The Black Lantern Corps consisted of various slain and deceased beings throughout the universe who fell into the domain of the dead. There, they were used by the Lord of the Unliving, Nekron as part of a plan to wage a war against the Emotional Spectrum. The Blackest Night Prophecy spoken by Qull of the Five Inversions foretold of The Blackest Night where the enemies of the Guardians of the Universe would rise up against them and destroy their great work. Abin Sur attempted to stop the prophecy from coming to pass and took the demon Atrocitus to Earth in order to find the bearer of "The Black". Though Sur died, Atrocitus managed to discover William Hand and sought to claim the power he would unleash but the red skinned alien was defeated by Hal Jordan and Sinestro. This allowed William Hand to escape and allow the creation of the Black Lantern Corps in the future.
Abilities
* Reanimation: Upon being inducted into the Black Lantern Corps, dead people are restored to a fully functional state. Even if they keep the semblance of a dead, shambling corpse, Black Lantern members are resurrected with the same abilities and powers they had in life, and the same level of intelligence, though their mindset is warped by a deepening belief in death. They, however, don't possess a soul anymore, as shown by the co-existance of the soulless Black Lantern Boston Brand and his disembodied spirit, the superhero Deadman: Ray Palmer, known as The Atom explains that as the Black Ring merely instilling in dead, reanimated corpses the memories pertaining to their former lives, without actually restoring their souls and emotions, for maximizing their abilities to elicit emotions into their former faimilies and peers;
* Healing Factor/Regeneration: No matter how much damage a Black Lantern sustains, the Black Ring will always restore it to a fully functional state, in a time directly proportionated to the punishment taken by the Corpse. Since the Black Rings bond with the corpse they're reanimating, there's no way to destroy a Black Lantern until the combination of two or more lights of the emotional spectrum shine on them: when that happens, the connection is disrupted and the Black Lantern loses his/her regenerative capabilities.
* Energy Spectrum Assimilation: Upon killing individuals feeling strong emotions, the Black Lanterns can forcibly extract their hearts and siphon away their last feeling recharging the Central Battery on their home planet. A Black Lantern power ring is charged by .01 percent for every heart collected by the bearer.
* Aura Recognition: To aid in their assimilation the Black Lantern can see what's the prevalent feeling of their opponent. When the feelings reaches their maximum point, they can see a colored aura, shining with one or more of the seven Emotional Spectrum colours. When that happens, their opponents hearts are ripe for assimilation. As a notable exception, Black Lanterns are unable to perceive the emotions of the superheroine Dove, as they can't rise her namesake and predecessor.
* Infection: The bites from a Black Lantern were capable of imparting an infection that slowly killed the victim and thus turned them into a new member of the Black Lantern Corps.
Weakness
* Black Lantern power rings are apparently unable to resurrect an individual who died in a state of peace with themselves, such as the original Dove, Don Hall. They similarly can't steal the hearts of people able to balance their emotions in a peaceful white aura, as with the second Dove. Although their rings will rebuild their bodies when damaged, a strong amount of punishment can slow them down.
* Black Lanterns are apparently unable to harm an individual who feels no emotion at all, such as Jonathan Crane.
* The light of two or more different power ring can distrupt their powers: it's surmised that the combined light of the Seven Emotions, by restoring the original White Light of Creation can exstinguish darkness and bring on the end of the Black.
Additional Notes
* The Anti-Monitor, Powers the Central Power Battery but is not an official member because it is kept prisoner inside the Central Power Battery as its energy source.
* The Former Guardians of the Universe member, Scar, is a member of the Black Lantern Corps, and the official Guardian of the Black Lantern Corps. However unlike the Guardians of the Universe who are the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, even with Scar's rank as Guardian, she is not the leader of the Black Lantern Corps; the leader is Nekron, Lord of the Unliving.
* The first two members of the Black Lantern Corps were Superman (Kal-L) and The Martian Manhunter. * Later Confirmed Members of the Black Lantern Corps were Aquaman (Arthur Curry) and Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond).
* When a dead person is made a Black Lantern, the ring commands them to rise. But when someone living who was ressurected is made a Lantern, they are commanded to die. Resurrected Black Lanterns also appear much less like corpses than other Lanterns.
Symbol
* The symbol on the Black Lantern Power Ring is the same that was worn by the villain Black Hand, and he has been confirmed to be the Embodiment of Death (Scar being its Guardian, and Nekron being its leader.
