HBO Max’s Lanterns is introducing the fabled Green Lantern Corps to scores of TV viewers. So far, the show’s Corps has been represented by Earth’s human Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart. But plenty of aliens have worn a power ring and upheld the Lanterns oath to protect the universe from all manner of evil “in brightest day, in blackest night.” Here are five such Lanterns, each a testament to the diversity of the DC Universe…
 

Tomar-Re

The second Green Lantern Hal Jordan encountered—after receiving his power ring from his predecessor Abin Sur—was Tomar-Re, back in June 1961’s Green Lantern #6 (written by John Broome and penciled by Gil Kane). A bird-like alien from the planet Xudar, Tomar introduced Hal to the many forms of alien life within the Green Lantern Corps. A scientist on his homeworld, Tomar served in the Corps’ Honor Guard, and was sadly killed in battle during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He was succeeded by his son Tomar-Tu as the Green Lantern of Sector 2813. In post-Crisis continuity, Tomar-Re was also Hal’s mentor in the Corps. Tomar is featured in the 2011 Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie, where he’s voiced by Geoffrey Rush.
 

Ch’p

As dark as TV’s Lanterns can sometimes be, longtime Green Lantern fans know there’s no darkness without light. And there’s no better example of the breadth of the Green Lantern Corps than the whimsy of Ch’p, the chipmunk-like Green Lantern of Sector 1014. More than mere comedic relief, the diminutive warrior from the planet H'lven was introduced in the first Green Lantern Corps backup story (written by Paul Kupperberg and penciled by Don Newton), in January 1982’s Green Lantern #148 (reprinted in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps). Alas, after surviving the Crisis, Ch’p died when he was run over by a big yellow truck, a result of the evil Lantern Sinestro’s machinations. His successor is B'dg.
 

Mogo

In the second episode of Lanterns, Hal Jordan grants John Stewart access to the pocket dimension where he keeps his power battery (the lantern with which he charges his ring). The passphrase he uses to access this dimension is “Mogo doesn’t socialize,” the title of the classic tale in Green Lantern #188 (written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons) that introduced Mogo, the biggest Green Lantern Corps member—a sentient planet. Indeed Mogo does not socialize, for if he were to assemble alongside his fellow Lanterns on the Guardians’ homeworld of Oa, his gravitational field would rip the planet apart. Upon Oa’s destruction, however, Mogo became the Corps’ new home.
 

Kilowog

The drill sergeant of the Green Lantern Corps, responsible for training new recruits in the use of their power rings, Kilowog first appeared in April 1986’s Green Lantern Corps #201 (written by Steve Englehart and penciled by Joe Staton). A gruff, tough giant resembling a pig crossed with a bulldog, Kilowog was a scientist from the now destroyed planet Bolovax Vik in Space Sector 674. Fond of calling his trainees “poozers” when they underperform, Kilowog is nonetheless beloved by the Corps, and briefly became a celebrity on Earth when his fellow Lanterns relocated there. 
 

Soranik Natu

Though numerous female Green Lanterns preceded her—chief among them the purple-skinned Katma Tui of Korugar (who trained and then married John Stewart) and the elvish Arisia Rrab of Graxos IV—Dr. Soranik Natu was the most complex, fully-realized woman in the Corps at the time of her introduction in September 2005’s Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #1 (written by Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons, penciled by Patrick Gleason). A neurosurgeon from Korugar, Soranik was initially reluctant to join the Corps given how her planet’s own Lantern Sinestro used his power to subjugate her world. However, she eventually came to respect the Corps and succeeded Katma Tui as the Green Lantern of Sector 1417. Her Hippocratic oath has sometimes come into conflict with her Green Lantern oath, and her life grew ever more complicated when she learned Sinestro was her father. But Soranik’s dimensionality paved the way for later female Lanterns like Jessica Cruz and Far Sector’s Jo Mullein.
 

Lanterns, starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.

Joseph McCabe writes about comics, film and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Instagram at @joe_mccabe_editor.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joseph McCabe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.