Figuring Out The Brightest Day Conclusion

Columns, Top Story

Brightest Day is the Fifth Element. It’s so clear to me now that I’ve read issue 21, each of the special returnees represents an element.

  • The Hawk’s were wind.

  • Aquaman was water.
  • J’onn was earth.
  • Firestorm will be fire.
  • Deadman will be Bruce Willis.
  • The new Champion of the White Light will be Leeloo, or the Fifth Element.

Alternately, Boston will be heart, and their powers will combine to summon Captain Planet, but I like the first idea better.

They’re the protectors chosen to make sure that a new Champion of the White Light would rise, each of the returnees is. The core cast of Brightest Day is different, though, each brought back with both a mission as well as something else they had to overcome. Each with something about themselves that they had to accept, after they completed their missions, before they would truly be what the Lantern needed out of them.

When the White Ring explained itself to Boston after the Hawk’s apparent death, it talked about purifying their souls and not risking them being corrupted again. The Hawk’s weren’t killed, Aquaman wasn’t killed, and J’onn hasn’t been either. They’ve been converted at their purest, and used to empower the planet. I hadn’t even though too deep into that before the Justice League did their comb over of the Aquawar battle scene in this weeks issue, and I noticed something that eluded me before, something that was even more obvious by the end of the issue.

  • The Hawk’s were reduced to what looks like ash, but looking at it again you can see it clearly blowing about. They’re wind.
  • Aquaman melted into the water, leaving behind his belt and trident…and hand.
  • J’onn is absorbed into the Earth itself.

This leaves Firestorm and Deadman as the remaining primary cast members in need of resolution. Let’s look at what we know about Firestorm first, as he’ll be the one that we see come to pass first.

  • Firestorm is currently made up of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch, who really don’t get along.
  • Their combined mission is to save the White Lantern from destruction.
  • Currently the White Lantern is in the possession of Deathstorm, the Black Lantern Firestorm, who has taken it to Qward along with Black Lantern version of the other returned heroes. Deathstorm also has possession of Professor Martin Stein and Alvin Rusch.
  • Firestorm is on Qward now, looking to take out Deathstorm, recover the White Lantern, and save Professor Stein and Jason’s dad.
  • Oh, and if Jason and Ronnie don’t get along, the Firestorm matrix is unstable enough to create a new big bang.

So Firestorm’s mission will be completed when they defeat Deathstorm and liberate the White Lantern, before it can be tainted by the darkness. The added something that they’ll have to accept about themselves in order to fully purify Ronnie’s soul is most likely going to be that they need each other to be a better Firestorm, that they’re stronger together than apart. Expect their ‘death’ to be in a great ball of fire.

Now onto Deadman.

Boston Brand has really been the star of this title, and it would make sense that the he winds up being the last returnee standing as the book moves to its conclusion. His mission won’t be completed until the new Champion is found, and his purification will most likely come after accepting that he’d rather have both the good and the bad of being alive instead of the painlessness of being a ghost. He’ll be reclaimed by the White Lantern last, and with any good fortune he’ll also be returned to life again when all is said and done. It would be a shame to see Boston fade back into the quiet life of Deadman after all of this.

So those are my thoughts on the tail end of Brightest Day. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let me know.

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.