Superheroes are a colorful bunch. Over decades comic writers created plenty of green superheroes when they go out saving the day. Of course, not all of them are equal in their importance in pop culture. That’s why I have conjured a list of the top 20 names of green superheroes in comics! to sort the best from the rest. So, sit back and enjoy the ride.
20/20. Banshee (Marvel Comics)
Starting this list is Ireland’s most famous superhero! Born as Sean Cassidy, Banshee is a mutant who is commonly associated with the X-Men. He is named after the banshee, a legendary spirit from Irish mythology, said to possess a haunting cry. Banshee has superhuman vocal cords that generate a “sonic scream”, capable of causing physical vibrations.
He can also use his auditory ability to fly with his green aerodynamic suit. Sean Cassidy is the heir to his family’s fortune and castle in Ireland. Despite his massive wealth he decided to work for Interpol. While on a mission, his wife was killed in a bombing in Northern Ireland.
He then left Interpol and later joined the X-Men. Cassidy died heroically in the line of duty while trying to save a passenger plane from being destroyed.
19/20. Fire (DC Comics)
Alias Fire, Green Fury, and Green Flame, Beatriz was a member of the Global Guardians, the Justice League, and other heroic groups. During the explosion, Beatriz was saturated by an energy called “Pyroplasm” which caused her body to take on a fiery form at will.
Once in her flaming green form, she can take off into the sky and blaze forth with burning fire. Fire is best known for her friendships/partnerships with fellow league members Tora (Ice) and Sigrid (Ice Maiden). She is also a skilled investigator and espionage agent.
18/2O. Kick-Ass (Image Comics)
Dave’s interest in comic books inspired him to become a real-life superhero. He bought a green wet suit off eBay and started fighting crime. Of course, since he possessed no fighting skills whatsoever, he got stabbed and hit by a car. After intense physical rehabilitation, Dave was released with metal plates all over his body. His nerve endings having delayed reactions to pain made him almost immune to beatings. As soon as the vigilante goes back to fight crime, he manages to save a man from a beating and fights off the attacking thugs.
A bystander uploads the incident on YouTube, turning Kick-Ass into an overnight sensation. I have no idea why of all colors Dave chose to wear a green suit (and yellow) for his costume, but he somehow actually makes it work.
17/20. Polaris (Marvel Comics)
Coming at number seventeen, and representing all superheroes with green capes, is Lorna Dane aka Polaris. The green hair female character is the daughter of Magneto. Her mom had an affair with Magneto leading to Polaris’ birth.
Once her mom’s husband found out about the affair, he confronted her while the three of them were flying in a plane. The stress of this caused Polaris’s powers to flare for the first time, destroying the aircraft and killing her parents. This trauma has haunted her since.
Like her father, the green female superhero has mastery of magnetism. She can manipulate metal and magnetic fields. What I like most about this her is that after her initial adventures with the X-Men, she went to study geology and focused on having a normal life.
After the circumstances of her life, she certainly needs to gain control before she becomes one of the best and most powerful superheroes like her father.
16/20. The Green Hornet (Dynamite Entertainment)
The Green Hornet is the alter ego of Britt Reid, owner of the Daily Sentinel newspaper. Reid uses the power of the press to target organized crime and eventually adopts the persona of the Green Hornet as another way of fighting lawbreakers.
Like the Hornet, Reid wears a green mask and trench coat to disguise his identity. His chauffeur, Kato, who does most of the actual fighting, assists him in his crusade and drives a specially designed car called the Black Beauty.
Why is he called The Green Hornet and not just The Hornet? Glad you asked! “Dynamite Entertainment” could not copyright the name of The Hornet without an adjective, so they added the word “green” to the title. Since green hornets are known to be the most liable to sting, I think it turned out for the better.
15/20. Name: Brainiac 5 (DC Comics)
Check the big brain on our next entry on this list! Querl Dox, aka Brainiac 5., is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Querl was born in the 30th Century on planet Colu, home to the most intelligent race in the universe, the Coluans. He is a 12th-level intellect considered a genius even by the Coluans standards. His great-great-grandfather is the infamous supervillain Brainiac, one of Superman’s deadliest enemies.
Querl Dox struggled to compensate for the misdeeds of his lineage by joining the legion alongside Supergirl, with who he was in love. Among other things, he invented the Time Bubble, which became the primary mode of time travel for the Legion of Superheroes. Brainiac 5 is green-skinned because he is an alien from the Coluan humanoid race that is all green-skinned.
14/20. The Mask – Stanley Ipkiss (Dark Horse Comics)
Stanley Ipkiss is a pushover bank clerk who buys a Jade-looking mask at an antique store as a gift for his girlfriend. When he puts it on, he’s transformed into a zoot-suited, green-faced trickster known as The Mask.
Empowered by the Mask, Stanley becomes a living Looney Tune who is able to alter himself and his surroundings at will. However, the Mask brings out his worst nature and takes an emotional toll on him. In his troublemaker persona, Ipkiss has a short attention span as he forgets about the most crucial task, which is defeating the bad guys and goes off doing fun activities.
When someone wears that mask they will have their head and face completely covered in a rubber-like material of green-colored skin color. Why green? Well, the mask itself has been painted a green color. That’s about the best explanation I came up with.
13/20. The Spectre (DC Comics)
He is the soul of Detective Jim Corrigan, a good, tough cop, who was killed in the line of duty. God then selected him to be the visitor of harsh justice, particularly to evil sinners. He is the embodiment of the wrath of God, coming to wreak havoc on the unjust.
The Spectre is a founding member of the Justice Society of America and a member of the All-Star Squadron. He is not the oldest of DC’s supernatural characters but one of the earliest, first appearing in February 1940.
As a servant of God, The Spectre is granted limitless power, capable of nearly any feat within his imagination. Just think of him as the Grim Reaper of the DC Universe in a green cape. He also commonly emits green mystical energy, which suggests it is a theme color.
See also: 15 Most Powerful Superheroes Ever!12/20. Green Power Ranger, Tommy Oliver (BOOM! Studios / Hasbro)
Tommy Oliver is the Green Ranger, the longest-lasting Power Ranger of all time. He was originally under an evil spell by Rita Replusa which made him think that the Power Rangers were his enemies. The Red Ranger freed him from Rita’s spell by destroying Tommy’s Sword of Darkness which was meant to him evil forever.
The Green Ranger has his own Zord called the Dragonzord which is summoned by the Dragon Dagger that he has in his hand by playing music on it like a flute (even though it sounds more like a trumpet). The cool thing about the Dragonzord (besides the fact that the other Rangers called upon dinosaurs, while Tommy got to call upon a dragon) is that his dragon didn’t require the other Zords to transform into something bigger and better.
See also: The Greatest Top 40 Blue Superheroes, Ranked and Matched11/20. Beast Boy (DC Comics)
My personal favorite Titan, Beast Boy (real name Garfield “Gar” Logan) has the metamorphic ability to transform into any animal that he has seen. Gar was brought up in the jungles of Brazil, Africa, and India by his parents, who were geneticists interested in a rare species of green monkeys.
However, when they finally found them, Gar was bitten by one of the monkeys and contracted a serious illness called Sakutia. To save him, his parents treated him with a genetic serum that bestowed him with his shape-changing abilities.
As a byproduct, his skin, hair, and eyes turned green. Beast Boy is a former member of the Doom Patrol and one of the five founding members of the Teen Titans.
10/20. Iron Fist – Danny Rand (Marvel Comics)
The latest in a long line of warriors who wielded their power against the wicked, Danny Rand is Iron Fist. Protector of the mystical city of K’un Lun, he channels a soul of a dragon making his fists like iron, and is one of the greatest martial artists the world has ever known.
After the death of his parents, Rand vow to avenge them. He studied martial arts and at nineteen was given the opportunity to win the power of the Iron Fist by confronting the fire-breathing serpent Shou-Lao the Undying, whose power resided within a flaming brazier.
Rand slew Shou-Lao, a feat no other warrior had ever accomplished, and plunged his hands into the brazier, imbuing himself with the mystic energy of the Iron Fist. Not only Iron Fist is one of my favorite characters, but he is also one of the best superheroes that wear green.
9/20. Green She-Hulk (Marvel Comics)
The alter-ego of defense attorney Jennifer Walters. She got her powers by receiving a life-saving blood transfusion from her cousin, Dr. Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk). Bruce’s blood not only saved her life but also passed on a milder version of his Gamma Powers.
Hence, She-Hulk may not be as strong as her cousin, but she’s still crazy strong. However, unlike Bruce, Jennifer is able to transform into She-Hulk at will, just by thinking angry thoughts.
As She-Hulk, Jennifer has an accelerated healing factor, making her pretty much invincible. Her super strength and agility give her incredible jumping abilities, reflexes, and stamina.
8/20. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Viacom / IDW Publishing)
TMNT was my favorite group of heroes as a kid. Apparently, I wasn’t alone. This team of wisecracking, pizza-eating, and anthropomorphic green superheroes warriors became a global phenomenon that continues to this very day.
Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei, Splinter in the art of Ninjutsu. Always fighting for the side of good, they battle petty criminals, evil overlords, mutated animals, and alien invaders while attempting to remain isolated from society.
When it comes to all of the great 1980s and early 1990s animated television shows, none have had the staying power of the Ninja Turtles.
7/20. Green Goblin (Marvel Comics)
This guy is REALLY mean and green!
Billionaire Norman Osborn was already a power-hungry sociopath even before he took the experimental serum that was supposed to increase his strength. The “Goblin” serum did give him super strength but also drove him mad.
He became a laughing, evil presence often driven by a very personal vendetta with Spider-Man. Green Goblin is, arguably, Spider-Man’s archenemy. He may not be Spidey’s strongest enemy, but he is certainly the most twisted villain. There is no archenemy who has caused Peter Parker more pain and trouble than the Green Goblin.
Over the years, he has tortured Spiderman, buried aunt may alive, and most notoriously killed Gwen Stacy, Peter’s girlfriend. Actually, Killing Gwen is one of the worst things any villain has ever done!
6/20. Swamp Thing (DC Comics)
Coming in at number six on my countdown is the underwater amphibious creature Swamp Thing. Following his death in a swamp as a result of a horrific accident, scientist and botanist Alec Holland rises up from the bog as the mysterious Swamp Thing.
Like Swamp Thing, Alec Holland is a walking green creature capable of manipulating nature around him, regrowing lost limbs, and transporting himself anywhere in the world.
Swamp Thing possesses a psychic link to the collective consciousness of all plant life in the entire universe known as “The Green”. He uses his enormous powers to protect both the human and the plant worlds.
5/20. Martian Manhunter (DC Comics)
J’onn J’onzz is a police officer (a Manhunter) from planet Mars. One of the last survivors of the civil war that ravaged his homeworld, J’onn J’onnz traveled to Earth where he became one of its greatest champions under the name Martian Manhunter.
He has super strength, speed, and flight. He can phase through stuff, shape-shifting, laser vision, and telepathy. In fact, he is so stacked on powers he is what the Justice League calls a “Swiss army knife” type of hero. Martian Manhunter’s color is green because he is a Green Martian species which are peaceful philosopher (while White Martians are savage warriors).
4/20. Green Arrow (DC Comics)
Next on this list of superheroes is Green Arrow, my favorite DC character. For the first 27 years of his career, he was like a Batman clone. He was a Billionaire who uses both his wealth and his archery skills to fight crime. He even had a teenage sidekick, called Speedy. And he used a lot of gadgets.
Over time, Green Arrow became an important member of the Justice League, and he had now lost all of his money. GA is widely regarded as having no superpowers. He is a hunter and legendary bowman who uses arrows as his main weapon of choice. He can shoot 29 Arrows in under a minute, which is impressive.
3/20. Green Lantern Corps (DC Comics)
The Green Lanterns are the intergalactic police force. It’s an organization that battles evil whenever and wherever it rose to threaten the universe. They have protected the Universe for at least three billion years. Generally, each lantern corps wants to spread their emotion (sort of) or “fulfill” it in a sense. Each one of the 7204 members of the Corps is given a power ring, a weapon granting the use of incredible abilities that are directed by the wearer’s own willpower.
The Green Lanterns are the largest and most powerful Corps (There are more Green Lanterns than there Orange, Red, Star Sapphire, Indigo, Blue, Black, and White combine). The green superheroes chose willpower as their power source because they felt it was the strongest emotion and willpower happens to be represented by the color green.
2/20. Gamora (Marvel Comics)
Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan from Guardians of the Galaxy takes “eat your green vegetables” to the next level. She is the last member of an alien race called Zen-Whoberis. Half of the population of her planet was murdered by Thanos.
Thanos saw her potential and adopted her. She is often called the “Deadliest woman in the galaxy,” and for good reason.
Gamora was forced to go through grueling training sessions with warriors that Thanos had handpicked from the planets he conquered. She became a master assassin and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Gamora is a very skilled fighter. She helped her father conquer thousands of planets and fought monsters and soldiers alike.
1/20. Hulk (Marvel Comics)
Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the powerful superhero Hulk is unquestionably the most famous green superhero. When angered, Doctor Bruce Banner transforms into the rage-fueled, green-skinned monster that we all know and love.
When Bruce changes into the Hulk, he goes all the way. Every part of him turns green, gets bigger, and eventually, he is almost unrecognizable. Hulk is the most powerful physical carnal being in Marvel. However (and that’s the thing I love most about him), despite his powers, he doesn’t want to fight.
All he really wants is to be left alone. He likes quiet and peace! Fun fact – Hulk was originally supposed to be gray and not green. However, since gray was difficult to print in the comic book series back in 1962, Hulk was turned into the extremely muscled Green Genes we know today.
See also: Top 18 Best Pink Superheroes