Infinite Frontier Reveals the Origins of the New Black Lantern

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Infinite Frontier #5, available now from DC.

One of the biggest returns at the start of the Infinite Frontier era was Roy Harper, with Green Arrow's original sidekick seemingly restored to life as the DC Multiverse was reborn after the crossover event Dark Nights: Death Metal. As the comic book miniseries Infinite Frontier launched, Roy learned that his new lease on life was actually due to him being bonded to a Black Lantern Power Ring, appearing undead whenever he tapped into its energies and called away from Earth to serve a mysterious, dark master. And as Roy confronts his twisted benefactors on Earth Omega, he learns more about the history behind his Power Ring and why he was targeted to become the newest Black Lantern.

Darkseid was revealed to be the major antagonist in Infinite Frontier, lurking on the world of Earth Omega at the heart of the expanding multiverse. After defeating the Quintessence, the DC Universe's five most omnipotent heroes, Darkseid and his faithful acolyte Psycho-Pirate launched a plan to conquer all of reality and reshape it in his image. Barry Allen was kidnapped while investigating Earth Omega and forced to power a large machine as part of Darkseid's plot while Roy and other anomalies from previous realities, alternate universes and divergent timelines were similarly targeted. And among Darkseid's targets is Roy and his Black Lantern Power Ring as revealed in Infinite Frontier #5, by Joshua Williamson, Paul Pelletier, Jesus Merino, Tom Derenick, Norm Rapmund, Raul Fernandez, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano.

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After Roy is summoned to Earth Omega, Psycho-Pirate confronts him and reveals that his Black Lantern Power Ring was the one used by the secretly undead Batman throughout Death Metal to raise an army of the dead to combat the forces of the Batman Who Laughs. Among the fallen heroes that Batman had summoned with his Power Ring was Roy, with the bond between the undead archer and the ring continuing on after the multiverse was reborn and Batman restored fully to life. And with Roy having a long history of inner darkness and personal demons informing his life, the Black Lantern Power Ring was drawn to him and this potential just as Hal Jordan possessed an immense, inherent amount of willpower to attract a Green Lantern Power Ring's attention.

With Roy's Power Ring fueled by his despair and suffering, Psycho-Pirate offers Roy the chance to serve at Darkseid's side as his Omega Lantern by surrendering his autonomy and becoming a mindless zombie-like the Black Lanterns before him. However, after Psycho-Pirate lets slip that Roy's daughter Lian has been resurrected and is alive back on Earth, Roy unleashes the full energies of the Black Lantern Power Ring to free the heroes from other realities bound by Darkseid's multiversal energy bonds. And while it seemed that Roy just turned the tide of battle, Darkseid appears more powerful than ever, now with Roy at his side as the Omega Lantern he was seeking in the first place.

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Roy's Black Lantern Power Ring played an integral role in restoring the multiverse from the Batman Who Laughs during Death Metal and has endured all the cataclysmic changes to reality. Because of its history and multiversal energy from enduring all of this, this makes the ring and its current wielder Roy Harper a target for Darkseid as part of his plot to conquer the multiverse and make Roy his mindless recruit. But with Roy's final act freeing the heroes standing in direct opposition to Darkseid, the Lord of Apokolips may have underestimated his target by bringing the instrument of his defeat right to Earth Omega.

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