Overview

A large part of the DC Universe are the Lantern Corps. Their lore is massive, and their spacefaring adventure stories reach all corners of the universe. Lantern-verse villains are typically very powerful due to the cosmic setting, and the stakes in these stories have major effects on the rest of the DCU. An argument can be made for Volthoom being the most relevant villain in terms of the history and mechanics of the Lantern Corps, due solely to the fact that he is the first creature in the Multiverse to ever wield a Power Ring — and by proxy — he is the most powerful Lantern of all time.

The Acolyte of the Spectrum

There are different renditions of Volthoom's backstory in several of the comics that he took part in. But the most thorough and gripping recount was from none other than Volthoom himself in Green Lanterns (2016) #18. Volthoom chronicles (in a detailed lamentation to Nekron) his origin, motives, eventual downfall, and why all of those things contributed to his then-current desire to die.

• Green Lanterns #18 - Volthoom's Origin

There's a lot to unpack, but it's a very interesting story. Volthoom was born in the 31st Century on Earth-15. Him and his mother, with whom he shared a very close bond, were scientists that together discovered the Electromagnetic Emotional Spectrum. They invented the Travel Lantern, an experimental device engineered for "infinite exploration" and the travel of all time and space. Their planet was under attack by a being they referred to as Destroyer Pulsar. Volthoom's mother was caught under debris of a building, so Volthoom took the Travel Lantern to journey across the multiverse in order to find a way to save his home world from its untimely destruction.

He spent a lot of time learning how to use the Travel Lantern. Once he mastered the Emotional Spectrum and the Travel Lantern, he finally arrived at Earth-0 (the primary reality of the mainstream DCU) on the planet Maltus, 10 billion years in the past. The Maltusians, who would later be known as the Guardians of the Universe, were the perfect partners for Volthoom. But they abandoned emotion, and poured all of their's into a Lantern of their own creation, called the Great Heart. This event resulted in the creation of the first Power Ring. Volthoom forcibly took the Power Ring and was transformed into the First Lantern in the universe. He then teamed up with the Maltusians again, striking a deal that he'd help them perfect their technology and in return take the Power Ring home to save his planet. The Maltusians implanted the Great Heart into Volthoom which gave him a mainlined connection to the Emotional Spectrum. In Volthoom's own words, somewhere along the line he started "slipping", and the source of power began breaking him apart.

The details get fuzzy from that point on in Volthoom's own perspective. His friend Rami apparently lied to him and the Guardians destroyed his Travel Lantern in order to leave him stranded in that dimension. Because of that, Volthoom went on a ballistic rampage and murdered thousands of Guardians. He was souped up on his direct streamline to the Emotional Spectrum and the Power Ring. The Guardians created the Green Lanterns to stop him and stole his ring, before imprisoning him in the Chamber of Shadows for 10 billion years. After that comes the events that went down in the Wrath of the First Lantern story arc in the New 52.

The Guardians deemed the GLC a failure due to their emotions and free will, so they began siphoning power from Volthoom in order to create a race of beings known as the Third Army, who went on to assimilate most of the galaxy before being apprehended by rogue Lanterns. The Guardians got greedy, and weakened Volthoom's confinement in order to draw more power from him, which inadvertently led to his escape. Volthoom then emotionally abused several ring-bearers in order to regain his power and rewrite history to remake the universe.

He was only stopped after Black Lantern Hal Jordan removed the ES from him, de-powering him before Nekron struck the killing blow. However, while in the Dead Zone, Nekron revealed that his connection to the ES was too powerful and that he could never die so long as there exists light in the universe. (I think in this context it refers to the Emotional Spectrum).

So shortly after Volthoom returned to the mortal realm. He spurred on the events in the Phantom Lantern arc and even in his debilitated state easily defeated a Guardian.

That's pretty much it for his story. The other accounts support it, though there is one notable contradiction. The actual person who destroyed Earth-15, Volthoom's home planet, was officially recorded to be Superboy-Prime in the Multiversity guide.

Another very detailed account of the origin story was from Rami, Volthoom's close friend, and it takes place in Green Lanterns (2016) #26. Rami states that it was Volthoom himself who destroyed Earth-15.

This version made the most sense chronologically, considering the subsequent events. Volthoom snapped upon hearing that, thinking that Rami wanted the ring. Seeing his extremely volatile emotional state, the rest of the Guardians demanded the ring back from him, and he felt betrayed and went on a rampage killing them. Then Rami destroyed the Travel Lantern because he witnessed firsthand that Volthoom was indeed capable of destroying his planet. Rami then created the first seven Green Lantern rings from the shattered pieces of the Travel Lantern. He dispersed them into the universe and the Rings chose the first seven wielders that became the GLC, who stole the Power Ring from Volthoom and allowed him to be sealed.

As you can see, Volthoom is very powerful, even by lore alone. The fact that all the feats he completed in the Wrath of the First Lantern event were performed when he didn't have a Power Ring and was freshly drained/weakened by the Guardians after escaping imprisonment is something that shifts his first few feats into perspective. And then he slowly regained power and became strong enough to fight off all 7 Lantern Corps at the same time.

His powers and abilities include:

• Emotional Spectrum Manipulation - Volthoom is the Acolyte of the Spectrum and has direct access to the entirety of its power. As repeatedly stated, he posseses a profound connection to it, and additionally, Volthoom has showcased the ability to tap into all of it's colors and emotions simultaneously. Volthoom also feeds off of prominent emotions, and is an empath since he can sense the emotions and feelings of being and can tell which emotion is the strongest in them. He feeds off of prominent emotions, and can manipulate a person to evoke strong emotional responses from them in order to absorb those emotions and grow in power.

• Energy Manipulation - Volthoom can fire energy blasts and also create constructs or seals made out of energy.
• Immortality - Volthoom's connection to the Emotional Spectrum is so powerful that he can't die so long as it exists in the universe. Nekron himself, who presides over the forces of death, is proven unable to destroy Volthoom's soul.
• Reality Warping - Volthoom can and has rewritten/altered reality to anything he sees fit.
• Time Manipulation - Volthoom can and has stopped time. He can also view an entire timeline at once, and even multiple timelines, seeing into the past and future.
• Soul Manipulation - Volthoom can and has forcibly removed a soul from a body. He can also imprison the soul and possess the body.
• Flight - Volthoom possesses the ability to fly at superluminal speeds.
• Telepathy - He can manipulate people's minds and thoughts by proxy of his emotional abilities and he can also communicate telepathically.
• Intangibility - Volthoom can make himself intangible, endowing him with complete immunity and imperviousness to physical attacks.
• Regeneration - Volthoom can reconstitute destroyed parts of his body.
• Size Alteration - Volthoom can manipulate his size as he wishes, growing and increases strength and power as he sees fit.
• Teleportation - He has the ability to teleport.
• Genius level intellect
• Superhuman physical stats

The Wrath of The First Lantern

Volthoom took center-stage when he first appeared in Green Lantern (2011) #17. Only his silhouette was visible prior in the prologues. Upon first seeing him, his eerie, yet visually stunning character design and cunning demeanor dominated the panels. This arc was a great showcase of his mind-bending powers, but also a notable reminder of how weakened he was at the time.

Technically, Volthoom's first feat was one-shotting the planet Earth-15. But based on Rami's timeline (since that event took place in the future, and the destruction of his world was what caused him to travel the Multiverse where he landed on Maltus anyway) his first showing was massacring thousands of Guardians. This is very impressive, especially when one considers that characters like Larfleeze's high end showings involves fighting off half a dozen of them in comparison.

Incident 1

• Green Lantern (2011) #17 - This is when the massively weakened N52 Volthoom faces and dominates the Guardians.

Volthoom invades Ganthet's mind and views a timeline of his entire life, before putting the Guardians through multiple timelines. He then reaches into the past in attempt to "exorcise and reshape" the events that transpired.

He was too weak to truly alter reality at the time, however, because he was incarcerated for too long and the Guardians had stole much of his power. So in order to regain his power he began tracking down ring-bearers with the strongest emotional signatures.

Incident 2

• Green Lantern Corps (2011) #17 - His first victim was Guy Gardener.

He peered into Guy's past and rewrote pivotal events that transpired in order to break his mind and absorb strong emotional responses from it, particularly despair. The first was an instance of ice hockey with his siblings. In reality, the ice broke and his brother and sister nearly drowned if it wasn't for him saving them with his hockey stick. Volthoom rewrote the event by making it so that the ice closed back up and his siblings were trapped underneath it and drowned. Guy insisted it didn't happen that way, but Volthoom responded that there was a fine line between possible and impossible and that in his mind and heart it really did.

After that Volthoom rewrote an instance where Guy managed to stop a suicide bomber at the airport. Guy shot him and he blew him up when he entered the terminal but before he boarded the plane. People were killed but more lives would have been lost otherwise. Volthoom made it so that he missed his shot and killed an innocent bystander. The terrorist went on to destroy the entire plane.

• https://imgur.com/a/V1aWcnH

He continued this until he had completely emptied out Guy.

Incident 3

• Green Lantern: New Guardians (2011) #17 - Next he encounters Kyle Rayner.

After effortlessly redirecting a beam from White Lantern Kyle, Volthoom immediately dives into his life and spreads out Kyle's "constellation" (as he likes to call it) of events like a mural before him. He repeats what he did to Guy. Changing specific events in his history to evoke strong emotions from him that Volthoom can empower himself from and feed on. It is much more than simple telepathy, as Kyle literally acknowledges that Volthoom rewrote his life and that what he was experiencing was an alternate reality or different possible timeline.

Moments later in the same issue Volthoom casually freezes time.

He then caps off the brilliant showing with an extremely cruel action. After giving Kyle the option to choose whatever version of his life he wanted, he rips it all away at once and forces him to deal with the grim reality. Because out of all emotions, despair is the one he savors the most.

Volthoom's plan was then to amass enough emotional energy to make all of his reality his own. By this point I would consider Volthoom to have nearly restored his power. I see people frequently state Volthoom is universal but from the way the rest of the arc unfolds I can say he would have needed to amp himself with further energy to achieve that.

Incident 4

• Green Lantern Corps (2011) #18 - Naturally, John Stewart follows suit.

The incident in this issue was slightly longer than the previous ones because Volthoom took down two birds with one stone, manipulating Yrra along with John and exploiting their relationship. But I think you guys have got the gist by now of what exactly it is he's doing.

Incident 5

• Green Lantern: New Guardians #18 - Next he goes after Carol Ferris and a couple other Lanterns. Volthoom's ultimate goal by this point was to feed on all New Guardians to remake the universe/all of reality.

Volthoom freezes time against Larfleeze.

He attempted to manipulate Larfleeze further but gave up because he dislikes the taste of strong greed.

Incident 6

• Red Lanterns #18 - Volthoom lengthens his crusade with Atrocitus.

Rinse and repeat. The same things occur, but it's always interesting to see how devious Volthoom can truly be. The crushing decisions and dilemmas he forces his victims to face always puts them through massive emotional trauma and turmoil. This instance provides an additional confirmation as to what his powers truly do:

Actually changing the past, not just proposing haunting illusions. Volthoom next states the Great Heart is the Lantern that would allow him to control all of reality.

Incident 7

• Green Lantern (2011) #19 - Sinestro gets caught lacking.

Volthoom effortlessly planet busts, destroying the entire planet of Korugar just to feed off of Sinestro's despair.

Sinestro managed to hurt Volthoom and even put a hole in his chest with a drill construct, but not only does Volthoom regenerate it on the next page as if nothing happened, he casually rewinds time with an evil smirk on his face as if nothing happened.

This issue is when Volthoom finally returned to his true peak levels of power. He states that the emotions of fear and hope that the destroyed planet was drowning him successfully recharged him.

Incident 8

In Green Lantern Corps (2011) #19, Mogo severed Volthoom's connection with all the Lanterns, removed them from his sphere of influence and transported them to itself. The finale of the Wrath of the First Lantern crossover event takes place in Green Lantern (2011) #20. Volthoom steals back the first Lantern ring from Ganthet and he plans to realize his goal of changing reality using the Central Power battery as his access point, but he is interrupted by the New Guardians. However, Volthoom being at full powered and armed with the ring plans to make short work of them. He spawns several constructs that are actually real, unlike those of a regular Lantern.

Then He completely ignores Atrocitus snapping his neck. The next feat is among his best, tanking a combined attack from all 7 Lantern Corps while they were amped by Mogo.

Black Lantern Hal suddenly crashes the party. But Volthoom erects an impenetrable barrier while he manipulates his constellation. He used Hal as a substitute for the Central Power Battery as an access point and one final amp to remake the universe.

• https://imgur.com/a/dLb0FEI

He was interrupted by Parallax Sinestro, who casually shattered the barrier that was previously no-selling Kyle Rayner's attacks, and who ripped Volthoom's heart out of his chest with ease despite his immense durability. But Volthoom's body matters little to him due to his immortality and regeneration on top of it, and he immediately grows larger in size and calls him nothing. He would've proceeded to stomp the remaining Lanterns if Hal hadn't used a cheat code and summoned Nekron. Upon summoning Nekron, Hal noted that simply killing Volthoom would trigger a chain reaction through the Emotional Spectrum that would destroy the universe; so Sinestro had to bind him, then Hal (using Black Hand's ring and Nekron's power) expelled the ES from his body, reverting him human before Nekron cleaved him in half with his scythe and banished him into the Dead Zone.

And thus concludes his defeat and first arc.

The Phantom Lantern

Volthoom doesn't do much in Rebirth. He scavenges emotional energy for sustenance. The effects of Nekron's assault have still weakened him. In the Phantom Lantern arc he manipulates a poor and unfortunate guy named Frank Leminski, giving him the Phantom Ring and masterminding his actions for his own benefits. Still, even in his debilitated state, Volthoom can make short work of Guardians and we see this when he casually rips out Rami's soul from his body.

As you can see, he then imprisons it and possesses Rami's body with his own soul. After getting his ring back, he destroys Simon's Green Power Ring. Nothing else notable feat wise happened, and there were some moments of PIS so I'll chalk it up to the fact he was still weakened from Nekron.

Conclusion

Volthoom is incredibly powerful. He consistently bullies Guardians and has easily overpowered Parallax Sinestro who is turn massively stronger than teambusters like White Lantern Kyle, someone Volthoom has also trolled. Base Kyle in his rookie days can blow up planets and standard Sinestro is no less of a herald. Because of these feats and the fact he was clearly about to beat down all 7 Lantern Corps and Mogo if Nekron hadn't intervened, I would place Volthoom a cut above teambusters, meaning he is more in the low skyfather ranges of power. This is easier to swallow when you factor in the nature of his immortality, his ability to rewrite reality, stop time, rewind time, soul rip, and travel time and space with the Travel Lantern (which would be standard gear). Quantitatively, I don't think anything below the stellar ranges of power and durability would do him justice, though he isn't lethal because of stats or DC.