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Parallax is a powerful cosmic entity, which is fed by fear.

Early life[]

3.5 billion years ago, Parallax possessed one of the Guardians and then re-purposed the Manhunters, an army created by the Guardians to enforce their will and guard against all menaces, making them go rogue and using them as weapons of fear. When the Guardians created the Green Lantern Corps to fight the Manhunters, Parallax possessed the first human Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, turning him against the Corps, including making him kill two other prominent human Lanterns, Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner. Moreover in order to battle the Manhunters, the Guardians took extreme measures, as the rings powered by the emerald energy of will were not enough so they created the yellow rings, that are powered by fear. Unfortunately, the yellow light also drew something from the darkness, Parallax. As a result, the ensuing Parallax War nearly decimated the Corps leading the thousands of Lanterns who protected the universe, to just a dozen of Lanterns.

Season Eleven[]

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Parallax awakens the Manhunters.

In an unknown place in the galaxy, something detects the multiple Green Lanterns on sector 2814 and thus the terms of the agreement have been violated. A mysterious voice says that it was only a matter of time and then sends the Manhunters on Earth as a way to quell the resurgence and let them know the meaning of fear.

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Parallax faces the two Lanterns.

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Parallax sends his yellow rings to find new hosts.

Traveling to an unknown part of the galaxy, John Stewart still cannot believe what Salaak has told him, but suddenly he and Superman come face to face with Parallax. The entity says that he could feel Stewart's fear from miles away. The two Lanterns see that Parallax has imprisoned the presumed dead Guardians and feeds from them. Parallax says that they offered themselves to him as part of a trade, a treaty, their fear as eternal fuel for his hunger for the power they siphoned from his domain with the promise of never hunting him again. Clark tells Parallax that the terms of the treaty haven't been violated but Parallax says the Lanterns are gathering to destroy him, with Clark being the newest member of the Corps as the proof of it. Threatening Clark, Parallax says that the Guardians have lost their luster and the Manhunters have failed so he seeks to feed from the population of Earth. He starts vomiting yellow rings and sends them across the galaxy to find recruits for his own Corps.

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Parallax's rings arrive on Earth.

The yellow rings dispatched by Parallax enter Earth's atmosphere.

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Parallax has captured the two Lanterns.

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The two Lanterns try to prevent Parallax from attacking Earth.

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Parallax escapes and heads to Earth.

Parallax has captured Clark and John and says that his yellow rings have arrived on Earth by now and his "harvesters" will provide him with the fear of the humans, so he can feast on it. One of the imprisoned Guardians, Ganthet, communicates telepathically with the two Lanterns and informs them that the other Guardians are keeping Parallax distracted, so he can tell them that in order to defeat Parallax, they should find something the beast fears. He has more to say, but he's unfortunately cut off by Parallax, who promptly tears him in two. Clark says that Ganthet bought them some time by distracting Parallax and they need to fall back. They both create a cage around the asteroid Parallax resides, preventing him of leaving it. John then says that Clark must return to Earth to stop these yellow rings, because the more fear they generate the stronger Parallax will become but Clark doesn't want to leave him behind. John says that he doesn't have a choice and that he will buy Clark some time in order for him to get back on Earth, so Clark wishes John good luck and leaves but while he is leaving, Parallax manages to break though the cage he has been held in, ready to face John.

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Parallax encounters John Stewart.

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Parallax tries to lure John to give in to fear.

John Stewart engages in battle with Parallax while the entity continues to provoke him to give in to fear. Parallax taunts John about Hal Jordan's past deeds while under his control, like the deaths of two other human Green Lanterns, and says that he can bring them back. Moments before overtaking him, Parallax tells Stewart he's been deceived by the Guardians, that he should let all of that go and embrace his fear.

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Parallax has John under his control.

In Gotham, Superman, Batman and Nightwing battle the en-powered patients of Arkham but suddenly all the Yellow Lanterns stand still and kneel before him. Superman is surprised that the Lanterns surrendered so easily but he soon realizes that isn't the case. Parallax suddenly appears behind him, having John Stewart under his control.

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Parallax attacks Superman.

Superman tries to convince John Stewart, who is possessed by Parallax, that it's okay to experience fear, that it's not an emotion anyone should repress or ignore. Parallax, through John's body uses his yellow ring to create a manifestation of his true monstrous body to attack Superman and prevent him from making John take control. Superman's words about a soldier having the right to ask questions seem to have an impact on John, who briefly takes control of his body, but surprisingly Parallax gets back in charge and responds by impaling Superman with a sword constructed by his yellow ring.

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Parallax intends to take Superman's body.

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Parallax is ready to attack John.

Parallax leaves John's body intending to take over Superman's but he tells to his teammates to reset the rings. When they do the sword on Superman's chest disappears, he gets his strength back and all the Yellow Lanterns are released from the influence of fear and lose their powers with the rings turning black. Superman tells John, now he is free from Parallax, to get back up because they aren't done fighting yet.

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Parallax and the willpower entity battle.

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Superman banishes Parallax to his realm.

The depowered John Stewart distracts Parallax, who insists earth has enough fear to feed him forever. Stewart lures the cosmic entity into a junkyard and smashes the left side of its head with a wrecking ball. Parallax is about to counterattack but the real help comes when the other Green Lanterns arrive on the scene with the entity of willpower. The two entities begin to battle and with an assist from Superman, they banish Parallax to its realm, which was his greatest fear.

Powers and Abilities[]

Parallax is the physical embodiment of fear and draws his strength from those who are afraid.

  • Immortality - Parallax is over 3.5 billion years old.
  • Super Strength - Parallax is among the strongest beings in existence. His tentacles restrained both John Stewart and Superman at once with little effort.
  • Flight - Parallax flies through outer space at will.
  • Fear Siphoning - Parallax feeds on fear to sustain himself.
  • Possession - Parallax took possession of Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
  • Empathy - Parallax can feel another's fear.
  • Power Ring Creation - Parallax created his own fear-based power rings to create his own lantern corps.

In the Comics[]

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Parallax as he appears in the comics.

Following the complete destruction of his home town Coast City by the villain Mongul, Hal Jordan descends into madness, destroying the Green Lantern Corps, killing his friend Kilowog and all of the Guardians except for Ganthet. After this, Jordan assumed the name Parallax and became a supervillain. Parallax attempted to rewrite history in order to stop the destruction of Coast City by using chronal energy, pulled from the universe by the combined power of the rings of the Green Lantrens he had killed.

Later, in order too restore Hal Jordan to heroic status, DC retconned Parallax/Hal Jordan's attempt to recreate the universe as being motivated by an effort to resurrect the dead and bring peace to the Earth. Hal eventually sacrificed his life to reignite Earth's sun after it was nearly completely eaten. His soul not at peace, Hal then became the new Spectre to seek redemption for what he did as Parallax.

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Parallax possessing Hal Jordan.

The miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth, revealed that Parallax was actually a parasitic entity dating back to the dawn of time and born from the yellow of the emotional spectrum. The parasite was the sentient embodiment of fear, traveling from world to world and causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia. The Guardians of the Universe imprisoned Parallax within the Central Power Battery on Oa using fear's opposite energy, willpower, along with the aid of one of the fear's counterparts, Ion. Parallax had lain dormant for billions of years, its true nature hidden by the Guardians to prevent anyone from trying to free it. Being yellow in color, Parallax eventually came to be referred to as simply "the yellow impurity", a flaw, whose nature was kept secret from the Corps, that made their rings useless against the color yellow: Parallax weakened its power over the corresponding spectrum: hence, only someone with the willpower to overcome great fear could master the power ring. When the renegade Sinestro was later imprisoned in the Power Battery himself, his Qwardian yellow power ring tapped into Parallax's power and awakened it. Since Sinestro harbored hatred for Hal, Parallax chose Jordan as its tool to free itself. Parallax apparently spent years influencing Jordan, causing him to experience increasing self-doubt as well as causing his hair to prematurely whiten at the temples. Jordan's grief over the destruction of Coast City let Parallax influence his subsequent murderous activity, his apparent killing of Sinestro (actually a hard light construct) and his destruction of the Central Power Battery. Despite being possessed by Parallax, the positive aspect of Hal's personality would resurface occasionally, eventually leading the infected Jordan to use Parallax's powers to reignite the Sun. Subsequently Hal is finally freed from Parallax with the help of Kyle Rayner and the remaining Corps members and using their combined efforts, they manage to imprison the fear entity back into the Central Power Battery.

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Parallax possessing Kyle Rayner.

The Sinestro Corps captures Kyle Rayner with the intention of making him Parallax's new host. After taking over his body, Parallax clothes itself in a new uniform and returns to Qward with the Sinestro Corps. Parallax becomes a herald of the reborn Anti-Monitor alongside Hank Henshaw, Superman-Prime and Sinestro himself. After the massacre of several Green Lanterns, Parallax leads an assault against Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Guy Gardner and brings them to Qward. During the battle, Parallax murders Jack T. Chance after making him experience his repressed fear of his abusive family. During his possession by Parallax, Kyle witnesses everything that Parallax does. Kyle and Parallax confront each other in a room constructed by Kyle’s memories and Kyle changes into Ion, a similar entity that bestows its power to a host willingly and fights Parallax and later conjures a power ring and his original costume. After fighting Parallax for a while, Kyle stabs Parallax with a pencil and regains his self-worth. Later on Earth, Parallax is about to kill Hal’s brother and family when Hal confronts him just before his power ring runs out of power and then he tries to free Kyle. Parallax then absorbs Hal into himself: this twofold increase of his powers upon combining the strength of both of his hosts turns him his natural yellow color. Soon after, Guy comes to Parallax and along with Hal's aid, helps Kyle to fight Parallax from within and the two manage to escape from Parallax. Now in its original form, Parallax begins to attack Hal, Guy, John and Kyle. Ganthet and Sayd arrive and imprison Parallax within the Earth Lanterns' four Power Batteries. The effects of Parallax within the four Power Batteries has yet to be revealed.

In Blackest Night, the Black Lantern Spectre attempts to claim him. Believing that the Spectre fears Parallax, Hal Jordan has Ganthet summon the power batteries that currently held it. Once summoned, Hal allows Sinestro to release Parallax and once it's free, provokes it into merging with him. A resulting explosion of yellow light quickly fades and soon reveals that Parallax is in full control of Hal and eager to challenge the Spectre once more. Parallax tears into the Black Lantern Spectre's body, freeing the real Spectre and destroying the facsimile. Parallax then attempts to destroy the Spectre, who uses his own fear for it, to separate Parallax from its host. Parallax is then pulled away by an unknown force to an unknown location.

It is later revealed that the first creature in existence to feel fear had evolved into Parallax.

In Brightest Day, Parallax is revealed to have been transported to planet Ryut, where a cloaked villain trapped the fear entity in some kind of energy bubble and chained it to a monolith bearing the Sinestro Corps symbol. Later, when Hal Jordan, some of his allies try to find the emotional entities, they locate Parallax and the Flash becomes the latest host for the fear entity after it senses the hero's concerns for Jordan's safety. By inhabiting the living generator of the Speed Force, Parallax is even more powerful by combining the extradimensional energy the speedster creates with its own powers. Despite this, the embodiment of fear still desires Hal Jordan as its host as they fight. However, an intervention by the mystery villain prevents Parallax's attempts and reveals that Jordan now has the skills to resist it anyway. As the embodiment of compassion, Proselyte, began to free the Flash from Parallax's control by reigniting his emotion for compassion over his fear, the embodiment of hope, Adara, began fighting the cloaked villain, who reveals that all this is actually a ruse so that he could capture them all, revealing himself to be the renegade guardian Krona.

In War of the Green Lanterns, when Krona attacks Oa, he places Parallax inside the Central Power Battery, restoring the yellow impurity and giving him control over almost all Green Lanterns. Fortunately, Hal, John, Guy and Kyle are able to resist Parallax's influence due to their past experience with it and Guy uses the rings of the Red Lantern Corps and the Star Sapphires simultaneously to tear the Central Power Battery's shell away and remove Parallax. After Krona's defeat, Parallax escaped along with the other entities and is currently at large in the universe.

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Parallax possessing Sinestro.

In the New 52, it is shown that Parallax is in the Yellow Central Power Battery where the entity stays until he is released by Sinestro at the conclusion of the Wrath of the First Lantern story. In order to destroy the First Lantern Volthoom, Sinestro allows Parallax to possess his body. Contrary to previous hosts of Parallax, this time however, Sinestro is in control of the entity instead of the other way around. Their effort in defeating Volthoom however proves to be unsuccessful. After Volthoom is defeated by Hal Jordan and Nekron, Sinestro as Parallax proceeds to kill the Guardians of the Universe, sparing only Ganthet and Sayd in the process and releasing the Parallax entity back to its batttery.

Strangely, since then Sinestro has been seen wearing the same costume he wore as Parallax, it's unknown if he merely uses the outfit now or if he rebonded with the entity.

Trivia[]

  • Parallax is the main antagonist of Lantern.

Other faces of Parallax[]

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