. The ring spoke to Hal and Guy and John, but it never spoke to him. And it speaks with Kilowog's voice.

The ring acts as a black box recording of Kilowog's final moments. It tells Kyle that he deserves to learn the truth. Kilowog was such a brave person that his personality must have imprinted into the ring matrix - or maybe it's like a dog that really loved its person.

It shows Kyle the final moments of Oa, just as Kilowog experienced it. It shows Kyle how it felt to have his best friend murder him, to see his life's work destroyed. It shows Kyle everything - Kilowog's passion for the GLC, his life as a warrior, his history and friendship with Hal. Kilowog's entire life, and how amazing it was. And what Kyle feels most of all was his dedication and spirit, and how deeply he believed in right and wrong. And how Hal killed him, and how Hal killed them all.

Kyle, having secondhand experienced a tragedy, goes HOLY SHIT. MURDER? BEST FRIEND MURDERED ME? I MEAN KILOWOG? DEATH?

Kyle knows he has to tell people about this. That the world has to know that their platonic ideal of a superhero, the best Lantern in the Corp, a founding member of the justice League, a superhero of 20+ years - they have to know that he murdered his best friend and destroyed the GLC, killing thousands.

And that Kyle, the immigrant Korean twenty three year old TikTok influencer slash Twitch livestreamer has to be the one to tell them.

Nobody will believe him. Kyle knows that. Who the hell would believe an all-American hero did this? Even if they did believe him, it could destabilize the entire superhero community. Maybe even America. What would they think about him? They'd call him a liar. Is the truth worth putting his own image in danger, hurting his grieving friends?

It would mean speaking up against the corruption and atrocity at the heart of an institution that is load bearing on society and civilization. It would involve tearing down the ideal image of an American, the American hopes and dreams that he used to believe in, and exposure the ugly and cruel reality of a cruel institution that drove a man insane.

Kyle knows everybody would turn on him. Nobody would believe him. Hal was influential, he literally helped found the Justice League. If Kyle writes that callout post, he'll get cancelled big time.

Kyle's goofy, but he's not dumb. He's lived in America for one and a half years. He has nobody on his side but Alex. He can have all of the followers he wants, but they'd turn on him in an instant. The internet, the public, the government, the Justice League. They'd all turn on him.

Kyle gets scared. He can't do it. The ring has a suggestion.

Ring: "Maybe the truth'll mean more coming from a real GL, kid! :D" Kyle: "Great idea Mr. Kilowog Ring! Where do we find this guy?" Ring: "I'm just a ring buddy :D" Kyle: "Useless :D"

But it's the best idea he has. There has to be satellite outposts, Jedi Temples, surviving rings - there has to be somebody who actually knows what they're doing, who's a real warrior. They can tell the truth. He just has to take a life-changing field trip to find them.

Kyle, calling space long distance home to Alex: "Hi honey! Having a weird one in space right now!" Alex: "Be weirder if you were having a normal one in space. Are you going to be home soon, I finally scored you that collab with BTS" Kyle: "FUCK" Kyle: "Alex please reschedule the collab with BTS I have to have an existential crisis slash mental breakdown and run away into space and chase down evidence of an intergalactic conspiracy" Alex: "Can't you do that after BTS" Kyle: "I WISH I COULD ALEX"

Somebody in the galaxy can tell the world the truth. Kyle just has to find them.

#green lantern #kyle rayner #hal jordan #guy gardner #john stewart #my writing #you ever go insane in your sibling's DMs for like two hours #and then look at it and know that this is the coolest thing you will never write #anyway there are still seasons 2-4 but jesus this post was long enough #i read kyle's introduction TPB went 'hm you know how this could be better' and improved everyone's lives #thank u anon i got so much shit like this that i feel like an idiot for just dropping

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