Sinestro in Lanterns explained: who is Hal Jordan's villainous former mentor in episode 2 of the Green Lantern TV show on HBO Max?

Lanterns episode 2 is now live on HBO Max — and it introduces viewers to the most famous Green Lantern villain of all, Thaal Sinestro.

Long-time Green Lantern fans will already know plenty about this recurring antagonist, his relationship to Hal Jordan, and why he's deemed such a threat to the Green Lantern Corps and wider galaxy.

However, unless you've read the source material and/or seen the disastrous 2011 Ryan Reynolds-starring Green Lantern movie, many of you won't know much, if anything, about Sinestro.

So, who is Sinestro? What are his powers? And does his DC Comics background give us any hints about his role in Lanterns ? Allow me to enlighten you on the aforementioned questions and more.

Sinestro's DC comic book history and powers explained Thaal Sinestro was first introduced in DC Comics over 60 years ago (Image credit: DC Comics) Let's start with what the comics tell us about Sinestro.

Created by Gil Kane and John Broome, and first appearing in August 1961 in Green Lantern #7 , Thaal Sinestro hails from the planet Korugar in space sector 1417.

An anthropologist, Sinestro comes into contact with the Green Lantern known as Prohl Gosgotha when the latter crash-lands on Korugar.

Prohl does so after coming under attack from a Weaponer of Qward, which hails from the anti-matter universe.

Prohl gives its ring to Sinestro, who then defeats its pursuer.

However, Sinestro keeps the ring, lets Prohl die, and lies to the Guardians of the Universe — aka the immortal race that founded the intergalactic peacekeeping organization known as the Green Lantern Corps — that the ring chose him as Prohl's successor.

Corrupted by the power of the ring, Sinestro abuses his position as a Green Lantern until Hal Jordan, who becomes Sinestro's student after Jordan acquires his own ring, informs the Guardians of Sinestro's evildoing.

Mark Strong played the first-ever live-action version of Sinestro in 2011's terrible Green Lantern movie (Image credit: Warner Bros.

Pictures) To punish him, the Guardians expelled Sinestro from the Green Lantern Corps, took his ring, and sent him to the anti-matter universe — more specifically, the anti-matter world Qward.

There, Sinestro convinces the Weaponers, who hate the Green Lanterns, that he can use his knowledge of the space cop agency and its creators to destroy them for good, which leads the Weaponers to give Sinestro his infamous, fear-inducing yellow ring.