Ferris Aircraft
| Ferris Aircraft | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Showcase #22 (October, 1959) |
| Created by | John Broome, Gil Kane |
| In-story information | |
| Type of business | Aerospace |
| Owner(s) |
Carol Ferris Carl Ferris |
| Employee(s) |
Hal Jordan Thomas Kalmaku |
Ferris Aircraft, also known as Ferris Air, is an aerospace, defense, and later airline company featured in the DC Comics universe. It is owned and run by businesswoman Carol Ferris, who is the employer of test pilot Hal Jordan until he is recruited by the Green Lantern Corps.
Fictional history
Ferris Aircraft is a top aviation corporation in the United States working on advanced aircraft and experimental aviation concepts. It is one of the largest employers in Coast City, California. Ferris Air was a long time employer of the Hal Jordan who would later become Green Lantern. It was a Ferris plane that exploded taking the life of test pilot Martin Jordan Hal's father.
Carl and Conrad were friends since childhood, he shared the dream of creating a business together, Ferris-Bloch Air-Cargo, Ltd. Ferris was a business man, Bloch a pilot. Together they became profitable against the odds. However, as time went on, Ferris was constantly working, building up the business while Bloch played around, seeing many women and drinking.
The company was a leader in the industry but it also had legal problems. This was due to Bloch's alcoholism. Carl Ferris ended his partnership with Bloch.
Due to declining health Carl had left the everyday operations to Carol Ferris his daughter, but the company was almost bankrupt. She spent the next few years battling to keep the business afloat.
An alien peace officer named Abin Sur of the Green Lantern Corps crash lands in the middle of the California desert close to Ferris Aircraft. As he lay dying, he commands his power ring to seek out a worthy successor. Test pilot Hal Jordan is examining a flight simulator when a corona of green light envelops him, pulling him along with the simulator to the spot of Abin Sur's crashed vessel. Abin Sur tells Hal that the power of the ring selected him to take on the role of the Green Lantern. Hal agrees to accept the responsibility of wielding the ring in the cause of justice, and with that, Abin Sur passes away. Hal Jordan is now Green Lantern. [1]
Carol was kidnapped in a New York City hotel and without a representative of Ferris Aircraft appearing in Washington D.C., the governmental panel assumed Ferris offered no contest to their decision. Citing the record number of accidents at Ferris Aircraft, it was decided all government contracts with Ferris Aircraft would be cancelled. Back in Ferris Aircraft's Coast City facilities, a series of bombs were detonated. The testing facilities were totalled. [2]
The company had to deal with saboteurs such as Demolition Team hired by Bloch and his sons, but Green Lantern has intervened and helped battle the threat. [3]
Ferris Aircraft is one of the companies providing sponsorship to the superhero team The Conglomerate. The other sponsors included American Steel, Dante Foods, Dupree Chemical, LexCorp, S.T.A.R. Labs, Ovel Oil, Pax Entertainment, Stagg Enterprises.[4]
Carol later changed the outlook of the business by developing aircraft for the Blackhawk Squadron. It was with Carol's influence that the company went in a new direction creating FerrisAir, with a fleet of commercial airliners.
In other media
Television
- Ferris Aircraft is featured in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Carol Ferris receives an invitation to join the Star Sapphires and makes a long journey through a portal to Zamaron. She soon returns after Hal Jordan helps her overcome spatial displacement from the journey. In an effort to defeat Atrocitus on Oa, Jordan also uses a portal created by Queen Aga'po to return to Earth, specifically to Ferris. Hal awakes in an amnesiac state at Ferris Aircraft. Carol eventually takes him to his foot locker and helps him regain his memory with his Green Lantern power battery.
- Ferris Aircraft is featured in the Young Justice episode "Depths". Carol Ferris gave a press conference about the company's new Earth-Mars communication satellite. She defends the project against G. Gordon Godfrey's criticism. As the scheduled launch draws closer, Carol joins engineer Thomas Kalmaku during the launch. Because the site is attacked, she speeds up the countdown. The missile launches successfully, but explodes in the air.
- Ferris Aircraft is featured in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in the episode "Scorn of Star Sapphire". Batman has the company test the new Batmobile while he patrols Coast City for Green Lantern.
- Ferris Air appears in the TV series Arrow. In the episode "Sacrifice", when Edward Fyers launches missiles at a Ferris Air jetliner, Shado reprograms the missile's guidance pattern to be fired at the compound, instead of at the Ferris Air jetliner. The missile lands on the compound, effectively obliterating it and killing all of Fyers' men. Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim tweeted a photo of Ferris Air with the slogan "We fly without Fear" as an easter egg of Green Lantern.[5]
- The company is featured in the pilot episode of The Flash. Barry Allen tests his newly found speeding powers at an abandoned Ferris Air testing facility site. The company's logo appears in the episode "Who is Harrison Wells?" where Barry was getting pizza from Coast City. In the episode "Rogue Air", The Flash and his team go back to the Ferris Aircraft facility, with Barry mentioning that the place was shut down after one of their test pilots disappeared, alluding to Hal Jordan.
Films
- Ferris Aircraft is featured in the animated film Green Lantern: First Flight. Hal Jordan is shown testing a simulator when called by Abin Sur to become his replacement in the Green Lantern Corps.
- Ferris Aircraft is featured in the live action movie Green Lantern. New Orleans Lakefront Airport's Art Deco Terminal Building was used as the main headquarters. Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris are shown to test a new military drone. Hal beats the drone by flying his jet to high and causing the electronics to short out, crashing both his plane and the drone.
- Ferris Aircraft is featured in the animated film Justice League: The New Frontier. They work with the US government to create a rocket for a mission to Mars.
- A Ferris Airbase is seen in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis.
Video games
- A Ferris Aircraft hangar is featured as Green Lantern's combat stage in Injustice: Gods Among Us. Also, during the story mode, Hal Jordan is looking for a power battery, which is located in Carol Ferris' office. Ferris Aircraft is one of the only two stages that do not include transitions, along with Atlantis.
- Ferris Aircraft is a stage in DC Universe Online. The prototype "Emotion Dampener" was tested by S.T.A.R. Labs at Ferris Aircraft and became the target of an attack by Atrocitus and his Red Lantern Corps who sought to destroy the dampener so that their rage would continue to grow rampant. Two heroes are sent in to quell the uprising and eject Atrocitus from the facility.
- Ferris Aircraft is referenced in Batman: Arkham Origins, it is advertised on billboards throughout the city. Later, on the ship Final Offer a shipping container with a Ferris Aircraft logo appears.