Blackest Night
The Blackest Night is an event that features in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
The Blackest Night
The black power rings began a grim journey across the cosmos seeking out the deceased. On Earth, the primary action centered on the emotional toll and physical attacks these reanimated corpses inflicted upon the living heroes. In Gotham City, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Barry Allen (The Flash), both of whom had returned from the dead themselves, met at the graves of fallen heroes, reflecting on the nature of death and resurrection. Black Hand was shown digging up Batman's skull from his grave, using it as a conduit for the Black Lantern Central Power Battery on the planet Ryut. Simultaneously, in St. Roch, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, locked in a moment of emotional vulnerability, were brutally murdered by the Black Lantern versions of the Elongated Man and Sue Dibny. Ralph Dibny ripped out Hawkman's beating heart, and Sue took Hawkgirl's, with their rings absorbing the hearts and gaining power for the Black Lantern Corps. The issue ended with the widespread emergence of Black Lanterns as countless black rings descended upon the graves of fallen heroes and villains across the universe, commanding the dead to rise and harvest the hearts of the living, setting the stage for the massive conflict to come. (Blackest Night v1 #1)
The newly formed Black Lantern Corps began a widespread assault focusing on emotional manipulation and the physical collection of hearts to fuel their central battery. In this time, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen struggled to combat the reanimated bodies of their friends and foes. The two heroes were still in Gotham, where they had to fight the Black Lantern Martian Manhunter, with the battle ultimately leading to a chemical plant explosion that temporarily incapacitated J'onn's corpse. Despite their efforts, J'onn's body survived the blast and was soon joined by other deceased heroes, including Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, and Firestorm, who began forming their own ghastly 'Justice League'. Elsewhere, in Atlantis, Arthur Curry (Aquaman) rose from his desecrated grave as a Black Lantern, leading to a brutal confrontation with Mera and other Atlanteans, where the Black Lanterns used sharks to tear down their foes. A seemingly omnipotent entity, the Spectre, was also taken out of commission after a black ring attached to his host, Crispus Allen, transforming him into a Black Lantern, which Black Hand observed with satisfaction. Though it was discovered that the Black Lantern Batman was a fake, the black rings were spreading to countless other graves, ensuring the war for the emotional spectrum had only just begun. (Blackest Night v1 #2)
Overview
Participants
- Nekron :
- Black Hand :
- Hal Jordan :
- Sinestro :
- Carol Ferris :
- Indigo-1:
- Atrocitus :
- Larfleeze :
- Martian Manhunter :
- Aquaman :
- Deathstorm :
- Ralph Dibny :
- Doctor Light :
- Life Entity :
Notes
- The Blackest Night event was created by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis where it made its first appearance in Blackest Night v1 #0 (June, 2009).
- However, the concept of the Blackest Night was first established by Alan Moore.
Alternate Versions
- In Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night v1 #1 (2020), an alternate version of the Blackest Night was shown to exist in a Dark Multiverse reality that existed within the wider Multiverse. In this world, the point of divergence came as the result of Sinestro attempt to become the White Lantern. Unlike the main universe's narrative, where he shared the power, this version of Sinestro selfishly tried to harness the vast energy of the Life Entity alone. He was unable to control it, leading to the failure to stop Nekron, who subsequently killed the Entity and resurrected all the remaining Lantern leaders as his powerful Black Lantern servants. The Black Lanterns achieved complete victory, consuming the universe and leaving Earth a dead world. The story picked up 23 days after this apocalypse, establishing a bleak new status quo where only a few individuals remained immune to the "Blackest Night virus." These survivors included Sinestro himself, now a tortured Limbo Lantern fused with both white and black energy and unable to die; Dove, an avatar of peace whose nature protected her; Lobo, due to his unique healing factor; and Mister Miracle. The initial setup culminated in the three men finding each other and formulating a desperate plan to use Dove's inherent life energy to reach the Source Wall and attempt to reset the universe, giving existence one final chance against the now-dominant Black Lantern forces led by a corrupted Darkseid. After gathering at the last semblance of a safe haven, the ragtag team of Sinestro, Lobo, Mister Miracle, and Dove enacted their desperate gambit to save the universe. Mister Miracle, leveraging his expertise with the Source Wall and Boom Tubes, devised a plan to channel Dove's pure life energy through a conduit to the wall itself, hoping to trigger a cosmic reset and avert the Blackest Night. Their journey took them through the dead cosmos, constantly evading Black Lanterns, including their most prominent foe, the corrupted Darkseid, who had become Nekron's primary agent. Upon reaching the Source Wall, as Mister Miracle prepared to execute the plan, Darkseid confronted them and revealed a horrifying truth: the process of resetting the universe would erase Barda, Mister Miracle's beloved wife, from existence, as she was already deceased and a Black Lantern. Horrified by the thought of losing Barda forever, Mister Miracle, in a moment of tragic desperation, killed Dove to stop the procedure. Enraged at the death of the only pure thing left in the universe, Lobo immediately killed Mister Miracle in a fit of retribution. With all hope seemingly lost, Sinestro, the "Limbo Lantern" trapped between life and death, seized the initiative. He channeled the remaining white life energy through Lobo, the last remaining life force, but this did not reset the universe; instead, it created a new, twisted form of "life" in Lobo's image, focused on destruction and chaos. The Dark Multiverse reality ended with Sinestro trapped in this new, violent existence, fighting to escape while higher cosmic entities ensured he remained contained, unable to contaminate other realities with his twisted failure.
In other media
Video games
Appearances
- Blackest Night v1: (2009)
External Links
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