I have a question for all the DC-heads out there. I keep hearing about how the Green Lantern’s ring is “The Most Powerful Weapon in the Universe” but I don’t understand how this is true. I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge and experience of GL is limited to brief comic exposure and the Cartoon Network Justice League (which I know is massively depowered). And besides, I’ve always been more of a Marvel fan (hey, I like Spiderman 
). So fight my ignorance! As far as I can tell it looks like focused telekinetics by means of a green ray. It can create force blasts, shapes, and move things around. But does it really compare to my ultra-mega-turbo-planet-charring plasma cannon? 
My basic understanding is that the power of the ring is only limited by the willpower of the person wielding it. A person with godlike willpower would be a god.
With enough willpower, it could shield against your weapon o’ doom. The ring is nigh-infinitely powerful, limited only by the user’s will. That’s what makes it The Most Powerful Weapon in the Universe." Imagine, for example, if a Thanos-type character got hold of it…bad things, man…bad things…
Dang, Ethilrist beat me…but the point stands.
I’m very much the GL novice, but aren’t there others with rings, other Green Somethings (not counting Sinestro, of course)? And if they do, are any of the others’ rings as powerful as their willpower, too? And if that’s true, wouldn’t that mean there was more than one Most Powerful Weapon in the Universe? And if that’s true… well how could it be?
A nuclear bomb is probably the most powerful weapon on earth, but there’s more than one.
Well, sure, but I guess I always thought these rings were more unique than your everyday nuclear bomb.
And they are! Thank you for further proof that “unique” can actually be a comparative.
In any case, the power of the ring depended on your will power and concentration (it also helped that Hal Jordan was without fear, though the phrase was trademarked for another).
And, of course, it was powerless against wood (Alan Scott) or the color yellow (Hal Jordan).
There was a storyline in which the new GL, Kyle, has to go up against somebody with a ring and lots of willpower.
The villain was a figment of his own subconscious whom he willed into being through the power of the ring. The villain was powerful enough to create galaxies or universes.
I read the graphic novel compilation a while back so my memory is obviously fuzzy. But it spoiled GL for me thoroughly. The ring has that kind of power and the GLs hit people with giant boxing gloves?
The new rings no longer have the weakness against Yellow and Alan Scott doesn’t need the ring anymore, he is the ‘ring’.
One more thing, the weakness against the color yellow was a matter of intelligence, that is the ‘old’ ring couldn’t DIRECTLY affect anything yellow. A smart tactician(sp) could easily figure out a way to attack a yellow clad foe.
The problem was always the will of the writers…
I mean, when GL (Hal Jordon) went insane, he defeated and KILLED dozens of other Green Lanterns, who had the same weapon, but not the will.
Ah, that makes much more sense now. Thanks guys. So really it has the potential to be “The Most Powerful Weapon in the Universerse ™” but only with enough will power. Gotchya ya.
Not properly it can’t. “Unique” means one of a kind. If there’s more of one of something it by definition is not unique. It also make no sense to state that something is more one-of-a-kind than something else. Now, if you said that something was “more nearly unique” that’s fine but a one-of-a-kind thing can’t be more one-of-a-kind than another one-of-a-kind thing.
Back to the topic, it may be useful to the OP to know that Alan Scott’s ring was actually unique. It was fashioned from the metal of a “magic meteorite.”
God, how dumb do I feel typing “magic meteorite”?
From M-W:
[From M-W:
Sorry about the double post AND the hijack. Where were we?
Oh yeah. I’m more uniquer than all of ya.
Whatever, I’m not going to fight about it and I’m going to take the word of every English teacher with whom I’ve ever spoken rather than M-W.com. Besides, dictionaries don’t determine meaning; they define usage.
I just wanted to commend the OP on his excellent user name. Welcome to the SDMB.
One memorable issue was when Hal was able to defeat 2 other Green Lanterns by retreating at nearly the speed of light as he attacked so his power would go through a doppler shift.
Just the opposite. Dictionaries don’t determine usage, they define meaning.
In other words, the subtleties with which words are used in everyday speech are impossible to capture in a few overarching meanings.
Thanks Miller. It came to me in an epiphany. I said to myself, “Self, you must use that as a username at the SDMB. You’ve been lurking long enough.” I knew there were people on this board who’d get the Salvatore reference. You’ve just reconfirmed my faith in humanity.
Here’s some stuff Kyle Raynor could do with his ring, just off the top of my head.
-contain the energy from a star going nova with a giant green safe (looked like his brain was about to explode though).
-split atoms
-lift New York to protect it from a tsunami
-shield himself along with 3 million people from a nuclear explosion with a force field
-create armies of green monkeys/dinosaurs/sumo wrestlers to battle opposing army
-somehow create a green time machine/treadmill for the Flash
-encase moon in force field to make it into a prison
-create green aura around himself to synthesize oxygen from sunlight (for travel in space)
-potentially unlimited energy (for weapon or as power source)
-overcome malovent cosmic entity with just his willpower
-contain souls
I’m sure I can think of more stuff later on. These were just some abilities I particularly liked. Basically, his only limited by the writer’s imagination. I’m just glad he doesn’t use basic geometric shapes as weapons anymore (triangle! cube! attack!).