Supervillain Origins: Sinestro

Supervillain Origins: Sinestro

He is the intergalactic nemesis of the Green Lantern, and is fueled by the yellow flame of fear. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origins of Sinestro.

As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginings and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline, which unfolded in the 1960s Green Lantern comic book series, Emerald Dawn, and the Secret Origins of Super Villains.

Thaal Sinestro was born on the planet Korugar, and was once an anthropologist. However, one eventful day an alien ship crash-landed in the ruins that he was restoring. It was at this point that he encountered a Green Lantern named Prohl Gosgotha, one of the protectors of the cosmos.

Injured and under attack, the alien lent Sinestro his power ring. Successfully fighting off the deadly foe, Sinestro was asked to return the all-purpose tool so that the alien could heal himself. However, Sinestro refused and watched the alien die a slow and painful death.

Taking his place, Sinestro was unsuspectingly charged with protecting sector 1417 of the universe by the Guardians, a race of immortals who had forged the Green Lantern Corps to protect all life from the forces of evil.

Over time he became the greatest member of the Green Lantern Corps to ever to wield a power ring. However, he had become fixated on creating and maintaining his own twisted sense of order. Due to this, he secretly conquered his home planet and ruled its citizens with an Iron fist.

Keeping this information hidden from the Green Lantern Corps, he continued to operate as one of their top-level members, and was asked to train new recruits. The most notable of these was Hal Jordan, who had taken over the ring of Abin Sur.

From the beginning Sinestro had little tolerance for his pupil and his tactics. While Hal considered all life sacred, including Earth’s criminals, Sinestro craved wiping them from existence.

Not long after completing Hal’s basic training, Sinestro decided to venture back to his homeworld to oversee his dominion. Unexpectedly, he was commanded to take his apprentice with him.

Once on Korugar, Sinestro’s shocking secret was revealed and Hal was caught siding with its inhabitants against their merciless dictator.

Working with the planet’s population, Hal and Sinestro engaged in fierce combat, resulting in the dictator’s defeat by his slaves and his latest student.

Humiliated and enraged, Sinestro fled for Earth to exact vengeance on its population. However, he was captured by the Guardians, who brought him back to the Lantern homeworld of Oa to be put on trial for his crimes. Finding Sinestro guilty, they stripped him of his ring and banished to the anti-matter Universe of Quard.

There he planned his revenge. To accomplish this, he enlisted the help of other criminals and forged a new yellow power ring. Fueled by fear, rather then hope, it could overpower his old comrades.

Escaping, he single-handedly launched attacks on the Corps and overpowered them. However, Hal was able to defeat Sinestro with every attempt due to his immense personal willpower.

In 2011, Sinestro made his first major film appearance in The Green Lantern as the mentor of Hal Jordan in his first adventure to save the universe.