10 Problems No One Wants To Admit About Green Lantern
6. Kyle Rayner Should've Been The Main Lantern For Longer
DC Comics
If you stumbled across an obnoxious 'Only Nineties Kids Will Remember' quiz, and that quiz just so happened to feature a GL segment, there's a strong chance Kyle Rayner would be on there.
Introduced in the very same story-arc that was meant to spell Hal Jordan's end, Kyle was a hero unlike most seen in the DCU. For starters he was an artist - not a soldier, businessman or reporter - and for a hero that draws their power from imagination and creativity, that is genius. He was also half-latino, and his experiences living and working in the west coast would go on to form the kind of Lantern he'd go on to be known as in the years to come.
Next to Hal, Kyle is probably DC's longest-serving 'main' Lantern. He took on the identity in the early nineties and was only displaced in 2005 with Rebirth. That's a full decade as DC's frontline GL - longer than either Guy or John had the honour - but here's the thing... it should've lasted longer.
Rayner is an interesting case because he's constantly seen as the most powerful Lantern in the biz. He was literally Ion, and wielded the power of the White Lanterns thereafter. And yet, despite his perceived power, he's not been at the forefront of the Lanterns for what seems like ages.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
