In episode four of HBO Max’s Lanterns, Hal Jordan’s investigation into the Manhunters leads him to a name that he in the show doesn’t seem to know. Hal visits Atlas Inc. looking for its CEO, a little someone named Hector Hammond. This is a name comic book fans know very well, and you’d expect Hal Jordan would too. And while we don’t see Mr. Hammond in the episode, his name alone points to some of the Green Lanterns’ earliest stories.
Who Is Hector Hammond in Green Lantern Comics?
Hector Hammond is one of the Silver Age Green Lantern’s earliest foes. First appearing in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #5, Hammond is a petty thief who discovers fragments of the meteor which landed in what became Gorilla City and hyper-evolved the intellect of Gorillas like Grodd. He then kidnaps four scientists, exposes them to the radiation from the meteor to make them ultra-intelligent. Why does he do this? So that they’ll invent amazing devices that Hammond can sell on the black market. Dream big, dude.
Hal then does a very silly thing and creates a duplicate Green Lantern ring for his friend and mechanic to use to disguise himself as GL, for Hal to then get closer to Hammond without him knowing it (?). Unfortunately, Hammond overpowers the mechanic and steals the right, leading Hal to have a battle of rings with Hammond, which the Green Lantern eventually wins.
Hammond Gains Super Intelligence
The next appearance of the character came in Justice League of America #14. Hammond escapes from prison and deliberately exposes himself to the meteorite. He gains not just mega intelligence, but his brain grows to an abnormally large size. Hammond develops psionic powers and immortality, though loses the use of his limbs and speech. You’ve probably seen Hammond as a giant-headed guy sitting in a floating chair, which is his normal mode.
Hector Hammond Post-Green Lantern: Rebirth
Following Geoff Johns taking over the Green Lantern title, Hal Jordan returns to his previous GL status after over a decade as both the villain Parallax and the host for the spirit of vengeance, the Spectre. It’s during this run of Green Lantern that Hector Hammond emerges as a regular adversary for Hal. In the Secret Origins miniseries, which retells Hal Jordan’s origins for the modern age, we learn Hammond is a private consultant for Ferris Airlines who has romantic designs on Carol Ferris. She does not reciprocate.
After Green Lantern Abin Sur’s ship crashes, which leads to Hal taking over as Green Lantern of Sector 2814, Hammond investigates the crash site and inadvertently exposes himself to a meteorite which powers the ship. This gives him his psionic powers and enormous head.
Hammond has a prominent role in the Brightest Day event, in which he becomes the host for the entity Ophidian, the cosmic being inside the Orange Lantern Battery. (It’s a whole thing.) Eventually, Hammond overpowers Ophidian and escapes to search for Carol Ferris, who at this point is missing. She’s also the Violent Lantern, aka Star Sapphire. Again, it’s a whole thing.
Hector Hammond in The New 52
Bucking all tradition, beginning with the rebooted timeline of DC’s New 52, Hector Hammond appears not as a Green Lantern villain, but a Superman one. He already has his psionic powers, but is comatose inside S.T.A.R. Labs. The villain group H.I.V.E. kidnaps him to utilize his powers to enslave the human race, to ready the world for Brainiac’s arrival. Hammond eventually overpowers the Queen of H.I.V.E. and takes over the organization.
Hector Hammond in the Green Lantern Movie
If you happened to have seen the ill-fated Green Lantern feature film starring Ryan Reynolds, you have seen Hector Hammond. Serving much the same function as he does in the Geoff Johns/Rebirth era, Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), obtains psionic powers after performing an autopsy on Abin Sur and coming into contact with the Parallax entity. In that movie, Parallax is a giant CGI fart cloud from space, so Hammond acts as the personified villain for Hal Jordan to fight against. It’s not a good movie.
Hector Hammond in Lanterns
While we don’t see Hammond in the episode, and we don’t know if he’ll show up again, Hammond is involved in shady extraterrestrial dealings through his company Atlas Inc. And frankly, regardless of universe, Hector Hammond is a pain in Hal Jordan’s butt.
Lanterns airs Sundays on HBO Max.
