Green Lantern.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light!" - Hal Jordan

Green Lantern is no one superhero. The Green Lantern Corps are the intergalactic peacekeepers of the universe. Hal Jordan has only been the second human to become a Green Lantern. Their power comes from a ring powered by the energy of will.  Billions of years ago a race of immortals harnessed this emerald energy of willpower. These immortals, the Guardians of the Universe, built a world from where they could watch over all of existence: The planet Oa. They divided the universe into 3600 sectors. And a ring was sent to every sector to select a recruit. In order to be chosen by the ring, it's said that one must be without fear. Together, these 3600 recruits formed the intergalactic peacekeepers known as the Green Lantern Corps.

Oa has been the Green Lanterns home for countless millennium. It was created for them by the Guardians. The Guardians are immortals, among the most ancient of races. They are responsible for what the Green Lanterns are and all that they do. Since the beginning of time, the Green Lantern Corps has served as the

keepers of peace, order and justice throughout the universe. To be chosen to join its ranks is the highest of honours and the greatest of responsibilities.


Supervillians.

Of all the threats the Corps ever faced, the gravest was an entity of fear known as Parallax. Only the legendary Green Lantern Abin Sur was capable of capturing and imprisoning this beast, which he did on the lost planet of Ryut.

Will has always been the sole weapon of the Guardians, and the Green Lantern Corps, against the forces of darkness in the universe. But as that power began to seem insufficient a great debate arose among the Guardians. Should they exploit another source of power, one they had long since sworn never to be used? Fear. (Pause for dramatic effect.) But the power of fear was too unpredictable. The chance of corruption too great. And so they decided against it. All of them, that is, except one. Alone, this Guardian entered the forbidden chamber. He wanted to prove the light of fear could be mastered. His intentions were pure but his hopes were naive. Consumed by the yellow power of fear the Guardian became the very evil he had wished to destroy. He became Parallax. For the universe's safety and his own Abin Sur was charged with imprisoning Parallax in the Lost Sector. But he escaped. Feeding on the fear of others, he grew larger and more powerful. Parallax began to feed on entire planets and their fear, and he would eventually make his way to Earth.

It's said the Hal Jordan managed to destroy Parallax by throwing him into a sun.


Flaws and Attributes.

Hal is an expert pilot and has mastered the Green Lantern ring and it's powers. He is able to create anything he can think of out of pure energy, using his ring, as long as he has a strong enough will to do so. The strength of what he creates also depends on the strength of his will.

As for his flaws, the ring can run out of energy. If that happens, he's able to power it by touching it to his lantern. See where he gets his name from? The lantern is powered by the will of every living thing in the universe. If he were to lose contact with his ring, or if it were to run out of power he would be helpless. Luckily, if this were to happen he does have the other 3599 Green Lanterns to help him if need be. But they are in different solar systems to him.


Fun Facts.

- Hal's design was originally going to be a standard looking, straight-laced, handsome white guy with brown hair.

- They stuck with that design.

- Jack Black nearly played the role of Green Lantern, instead of Ryan Reynolds, in the new film.


Possibility of Green Lantern Existing.

The possibility of Green Lantern existing is pretty much the same as having Superman exist. If there is an infinite universe, there is a possibility that there are multiple planets with life forms on them. The only difference is that Hal Jordan is human, and Superman wasn't. 

As for the ring and harnessing pure energy just by using the power of will, that's a little less likely. But then again, if there is a life force with a much higher intellect than our own, it could be very possible.

I'll give Green Lantern a good old: "Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know! Why are superheroes so complicated?!

Captain America.

Americas one and only. The super soldier wrapped in the stars and stripes. That one man Nazi killing machine. He is, Captain America.

He is one of the highest selling superheroes of all time, and is as patriotic as a superhero can be.
His debut, at the same time as his county's entry into World War 2, made him an icon for children and young adults to look up to.

Once the creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, had their hero, they just needed a villain. The obvious choice? (Almost) Everyone's enemy during World War 2? Hitler of course. This idea was re-enforced by the cover of Captain America #1, which showed the new hero, dressed in red, white and blue, punching Adolf Hitler in the face.

When the war ended, Captain America seemed to lose his purpose. Within a few years he was retired, and a short lived superhero had finally become irrelevant. 
This all changed when the superhero group, The Avengers, started up. Captain America had a purpose again.

After being frozen for 50 years, the Captain was awakened by the group S.H.I.E.L.D who were in charge of getting the required members of The Avengers together. The included superheroes were, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Eagle Eye, Black Widow, and finally Captain America.

Supervillains.

The Red Skull; Captain Americas arch-enemy. Also an agent for Nazi Germany. You can't just have Hitler being the main enemy, he's not evil enough. You need a super evil, supervillian... with no skin or muscle on his face... and his skull's red... That'll make him evil enough.

The Red Skull debuted with Captain America in Captain America #1. Like many arch-enemies, he's always been there, fighting our hero.

The Red Skull, also known as Johann Schmidt, doesn't have any specific super powers but he is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, a strategic genius, political mastermind, and an expert marksman.
It is said that Joe Simon, while considering an appropriate villain for Captain America, saw a hot
fudge sundae melting and noticed how it was resembling a human figure in the process. Although Simon initially considered calling this character Hot Fudge, the cherry on top seemed to appear as an exposed skull and decided that the name, Red Skull, was slightly more appropriate for a supervillain.
This proves that inspiration can really come from anywhere, or that Simon was on drugs at the time. The fact that he was on drugs sounds like a more likely scenario.


Flaws and Attributes.

Captain America's a super soldier. That means that he's got all the usual abilities. Super strength, agility, and he's able to punch through walls. But out of his weapons, his shield is definatly comic book readers favourite.

It was originally designed to be triangular, but soon after it was made round instead. It was meant to represent both defense and a target, and when thrown like a discus, it also functions as a surprisingly effective weapon. A safeguard that draws fire and then fights back. It became the perfect emblem for Captain America.

As for his flaws, he was born in the early 1900s, and was later transformed into a super soldier to help America fight against Germany. That's all good and well, but when he's frozen for 50 - 60 years and awakened in the early 21st century he's not accustomed to the times of a modern America.
Can you imagine going to sleep in 2013 and waking up the next day in 2060. That's pretty much what he went through. But that seems to be his only flaw. His lack of knowledge about technology...and modern society.



Fun Facts.

- Captain America #1 is one of the world’s most valuable comics, with a near-mint condition copy valued at around $115,000 by comics price guide.

- Just like any self-respecting superhero, Captain America has a sidekick, James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes. He appeared alongside the Captain in the very first issue. At one point he even appeared in the Captain America costume in the Captains absence.

- Captain America's "secret" identity is Steve Rogers, a scrawny kid from New York deemed unfit for military service. After repeated attempts to join the Army just at the start of World War II, he volunteered for the "super soldier program", which transformed him into the pinnacle of human potential.





Possibility of Captain America Existing.

The super soldier serum that was developed by Weapons Plus, and used on Steve Rogers to turn him into a super soldier, enhances strength, speed, and stamina.

It is, essentially, steroids that you would give an elephant. But there's no need to continually inject yourself. The only problem is that the serum would somehow have to stay in Captain Americas body, even after he was frozen.

He would also have to be flash frozen(having the temperature around you drop at an extremely quick rate, allowing you to, hopefully, stay alive while also being frozen.)

These seem to be the only two problems in his creation.

Possibility of Captain America existing? A big fat 7 out of 10.

Superman.

Superman. Not my favourite of superheroes, but he still has to be done.

But why Duncan, why don't you like this Kryptonian superhuman?

I'm glad you asked. Well, little ones, this so called superhero has every superpower, short of shooting money from his armpits, you could possibly think of. X-Ray vision, superhuman strength, the ability to fly, and he's even bullet proof.

But that's not the only reason I don't like him. He's just so over-rated. You say to any person whose read a comic book, "I don't like Superman. I reckon he's over-rated, and is, honestly, a bit of a douche."
And they'll drag you into a 3 hour debate about how Superman's the best hero ever known. I feel odd saying that, as I've done it countless times, but with other superheroes.

Even his name! To be fair, comic book writers aren't the most imaginative(at times) when it comes to their superheroes names. But I'm sure they could've done better than Superman. I can imagine the conversation the writers would've had.


"What do you think we should call him?"
"Hmm.... Well he's a superhero..."
"Yes, we've established that."
"And he's a man..."
"OK if you're not gonna help, just say so."
"How about... SUPERMAN!"
"Really?? How could you ever have thought of that?"


Supervillains.

Superman's most iconic supervillain is Lex Luthor. He was originally depicted as a mad scientist, but later became a more industrialist business man, with vast amounts of money. This super genius has always wanted to kill Superman. He's always wanted too, but has never been able to achieve such a feat.

Lex has no specific superpowers other than his intelligence, and his money. But he did at one point create an exoskeleton type suit, that would help him battle Superman, one-on-one.

The only advantage Lex has over Superman is Kryptonite. If Lex made a suit out of Kryptonite, BAM no-more Superman.


Flaws and Attributes.

For those of you that don't know, Superman came from a planet called Krypton. Unfortunately, it was attacked by some other alien race. But luckily for Superman, his parents sent him to planet Earth before Krypton exploded.

Now Superman's only weakness is kryptonite, the substance that his home planet was made of. Now there's one problem when your hero only has one weakness. Every fight scene is always going to have the same formula.

Fight bad guy. Start beating bad guy. Bad guy shoves kryptonite in Superman's face. Superman starts to get weak. It looks like bad guy's going to beat Superman. But don't worry boys and girls, Superman is SUPER! And somehow Superman manages to beat bad guy, even when he's against the odds.

Ever wondered how Superman got his powers? Of course you haven't, no-one ever questions a Superheroes superpowers.

Well I'm here to tell you anyway.

Kryptonians don't normally have superpowers. When they're on Earth the atmosphere, apparently, has an odd effect on them so they start becoming superhuman, in a sense. So Superman's powers are all thanks to a combination of Carbon Dioxide, and Oxygen, with a little Nitrogen thrown into the mix.

So maybe, just maybe, other planets would have the same, or similar effect, on us....
I'm booking my flight to Mars right now.


Fun Facts.

- Superman has a supervillain called Ultra-man.

- When Superman first appeared in 1938, the comic said that he was incredibly strong, could withstand anything less than a bursting shell from a tank, and was able to leap 1/8th of a mile. But he wasn't able to fly.

- One of the all-time greatest good-guy superheroes actually began life as a big, bad, bald guy bent on world domination. Comic creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first drew him as a villain in a January 1933 story called "The Reign of the Super-Man." It bombed, so they re-imagined him as a superhero; with hair.


Possibility of Superman existing.

If you subscribe to the theory that the universe is a giant dark place with billions of planets, and if life was possible on ours there is a chance that there's life on others; then there is a very big possibility that Superman could exist. Just waiting, on a planet called Krypton, for it to blow up so he can be sent here to gain superpowers and fight crime.

Maybe the Superman comics are a look into a possible future... Maybe there is in fact a time when a good guy, with greased back hair, frost breath, and an ability to melt metal with his eyes, will come to Earth and fight for the greater good...

Can you imagine how many cities he'll destroy...

Possibility of Superman existing: 8 out of 10.