[3] The Five Inversions performed a ritual which allowed them to peer into the future and discover the prophecy of the Blackest Night, which decreed the end of all life.

After slashing the Green Lantern in the chest, mortally wounding him, Atrocitus jumped from a point high in Earth's atmosphere to escape Sur's failing ship.

[6] After landing near an airbase and killing an unspecified number of Air Force troopers, Atrocitus recited what would later become the oath of the Red Lantern Corps, and performed a ritual that told him the name of the herald of the Blackest Night: William Hand.

Once he tracked down the human who, it was said, would play a prominent role in the coming of the Blackest Night, he attacked, and planned to take Hand's innards back to Ysmault.

Before his plan proceeded, however, Sinestro and rookie Green Lantern Hal Jordan intercepted him, spiriting William Hand to safety.

He also murdered Qull of the Five Inversions, a fellow member of the Empire of Tears and the one responsible for telling Abin Sur the prophecy of the Blackest Night (which caused the Guardians of the Universe to continue the Empire of Tears' incarceration on Ysmault, rather than transfer them to Oa's sciencells, closer to the enemies of the Five Inversions), by bludgeoning him with the power battery.

However, unlike the Guardians, who preferred a quick execution, Atrocitus wished to make Sinestro suffer first by taking revenge on everything he has ever cared about.

His targets included Korugar, and Sinestro's previously unknown and hidden daughter, whose identity Atrocitus had learned through his blood prophecies.

Although Sinestro believes that Atrocitus' prophecy could be a form of reverse psychology to instill fear in Jordan of his past actions under the influence of Parallax.

During the conflict, several black power rings descended onto Ysmault, reanimating the bodies of Laira and Atrocitus' fellow Inversions.

[16] However, Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Sinestro, Saint Walker, Ganthet, Sayd, and Indigo-1, save the two from Black Lanterns and stop Atrocitus.

[21] Following the defeat of the Black Lanterns, Atrocitus returns to Ysmault, and is soon after approached by Ganthet and Guy Gardner, who ask him to join them in an as-yet unidentified mission.

[23] Sometime later, he appeared in New York City with the feline Red Lantern Corps member, Dex-Starr in search of the emotional spectrum entities.

Carol confirmed Atrocitus' sincerity by detecting a spark of love in his heart with her powers that was not there during their previous encounter, only to have her words ignite his anger.

[25] During his search for the Rage Entity, known as the Butcher, Atrocitus incinerates a prison bus full of murderers, claiming that "Those who take life do not deserve it.

Without the rage entity to control Atrocitus' powers, Krona fell victim to his attack as the Red Lantern viciously bites him in the jugular.

Former Sinestro Corps member Lyssa Drak appears and quickly subdues the New Guardians trapping all but Hal in the Book of the Black.

Although outraged at losing the chance to kill Krona due to Hal Jordan, Atrocitus is unable to vent his fury, as the Guardians of the Universe teleport him back home.

[33] Following his return to Ysmault, Atrocitus feels his rage dimming, and fears that he may lose control over the Red Lantern hordes.

[35] It is later revealed that he has kept Krona's corpse as a 'confidant', talking to the body when he needs to give voice to his feelings about the Red Lantern Corps and his plans to upgrade their intelligence.

However, after granting intellects to three additional Red Lanterns to act as a check to Bleez, Atrocitus returns to the place where he has left Krona's body only to find it gone.

Horrified at this vision, Atroctius rejects the First Lantern's 'offer' to make that world the reality, believing that even the loss of his entire sector is better than being killed by his own son.

[44] In the aftermath of Wrath of The First Lantern, Atrocitus loses his ring to Guy Gardner, who has been recruited by Hal Jordan as a mole, and has his severely beaten body to be carried away by Dex-Starr.

[45] After drifting in space for a while, he manages to merge with the Butcher, the red light living embodiment of rage[46] which he then loses to Kyle Rayner during the fight against Relic.

Unlike the other members of the Red Lantern Corps, whose rings reduce them to being mindless raging beasts, leaving them unable to create and maintain energy constructs as do Green and Blue Lanterns, Atrocitus is in full control of his mental faculties while wearing his ring and may not be affected in the same manner.

[56] Atrocitus' association with the Empire of Tears granted him a great deal of shamanistic magic, which he used to forge the Red Lantern rings and divine the location of William Hand.