How Fast Is Green Lantern? Compared to Other Fast Superheroes

Green Lanterns are among the most powerful characters in the DC universe. They are basically an intergalactic police force which means that they need to have some serious powers and abilities at their disposal to be able to face universal threats on a daily basis. We also know that Green Lanterns need to travel quite a lot to cover their entire sectors, and this is why we started wondering, how fast are Green Lanterns exactly?

Green Lanterns can reach the speed of 7,680 miles per hour while traveling in an atmosphere. While flying in space, they can reach speeds that far exceed the speed of light. Green Lanterns can travel even faster due to the unique abilities of the Green Rantern Ring to allow its bearer to access wormholes. It’s important to take into account, however, that even though all Green Lanterns have the same potential in terms of speed, their actual speed depends on how well they can utilize the Ring and how experienced they are. 

The mantle of Green Lantern has been carried by numerous characters over the years, each more popular than the others, like Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, and Jessica Cruz. This is why we decided to focus on Green Lanterns in general and explore the speed properties of their rings. Now if you’re interested in how Green Lanterns measure up against other fast characters in DC comics, stay with us and keep reading!

Green Lanterns are insanely fast due to their Rings

The main source of power for any Green Lantern is their Green Lantern rings, and the same goes for their speed. Considering the nature of their duties, the average Green Lantern has to cover vast cosmic distances in order to ensure the safety of his sector. This is why they aren’t exactly limited to conventional speeds in terms of flying and movement. 

And even though the speeds they can reach are insane, some laws of nature still govern them, and there is a vast difference in their movement speed depending on their location. 

For example, Green Lantern flying in the atmosphere can reach as much as 7,680 miles per hour or, in other words, Mach 10 speeds. This is because the gravity field has an effect on the Green Lantern and possibly because of friction.

Traveling faster than that might have negative effects on the Ring and the surrounding area. The wearers of the Rings are generally protected by a protective field generated by the Ring itself. Green Lanterns are spared from the worst effects of interstellar travel as well as from the harsh conditions they will encounter while flying in the atmosphere. 

Hal Jordan once converted himself partially into energy to be able to fly faster in the atmosphere, as the gravitational pull on him in this form is negligent.

When it comes to travel in space, Green Lanterns can reach speeds massively faster than light, several times faster than light, and once again, they do not suffer any ill effects.

Still, there’s no need for them to travel at this speed per se since Green Laterns, once again due to their Rings, have access to wormholes that connect two separate and far away corners of the Universe and entering a wormhole nearly instantly teleports the Green Lantern from point a to point b. 

When flying with someone in tow, the person that Green Lantern is carrying is protected from ill effects by protective force fields generated by the Rings, but the Lantern is limited to twice the speed of sound when it comes to travel. 

Now as you can see, there is a whole science behind Green Lantern’s flight, but how do they compare to other speedsters in DC Universe? 

Is Green Lantern faster than Flash?

For this comparison, we’re not going to take into account Hal Jordan’s best friend but Wally West, who is still considered to be the fastest of all that carried the mantle of Flash. Wally can reach speeds up to 500 times the speed of light, even 13 trillion times the speed of light. Wally once managed to be faster than thought which means that even with the help of nearly-instantaneous travel through wormholes, Green Lantern likely isn’t nearly as fast as the Flash. 

How fast is Green Lantern compared to Superman?

We can mention Superman’s speed feat when he managed to travel at a speed of undecillion light years per second. But we’re going to take more realistic (and consistent) speeds into account only. Superman is most often shown as being able to travel as fast as 186,000 miles per second, and he clearly showed that he can go even beyond that, way way beyond that. No matter how much willpowers Green Lantern exerts, there’s likely that the Ring wouldn’t allow such speeds. Green Lantern is slower than Superman. 

Is Green Lantern faster than Wonder Woman?

Now this is a tricky one. Wonder Woman has Hermes’ blessing, allowing her to fly and move at incredible speeds even though she technically doesn’t have access to Speed Force. Wonder Woman can fly at the speed of light in space, but her speed is severely limited on Earth. We don’t have an exact number in terms of what speed she can reach, but Wonder Woman is likely not able to fly as fast as experienced Green Lantern can.

Combat speeds are something else entirely. However, Wonder Woman has superior reflexes and reaction times to Green Lanterns.  

How fast is Green Lantern compared to Shazam?

Now, Shazam is sort of in a similar situation as Wonder Woman. He has the blessings of Mercury, a Roman god of speed and equivalent of Hermes, which means he can fly and run at insane speeds. Based on the descriptions that Shazam can move as fast as a lightning bolt, we’re going to go on a limb here and conclude that Shazam’s average speed is up to 270,000 mph.  

In space, just like most of the superheroes on this list, Shazam can reach the speed of light, but he doesn’t exactly have feats that prove that he can move dozens of times faster than the speed of light. Shazam is faster than Green Lantern on Earth but slower than one in Space. 

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