Warning: contains spoilers for Future State: Suicide Squad #2!
Sinestro is one of Green Lantern’s greatest villains, but in DC’s Future State, he has become a major hero. In Future State: Suicide Squad #2 – from Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin – the Black Adam of the far, far future seeks allies for his quest against the Unkindness, and turns to the Quintessence for help. That’s when readers learn the group has seen some shake-ups in membership, and Sinestro is now a member, having become a protector of the universe he once tried to control.
The Quintessence consists of some of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe; some past members include Ganthet of the Guardians of the Universe, the wizard Shazam, the goddess Hera, and Highfather of New Genesis. The group’s initial iteration first appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross’ seminal Kingdom Come mini-series. They gather together in times of great universal (or multiversal) crisis; for instance, they recently watched as the Source Wall fell and Perpetua entered the DC Universe, assisting the Justice League in fighting her. Being in the Quintessence implies a character not only possesses god-like powers but is also of incredible moral character, which makes Sinestro’s membership surprising!
In the 853rd century, Black Adam is on a crusade of vengeance against the Unkindess, an evil force cutting a path of destruction across the universe. Traveling to the Tower of Fate (described as the “last bastion of magic”), Black Adam and his allies come face to face with the far future’s Quintessence. Barda has taken Highfather’s place and Hippolyta has joined as well, but the true shock is that Sinestro is not only a member, he is also described as the “last of the wielders of light.”
Sinestro, at least in the modern age, is a mass-murderer who created his own Sinestro Corps to spread his message of law through fear, and now he is all that is left of the wielders of light – a term obviously referring to the previously legion wielders of the Emotional Spectrum. He has mended his ways enough to be welcomed into the Quintessence, suggesting the responsibility of being the last Light Wielder has changed him for the better. Before he lost his way, Sinestro was regarded as a great hero, one of the greatest Green Lanterns ever, so there is precedent for a heroic turn. But it is worth noting that Sinestro, even as a member of the Quintessence, still floats above everyone else – has he truly given up his evil ways?
Bearing a partially obscured Sinestro Corps symbol and the colors of a fear-based Yellow Lantern, it seems that Sinestro has evolved into someone the universe truly values without necessarily abandoning every aspect of his past. Future State has provided some truly shocking new status quos to beloved DC characters, but seeing Green Lantern‘s fascistic nemesis not just as one of the universe’s most powerful heroes, but one of its chief protectors in the Quintessence, is perhaps the most shocking of all. It’s a story that suggests that, as Hal Jordan has long believed, Sinesto still has some good in him, but also one that speaks to the ambition that has always driven him back to evil in the past.
