The Cosmic Divining Rod is a device created by William Hand, the criminal known as Black Hand.
History
A result of his inventive genuis, the diving rod was capable of draining the power ring of the Green Lantern. It was also capable of locating the power ring's energy signature, homing in on residual energy.
Post-Infinite Crisis
The Cosmic Divining Rod was an arcane device originally created by Atrocitus of the Five Inversions after he was taken from the tomb world of Ysmault by Abin Sur in order to find the host of "the Black" who would bring about the Blackest Night Prophecy. However, Atrocitus's prophecies regarding Abin Sur's own death allowed fear to enter into the Ungarans mind thus weakening his own Lantern Energy Constructs which gave the demon the chance to free himself and flee onto Earth where The Blackest Night was said to start. The demon later determined that the person he sought was William Hand and intended to steal the power within him so it could be used to help Atrocitus bring about his vengeance against the Guardians of the Universe for their part in the Massacre of Sector 666.
To achieve that goal, Atrocitus broke into a hardware store where he disassembled the various primitive items and used them to create the Cosmic Divining Rod which was to be a vessel that would safely contain the power of the Black. The demon of the Five Inversions later attacked William Hand's home and attempted to steal the power hidden within him but was thwarted by the arrival of two members of the Green Lantern Corps,Sinestro and Hal Jordan. Despite their intervention, Atrocitus was able to deprive their Green Lantern Power Rings of energy by absorbing it into the Cosmic Divining Rod. However, the two Green Lanterns used Sinestro's Green Lantern Power Battery to charge up and fight their foe. During the skirmish, the Cosmic Divining Rod fell to the ground where a voice told William Hand to claim it after which he fled the battlefield with some motivation from Hal Jordan.
Black Hand
After taking the device, William Hand began a career as a supervillain known as Black Hand that often challenged one of his saviours namely Hal Jordan. Through the use of the Cosmic Divining Rod, he was able to drain the energy from Hal Jordan's Power Ring,on numerous occasions and even used the device to locate the ring's energy signature or homed in on residual energy. However, despite the advantage of the rod, he was constantly defeated throughout his criminal career. Eventually, the voice within his mind deprived him of sleep and made him delusional thus making him follow his mysterious benefactors instructions. This culminated in Hand returning to his family home where he killed every member of his family with the cosmic rod after which he turned the weapon to his own head and fired it seemingly killing him.
However, despite his death, he was quickly resurrected by Scar who regurgitated a Black Lantern Power Ring and told Black Hand that he was the embodiment of Death in the Emotional Spectrum; similar to the Parallax Entity and Predator Entity. This led to the first steps in the coming of the Blackest Night and the rise of the Black Lantern Corps.
See Also
- Appearances of Cosmic Divining Rod
- Item Gallery: Cosmic Divining Rod
- Images featuring Cosmic Divining Rod