Kyle Rayner

Green Lantern is an intergalatic police officer, recently come back to Earth after moving to Oa, where he was promoted to Honor Guard (alongside Guy Gardner). He is a member of the Justice League, The Green Lantern Corps, and known as a friend to the Titans.

Kyle Rayner is a freelance graphic artist that is known for his work on the comic The Cannoneer. He also hires himself out for any kind of illustration work that might be needed. He is nice and professional, quick to smile and share a joke.

Background
Kyle Rayner was born to Gabriel Vasquez and Maura Rayner. Ky'le's father is a Mexican-American CIA agent who sometimes went by multiple alias during his work. When Gabriel's deep cover work threatened his wife and infant son, he was forced to sever all ties with them. He consipred with his wife in fabricating a domestic violence incident to explain their sudden separation. It was because of this that Kyle grew up without a father and it also forced his mother and he into a moderate lifestyle because of their finances.

Before he acquired a Green Lantern power ring, Kyle Rayner was a struggling, but gifted freelance graphic artist who was raised in North Hollywood and lived in Los Angeles, California. After Hal Jordan, who was grief stricken over the destruction of his hometown, went on a rampage, killing various members of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe, Kyle was chosen by the last Guardian Ganthet. Kyle was given the last working Green Lantern power ring that would allow him to conjure any form of matter or energy through sheer force of will. Ganthet's reasons for choosing Kyle were unknown, he simply explained the situation to him, gave him the ring, and then commented, 'You will have to do.' It would later be found out that Kyle was not chosen because he was fearless, but because he was able to feel and overcome fear, which made him less susceptible to Parallax's influence.

At first Kyle took posession of the ring very lightly. His girlfiend at the time, Alexandra DeWitt, encouraged him to be more responsible, create his own version of the Green Lantern uniform, and helped him train for his new role as a superhero. Alexandra would later be murdered and stuffed in a refrigerator by the supervillian Major Force. Kyle's guilt over this even drove him to take his role more seriously and as a result he strove to be the best Green Lantern he could be.

Kyle grew up enamoured with Superman and Batman, though he only had a passing knowlege of Earth's green lanterns before him. This soon changed and he found that the ring was the ultimate expression of his imagination. While in battle, he often uses the ring's power to create constructs of just about anything his artistic mind could imagine. Other superheroes, anime characters, mechas, futuristic weapons, and even characters from his own comic book. Some of the other Lanterns questioned the practicality of those constructs, but they often made Rayner an unpredictable and formidable opponent.

After relocating to New York City, Rayner joined the Titans, but later on became a member of the Justice League. He initally clashed with Wally West (Flash) early in his career. West had worked with Jordan since childhood and had reservations about Kyle as the new Green Lantern, but he eventually became one of Rayner's best friends and biggest supporters. Surprisingly, another one of Kyle's biggest supporters was Batman, who often treated him with more respect than he showed certain other League members, including his predecessors. This was most likely due to the fact that Kyle was willing to learn from others where other Lanters focused on their rings and re-existing skills. Rayner also formed friendships with Green Arrow, Arsenal, Guy Gardner, and John Stewart.

Some time later, it was discovered that a cosmic entity named Oblivion was coming to Earth after he attacked the planet Rann. This shocked Kyle because the villian was strikingly identical to the character of a story Rayner made when he was seven, during his period of struggling with his fear and anger of growing up without a father. The story featured Oblivion as an arch nemesis to the adventurer the Cannoneer. The Justice League tried to stop Oblivion, but during the battle Kyle was sent back to Earth to get reinforcements, and the League was captured. On Earth, Kyle recruited Power Girl, The Atom, Firestorm, Adam Strange, and the Circle of Fire, a group of Green Lanterns from alternate realities and different time periods.

Finding himself in a role as a leader, Rayner split this group up to handle different crises caused by Oblivion, or in some cases to search for a way to defeat him. Eventually in a confrontation, Oblivion reveals that he is a distillation of Rayner's doubts and darker impulses, made manifest through the power of the ring. The villian also revals that the Circle of Fire was created subconscioiusly based on his positive aspects because he needed help. When they realized this, the Circle decide that they should return to Rayner's mind. Doing so allowed him to unlock more powers from the ring that had been previously unavailable to him, and also discovers an inner strength he never knew he possessed after his positive aspects return to him. Facing up to this, Rayner was able to defeat Oblivion in New York City, imprisoning the entity within his own mind and freeing the Justice League.

Sinestro abducted Rayner from Oa through one of his new yellow power rings. At the Sinestro Corps' base on Qward, he revealed to Kyle that he was resonspible for his mother's deeah and infected her with the sentient virus Despotellis to kill her in a plot to break Rayner's will so he could serve as Parallax's new host. Sintestro also revealed that Ion is a benevolent energy entity, similar to Parallax, that thrived on willpower. The Sinestro Corps confrontede Kyle, and he is immediately taken over by Parallax after his powers are drained. Parallax then clothed itself in a new uniform which appeared as a combination of the Sinestro Corps' uniform, Kyle's original Green Lantern costume, and the armor Hal Jordan wore as Parallax. Parallax returns to Qward with the Sinestro Crops and is inudcted into their ranks, becoming one of the Anti-Monitor's heralds. In Kyle's body, Parallax captured Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, and John Stewart and brought them to Qward. Before bringing them, Parallax made Hal relive the only time he ever felt fear, when his father died. Parallax also elaborated that since invading Kyle's mind, he now had nearly infinite creativity to call upon in his deeds. During the battle with the Green Lantern Corps, who arrived at Qward to rescue the captured Lanterns, Parallax murdered Jack T. Chance and crushed his Power Ring before it could find a replacement. During his fight with the Earth Lanterns, Parallax revealed that Kyle Rayner's twisted desire was to be the last Green Lantern again and thus special. He was stopped from murdering Guy Gardner by the intervention of the surviving Lost Lanterns, and the current wielder of the Ion entity. The Embodiment of Fear then led an advanced group of the Sinestro Corp and attacked Coast City.

Kyle realized that he was trapped within his own mind. He wasa able to witness all that Parallax said and did from a third person perspective, but was unable to stop it. Kyle watched Parallax's actions from within the prison his own imagination had constructed, his mother''s empty house. The only fixture in the house was an old painting of uncertain origin that had belonged to Kyle's mother. Kyle attempted to confront Parallax from within, but he was defeated and taunted with his deepest fear, failing the people who depended on him, especially the women in his life. As Parallax turns to walk away, the enraged artist grabed a pencil and stabbed the creature in the eye. Parallax, was unfazed and taunted Kyle once more with the hopelessness of his position and leaves. Kyle was about to smash the paining in frustration when he noticed his mothe's signature in the bottom corner and realized that she secretly painted it years ago. This deep and unexpected connection with his mother gave Kyle hope, the very thing he most needed to overcome his fear. With renewed faith, Kyle walked into the painting and ended up in a field walking towards a bright, green star.

After threatening Hal's brother and family in Coast City, Parallax is confronted by Hal Jordan himself, who is enraged at the entity's attempt to kill James Jordan and at the possession of Kyle. Jordan manages to beat Parallax in furty, but looses the charge in his ring before he's able to defeat him completely. While weakened, Hal becomes absorbed by Parallax in addition to Rayner. Parallax takes on a new physical form with a bright yellow costume, a sign and the is a creatre capable of inducing great fear. Meanwhile John Steward ordered Honor Guard Guy Gardner to retrieve Kyle's painting on a little boy in a field, which was hanging in Kyle's dead mother's house. When Guy returns and shows the painting to Parallax, it visibly shifts it's demeanor. Jordan, the beacon of green light that had come to Kyle inside his mind, assisted Rayner in fighting Parallax until they finally break free from the fear embodiment's grip. Just as the creature counterattacks the Lanters, ousted Guardians Ganthet and Sayd arrive with four Power Batteries, and they proceeded to entrap Parallax within them all. Gathet explains that his final act as a Guardian is to give Rayner his power ring. The four Lantern officers take their batteries, and recite the oath, and recharge their rings.

The four Green Lanterns (Kyle, Guy, John, and Hal) then split into two directions. Hal returned to Coast City in order to prevent it from behing destroyed again with Kyle by his side. John and Guy head to New York City to battle the Anti-Monitor and the Cyborg Superman. As Hal and Kyle battle Sinestro, Sinestro momentarily gains the upperhand after one of the Manhunter robots absorbs their power ring energies. After the Corp defeated Cyborg Superman, the Manhunters immediately deactivated. Hal was able to take one of the robot's skulls and absorb Sinestro's power. With the three of them powerless, Hal and Kyle immediately engage Sintestro in combat, and the two Lanterns emerged victorious. After the war, Kyle is promoted to the Honor Guard as Guy Gardner's partner. He is then sent to counsel Sodam Yat, the new Ion. Kyle and Guy decided to move to Oa, which gave them better acces to perform their duties. Since his promotion to Honor guard, Kyle has acted as a troubleshooter for the Corps, not given an actual sector to patrol becaus of his new status. Kyle now splits his time between his Honor Guard duties and his life on Earth.

Personality
Kyle Rayner is a man that you would want at your side when the world was ending. A sitution that he's found himself in multiple times during his career as a Lantern. Kyle is passionate about what he does, and about the ideals that he stands for. He is the type of man that would defy the odds when told that something was impossible. He believes that through sheer force of will, anything is possible and any problem can be overcome.

But this was not the case early in his career. He took his duties as a hero lightly, often prone to whimsical actions and not really all that confident in the abilities that his power ring granted him. When told by Gathet that was supposed to save the universe, he felt overwhelmed by the resonsiblitiy and at first shunned away from it. It wasn't until his girfriend was murdered that he found the will and the drive to do what he was always meant to do. It forced him to take his role as a hero seriously, so that no one else would have to feel the pain and suffering of loosing a loved one. As a result, he strove to become the best Green Lantern he could be.

Kyle's is considered to be the 'go-to guy' on any team he has ever been on. If the mission was difficult, or had a low chance of sucess, he would find a way to make it happen. He believed that his influence could go beyond the ring, which is why unlike the Earth Lanterns before him, he sought out the advice and experiences of the other members of the Justice League, and trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat. He knew that he didn't have a lot of experience, and was willing to listen to the advice of more experienced heroes so that it would make him become a better hero himself.

Kyle is not a warrior, at least not in the traditional sense. Most Lanterns are chosen for their prowess in battle, or their astute sense of justice. But Kyle was chosen for his vivid imagination and tendancy to think outside of the box, which gave him an edge in battle much to the dismay of his enemies. Unlike his partner Guy Gardner, Kyle is not abrasive, and tries to make friends wherever he goes. He gets along well with Gardner because he isn't bothered by the man's gruff exterior, knowing that what Guy showed on the outside, was not always what he felt on the inside. His ability to see beyond the exterior of those he comes in contant with is an innate skill derived from his own shortcomings. The way he carries himself demans respect from others, and more often than not it is given to him. He gets through to people not with his words, but with his actions. He is not afraid to lead a team into a battle, and is the kind of leader that will jump into a situation first, just to show everyone else how it's supposed to be done.

But Kyle is not a pacifist in the least. Every person that has been in battle with him has come out respecting him. He is prone to outbursts of anger whenever someone is hurt on his watch because he feels guilty that he didn't protect him the way he should have. His bravery is known on dozens of worlds and he is famous among the Corps as being the man who single handedly brought the Corps back from extinction during the Sinestro wars. Kyle is a man that you would want at your back no matter what situation you were going to walk into. His mere presence and personality embodies what many considers what it takes to be a true hero.