The Perfect White Lantern

DC’s best White Lantern is a shocking hero that is often disrespected or underrated, but has immense power and command over the cycle of life.

DC’s White Lanterns are a very powerful team that is usually comprised of a rotating cast of heroes, most of whom are already Green Lanterns, but a prominent DCAU hero came through and took the spotlight as one of their best leaders. In a multiphase event drawing in every hero in the Universe, the most surprising one became a spokesperson for the White Light. As the resident ghost of the DC Universe, Deadman has been proven to the best representative for the cycle of rebirth and life.

White Lanterns have complete access to the entire range of emotions, and the Lantern Lights associated with them. As such, the most prominent wielders of a White Lantern ring are some of the main Green Lanterns themselves. But that didn’t stop DC from choosing a handful of unrelated heroes in their extensive gallery… making room for a whole new narrative to open up in Lantern lore.

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Deadman took over as a White Lantern during the multidimensional event Brightest Day (by Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, and Fernando Pasarin) by picking up a fallen White Lantern, thereby being granted a ring which brought him right back to life. After years of spending his time in the DCU as a ghost, coming back to life was jarring for fans of Deadman, who is used to his abilities being limited to his spiritual form. However, he was the only person who could save the universe and bring together the White Lanterns to fix the deadly aftermath of the previous Blackest Night event.

Why Deadman Is The Perfect Choice For White Lantern

The Lantern chose Boston Brand as its new host, bringing him back to life from his centuries spent in spiritual limbo to teach him how to actually live. Compared to many other spirits, Boston had managed to hold on to the good side of himself and worked with heroes when they needed help. The ring chose him because of his good nature and his connections to who was going to die, tasking him with saving them. Deadman knows what death feels like, since he’s been dealing with it for decades. Boston learned a valuable lesson after death and completely changed as a person, showing that it’s possible to make up for past mistakes. Which he admitted to in Brightest Day #0. He gained respect from the likes of Batman, John Constantine, Zatanna, and more, proving himself worthy to represent the entire emotional spectrum.

Deadman’s experience with death is a testament to how powerful the White Lantern Light is. Resurrecting someone who’d been dead for so long would’ve taken an immense amount of power, power that not many people have. The only thing that was able to bring him back was the power of the White Ring, and because of his experience he was the perfect choice for the mission it laid out for him. In Brightest Day #1 Deadman was pulled around to the twelve heroes that were recently resurrected and was shown that each of them was still struggling with the aftermath of the Black Lantern rings. His understanding of death allowed him to save the others and push them fully into the land of the living, leaving behind any side effects from the Black Rings. The White Ring only resurrected them, Boston taught them how to live again.

While he’s not the perfect hero, Boston Brand has already proven himself in the eyes of even the most gruff and brutal of DC heroes. He’s shown us that his willingness to face death and bring those who deserve back to life is the most powerful force in the Universe. DC’s choice to bring Deadman into the fold and make him a White Lantern showed just how capable he actually is and how he’s a key character to the DCU.

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