When the Green Lantern character was reinvented, beginning with the introduction of Hal Jordan, the magic ring concept was replaced with a scientifically based one.

[12] Originally, power rings were unable to affect objects colored yellow, though Lanterns have typically found ways around the limitation by indirect manipulation.

The requirements needed to wield a power ring have changed sporadically during the history of Green Lantern titles, often creating continuity confusions.

Allowing power rings to fall into the wrong hands has been a common plot device in many previous Green Lantern stories.

[15][16] Mind control, hallucinogens, psychic attacks, and other phenomena that disrupt thought processes will all indirectly impair a power ring's effectiveness.

[20] During the Sinestro Corps War event, they were revealed to be alive, held prisoner by Cyborg Superman on the planet Biot.

When Green Arrow fires a small arrow-like construct from the ring, he describes the experience as feeling like losing a week's worth of sleep.

After the destruction of Coast City in "Reign of the Supermen", Green Lantern Hal Jordan goes mad and betrays the Corps.

He defeats most of the Corps on his way to Oa, enters the Central Power Battery and absorbs most of its energy, along with the yellow impurity, to become the villain Parallax.

His ring is not dependent on the Central Power Battery and is free from the yellow impurity, but does not prevent mortal damage automatically.

Since Kyle had always been able to do so, wrestling against his fears for his entire life, his ring gained immunity against the yellow impurity and his particularly fortified will was instrumental in bringing about the rebirth of the Corps and setting an example to follow for the newer recruits.

[29] After the start of the New Guardians storyline, Kyle has been able to tap any color of the emotional spectrum that he is feeling at the time, eventually progressing to the point where he can channel the power of all seven Corps, 'evolving' into a White Lantern.

While Green Lantern villain Sinestro had his own version of the power ring since 1961, a yellow one that exploited the one color Green Lanterns were ineffective against,[30] in the late 2000s writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver worked the concept of a spectrum of power rings, revolving around the colors of the rainbow as well as a corresponding emotion from which they derive their abilities.

[10][16][33][34][35][36] Atrocitus, a member of the Empire of Tears on the prison planet Ysmault, forged the first Red Power Battery from the innards of Qull, the being who tells Abin Sur the prophecy of "the Blackest Night".

Both Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner have briefly become Orange Lanterns, the former by taking the Battery from him and the latter by mastering Avarice by getting past Larfleeze in a fight and recharging his ring from Larfleeze's battery, altering his appearance to match each, and elevating himself to White Lantern status once he mastered all the lights of the Emotional Spectrum.

As a side effect of wielding the orange light, Larfleeze is burdened with an insatiable hunger that is never quelled regardless of how much food he eats.

The first yellow ring is acquired by Sinestro following his banishment to the antimatter universe of Qward, and could only be recharged by fighting a Green Lantern.

[30] After Sinestro was imprisoned in the power battery, his ring was left in the Crypts of the Green Lanterns on Oa, where it was eventually taken by Guy Gardner,[44] who used it until it was destroyed by Parallax.

With their yellow power ring completely drained of its energy, they must provide it with the spark it needs to accomplish this feat by facing their greatest fear.

[49] According to Ethan Van Sciver, the ring's symbol is based on ancient carvings made by beings who looked into the gullet of Parallax and survived.

A blue power ring is capable of feeding off the hope of other beings, eschewing constant recharging while still performing impressive feats, including reversing a dying sun's age.

[64] Unlike the Star Sapphire gem, which could force itself on a user, violet power rings must be accepted by the wearer.

[72] When facing beings with warped mental states or otherwise addled minds, the correlation between the emotion detected and the color seen is inverted.

In the 2020-21 Legion of Super-Heroes comic series, Gold Lantern wears one of the newest power rings introduced to the DC universe.

The Elders of Oa chose Kala Lour in the 31st century to wield the power of the Gold Lantern ring, thanks to his ability to feel great happiness and joy.

[85] Currently Nathan is searching for a way to build a Power Central Battery and appears to have infected the Librarian of the Library of Forever.

After Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris and Saint Walker make contact with the USS Enterprise, along with Doctor Leonard McCoy, Nyota Uhura and Pavel Chekov being chosen by reserve rings of the Indigo Tribe, Star Sapphires and Blue Lantern Corps respectively, Montgomery Scott's analysis of the rings allows him to create his own version.

As they were unable to destroy it, they sent it away to a version of Earth permanently locked in a time loop, therefore isolating it from the rest of Hypertime, with them hoping that it could never be found.

In Batman: The Dawnbreaker—part of a series of one-shots looking at darker alternate versions of Batman—when Bruce Wayne was chosen as the Green Lantern immediately after the deaths of his parents, his rage and emotional trauma were so great that he was able to overcome the ring's limitations against using lethal force by nothing more than strength of will.

This dark attitude results in him drawing on an unspecified 'void' through his ring, which allows him to overwhelm even a large number of other Green Lanterns and Guardians when they come to confront him over his violation of the rules of Oa.