Hal as Parallax permanently?

[The Darknight Detective]

Hal as Parallax should have been DC's answer to Magneto, but they botched it by making him too much of a loony MWA-HA-HA villain instead of a sympathetic borderline antihero.

The latter might have indeed worked. Instead, we got Hulk Hogan turning into Hollywood Hogan.

[Anthony Shaw]

Hal as Parallax permanently? He should never had been Parallax at all. In fact, no superhero should have to suffer that, unless it's a situation, i.e. Terra, where she was created to turn bad in the first place.

[CentralPower]

I voted yes. But, that is more of a protest vote than anything else. Any real gravity that Parallax had was removed the first time Johns derped Hal back to retro-state.

I would have preferred Hal stay dead, after being evil and crazy.

[Anthony Shaw]

I voted no.

Hal needs to continue moving forward.

I don't want to read a "I told you so" from Batman.

[SJNeal]

I voted no.

Hal needs to continue moving forward.

I don't want to read a "I told you so" from Batman.

Please edit this post, and replace words with a Bowie gif.

Thanks.

[The Darknight Detective]

Please edit this post, and replace words with a Bowie gif.

Thanks.

You just can't go wrong with Bowie.

[Anthony Shaw]

Please edit this post, and replace words with a Bowie gif.

Thanks.

You just can't go wrong with Bowie.

[Skedatz]

Sacrilege, indeed.

[SiegePerilous02]

No. It shouldn't have happened the first time.

[mrumsey]

No, just no. It was poorly executed the first time and doesn't need to happen again. If we've got too many GL's for the number of books DC's publishing then simply thin the herd or spread the characters out to other books. Six GL's is simply too many for two books to do justice to them and not relegate the rest of the Corps to nothing but background fodder.

[BohemiaDrinker]

You know, I would be down for it. Because I hate Jordan.

But regardless of my personal tastes, he is the most popular one, so, bad idea.

[panthergod]

lol. These newjacks don't want a return of H.E.A.T. do they..?

[The Darknight Detective]

You know, I would be down for it. Because I hate Jordan.

But regardless of my personal tastes, he is the most popular one, so, bad idea.

Besides, if it can be done for someone you hate, it may also be done for someone you love down the road.

[Ascended]

From a purely personal perspective, I'd support Hal becoming Parallax again. I think it's probably a bad business move, but it's one that I myself would like to see. I've even suggested this sort of thing myself on here.

Hal as a villain is a truly terrifying concept. This is a guy who knows it all. He knows the secret passwords, the secret identities, the weaknesses, the flaws, the loved ones, the home addresses.....he knows it all. he's one of the most entrenched and respected heroes in the world and bringing all that to bear as a villain is far scarier than anything Lex Luthor, Darkseid, or the Joker have ever been capable of. A major hero (not some C-lister), a League founder going bad? That's huge.

And when you boil it all down, Hal never really changed in Zero Hour. He was still trying to save lives and be a hero as Parallax.....he just went overboard (way, way overboard). He was wonderfully sympathetic and I could completely see where he was coming from. I think Marz did pretty well handling Hal in the Kyle era, and it was always a pleasure to see Hal show up to struggle with his actions, even as he committed them. Hell, some days I look at the news and I think that maybe a scorched earth policy isn't the worst option and burning it all down to rebuild fresh has a lot of appeal to it.

And being possessed by Parallax doesn't **have** to mean Hal becomes a villain. He's been the fear Entity's host in the past. Perhaps he'd retain a measure of control if they were bonded again. Parallax, after all, isn't a villain exactly. It's a cosmic manifestation of a primal survival instinct. It just wants fear to eat and will get it by any means it can. Batman could be possessed by Parallax and not even notice. Parallax encouraged war and strife in the past because that created fear, but if you kept the thing full? It isn't going to care if you do it by scaring the pants out of criminals or innocent civilians. Or at least that's how I've always understood the creature. There's plenty of stories I haven't read that might contradict my interpretation.

Hal could be trying to steer the yellow Lanterns in a more heroic direction (it's been tried in the past, might be worth another shot). He could just be possessed by Parallax against his will but say "screw it, I'm still a hero and I'm not letting this yellow space bug stop me this time!"

I think it wouldn't go over very well with the audience, but I'd be interested in seeing Hal go yellow again (depending on how it was executed of course). But I'm biased as hell, so my opinion isn't worth much here.

[KC]

All six of the Earth Lanterns are great and deserve to be Green Lanterns, so I don't agree that some of them need to change rolls.

Hal becoming Parallax was the worst thing to happen to the character, so it does not need to happen again.