Max Vaughn, an archaeologist, meets a tragic end in an unexpected accident. Expecting either an afterlife or the nothingness of death, he instead awakens among the stars, adrift in space and wielding a power ring, within the Marvel Universe.
The fic will follow Max's adventures as the Green Lantern in the distant past of the Marvel Universe, as he builds his legend among the stars and even creates the Corps.
This story will be a mix of comics and MCU canon, with some adjustments to the timeline for the sake of the narrative. If you notice any inconsistencies in timelines or character ages, it's simply me making changes for the fic's sake. This is my first Marvel fic, which is why I'm taking this approach.
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It was freezing so cold that it seeped into your bones and made your teeth ache. Today felt colder than yesterday, even though the forecast had promised otherwise.
Max Vaughn stood near the edge of the dig site, a satellite phone pressed to his ear, his breath misting in the chill air.
"Max, sweetie, why don't you spend Christmas with me again this year?" his mom asked, her voice warm.
"Mom, you know how this works, it's Dad's turn this year," Max replied with a soft chuckle, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, boots crunching against the frost-covered gravel.
"You're in Norway. It's closer to me than flying to your dad's in Vancouver."
"Let's not make this a thing, Mom," he said, his tone still gentle but firmer now.
"Fine, fine," she sighed. "I just wanted to meet that girl you were dating."
"Yeah, about that…" Max rubbed the back of his neck, eyes drifting toward the distant mountains. "Things didn't work out. We broke up about a month ago."
Another sigh floated through the phone. "I told you, it's your work. You keep traveling all over some jungle, some desert, some frozen wasteland."
Max rolled his eyes; he'd heard this speech many times before. Before she could continue, he cut in. "Look, Mom, I have to get back to the dig site, okay? I'll call you when I get back to the cabin. Love you. Bye." He didn't wait for her reply before ending the call.
He exhaled, watching the mist of his breath swirl and vanish. Shoving the phone into his heavy jacket, he trudged back toward the dig site.
The settlement was ancient, late Bronze Age, maybe older. A recent find, tucked in the valley. Max hadn't originally planned to be here. He was supposed to be in India, investigating rumors of a rediscovered Indus Valley city some locals had stumbled across. But plans changed. They always did.
He walked through the site, watching his fellow archaeologists at work, some brushing away soil, others cataloging fragments of pottery and bone. A few interns murmured excitedly over what they thought might be a ceremonial tool. Max nodded to them, though his mind was elsewhere.
He wondered what he'd do for dinner. Maybe heat up the last of the venison stew, crack open that dusty bottle of aquavit one of the locals had given him. Maybe he'd finally watch that new Marvel movie that had just hit streaming.
His thoughts were cut short by a low, deep rumble that made the ground hum beneath his boots.
"Probably just a truck passing," one of the interns said with a nervous laugh.
Max frowned. That wasn't a truck.
The sound grew louder.
He turned, eyes locking on to the mountainside.
A plume of white surged down from above, growing wider, faster.
"Avalanche!" Max shouted, waving his arms. "Everyone move!"
Screams erupted as people scattered, equipment abandoned in the snow. Max sprinted toward a young researcher frozen in place, staring up at the approaching wall of snow. He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her toward safety.
But in the chaos, his foot caught on something hidden beneath the snow. His balance gave out, and before he could react, he fell into the ditch at the edge of the site.
Snow, rock, and wind swallowed him whole.
The last thing Max saw was the gray sky disappearing behind a wave of white.
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It was cold.
Very cold.
Max felt weightless—floating.
He blinked awake slowly, expecting darkness. After all, the last thing he remembered was snow, rocks, and the mountainside collapsing on top of him. He had been buried. There should have been blackness suffocating, icy silence.
But that wasn't what he saw.
Instead, there were stars—thousands of them. Millions.
They stretched endlessly around him, a cosmic sea of stars in every color: brilliant blue, burning red, cool white, vibrant gold. Swirls of nebulae floated in the distance violet clouds tangled with orange fire, green gases spiraling into nothingness.
Max couldn't breathe—not out of panic, but awe. It was… beautiful. Beyond beautiful. Like standing inside a living painting. He had only ever seen stars this clearly once years ago, lying on his back in Hawai'i, staring up at the midnight sky after a day of diving and drinking cheap rum on the beach but even that paled in comparison.
Am I dead? he wondered.
Is this heaven?
He drifted silently, simply taking in the sight. It was as if the universe had decided to reveal its true self to him.
And then, slowly, realization dawned.
He wasn't lying down. He wasn't even falling.
He was floating.
In space.
Max turned awkwardly at first, like swimming through syrup. That's when he saw it.
The sun.
No a sun.
And then another. Two suns burned far apart in the void, both distant yet unmistakable. One was orange-red, the other golden-white. Caught in their light was a planet green and blue like Earth, but… not Earth. The continents were all wrong.
"What the fuck," he muttered or tried to. His lips moved, but no sound came.
It was then he noticed the glow—a green aura surrounding him like a soft shield. He looked down at his hand, and his breath caught.
A ring.
A glowing green ring.
It pulsed gently with light, the symbol on it unmistakable.
"A power ring?" Max stared at it in disbelief.
He turned his hand, inspecting it, the glow reflected in his wide eyes. His clothes were gone too, replaced by something he'd seen in comics and animated series many times.
"No way," he whispered in his mind. "No freaking way."
A thousand thoughts crashed into his head at once.
Is this like one of those anime?
Am I in another universe?
Am I in a coma?
Am I dead?
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to recall everything he could about the Green Lanterns: Oa, the emotional spectrum, willpower, constructs.
Wait, didn't the ring have an AI?
"Hey, ring," he said, even though no sound came out.
A voice responded at once, echoing directly into his thoughts, sounding distinctly feminine:
"Yes, Ring-Bearer."
Max grinned.
"Where am I?" Max asked as he floated among the stars.
There was a pause longer than he liked before the ring finally replied.
"Unknown."
Max blinked. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"Unable to access Oaan network. All known galactic positioning systems are offline. Oa's location cannot be determined."
"Oh," Max muttered.
He swallowed, pulse ticking up. "Okay… okay, fine. Can you fly me back to Earth?"
"Negative."
Max stared into the void, jaw tightening. "Fuck."
He drifted in silence, watching the twin stars burn in the sky. It had all felt epic and surreal until now, but reality was catching up. He needed a plan somewhere solid to stand. Floating in deep space was cool, but he couldn't think like this.
He turned toward the planet. "Is that planet safe for me to land on?"
"Affirmative. Atmosphere is breathable. Gravity and pressure within tolerable human limits. No immediate threats detected."
Max nodded slowly. "All right then… can you, uh, tell me how to actually use this thing?"
"The ring is powered by will. It can manifest anything, limited only by the strength of your willpower and imagination."
He took a deep breath. Willpower. Imagination. Got it. He focused nervous but determined and imagined himself flying.
The green aura around him pulsed brighter, stronger. He felt something shift, something respond deep within him. Then, like a switch flipping he moved.
Fast.
Max rocketed forward, green light streaking behind him like a comet. He whooped—a soundless shout in the vacuum—arms instinctively outstretched like Superman. He laughed in awe and terror as speed built and the planet swelled in his vision, pulling him in.
The thin outer atmosphere shimmered as he punched through it. A shockwave of heat wrapped around him, harmless within the ring's protective field. He could see it all now.
The sky was a soft teal, streaked with swirling lavender clouds. The twin suns hung low, bathing the world in overlapping shades of gold and amber.
Below lay an endless plain rolling hills covered in tall, golden-green grass that shimmered faintly.
Max slowed, then hovered just above the surface before touching down. His boots pressed into alien soil.
"One small step for man," he said with a half-laugh, glancing at his glowing boots.
The green glow around him dimmed, retreating back into the ring. Wind brushed his face cool, clean air tasting of rain, wildflowers, and ozone.
He scanned the landscape, strange serenity washing over him. In the distance, deer-like creatures with elongated necks and glowing antlers moved through the grass, their bodies casting a soft bioluminescence across the green-gold field.
Above them, floating jellyfish drifted a few feet off the ground, pulsing gently like lanterns. Their translucent forms shifted hue as they passed through beams of twin sunlight.
To his left, giant flowers the size of umbrellas opened and closed in rhythmic pulses, reacting to the changing light.
Is this real?
Without hesitation, Max balled his fist and punched himself hard in the shoulder.
"OW…damn!" he hissed, clutching his arm. "Okay, it's real. Did I get stronger or something?"
"Affirmative," the AI replied smoothly. "The ring enhances your physical attributes: strength, durability, intelligence, and reflexes."
"Good to know," Max muttered, rubbing his arm.
Then, like a pressure drop in his chest, it hit him.
He might never see his mom again.
Or his dad.
His friends.
His life was just… gone.
Earth was gone.
He sat down hard.
The soft grass whispered beneath him as the suns shifted in the sky. Hours passed, and he didn't move. He stared ahead, overwhelmed, trying to calm himself with logic or jokes—anything—but it wasn't working.
He was light-years—maybe universes—away from home.
The stillness finally broke when the AI's voice returned.
"Bearer," it said, the tone almost urgent. "I have detected hostile anomalies on the planet."
Max blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. "What?"
"Significant energy fluctuations detected to the northeast. Threat classification: potentially hostile."
He stood, brushing alien pollen from his legs. His heart rate ticked up. "Okay, okay get yourself together, man," he muttered, giving his cheeks a light slap.
"Ring," he called.
"Yes, Ring Bearer."
"Call me Max from now on," he said, voice firmer. "And you… you'll be designated Jade."
A pause, then:
"Acknowledged. Designation accepted. I am Jade."
He smiled. "Cool." His expression sobered. "So what's this about hostile anomalies?"
Jade answered with a projection: a green wire-frame map of the region, rotating in mid-air. A pulsing marker blinked to the northeast.
"Unstable energy readings," Jade said. "The anomaly is approximately five hundred miles from your current position. Energy output is intense, fluctuating, and highly volatile. Probability of danger: 79.3 percent."
Max stared at the display, jaw tight. Instinct said fear—fear of the unknown, of whatever could generate that kind of reading.
Then he looked at the ring.
He held a power ring—a Green Lantern ring. Fear was something a Lantern shouldn't indulge.
"Jade, how much power is left?" he asked, remembering the comics. "Don't I need a battery to recharge this thing?"
A brief pause.
"Power levels cannot be calculated by conventional means. I theorize this ring draws energy from a stabilized, self-sustaining pocket dimension. It is not dependent on a traditional Central Power Battery."
Max's eyes widened. "So you're saying… I've got infinite juice?"
"In theory… yes."
He laughed loud, incredulous, tinged with manic glee. "Oh, man. That's great. Absolutely great."
With a deep breath he focused, willing himself airborne. Emerald light flared; the familiar aura lifted him effortlessly, lavender clouds swirling far below.
He raised his hand. "Let's try this," he muttered.
A flash of green burst from the ring. Energy coalesced into a long, gleaming sword; a broad, curved shield followed, etched with the Lantern sigil. He grasped the sword, giving it a few experimental swings—perfectly balanced.
"Okay," he said with a smile. "That's cool."
Let's see what else I can do.
The sword and shield vanished. In their place, twin-barreled cannons unfolded along his arms, glowing with power. He mimed a blast—pulses of emerald energy flared silently into the sky.
Next, shoulder-mounted missile pods clicked into place behind him.
"All right, all right dialing it back." The weapons dissolved at a thought.
He focused again. Under his feet formed a sleek, translucent surfboard of green energy. Max hopped on, knees bending instinctively. The board responded at once, slicing through the air like the Silver Surfer.
"Now we're talking!" he shouted, wind whipping his hair as he carved across the sky, looping and barrel-rolling through lavender clouds.
Then a bigger idea struck.
Higher he flew, concentrating hard. Massive, intricate, mechanical shapes assembled around him—legs, torso, arms, the iconic V-fin. The RX-78-2 Gundam took form in glowing segments of emerald light, locking together until he stood at the heart of a full-scale mech.
"This is fucking amazing," Max breathed, awe in his voice as he rocketed forward inside the construct.
He dove toward the planet and landed hard—his Gundam construct struck like a meteor, sending a deep tremor through the ground. The impact left a vast imprint in the soil, flattening grass in every direction. For a moment he simply stood there, basking in the sensation.
Then, with a breath and a thought, Max released the construct. It shimmered and dissolved into particles of emerald light that flowed back into the ring.
He stood grinning from ear to ear.
"Jade," he called, catching his breath, "where did you say those hostiles were again?"
"Northeast," she answered. A holographic map appeared, rotating gently. A single marker pulsed at the indicated location.
"Let's go find out what's going on, shall we?" Max flashed a cocky smile and launched himself skyward, the ground cracking beneath him from the force of his take-off.
He pushed faster than before, slicing through the air like a bullet of light.
"Caution," Jade said, her voice calm but firmer this time. "Reduce velocity. At your present speed, you will overshoot the target by several thousand miles."
"Right," Max replied, eyes wide as he immediately pulled back. The sudden deceleration whipped wind across his face as he steadied himself mid-flight.
Then he saw it—the change.
The vibrant plains beneath him faded into a hellscape. Golden-green grass gave way to scorched black soil. Rivers of lava carved molten veins across the ground. Jagged rocks jutted like broken teeth; craters pockmarked the land, steaming and cracked.
The air grew hotter and thinner, scraping his lungs with ash-like particles. The ring formed a shield around him, letting him breathe safely.
Something happened here, Max thought, his smile fading.
"Extreme environmental degradation," Jade reported. "Evidence of concentrated kinetic force and high-energy discharges. This region has suffered catastrophic damage."
Max scanned the ruin below. In the distance, lightning forked across the clouds in white-violet streaks; thunder rolled again and again.
"Warning," Jade added. "Unidentified energy signatures increasing in strength. Displacement levels far exceed safe thresholds."
Then he saw them—creatures crawling, slithering, flying. Beasts of flame and molten stone. Some strode on two legs, their bodies wreathed in fire; others writhed like titanic serpents, scales of obsidian magma. One, far below, resembled a bear the size of a house, trailing smoke as it smashed through burning trees.
Max hovered, staring in disbelief.
And then he saw him.
Amid the chaos stood a lone warrior, wielding a hammer crackling with lightning. Max watched as the man raised the weapon high and brought it down; lightning split the sky, striking a leaping molten beast and exploding it into ash and fire. Thunder boomed in sync with the blow, shaking the land.
Max's jaw dropped. He squinted, edging closer the cape, the armor, the way he handled the hammer.
"…Is that Thor?" he whispered, scarcely believing it.
The sky tore open.
A roar—deeper than thunder, louder than an avalanche shattered the heavens. Max looked up and felt the blood drain from his face.
Descending from the clouds came a nightmare: a dragon, colossal and incandescent. Its body was forged of molten rock and living flame, wings flaring like solar eruptions across the horizon. Its eyes blazed with searing light, and its roar rippled through the air like a shockwave.
"Oh, fuck," Max breathed.
Below, the warrior Thor or not stood his ground, shouting up at the creature, hammer sparking with power.
Something surged through Max—adrenaline, instinct, whatever it was—and he didn't hesitate. One moment he was hovering in mid-air; the next he was diving head-first into the fight.
He had no plan. He didn't need one.
Extending his arm, he poured willpower through the ring. A massive construct formed ahead of him—a roaring locomotive of green energy, its headlights blazing, wheels grinding along invisible rails.
"All aboard, motherfucker!" he bellowed, launching it forward.
The emerald engine rocketed through the sky and slammed into the molten dragon's flank with a deafening crash. The beast screeched in agony, wings flailing as the hit knocked it sideways. Flames burst outward, and the dragon smashed into the scorched ground, shockwaves rippling across the cracked terrain.
The warrior still airborne, hammer in hand looked up, spotted Max, and threw back his head in a triumphant laugh. "Ha!"
Stunned but not defeated, the dragon roared again, wings unfurling as it tried to rise.
The warrior was already in motion, spinning his hammer until lightning whirled around him. He shot forward, a living storm, and smashed the hammer into the dragon's face, calling down a blinding cascade of bolts that drove the beast deeper into the dirt.
Max refused to be outdone.
Missile pods bloomed over his shoulders and arms. With a thought, he unleashed a barrage—emerald streaks arcing into the dragon's torso.
The sky erupted in green and orange BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Chunks of molten armor tore free, and the dragon's deafening cry echoed across the wasteland.
Max winced. "Okay, maybe I overdid it."
He dropped lower as smoke and dust settled.
The warrior stood amid the wreckage, cape billowing, hammer crackling, a wide smile on his face. "That was glorious! You wield strange Séidr, friend."
The ring acted as a translator between them.
Max hovered beside him, returning the smile. "You're not bad yourself, Sparkles."
Before either could say more, the air trembled. A low rumble rolled through the earth. From the clouds descended a second dragon larger, darker its wings spreading across the horizon like night set ablaze.
The warrior hefted his hammer. "Ah. I knew there was more."
Max steadied himself. "You hit it with lightning," he said, fists beginning to glow, "and I'll do the same."
Their eyes met. Understanding passed without words.
The warrior nodded once and raised his hammer high.
"FOR ASGARD!" he roared.
Lightning ripped from the heavens, gathering around him in seething arcs. Max clenched his fists; green energy surged, wrapping his arms and chest in luminous armor. The ring's light flared brighter than ever.
"Together!" he shouted.
The hammer flew, a spiral of lightning following it like a divine spear. Max unleashed twin beams of emerald willpower. Lightning, hammer, and will fused in mid-air, colliding with the dragon in a titanic flash.
There was no time for the creature to scream.
It disintegrated—molten fragments vaporizing before they touched the ground.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
Max hovered just above the scorched earth, catching his breath while the last traces of flame and lightning faded into the air. Below, the man laughed heartily, celebrating the victory with the joy only true warriors seemed to understand.
"Ah, seiðmaðr!" he bellowed, his voice echoing across the ruined plain. "That was a good call!"
Max drifted down beside him, letting the last of his constructs fizzle away. He finally took a proper look: brown hair, a full beard, eyes like a brewing storm. His armor seemed born of the Viking Age—yet unmistakably godly; no other word fit.
Placing a hand to his chest, the man declared with pride, "I am Odin Borson, Prince of Asgard."
Max's jaw tightened. His eyes widened.
Not Thor.
Odin.
A young Odin.
He was done guessing where or when he was. Past, Marvel, DC, Norse-myth fan-fiction come alive? It no longer mattered.
Roll with it, he told himself. Find the answers later.
Squaring his shoulders, Max gave a respectful nod. "Well met, Odin Borson."
He hesitated for a heartbeat about to say Max Vaughn but the moment's weight shifted something inside him. He stood straighter, voice clear and steady.
"I am the Green Lantern."
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Iam using MCU ages for the Asgardians.
The year on earth is around 3400 BC.
The story will eventually reach modern canon year.