Kyle Rayner is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in books published by DC Comics, usually in those starring the Green Lantern Corps, an extraterrestrial police force of which Rayner is a member.
Created by writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks, Rayner first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 3, #48 (1994), as part of the "Emerald Twilight" storyline, in which DC Comics replaced Green Lantern Hal Jordan with Rayner, who was the sole Green Lantern for years until the late 1990s.
During this period he was also briefly known as Ion.
Kyle Rayner's father is a Mexican-American CIA agent named Gabriel Vasquez, who worked under various codenames including Aaron Rayner, and currently the identity of Raymond Hauser.
When Gabriel's deep-cover work threatened his wife and infant son, he was forced to sever all traceable ties with them, and even conspired with Maura Rayner in fabricating a domestic violence incident to explain their abrupt separation.
To Gabriel's regret, the resulting absence from his family's life and lack of his financial support forced Kyle and his mother into a rather modest lifestyle.
Before he acquired a Green Lantern power ring, Kyle Rayner was a struggling-but-gifted freelance graphic artist who was raised in North Hollywood and currently lived and worked in Los Angeles.
After Hal Jordan, grief-stricken over the destruction of his home town of Coast City, went on a mad rampage killing various members of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe, Rayner was found by the last surviving Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet.
Ganthet gave Kyle the last working Green Lantern power ring that would allow him to conjure any form of matter or energy through sheer force of will.
Ganthet's reasons for choosing Kyle to bear the ring have never been made completely apparent, aside from Rayner having been in the right place at the right time: prior to bequeathing the ring upon Rayner, Ganthet simply utters, "You will have to do."
Ganthet later revealed that humans make great Green Lanterns.
Several sources however imply that Ganthet was following a deeper reason: Kyle Rayner was not chosen because he was fearless, but because he was able to feel and overcome fear, thus making him, and all the future Lanterns, less susceptible to Parallax's influence.
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Nova (Richard Rider) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in Marvel Comics.
Upon becoming a member of the galaxy's Nova Corps (an intergalactic police force), the youth gained enhanced strength, flight, injury resistance, and a specialized uniform with life support.
He was created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema.
Richard Rider, a student at the fictional Harry S. Truman High School in Hempstead, New York, is chosen at random by the alien Rhomann Dey, last surviving Nova Centurion of the planet Xandar's elite Nova Corps, to inherit his power and succeed him in the rank of Nova Prime following the destruction of his world by the intergalactic pirate Zorr.
Having been mortally wounded in the battle that tore Xandar apart, Dey succeeds in tracking Zorr to Earth, but is unable to exact vengeance due to the extent of his injuries.
At death's door, Dey has little choice but to transfer his power to an unsuspecting human on the planet below, praying that whomever he finds will take up his cause.
Rider gains the uniform and powers of a Centurion, but little instruction on how to use these new powers.
Overjoyed, Rider eagerly takes up the life of a superhero, fighting costumed supervillains in New York and gradually learning how to control his new abilities. Calling himself Nova, he makes arch-enemies out of street level thugs and cosmic level threats alike, fighting villains such as Condor and Powerhouse, Diamondhead, the Corruptor, and the Sphinx.
Nova also teams with Spider-Man to capture Photon, who had killed Richard Rider's uncle, Ralph Rider, before ultimately choosing to reveal his secret identity to his family.
