Guardians of the Universe

From DC Database

Guardians of the Universe

Gallery

Official Name

Guardians of the Universe

Organization Aliases

Guardians, Maltusians, Oans

Status

Status

Active

Organization Identity

Public

Universe

New Earth

Base Of Operations

Oa

Origin

Origin

The Guardians evolved on the planet Maltus, and were possibly the first intelligent life forms in the Universe. At this time they were tall greyish blue humanoids with black hair. They became scientists and thinkers, experimenting on the worlds around them.

Place of Formation

Oa

First appearance

Green Lantern Vol 2 #1
(August, 1960)

History

Background

The Guardians of the Universe evolved on the planet Maltus, and were possibly the first intelligent life forms in the Universe. At this time they were tall greyish blue humanoids with black hair. They became scientists and thinkers, experimenting on the worlds around them. One experiment led to the creation of a new species, the Psions. In a pivotal moment, billions of years ago, a Maltusian named Krona used time-bending technology to observe the beginning of the Universe. This experiment flooded the beginning of the Universe with entropy causing it "to be born old".

Feeling responsible for this, the Maltusians relocated to the planet Oa (at "the center of the Universe") and became the Guardians. Their goal was simple: combat evil and create an orderly universe. And they acted quickly on that goal. During this period they also changed to their current appearance.

Campaigns

• Before life existed on Earth, they learned how to manipulate what they called "the Glow", and eventually created a Central Power Battery to store this energy. This "energy" was actually the collective willpower of the inhabitants of the universe. Accessing and manipulating this willpower gave the Guardians an ultimate tool to pursue their goals.^{[citation needed]}
• Hunting down those who preyed on the weak, they captured a fear elemental, Parallax. They imprisoned the creature in the Central Battery, hoping to lock it away forever.^{[citation needed]}
• Millenia ago after a protracted war they achieved an accord with the Reach, an alien race who turned out to be the source of the Blue Beetle Scarab bonded to Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes).^{[citation needed]}
• The magic-wielding Empire of Tears was subjugated and imprisoned on the throneworld and tombworld of Ysmault.^{[citation needed]}
• Trying to remove magic from the Universe, they bound as much magical energy as possible into an orb called the Starheart. This would eventually become the ring and lantern of Alan Scott.
• On Mars, the Guardians confronted the destructive race known as "The Burning" and split the race into two new species: the Green Martians and the White Martians. The Guardians changed their reproductive behavior, and gave them an inherent fear of fire in order to stop their species from destroying much of the universe.^{[citation needed]}
• Robotic Manhunters were created to patrol the Universe. The Manhunters rebelled, believing they were superior to the Guardians and should be in control, and were exiled.^{[citation needed]}
• The mad god that was the entire Sector 3600 was defeated by the Guardians and was constrained by a matrix of their making. By showing the sector that they were its superiors, the Guardians had imprisoned it for all time.^{[citation needed]}
• The insect race of Tchkk-Tchkki, later known as Legion, was enclosed in an emerald forcefield around their world.^{[citation needed]}
• They reached an accord with the Spider Guild whereby they and their operatives would stay out of Vegan space. Due to this agreement the Omega Men have become the only peacekeepers in their sector.^{[citation needed]}
• After the failed experiment with the Manhunters, the Guardians invented other ways of opposing evil in the universe. The Green Glob was an intelligent teaching machine created from their emerald energy, programmed to educate mortals all over the universe and able to briefly alter reality to do so.^{[citation needed]}
• The Halla's, an intergalactic police corps wielding power guns chanelling the emerald energy, was a short-lived successor of the Manhunters and a precursor to the successful Green Lantern Corps.^{[citation needed]}
• Finally, the Green Lantern Corps was established to replace the Manhunters and the Halla's. These troops were given some of the power of the Central Power Battery, accessed through a ring.^{[citation needed]}
• Against Apokolips, they waged a war. They tried several times to infiltrate Darkseid's home, finally deciding on a war against his rule. Their troops were brutally defeated with two-thirds dead. The attack on Apokolips ended with a truce.^{[citation needed]}
• The Guardians guided Kal-El (Superman) on his journey to earth.^{[citation needed]}
• During the Crisis on Infinite Earths the Guardians were again divided. A small group desired to take a more aggressive role in destroying evil and recruited Guy Gardner to act as their Green Lantern. The failure of the Guardians to act decisively in the Crisis led to their decision to temporarily withdraw from the universe.^{[citation needed]}

Consequences

The Manhunter rebellion led to schisms. One group (the Controllers) thought that the only way to protect the Universe was to control it. The female Oans (the Zamarons) felt no need to involve themselves in the Universe's problems. Over the years, both groups evolved to look most unlike the Guardians. Other groups have also left the Guardians; one such group settled on Earth, becoming the origin for leprachaun legends. The Manhunters became avowed enemies of the Guardians. The Apokolips campaign ended with a truce with the Guardians forced to abandon a soldier (Raker Qarrigat) to Darkseid. Fearing dissension, they ordered all records of the Campaign expunged.

Recent history

The Guardians were almost wiped out when Parallax took control of Hal Jordan, the only survivor being Ganthet. They sacrificed themselves to create one final power ring, a power ring perhaps more powerful than all others before it. Oa was itself destoyed in a battle between Parallax and Kyle Rayner, but rebuilt as the final wish of Hal Jordan's former power ring. The Guardians were restored when Kyle Rayner, as Ion, recharged the central battery. Rayner lost his power and role as Ion but this sacrifice released all the Guardian's life forces from the dormancy in his ring. The immortals first appeared as children but aged quickly and many seemed to return to the identities they had before they created Kyle Rayner's power ring. Unlike before however: the Guardians were male and female, rather than just male. While Kyle had made them children in order for them to grow up and become less cold than their predecessors, this did not work. Instead the Guardians were as cold and manipulative as they were before. Also one of them (Lianna) seemed to revert to the original Malthusian appearance in the process. With their revival they began to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps using veterans to train the new ring-bearers. Kyle Rayner's recent metamorphosis into Ion again seemed to be part of a new Guardian experiment, the evolution of the Corps. Alongside this experiment, the Guardians refortified Oa by creating a planetwide armour and defensive system to prevent successful attacks against them.

Sinestro Corps War

The Sinestro War forces them to rewrite the Book of Oa and to add ten new laws. They also expelled Ganthet and Sayd from their rank, because they have experience emotions, which they consider to be not permitted.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: Central Power Battery
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: Green Lantern Power Ring

Notes

• No special notes.

Trivia

• No trivia.

See Also

• Appearances of Guardians of the Universe (Chronological)
• Appearances of Guardians of the Universe (Alphabetical)

Links and References

• See Also Oans