Green Lantern Hal Jordan combined his powers with Swamp Thing’s to defeat a threat that original Green Lantern Alan Scott could handle on his own.
Warning! Contains spoilers for Swamp Thing #14
In the DC Universe, Green Lantern is more of a job rather than a specific name to one superhero. And as it turns out, the original Green Lantern Alan Scott is actually more powerful than the more well-known modern Green Lantern Hal Jordan.
Alan Scott was the original Green Lantern during the Golden Age of Comics, having ben introduced in 1940. During the crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the era that Alan Scott was a part of eventually was designated Earth 2, as opposed to Earth 1 where the Green Lantern Hal Jordan resided. Earth 2 was actually rebooted during DC’s New 52 era, with a version of Alan Scott who was slightly different, having been granted his Green Lantern abilities not from aliens in space but rather by becoming an avatar of the Earth itself.
In Swamp Thing #14 by Ram V and Mike Perkins, Green Lantern Hal Jordan makes an appearance when a plant-like threat from space emerges and Swamp Thing must stop it from invading Earth. Swamp Thing is unsuccessful, but Hal Jordan grants him some of his Green Lantern abilities to become empowered. It’s unclear exactly what sort of extra Green Lantern powers Swamp Thing now has, but it appears as if he’s resurrected with the Green Lantern logo glowing on his chest. The combined powers of Green Lantern and Swamp Thing are enough to fend off the threat, but it’s likely Alan Scott would have been able to do this on his own.
Although Alan Scott does not appear in the issue, he has a weird connection to Swamp Thing and the Earth because of the source of his powers. On Earth 2, because Alan Scott is granted his abilities from the Earth, he is actually that planet’s avatar of the Green, an elemental force connected to the planet’s plant life. In the main DC Universe, Swamp Thing serves as the Green’s avatar. Alan even uses the Green to battle Solomon Grundy, who is Earth 2’s avatar of the Rot (another force that acts in opposition to the Green). Because of the nature of Alan Scott’s powers he actually has a connection to the planet itself, which Hal Jordan does not. And so he is better equipped to deal with threats in this arena rather than outsourcing the problem to someone like Swamp Thing.
If this plant like-threat from space came to threaten Earth 2 then Alan Scott, with his connection to the Green, can simply take it on himself. He would not need to call upon someone like Swamp Thing to face the foe. This shows that despite being immensely powerful and being able to take on all sorts of galactic foes, Alan Scott is a much stronger protector of Earth because Green Lantern Hal Jordan simply doesn’t have that same connection to the planet.
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