Call me Frank Laminski. For one brief, shining moment, I thought I was big-time. Taking the Flaming Spear [jet] to mach four. Thousands of feet above the desert. But I made the one mistake no pilot should ever make. I felt fear. And then... my life changed. I saw my future. I saw what I wanted to be. The Green Lantern. 
- — Frank Laminski src
Frank Laminski is the Phantom Lantern, a powerful villain of all the Lantern Corps. With his Phantom Ring, he can channel all colors on the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum.
History
Frank Laminski grew up in a life where he was never noticed or appreciated as anything special, he felt unappreciated and completely average. He then decided to join the Air Force to gain a sense of purpose, but still went unnoticed. Soon after he overheard a conversation from his commanding officer's regarding who will test drive a new concept jet, The Flaming Spear. The commanding officer agreed to let Frank test drive it, but he pushed the jet to its limits, and as a result the engines failed. As Frank was crashing, Hal Jordan (who just received his Green Lantern ring) saved him. After he reported his crash, he was grounded, and not allowed to fly ever again in the Air Force, but he did not care about his military career anymore, the only thing he wanted in life was to be a Green Lantern.
Frank soon left the Air Force and dedicated his life to training (both mental and physical) with the hope that whoever gave Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) his ring, would see his dedication and training and give him one as well. He tried this for years and years, all the while tracking every appearance of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and learned as much as he could about the Green Lantern Ring. As more time passed he watched as a new Green Lantern was chosen, then another, and then a third. However, Frank did not give up hope, and pushed himself even further, often times taking the most dangerous of jobs such as becoming a security guard in Arkham Asylum, and also honing in his firearm skills, learning as much as he could by reading various literature, etc.
Just about when he was going to give up all hope, a Green Lantern Ring bursted through his window, speaking the words: "Frank Laminski of Earth. You have the ability to overcome great fear. You have been chosen. Welcome to the Green Lantern Co-- Error. Welcome to th-- Error. Malfunction detected. Recalibrating. Rescanning. Frank Laminski. You do not have the ability to overcome great fear. You have not been chosen. Correct candidate located. Charting course: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." The ring then zoomed away and found a new host in Simon Baz.
It was then after that moment that Frank gave up all hope and fell into deep depression. But just when all hope was lost, Frank returned to his apartment after a long day to find a mysterious hooded figure in his room. The figure told him that he was watching him and tracking his movements for quite some time. This figure then told Frank of a certain ring that did not need to choose its wearer, but one that anybody could use: the Phantom Ring. Frank asked who this figure is, so he removed his cloak to reveal himself to be none other than Volthoom, the First Lantern.[1]
Soon after, Frank followed the advice of Volthoom and travels to the location of the two current Green Lanterns of Earth, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, who just so happened to be protecting the exiled Guardian of the Universe, Rami, the creator of Phantom Ring. He distracted them by setting a house on fire across the neighborhood, and in the distraction he sneaked into the house, took the ring, and became the Phantom Lantern, but due to the nature of the ring, it took the form of the ring that is connected to the emotion he is the strongest in at the moment, in this case willpower, and he becomes a pseudo Green Lantern.[2]
He then bursted out of the house, and rushed away to "go make a difference in the world", and that was what he does. He went and rescued cats from trees, stopped forest fires, and rescued a kid from an oncoming tornado. It was soon after the tornado was nullified by Frank that both Simon and Jessica arrived and confronted him, telling him he was not "a real Green Lantern". He became infuriated with the two of them and began to glow red with the power of the Red Lanterns, but soon turned his mind to how it was his right to be a Green Lantern, and as a result, he exploded with a bright orange light, becoming a pseudo Orange Lantern.[3]
He then stormed off, raced back to Volthoom for help, and started experiencing multiple emotions at once (fear, anger, and greed) and as a result became a pseudo Yellow Lantern, Red Lantern, Orange Lantern respectively in rapid succession. He then maintained his composure and control, and became a "Green Lantern" once again. He then rushed back to Simon and Jessica for one final confrontation.[4]
Frank appeared before the two Green Lanterns, but due to his increasing emotional instability, he shifted between fear (yellow), rage (red), hope (blue), fear (yellow) again, orange (greed), and fear (yellow) for a final time[5], then to finally ended up feeling compassion (indigo) and as a result, became a pseudo "Indigo Lantern". His compassion became so great that he felt the urge to remove the ring, and indeed did that very thing. After he took the ring off, he came to his senses and before he can put his ring back on, Simon shoved him and took the Phantom Ring, to then pass it to Jessica Cruz.
Frank was then knocked out, tied up, and beaten. Simon and Jessica called in a favor from Cyborg and had the Justice League relocate and hold him in one of the Watchtower holding cells.[6]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Weaknesses
- Power Instability: Phantom Ring can change its emotion spectrum power source whenever the user feels even the slightest emotion, changing their personality entirely to match that emotion and its perspective power source. It also is not powered by a battery, but instead has direct exposure to the entire Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum, and prolonged exposure can cause the user to explode like a bomb.
Other Characteristics
Paraphernalia
Weapons
- Phantom Ring (Formerly)
- Red Energy Conduit
- Orange Energy Conduit
- Yellow Energy Conduit
- Green Energy Conduit
- Blue Energy Conduit
- Indigo Energy Conduit
- Violet Energy Conduit
- Energy Construct Creation[2]
- Energy Projection
- Flight[2]
Oath
"In Desperate Day, In Hopeless Night,
The Phantom Ring is our last light.
We yearn for power, strength and might
I seize the ring, that is my right!"
Related
- 7 Appearances of Frank Laminski (Prime Earth)
- 9 Images featuring Frank Laminski (Prime Earth)
- 4 Quotations by or about Frank Laminski (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Frank Laminski (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
  This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Green Lantern of Earth, or the Green Lantern Corps as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Green Lantern Villains." |
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