So, Who Would Win?: Parallax VS. Dark Phoenix

TGIT!!!!!

Welcome to another exciting edition of So, Who Would?, well it's exciting to me anyways.
Today, I'm pitting two god-like but very evil, dark personas of two well-known super-heroes, Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Jean Grey, against each other in mortal combat.


No not that mortal combat, but it'll escalate to a bloody fatality for one of these cosmic entities anyways.



If you didn't know already, Parallax was what happened when DC decided to  make changes to good ol' Hal Jordan seeing as how sales were really low back in '93. So they decided to make Hal evil, and thus Parallax was born when Hal, after defeating and killing most of the GLC due to suffering an understandable nervous mental breakdown after losing his beloved home of Coast City, stepped into the main GL power battery, and absorbed its powers, becoming the very powerful and evil Parallax.

And thus was the status of Hal. Eventually he was redeemed, and died after restarting the sun for the DCU in Final Night.

But his story doesn't end there,

Nope writer Geoff Johns wanted Hal back, and back he was after the events of GL: Rebirth, that ret -conned the whole Parallax thing into Hal being possessed by an evil cosmic entity calling itself Parallax. Yes, a cosmic fear entity, 'cause you know, comics.

Parallax has all of the powers of the Green Lantern ring, just amped to even more incredible levels.


Then we have his battle-buddy for this week, the Dark Phoenix.

The Dark Phoenix came about as a cosmic entity that secretly saved Jean Grey's live when she sacrificed herself to save her teammates from certain death. Phoenix took her place and placed her in a protective cocoon to heal form radiation poisoning. It was then that Phoenix convinced itself it really WAS Jean Grey, and acted as such. eventually, the Phoenix proved to be unhinged, and after being mentally manipulated by Mastermind, became evil and started referring to itself as the Dark Phoenix.

Eventually things when south for the X-Men quick, and despite their efforts and the Phoenix's the entity couldn't be controlled. After the Sh'iar abducted the X-Men in an attempt to deal with the whole killer entity bit, "Jean" decided to commit suicide in order to spare the lives of her teammates and the entire universe.

Thus the Phoenix was freed.....until it came back to posses other hosts over the years. Never permanently dying, but always returning like it's namesake.
As for her powers, she's a cosmic entity that can drain and destroy whole planets and galaxies. And that's just a portion of what she can do. Throw in the abilities of the original Jean Grey she can duplicate, and you can see where Dark Phoenix is an unstoppable opponent for anyone.

And now I'm forcing these two massively powerful entities to do battle against each other.
Why? Just 'cause....

We can say they became aware of each other's existence and thought maybe the other could be the only other entity to stop them from carrying out their personal desires, and also wanted to gain even more powerful by absorbing the others' powers and life energies.

Sounds as good a reason as any to me.


So,


Parallax











VS.

Dark Phoenix







Who wins and why?
Let me know who you think's the last evil persona standing  in the comments' section below.

Back-Issue Spotlight:Green Lantern#0

Yep, it's Friday, and today I was bored and figured what the hell. So here's this week's edition of Back-Issue Spotlight after all, with today's pick being one of my favorite Issue Zero's to come out of Zero Hour back in '94: Green Lantern#0.

This issue, unlike some of the others that were just included as a cheap gimmick to boast sales, actually matters since it follows directly after the conclusion of Zero Hour.

If you remember that far back, After Parallax/Hal get shot right in the fucking chest by lifelong buddy Green Arrow, him and Kyle are basically locked out of time when Waverider reboots the universe.

Well this issue opens up with both spiraling outside of time, until Parallax is able to latch onto Waverider's signal, and they both land on Oa, home of he then very dead Guardians.

Parallax/Hal wants to recharge, and decides the best way to do that is by sucking up the remaining residual energy that's still floating around Oa.

It doesn't work out though, since Hal realizes he needs a ring to tap into the energies. Kyle bravely fights all the way, trying his best to keep him from achieving his twisted goals.

They keep fighting until Hal breaks down, after seeing Kilowog skull. They then start talking about just how hard it is being a Green Lantern, with Kyle bringing up his dead girlfriend Alex, and how much he still missed her.

Hal actually convinces Kyle to give him his GL ring and let him be Green Lantern again. Kyle does, saying "Yeah well, probably bound to happen sooner or later." 

Try 10 more years later there Kyle.

Hal gets his old ring back, and goes back to trying to tap the energies in Oa. This prompts Kyle to have a sudden change of heart, and then the shit is back on, but this time Kyle's powerless.

Hal chases Kyle through a crypt/mausoleum for dead Lanterns which is creepily illustrated by Daryl Banks, where Kyle dumps a dead Lantern onto Hal, pinning to the ground. Kyle quickly grabs his ring back, and the shit is back on.

But rather then go back to Rocky and Apollo Creed round 74, Kyle quickly and smartly, decides to blow up Oa so Parallax/Hal can't steal those remaining residual energies.

Oa goes boom, and both of them look like they didn't make it. Except when we see Kyle emerge unscathed from the gigantic blast.

Writer Ron Marz(speaking through Kyle) goes on to make a point to say Kyle's the new Green Lantern now, and that's how things are going be for the near future, so deal with it old school Hal fans. Or something like that;)

I remember at the time having mixed reactions to what DC did with Hal, with his heel turn and all.

On one side it was interesting and was a much needed boast to sales, plus Kyle was, and still is, pretty likable. 

But on the other hand, it was the way they replaced Hal that most likely was(and could still be) a source of anger and hate towards Kyle. Marz tried his best to flesh out a believable explanation for a very shitty editorial-mandated decision. I think he did okay with what he had to work with, justifying Hal's actions as being tired of the Guardians being dicks to him despite his unwavering loyalty and then with the utter and complete destruction of his home town, Coast City.

It wasn't too far-fetched, but again, it was ultimately the way it was done that just left a bad taste in everyone's mouths.

But of course all is well again, and Hal's back again, even with the introduction of a brand new Green Lantern in Simon Baz. So far so good on how Johns' handled him, and with a new creative team taking over, hopefully that will continue.

Hey, like I said, how a good weekend people;)