Darkseid comes dangerously close to obtaining a Green Lantern ring in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, leading some to wonder if the Apokoliptian warlord could wield the alien weapon. Green Lantern rings are the source of power for the DC Universe’s Green Lantern superheroes, and one was wielded heroically in a Justice League flashback sequence. The rings, as programmed by the Guardians of the Universe on Oa, are notoriously particular about who can use them, based on an individual’s willpower and adherence to a particular set of ethics.
Green Lantern rings are among the most powerful items in any DC Universe, with the Guardians on Oa granting them to beings so they can protect their respective sectors of the universe. The rings grant infinite power to their wielders, allowing them to create constructs limited only by imagination and willpower. Only the most fearless, strong-willed, and noble beings can become a Green Lantern, and in Sector 2814, beings like John Stewart and Hal Jordan were chosen to become Green Lanterns over even Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman.
In Justice League, Darkseid brutally kills Yalan Gur, a Green Lantern and one of the many defenders of Earth during Darkseid’s invasion. Before Darkseid could take the ring, he was hit by arrows fired by Artemis, allowing the ring to fly off in search of a new wielder. Had Darkseid taken the ring, however, he wouldn’t have been able to wield it. Even if the supervillain has the necessary strength of will, he embodies the malice and oppression that the Guardians fight against, and he seeks the Anti-Life Equation, whose purpose is antithetical to the Green Lantern Corps’ ideals.
There are numerous strong-willed beings in the various DC Universes, but it takes an exceptional level of willpower to master a Green Lantern ring. In Green Lantern: Rebirth, Green Arrow (a.k.a. Oliver Queen), a famously strong-willed and noble superhero, briefly uses a Green Lantern ring, expending an astounding amount of energy just to generate an arrow, showing that even the greatest DC heroes will struggle with a power ring. Darkseid may be a tyrant with incredible willpower, but he might not have enough to properly use a Green Lantern ring, though his tyrannical goals are an even greater reason why he couldn’t wield one.
Green Lantern rings are programmed by the Guardians to not function for wielders who violate certain rules, such as killing another sapient being. Darkseid is a warlord who regularly engages in genocide, so regardless of his willpower, a Green Lantern ring wouldn’t give him its power for the simple reason that he’s a tyrant. In the comics, Darkseid had to absorb the green willpower energy directly to use it. Furthermore, Darkseid’s ultimate goal of obtaining the Anti-Life Equation is an even greater reason why a Green Lantern ring wouldn’t work for him.
The Anti-Life Equation eradicates willpower, and thus Darkseid seeks it to make his conquest of all realities effortless. In a dystopian future, Darkseid uses the equation to remove Superman’s free will, turning him into a proxy leader on Earth. Green Lantern rings are powered by willpower and exist to fight tyranny like Darkseid and his followers, so as close as he came to obtaining a ring in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, he’d never be able to use it.
