Alan Wellington Ladd-Scott is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, and the first character to bear the name Green Lantern. He fights evil with the aid of his mystical ring, which grants him a variety of powers. He was created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger, first appearing in the comic book All-American Comics #16, published on July 10, 1940.
Alan Scott was created after Nodell became inspired by the characters from Greek, Norse, and Middle Eastern myths and tales, including Aladdin from One Thousand and One Nights, and sought to create a popular entertainment character who fought evil with the aid of a magic ring that grants him various supernatural powers. After debuting in All-American Comics, Alan Scott soon became popular enough to sustain his own comic book, Green Lantern. Around this time, DC also began experimenting with fictional crossovers between its characters, leading towards a shared universe of characters. As one of the publisher's most popular heroes, Alan became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, one of the first such teams of "mystery men" or superheroes in comic books.
Following World War II, the character's popularity faded along with the decline of the Golden Age of Comic Books, leading to cancellation. After eight years out of print, DC reinvented Green Lantern as science fiction hero Hal Jordan in 1959. Later, DC revisited Alan Scott, establishing that he and Hal existed on Earth-Two and Earth-One respectively. Later stories set on Earth-Two depicted Alan becoming the father to the superheroes Obsidian and Jade, each with powers somewhat like his own, through Alan's first wife Rose Canton. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity reboot, Earth-Two is destroyed, and Alan is transported to the main universe.
In 2011, "The New 52" introduced a new Multiverse, depicting a young Earth-2 version of the character who was an out gay man. The "original" version of Alan is brought back into the mainstream continuity following the 2016 "DC Rebirth" initiative, and comes out in 2020 to his children as gay, retroactively establishing this incarnation as the first gay superhero.
Contents
Publication history
The original Green Lantern was created by an American artist named Martin Nodell. Nodell mentions Richard Wagner's opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung and the sight of a trainman's green railway lantern as his inspiration. After seeing this opera, Nodell sought to create a superhero who wielded a variety of magical powers from a magic ring, which he regularly recharged from a green lantern. Nodell wanted a colorful and interesting costume for his character, deriving from elements of Greek mythology. As Nodell recalled in an undated, latter-day interview,
When I sent it in, I waited into the second week before I heard the word to come in. I was ushered into Mr. [Max] Gaines' office, publisher, and after sitting a long time and flipping through the pages of my presentation, he announced, "We like it!" And then, "Get to work!" I did the first five pages of an eight-page story, and then they called in Bill Finger to help. We worked on it for seven years [through 1947].
Originally the character was to be named Alan Ladd which was a portmanteaux of Aladdin, but was changed to Alan Scott to avoid confusion with the real-life actor of the same name.
The character of Alan Scott made his debut in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), fighting crime under the masked identity of "Green Lantern". He also appeared as part of the superhero team Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940). He served as the team's second chairman in #7, but departed following that issue and returned a few years later, remaining a regular character. His villains tended to be ordinary humans, but he did have a few paranormal ones, such as the immortal Vandal Savage and the zombie Solomon Grundy. Green Lantern proved popular and was given his own series, Green Lantern, later that year. Most of his adventures were set in New York.
In 1941, Alan Scott was paired with a sidekick named Doiby Dickles, a rotund Brooklyn taxi driver, who would appear on a regular basis until 1949. In 1948, Alan also got a canine sidekick named Streak. The dog proved so popular that he starred in his own solo side-stories, even appearing on the cover without the title hero multiple times.
After World War II, superheroes declined in popularity. Green Lantern was cancelled in 1949 after 38 issues and All-American Comics dropped superheroes in favor of westerns. Alan Scott's final Golden Age appearance was in All-Star Comics #57 (1951). He remained out of publication for 12 years, and after his revival he did not get another solo series until 2023.
Fictional character biography
Golden and Silver Ages
Thousands of years ago, a mystical "green flame" fell to Earth in ancient China as a meteor. A voice in the flame predicted that it would act three times: once to bring death, once to bring life, and once to bring power. For the first prophecy, a lamp-maker crafted the green metal of the meteor into a lamp. In fear and as punishment for what they thought sacrilege, the local villagers killed him, only to be destroyed by a sudden burst of the green flame. For the second, in modern times, the lamp came into the hands of a patient of a mental institution who fashioned the lamp into a modern train lantern. The green flame restored his sanity and gave him a new life. For the third, by 1940, after having already fulfilled the first two-thirds of this prophecy, the lantern fashioned from the meteoric metal fell into the hands of Alan Scott, a young railroad engineer. Following a railroad bridge collapse, the flame instructs Scott in how to fashion a ring from its metal, to give him fantastic powers as the superhero Green Lantern. He adopts a colorful costume of red, purple, brown, yellow, and green. He becomes a crimefighter in his first adventure, defeating the crooks who caused the accident. He also discovers his powers' weakness to wood when he is bludgeoned with a club. Alan is a founding member of the Justice Society of America, and is its second chairman.
Scott uses his ring to fly, walk through solid objects by "moving through the fourth dimension", paralyze or blind people temporarily, hypnotize them, create rays of energy, melt metal as with a blowtorch, and cause dangerous objects to glow, among other things. It could also allow him and others to time travel. Occasionally, he uses it to read minds or create solid objects and force fields in the manner usually associated with fellow Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. His ring could protect him against any object made of metal, but would not protect him against any wood- or plant-based objects.
During the 1940s, Green Lantern seemed to alternate between serious adventure, particularly when Solomon Grundy, his nemesis, appeared and light comedy, usually involving his sidekick, Doiby Dickles. Toward the end of his Golden Age adventures, he got a sidekick and companion pet in Streak the Wonder Dog – a heroic canine in the mold of Rin-Tin-Tin and Lassie – who was later retconned as a member of the Space Canine Patrol Agents, and the Legion of Super-Pets.
In All-American Comics #38, it's revealed his middle name is Wellington.
Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special (1986) one-shot tells how Adolf Hitler caused a massive wave of destructive energy to erupt over the post-Crisis Earth in 1945. Scott and the JSA, fresh from burying their Earth-Two comrades Robin and Huntress, enter into a limbo dimension to fight an eternally recurring Ragnarok.
Green Lantern (vol. 3) #19 attempted to retcon Alan Scott's origin and power ring to accommodate the changes made by Crisis on Infinite Earths. In this story, Alan's ring originally belonged to a Green Lantern named Yalan Gur, who was so favored by the Guardians of the Universe that they removed the yellow impurity from his ring (which the Guardians deliberately placed in all the GL rings to limit their power and could be removed at their discretion). However, Yalan Gur abused his power and interfered with the inhabitants of ancient China. The Guardians then substituted a weakness for wood that allowed the local peasants to successfully attack and mortally wound Yalan with simple wooden clubs. Yalan flew into the sky and raged against the Guardians. His body burned in the atmosphere, becoming the green metallic meteorite that ultimately became Alan Scott's lantern. Yalan's spirit also possessed the metal, promising death in his rage and life when he realized his mistakes (the first two prophecies of the green metal, which were fulfilled). When Alan received the lantern, the spirit directed Alan to create the power ring and persona of Green Lantern, complete with the ring's weakness to wood.
Through the machinations of Waverider, the JSA teammates are able to leave Limbo and begin living in the Post-Crisis Earth they had fought to save. The miniseries is followed by Justice Society of America (1992–1993), which shows how Alan Scott adjusts to his new world. In the short-lived series, the JSA fight the newest incarnation of the Ultra-Humanite as well as Pol St. Germain and Kulak the Sorcerer. Scott reconnects with his wife and children, stating in issue #1 that Molly "is pretty much handling things at the company..." and that Jade and Obsidian "... are fine off doing their own thing in Hollywood. Not too interested in being super-heroes." The series ends with issue #10, not with the team disbanding, but with the members gathering together at their first formal meeting after returning home.
Alan follows Guy Gardner and a small group of heroes to investigate a mysterious distress from Oa, only to be defeated by Hal Jordan, who now calls himself Parallax, having been driven mad after the destruction of his home, Coast City. After the confrontation, Alan discovers that an artist, Kyle Rayner, inherits the remaining Green Lantern ring. After meeting the young hero, he informs him of the situations with Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. During the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! event, Alan witnesses the villain Extant incapacitate and kill several of his JSA teammates. After suffering defeat by the villain, Alan gives Kyle his original ring, passing the name "Green Lantern" to him. Alan's ring was later destroyed by Parallax.
DC Universe and The New Golden Age
In Doomsday Clock, Johnny Thunder finds Alan Scott's Green Lantern power battery in a steel mill. After he and Saturn Girl save Thunder from some junkies, Rorschach (Reggie Long) asks Thunder what the lantern is. Later, it is revealed that Doctor Manhattan prevented Scott from becoming Green Lantern, preventing the Justice Society from forming. However, Manhattan eventually restores the timeline and Scott's existence.
In Dark Nights: Death Metal, Alan Scott helps battle Perpetua and the Darkest Knight. Following this, he reunites with Jade and Obsidian and comes out as gay. He is invited to join the Totality, a team of superheroes and villains dedicated to protecting Earth.
In "The New Golden Age", Scott is revealed to have a Russian counterpart in Red Lantern, who he fought on occasion and had a truce with when Nazis threatened both North America and Russia.
In Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, Alan's early history is again rebooted, filled out with new retroactive continuity. In 1936, Alan was in a secret romantic relationship with fellow engineer Johnny Ladd, with both working on a secret government project related to the Crimson Flame. However, Johnny is seemingly killed when the Crimson Flame attacks their ship and snatches Johnny. Once Alan's superiors realize he was in a relationship with Johnny, they force him to check into Arkham Asylum to undergo conversion therapy. However, he eventually escapes, becomes an engineer again, and hooks up with a string of lovers including Robbie and Jimmy. When Alan and Jimmy land a lucrative engineering project, Alan's rival Albert Dekker attempts to kill him, causing a train crash that kills Jimmy and activates Alan's Green Lantern powers. By 1941, Alan has been predominately working solo as a Green Lantern, with the support of his best friend Doiby Dickles. However, J. Edgar Hoover blackmails him into being an more active member of the JSA, or else he will publicly expose his sexuality. While Alan reluctantly works with the JSA, he gets involved in a case where he realizes he is being framed for murder, with the targets being his former lovers and friends.
Powers, abilities, and equipment
Alan Scott originally wields an ancient ring that can produce a variety of effects. The extent of his ring's ability has never been rigorously defined, but its effects are accompanied by a green light and cannot directly affect wooden materials.
In Scott's first appearance, his body would glow green whenever he utilized this power, including passing through walls or flying. During his later appearances, he projects a greenish laser beam from his ring capable of doing many things, such as lifting objects, manipulating metals, hypnotizing people, traveling through spacetime, or rewriting reality itself. This ring makes him invulnerable to non-wooden weapons. He conjures up solid-light objects in any size or shape, referred to as "constructs". These constructs are always pure green in color and vanish as soon as he stops concentrating on them. Scott controls the objects telekinetically.
At the start of numerous stories, he charges his ring by touching it to a Starheart Lantern, which will give him full energy for 24 hours (until how heavily it runs out).
In the Starheart storyline, his constructs were now wreathed in green flames, thus highlighting their magical (but not technological) nature. He physically merged with his lantern and no longer needs to recharge like Hal Jordan does.
After battling Ian Karkull, a unique form of radiation from the Shadowlands he was bathed in granted him eternal youth.
Before he became a superhero, Scott possesses expertise in acting, business and economics, engineering, electrical engineering, investigative journalism and martial combat.
Other versions
Earth 2
Alan Scott was reintroduced in issue 1 of Earth 2 as the head of GBC productions on Earth 2 (a parallel world within the DC Multiverse). This version of Green Lantern is associated with the Green, a mystical force connecting all botanical life on Earth. On June 1, 2012, DC announced that Scott would be depicted as gay. In issue 3, Scott is revealed to have a boyfriend named Sam Zhao, to whom he intends to propose while on vacation in China. Before Scott can do so, the train on which he and Sam are traveling is suddenly wrecked. A mysterious green flame protects Scott and heals him; a disembodied voice informs him that the crash was caused by a force that threatens the whole world, and that Sam did not survive. The grief-stricken Scott is then told that he will be given the power to avenge his love and protect the world. The flame creates a costume for him, and molds Sam's engagement ring into a power ring with which Scott can harness his power. Reborn as the Green Lantern, Scott proceeds to help the other survivors and swears vengeance for Sam. In the present, he gains an enemy in Solomon Grundy who is an avatar of the Grey. The battle continues until Scott exiles Grundy to the moon where neither he nor the "Grey" can do any damage.
Following a fight with Solomon Grundy, the Parliaments end their feud and instruct Scott, Sam Zhao, Grundy, the Clear's avatar Azathoth, and the Red's avatar Yolanda Montez to combat an invasion from Apokolips. When Apokolips starts to approach Earth 2, the Parliaments advise their representatives to join forces and fight this threat. While in Earth's orbit, Solomon Grundy, Azathoth, and Sam Zhao sacrifice themselves to give Scott their power and allow him to stop Apokolips. Following a disastrous fight with Darkseid, Alan encounters Sam's spirit, who reveals that he has become the avatar of the White. He has been assisting the Parliaments to ease Scott's transition into realizing his full potential as the last champion of Earth and to embody its primordial essences at the cost of losing his memories of Sam.
Kingdom Come
In the Kingdom Come limited series by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, Alan Scott is the only Green Lantern on Earth. He lives in an orbital space station called New Oa from which he protects Earth from alien attacks, and has ceased to meddle in human affairs. When Superman comes out of retirement, he joins the Justice League to help suppress the rogue superhumans that are causing chaos throughout the world. After the crisis is resolved, Scott joins the United Nations as the ambassador of New Oa. Scott's costume in this series was styled after the full plate armor of medieval knights. In the regular books, he has sported this armor on several occasions when he uses high amounts of power.
In other media
Television
Scott Mason / Green Guardsman, a character based on Alan Scott appears in the Justice League two-part episode "Legends", voiced by William Katt. He is a member of the Justice Guild of America, a superhero team from another universe who exist as comic characters in the "prime" universe, and died in a nuclear war. He also wields a power ring similar to those used by the Green Lantern Corps, though he cannot affect aluminium.
Alan Scott appears in the Smallville two-part episode "Absolute Justice", portrayed by Doug Pinton. This version operated as a superhero, member of the Justice Society of America (JSA), and served as the CEO of an unnamed broadcasting company in the 1970s before he was arrested for fraud by the government, who intended to eliminate the JSA. Scott and the other members tried to take the blame for several crimes, though they were never convicted. As the law was now aware of his superhero identity, Scott retired from heroics. His ring and battery were later stored in the museum that the JSA used as their headquarters.
Alan Scott appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Crisis: 22,300 Miles Above Earth!", voiced by Corey Burton. This version is an aged member of the Justice Society of America.
Alan Scott makes a non-speaking appearance in the Young Justice episode "Humanity" as a member of the Justice Society of America.
Alan Scott appears in the Stargirl pilot episode, portrayed by an uncredited actor. This version was a member of the Justice Society of America before being killed by the Injustice Society a decade prior. While his ring disappeared, Courtney Whitmore recovers his powerless battery in the present in the hopes of finding someone to succeed him during the first season. Scott's children, Jennie-Lynn Hayden and Todd Rice (portrayed by Ysa Penarejo and Tim Gabriel respectively), and ring appear in the second and third seasons.
Film
Alan Scott makes a cameo appearance in the opening credits of Justice League: The New Frontier, wherein he is forced out of heroics by the government.
Video games
Alan Scott appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Jason Phelps.
Alan Scott appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.
Miscellaneous
Alan Scott appears in the Sleepers trilogy, created by Mike Baron and written by Christopher Priest.
Alan Scott appears in Adventures in the DC Universe #4.
Alan Scott makes a cameo appearance in Justice League Adventures #20.
Alan Scott appears in Justice League Unlimited #40.
Merchandise
In 2010, a figure of Alan Scott was released in Wave 14 of Mattel's DC Universe Classics toyline.
In 2023, McFarlane Toys created a figure of Alan Scott for their DC Multiverse line inspired by his appearance in Day of Vengeance.
Collected editions
Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Vol. 1 (Green Lantern Vol. 1 #1 and All-American Comics #16–30)
Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Vol. 2 (Green Lantern Vol. 1 #2–3 and All-American Comics #31–38)
JSA Presents: Green Lantern (Green Lantern: Brightest Day, Blackest Night (one-shot); JSA: Classified #25, #32–33)
Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups Vol. 1 (Green Lantern Vol. 2 #40)
Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups Vol. 2 (Green Lantern Vol. 2 #45, 52)