Kyle Rayner Becomes Ion

Key figures

The story

For years, Kyle Rayner had been the last Green Lantern — the Torchbearer who kept the flame alive after the Corps fell. But his power kept growing beyond what any ring was meant to hold. After his victory over Oblivion, a villain born from his own subconscious, Kyle absorbed the full might of the Green Lantern Corps itself.

He took a new name: Ion. As Ion, Kyle wielded godlike command over space and time — existing in multiple places at once, reshaping reality with a thought. He was no longer just a Lantern; he was willpower given form. But omnipotence proved a heavier burden than any ring, and Kyle would learn that even gods answer to something.

Kyle first became Ion in Green Lantern vol. 3 #145 (February 2002), by Judd Winick and Dale Eaglesham. Years later, the Sinestro Corps Special (2007) revealed the deeper truth: Ion is the living embodiment of willpower itself — the green emotional entity, just as Parallax is the embodiment of fear.

A later Kyle Rayner cover illustration accompanying the Ion history; it does not depict his original transformation. Brandon Peterson (cover pencils, inks and colors). Artwork source & details.

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