Thaal Sinestro () (or simply Sinestro) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, particularly those featuring Green Lantern. Sinestro is a former Green Lantern Corps member who was dishonorably discharged for abusing his power. He is the archnemesis of Hal Jordan and founder of the Sinestro Corps. Sinestro has appeared in various forms of non-comics media including shows, films, and video games, and he made his live-action debut in the 2011 film Green Lantern, played by Mark Strong. Publication history The character was created by John Broome and Gil Kane, and first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #7 (August 1961). In 2009, IGN ranked Sinestro as the 15th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. Fictional character biography Green Lantern Sinestro is born on the planet Korugar in space sector 1417. His dedication to preserving order originally manifests in his previous career, an anthropologist specializing in reconstructions of ruins of long-dead civilizations. One day, a Green Lantern named Prohl Gosgotha crash-lands near him, injured and apparently dying. Prohl gives his ring to Sinestro, who barely understands what to do with it. He uses it to defend himself from the Lantern's pursuer: a Weaponer of Qward. In the end, Sinestro has to destroy the ruins he was restoring to crush the Qwardian. Afterwards, Gosgotha turns out to still be alive and asks for his ring back to keep him alive long enough to get help. Knowing this would mean no longer being a Green Lantern, Sinestro lets him die and takes over his post. The Guardians are unaware of his actions. In Green Lantern #45, his wife is shown for the first time in a flashback and revealed to be the sister of Abin Sur. When Hal Jordan joins the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro is assigned to be his instructor. Jordan is horrified at his new mentor's totalitarian methods, though Sinestro maintains that his iron-fisted rule is necessary to protect the people from alien forces. During his training, Jordan helps Sinestro repel an attempted invasion of Korugar by the alien warlords known as the Khunds. When Jordan calls for help from the other Green Lanterns, Sinestro's dictatorship is exposed and he is forced to appear before the Guardians for punishment. Katma Tui, the leader of a Korugarian resistance movement who feels that Sinestro's "protection" keeps her people from growing as a society through contact with