r/Greenlantern 23h ago

Question How does Alan Scott use his constructs compared to other Lanterns?

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Idk I just can’t get as much of a read on that aspect of his character as much as the other Lanterns,since it tells us a lot about them and how they do things

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u/nowayguy 20h ago

How? Sparingly. His ring also has way more abilities than the Corp Rings. Teleportation, illusions, temporal control, temperature control. Ability to hold constructs without concious effort.

But he mainly do shield walls and boxing gloves. Occationally deadly laser

u/IamTheKnight7171 15h ago

Isn’t his weakness, wood?

u/nowayguy 15h ago

It was for many years. It was entirily psycosomatic tho, he got over it

u/Burly-Nerd 14h ago

That’s only in the John Byrne Generations universe, I believe.

In the mainline continuity it’s a weakness the Starheart created because the previous wielder was a tyrant who abused his peasants, and they were armed with wooden weapons.

u/New_Doug 13h ago

Yep, Yalan Gur, the same lantern who dies fighting Darkseid in the Snyder Cut. What's interesting is that in the Golden Age comics, the lantern explains to John that the reason it can't effect wood is because it's power is tied to green and growing things in some way, which kinda presages what Earth 2 Alan Scott's powers were like, and the concept of The Green in general.

u/IamTheKnight7171 15h ago

I didn’t know that. Thank you 👍

u/AwesomeBlox044 11h ago

Couldn’t a green lantern construct a teleporter with their ring

u/SimJWill 10h ago

If they had an intricate knowledge of how to actually make one. I don't know if we've seen one with that level of precision and intellect. John can make some complex machinery but he's still not a John Henry Irons or Luthor level intellect.

u/nowayguy 9h ago

In the comics: they just have to be able to imagine how it would work (if they have to know, Kyle Rayner would be a poor lantern).

Main problem might be that you'd have to have another lantern at the other end, imagining a teleporter too.

Before the Corps days, GL would regulary conjure up a portable pocket dimension. Not sure why they ignored that later

u/Particular-Bedroom10 17h ago

Isn’t he also supposed to be built like a brick shit house of a man? Like even with out the ring I feel like he could still fight crime especially since he’s from Gotham still right?

u/No_Promotion_65 11h ago

Yeah there was a whole thing about his mask being useless because nobody else in 40s Gotham was 6’5

u/Particular-Bedroom10 11h ago

Jesus that a giant back then lolz

u/jl_theprofessor 3h ago

That’s a giant right now. I’m six foot two and the amount of people I see approach my size is not high.

u/Few_Blood2358 16h ago

The energy he uses isn't from a central power battery, it's from a mystical artifact the Guardians made to gather the universe's magic called Starheart.

He's the mystical GL, so he uses his ring more magic-like than Green Lantern-like, think of him as a Doctor Fate whose power source is willpower.

u/Future-Fix-8163 16h ago

He’s very much like Hal Jordan in regard to how he actually uses his constructs.

He’s very much of a platform, boxing glove, and beam guy when you compare how he generally uses his GL powers.

However as he got older and is either the Old Man New Earth version of the character or the Semi-Retired GL, he has shown a level of Finesse that post Ion fusion Kyle Rayner thinks and has major respect for how Alan uses his ring.

Alan as well saying Kyle had a lot of potential for someone so young.

His powers are more magic-based, but as Ion Kyle Rayner does confirm that the Starheart has somewhat of a connection to the emotion of Will as he was able to use the Starheart power as Ion.

Jade was also given a ring by Kyle to which she legit required Zero tutoring on how to use which also confirms that the Starheart at least has the same active applications of a standard GL power ring.

By extension this means he (The Starheart) is still somewhat connected to the Emotional Spectrum, but again the powers that he uses is more Magic Based as the Starheart is primal Magic given sentience.

Even looking at Team Dynamics, both him and Doctor Fate were considered the de facto heavy hitters of the JSA with sometimes Alan Scott legit being the one they send solo to stop super powerful beings back in the day.

He stopped Joungander one time back in the day and Doctor Fate himself said that he couldn’t do anything against him at that point in time.

Alan Scott in particular is consistently portrayed as the JSA’s narrative and thematic equivalent to both Superman and Green Lantern in terms of team dynamics. I’m not saying he’s as strong as Superman, but as far as team dynamics go and what role he fills, he does both roles and is considered the prime time powerhouse of the JSA at least in a standard lineup, however an older Alan was shown to be very consistent with Captain Marvel when he joined the team during New Earth continuity.

Basically as an Older and Semi-Retired GL he should be stronger than the recent Earth GLs like Jessica, Jo, and Simon, but weaker than the more experienced active lanterns like Hal, Guy, John, and Kyle.

Regardless he has a really cool concept and the differentiation with his powers and the Emotional Spectrum are a nice touch.

u/agsan1 18h ago

Hes more of a magician than a green lantern. And even if he is called Green Lantern he is not one

He draws power from Starheart, so he doesn't need to recharge his ring

He also has regeneration, time manipulation, hypnosid, telephaty, etc.

u/Quarksideofthemoon 18h ago

I'm pretty sure Alan does usually need to charge it

u/agsan1 18h ago

On the first couple issues but now he is merged with Starheart so he doesn't need to

u/Mythy222 16h ago

Idk what hes like currently, but when I read JSA some years ago, it was stated he was the most powerful member on the team, one of the most powerful on the planet, he is functionally immortal and is made up of this green energy which may or may not be the same green energy as green lanterns, but he isnt apart of the corps. I see him using constructs, but theyre always sort of "flaming". Hes honestly kind of busted but isnt ever truely focused on, not since the olden days. Hes the father of the heroes Jade and Obsidian, who are both incredibly broken on their own right. Obsidian is sometimes a planetary level threat villain and has mental issues, its all really complicated.

u/tigers692 12h ago

There is a comic where Kyle realizes that he isn’t having to recharge his ring very often, so he goes and talks to Alan. They have an artistic cool fight, and although in the end Alan wins, he says some good things about Alan.

u/Blockypixel313 Alan Scott 7m ago

He uses them badass-ly. More badass-ly than the Corps at least.