Kyle Rayner is a Green Lantern who can use his power ring to generate hard-light constructs. He can fly, travel through space, create force fields, and gain enhanced strength, durability, and speed. Created by Ron Marz and Darryl Banks, Kyle made debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48 (January 1994) during the “Emerald Twilight” storyline.

Comic Artist to Green Lantern

Kyle was raised by a single mother and later learned that his father was a CIA agent whose real name was Gabriel Vasquez. He was a struggling comic book artist living in Los Angeles when he was chosen to be a Green Lantern. A grieving Hal Jordan went on a rampage in Coast City and killed members of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. Ganthet, one of the Guardians of the Universe, had the last working Green Lantern ring. He needed to urgently find a new hero to wear the ring.

When he gave Kyle the ring, he uttered a less than comforting, “You will have to do.” Later, Ganthet stated that humans are good at being Green Lanterns and praised Kyle for his ability to feel fear, but overcome it. Ganthet’s unenthusiastic “You will have to do” was retconned to “It would seem I chose well.”

Initially, Kyle did not take his responsibility as Green Lantern seriously. But his girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, convinced him that it was an important task. She helped to train him to be a superhero and inspired him to create a costume in his own style. Tragically, the supervillain Major Force killed Alexandra and crammed her into a refrigerator. Overwhelmed by sadness and guilt, Kyle became determined to be a better Green Lantern and fight evil.

Embracing Responsibility

While Kyle’s personal growth helped him become a better hero, accomplishing that because of Alex’s murder became a topic of conversation. Writer Gail Simone coined the term “Women in Refrigerators” (commonly shortened to “fridging”) after the storyline. It now used to note when female characters are depowered, injured, sexually assaulted, or killed to move a male character’s story forward.

After Alex’s death, Kyle relocated to New York City. He explored the limitless capabilities of his ring’s powers to create light constructs. Being an artist himself, Kyle used the ring in battle in ways that others Green Lanterns did not. That included using the ring to create superhero characters, anime heroes, futuristic weapons, mechas, and more. Though some of his fellow Green Lanterns found his style to be odd and impractical, the creativity with which he used the ring made him an unpredictable opponent to the villains he faced.