Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)

Guy Gardner is an arrogant, selfish, egotistical, and childish human being who, from growing up in an abusive household, has clawed his way to the station of being one of the premier Green Lanterns in the corps' history.

Always spoiling for a fight, Gardner's heart is set on what is morally right, although his ego may sometimes cause grief amongst the hero community.

Background
Guy was raised in Baltimore by his parents. his father was an abusive alcoholic who beat Guy repeatedly. Guy worked hard in school to try to win his father's approval, but he instead lavished attention and compliments upon Guy's older brother, Mace. Guy's only escape at this time was General Glory comic books, going so far as to model his bowl haircut on Glory's sidekick, Ernie.

During his mid-teens, Guy became a juvenile delinquent. He was straightened out by his brother, now a police officer, and he eventually went to college, supporting himself, and earning bachelor's degrees in education and psychology from the University of Michigan, where he also played football until a career-ending injury.

After college, Guy worked as a social welfare caseworker, dealing with prison inmates and their rehabilitation. He abandoned this line of work, however, fearing it brought out his aggressive nature. Moving on, he became a teacher for children with disabilities.

When Abin Sur died, his power ring sought and found two potential successors: Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan. Jordan was nearer to the crash, so he was chosen over Gardner. Gardner was relegated to backup status should anything happen to Jordan.

When Jordan became aware of Gardner's status as his backup, he went out of his way to set up a chance meeting, and the two became friends.

Following a series of incidents that left Gardner in a coma, Gardner's brain damage manifested itself in the form of an arrogant, violent, unstable, and often childish new personality. Gardner believed himself to be the last "true" Green Lantern, superior to all the others, particularly Jordan.

After the defeat and death of the "Mad Guardian" the Guardians returned and assigned Gardner to be the official Green Lantern of Sector 2814 while Jordan was assigned to recruit new Corps members.

Gardner became a founding member of the Justice League International after the original JLA disbanded. In his time with the JLI, Gardner resented Batman's leadership of the group, going so far as to challenge the Dark Knight to a fist fight, which he lost. Guy's run in JLI was full of constant personality shifts and endless arguing between team members. This led to a fight with Lobo, the sucker-punching of Blue Beetle during a boxing match, and finally him quitting the team after being "belittled" by Superman.

After completing his assignment of recruiting new Corps members, Jordan returned to Earth to reclaim his title as Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Gardner's response was to challenge Jordan to a fight where the loser would quit the Corps. Gardner lost and surrendered his ring. After some failed run-ins with Goldface and Black Hand as a non-powered vigilante, he set out on a quest to regain his power and identity. He travelled to Oa where he found Sinestro's yellow power ring in Oa's "Crypt of the Green Lantern Corps".

Gardner then returned to Earth to pick a fight with Superman but eventually rejoined the league and helped battle the monster Doomsday.

When Hal Jordan, under the influence of Parallax, destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, Ganthet first came to Guy Gardner to offer him the last Green Lantern power ring. When Gardner refused, Ganthet decided to entrust it to Kyle Rayner.

Guy Gardner then led a group of heroes to Oa to find out what had happened to the corps. In battling Parallax, Guy Gardner's ring is destroyed and he was forced to find an alternate means to acquire power. On an expedition to the Amazon, Gardner found a chalice of the Warrior Water. He discovered new powers that would allow him to resume his role as a superhero, and also established a superhero theme bar called "Warriors", as both a source of income and a base between his adventures.

Gardner's Vuldarian DNA is overwritten by his human DNA when Hal Jordan returns from death and Parallax possesses Gardner and several Green Lanterns. Hal Jordan's ring splits in two and Gardner's ring is restored to him. Eventually, Parallax is defeated by the combined effort of all five active Green Lanterns. The Guardians assign Gardner to be one of the Corps' three main instructors, along with Kilowog and Kyle Rayner.

Gardner plays a significant role in defeating the Spider Guild attack on Oa and his performance in repelling the attack results in his promotion to Lantern #1 of the Green Lantern Honor Guard, a position of authority over other Lanterns.

Combat Statistics

 * Guy Gardner (Oan Sciencells)

Trivia

 * Guy Gardner first appeared in Green Lantern #59 (March 1968).
 * Guy Gardner is voiced by Joey Hood.
 * Guy Gardner was not named after the NASA astronaut, but after fan and writer.