Before the Corps The Parallax entity is a space parasite that is the embodiment of
fear and was imprisoned within the Central Power Battery on
Oa. This caused green power rings to be weak to the color yellow, and Parallax subsequently became known as the "yellow impurity" over time. Thaal Sinestro, at the time the universe's greatest Green Lantern, was sent to Earth by
Supernova in a plot to erase
Guy Gardner from history.
Booster Gold was assigned to prevent this from happening. To do so, he convinced Sinestro to leave Earth, claiming that he was an admirer from the future, and that his yellow
Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring was a tribute to Sinestro. When asked what Corps he belongs to, Booster ad-libbed, "The...Sinestro Corps", leading Sinestro to twirl his mustache in thought while mumbling, "Of course...Of course." After Sinestro went rogue, he was banished by the
Guardians of the Universe to
Qward in the antimatter universe. When he returned, he wielded a
power ring which used yellow energy. After various encounters with Earth's
Green Lantern,
Hal Jordan, he was imprisoned within the Central Power Battery. There he was able to use his ring, which uses
fear, as opposed to
willpower, as a power source, to awaken Parallax from hibernation. From there,
Parallax and Sinestro were able to influence the fall of Hal Jordan and instigate the fall of the Green Lantern Corps, leaving one last Green Lantern:
Kyle Rayner.
Recruitment drive After the
Green Lantern Corps was restarted with the return of
Hal Jordan, the Sinestro Corps began actively recruiting members, offering yellow power rings and a role in the Corps to those who can "instill great fear". Members of the Corps are immediately taken to Qward to "...be subjected to psychological and physical reconditioning". The members of the Sinestro Corps work in sectors, like the Green Lantern Corps. Qward also has a huge yellow Central Battery on its surface like the one used on Oa. Although the Sinestro Corps uses fear, and opposes the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians, Sinestro has stated their goal is to bring order to the universe, which he claims the Guardians have failed to do.
Arkillo, a large and muscular vicious alien, is enslaving all the Qwardian Weaponers and forcing them to continuously build new yellow rings which are programmed to breach the barrier between the antimatter and matter universes to find and recruit new ring-wielders. Arkillo also serves as the Sinestro Corps' drill sergeant, similar to
Kilowog's role in the GLC. Members recruited include Karu-Sil, raised by animals; Despotellis, a sentient virus capable of attacking Lanterns from the inside; and Bedovian, the sniper of the Corps, capable of taking out a target from three sectors away. During this time, the Sinestro Corps attempted to recruit
Batman, known even to some alien races for his formidable ability to instill fear in others. However, Batman's willpower combined with his previous brief exposure to a power ring allowed him to reject the yellow ring before it took him to be properly trained and molded into one of Sinestro's soldiers. The yellow ring then sought a replacement and selected
Amon Sur, the disgruntled son of
Abin Sur, who was on Earth attempting to steal Hal Jordan's ring.
The prophecy It was revealed that after untold millennia, the
Weaponers of Qward,
Ranx the Sentient City, the Children of the White Lobe, and the Empire of Tears will rise united against the
Green Lantern Corps. This was largely ignored up until upgraded
Manhunters started to appear throughout the universe. Hal Jordan encountered one on Earth and, with
Guy Gardner, followed their trail to Sector 3601. Hal and Guy found several Green Lanterns, all of whom were assumed to have been killed during
Emerald Twilight, and the Manhunters' new grandmaster
Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman. The Manhunters were defeated and Henshaw's head was brought to Oa. The Book of Oa has a forbidden chapter on cosmic prophecies, which includes the following: After his interrogation, the Guardians learned that Henshaw is aware of the main fifty-two parallel universes focused on in the
New 52 era and that if New Earth was destroyed, the new Multiverse would collapse and the Antimatter universe would take its place. Two of the Guardians,
Ganthet and
Sayd, warn the other Guardians not to ignore the prophecy because it could destroy the Green Lantern Corps.
Hal Jordan,
John Stewart, and
Guy Gardner return to Earth to warn the
Justice League of the Anti-Monitor's return. As the Sinestro Corps spreads out to ambush Green Lanterns across the universe,
Green Lantern vol. 4 #23 sees the
Guardians deciding to rewrite their sacred text, the Book of Oa. They add ten new laws, the first of which authorizes the use of lethal force against the Sinestro Corps. As the Green Lanterns gather on Oa in preparation for a Sinestro Corps assault, the Sinestro Corps teleport themselves and their Central Power Battery instead to a new
Warworld, their objective revealed to be Earth.
Green Lantern vol. 4 #24 continues the story, with Green Lanterns and Sinestro Corps members battling across Earth. Hal manages to free Kyle from Parallax before the entity is imprisoned in their power batteries by Ganthet and Sayd. After John and Guy arrive, the former Guardians reveal to them the prophecy of the "
Blackest Night", seen in
Green Lantern vol. 4 #25. It foretells of five more Corps arising, each based on a different color and emotion. After the five corps are established, a "War of Light" will ensue, in which all the corps are destroyed, leading to the "Blackest Night". The Guardians arrive on Earth and appoint
Sodam Yat to be the new Ion. After a lengthy struggle in
New York City, the Sinestro Corps are defeated by the overwhelming numbers against them. One of the Guardians sacrifices himself to send Superman-Prime to an alternate universe, while Hal and Kyle subdue and arrest Sinestro in Coast City. In the aftermath of the battle, seen in
Green Lantern vol. 4 #25, the Guardians decide to bring the second of the new laws into effect. After realizing that the "Blackest Night" prophecy will come to pass, Ganthet and Sayd depart after creating a
blue power ring with the intention of creating their own Corps, powered by the blue light of hope. The surviving members of the Sinestro Corps continue to try to bring fear to the Green Lanterns, in part by murdering the family members of Green Lanterns. Sinestro is abducted by Atrocitus' forces and brought to the Red Lantern base planet: Ysmault. Planning to use Sinestro's blood for their own means, Sinestro's faction of the Sinestro Corps eventually arrive and liberate him from the Red Lanterns. After their escape, Sinestro and his faction of the Sinestro Corps return to Qward, revealing that there is a backup Central Power Battery. Sinestro orders his men to free the Sinestro Corps members imprisoned on
Zamaron by the
Star Sapphires and meet him on the darkside of Daxam's moon. After Sinestro attends to "family business", they will retake the Sinestro Corps from Mongul. In addition to those members imprisoned on Zamaron, Sinestro Corps members are also being held prisoner on Oa. Their power rings are held in containment along with other rings (abandoned due to casualty in war) that were prevented from finding new bearers. When Red Lantern Vice is freed from confinement in his , he attacks the Green Lantern jailer. Though the imprisoned members of the Sinestro Corps initially cheer him on, they find that he is just as likely of attacking them in his rage. During the jail break,
Scar frees the yellow power rings and they find their bearers in the . Upon being reunited with her ring,
Lyssa Drak claims to once again be able to feel the Book of Parallax. Now armed with their rings, the Sinestro Corps join in the battle with the Green Lanterns and Vice. The faction of the Sinestro Corps led by Sinestro are planning an invasion of Zamaron to retake the female Corps members being held prisoner there. After being repelled from Daxam, Mongul's faction (which he has renamed as "The Mongul Corps") invades
Korugar. Sinestro's rescue attempt is interrupted by a
Black Lantern attack, which he only survives through the arrival of Hal Jordan and Indigo-1, leader of the
Indigo Tribe. Indigo-1 brings Sinestro to Korugar, so that he may finally confront Mongul. After a fierce battle, Sinestro activates the override systems in Mongul's rings, using them to imprison him inside the Sinestro Corps Central Power Battery, thus overthrowing Mongul, taking control of the Mongul Corps, and renaming it "The Sinestro Corps" after himself. When he departs with Hal Jordan's group of light-wielders, he commands his Corps to gather at Korugar and protect it while he is away. In the aftermath of
Blackest Night, the Sinestro Corps and Green Lantern Corps maintain a fragile truce where neither will attack each other. However, while helping Hal Jordan and the ring-wielders of the other five corps investigate the abduction of the emotional entities, Sinestro is separated from his ring and imprisoned in the Book of the Black, along with the other five members of the group, with Hal only just managing to escape with their rings. When Sinestro and the others escape, renegade Guardian
Krona takes command of their rings, prompting Sinestro to attack Krona on his own, with the unexpected result that he is once again chosen as a Green Lantern.
The New 52 Returning to Korugar after the Guardians decide to leave him with the ring, Sinestro learns that his Corps have reverted to their brutal methods, terrorising and slaughtering the people of Korugar rather than ruling it, Sinestro creating a new Green Lantern ring for Hal Jordan albeit one that he can shut off at will so that Jordan can help him retake control of the Sinestro Corps, who now want him dead in the belief that his killer will become the new Sinestro Corps leader. After turning various
Korugarian prisoners into a temporary Green Lantern Corps using short-lived duplicates of Sinestro's ring, Sinestro and Hal are able to hold off the Sinestro Corps long enough to drain the power away from the Central Power Battery of the Sinestro Corps, de-powering all of the Corps members on Korugar, although those more distant from the battery will still have access to their own power supplies. Later all Lanterns' rings registered that the Sinestro Corps have disbanded with 98% of all known Corpsmen dead or incarcerated, requiring Arkillo to use a new, independent power battery forged by the Weaponer from the fear of the Korugarians. It has since been revealed that the Guardians were responsible for Sinestro acquiring a Green Lantern ring in an attempt to undermine the Sinestro Corps as part of their future plans to destroy all seven Corps. During the events of
Forever Evil after the
Crime Syndicate had taken control of much of Earth, Batman revealed that he harbored a Sinestro Corps ring since the organization's
attack on Earth as one of his weapons to deploy against the Justice League should they ever go rogue. When
Batman and his allies at the time are attacked by
Power Ring, Batman puts the Sinestro Corps ring on in an attempt to counterattack him. However, the ring's power is heavily depleted and Power Ring manages to get it off Batman's finger before ultimately being attacked by Sinestro himself, who was summoned to the planet by Batman's use of the ring. In a brief ensuing battle, Sinestro severs Power Ring's arm from his body, causing his ring to deem him unworthy and leave. As Power Ring thanks Sinestro for freeing him from the curse of the ring, Sinestro incinerates him. In the aftermath of the war with the
New Gods of
New Genesis, Sinestro has created Warworld into the new base and headquarters of the Sinestro Corps, after the Green Lantern Corps have vanished into another universe.
DC Rebirth Subsequently, in
DC Rebirth, Sinestro uses the opportunity to establish the Sinestro Corps as the new force of 'order' in the universe, imposing fear rather than inspiring faith, with Soranik joining her father out of a lack of perceived options. However, as they establish a presence where Oa was once located,
Hal Jordan forges a new ring for himself as the rest of the Corps return to this universe. Sinestro then sends out his enforcers of his Corps to control the new order of the universe. The Sinestro Corps attacks a planet, but soon Hal Jordan arrives with his restored Green Lantern powers and drives the Sinestro Corp back. ==Prominent members==