Young Justice Confirms A Disgusting Green Lantern Power
Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Young Justice season 4, episode 20, "Forbidden Secrets of Civilizations Past!"
The many worthy beings honored with the title of Green Lantern possess a variety of impressive powers, but Young Justice just confirmed the peacekeepers' power of answering the call of nature along with the call to action whenever it might be necessary, automatically deposing of their bio waste. While this function of a Green Lantern power ring was likely intended to make deep space exploration easier, there is nothing to stop them from going whenever and wherever they please, so to speak. This fact was demonstrated to the humiliation of one Green Lantern and the disgust of many around him when they realized what had just happened.
The Green Lantern Corps' power ring is one of the most powerful weapons in all of superhero fiction and the greatest power the ring offers its wielder is versatility. The only effective limits to what a Green Lantern ring might accomplish are the strength of the wielder's will and their imagination. The Green Lanterns' most famous ability is the power to fashion constructs of solid light, but the ring also provides a number of secondary functions useful for an intergalactic traveler, such as a universal translator and a life-support system.
One of these lesser-known secondary functions was revealed in Young Justice season 4, episode 20, "Forbidden Secrets of Civilizations Past!" During a lull in the negotiations at a peace conference between the New Gods of New Genesis, the Justice League and the Green Lantern Corps, the Green Lantern Kilowog was briefly seen to be leaning back in his chair with a relaxed expression. A minute later, his ring's artificial intelligence loudly declared "Bio-Waste Recycling Initiated." This left Kilowog stammering, clearly embarrassed, as he thought he had his ring AI set on mute.
While this is likely the first time this particular function of a Green Lantern ring has been referenced in animation, there is a precedent for it in the comics. To give one example, 2006's Green Lantern #13 by writer Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis featured a scene in which an administrative punishment of one month's guard duty without relief was leveled against the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. In addition to a lengthy list of things he was not allowed to do during his vigil, Gardner was also given a list of essential functions his ring would supervise on his behalf, such as "provide all the necessary nutrients and dispose of any waste you may export."
Logically, it makes sense that a Green Lantern ring would aid its bearer in maintaining basic biological functions. Given that the duties of the Green Lantern Corps require them to travel extensively through undeveloped territories of the universe, boldly going where no one has gone before, it may not always be possible for a Green Lantern to find a planet with a suitable atmosphere, much less a clean public restroom! Despite this, it may have been less shameful for the Kilowog of Young Justice to briefly excuse himself from the room while he took care of his business.
New episodes of Young Justice release Thursdays on HBO Max.