Carl Ferris (New Earth)

Carl Ferris was the father of Carol Ferris and the owner of the Ferris Aircraft.

History

Origin

Carl started his company with a partner, Conrad Bloch, who was a skilled pilot but with little work ethic outside his specific job description. Eventually, Carl Ferris felt that Bloch was not contributing adequately to the enterprise and arranged for him to be removed from the partnership. Bloch became a business rival to Ferris, a relationship that for Bloch eventually deteriorated into a murderous vendetta.^[1]

Years passed, and his daughter, Carol, grew up to a responsible woman, leading the way for Carl to retire and leave Carol in charge of the company while he traveled for two years.^[2] Ferris only pretended to have traveled the world playing golf, when in fact he had became gravely ill out of guilt for being partly responsible in the death of Martin Jordan and it was made to look like he had given Carol permission to run the company in his stead to prevent their business from collapsing due to the criticism against Carol of being able to run their business.^[3]

The Bloch Affair

While staying in Zurich, Switzerland, Carl and his wife got kidnapped by Bloch's men.^[4] This was part of his vengeance against Carl, which included the cooperation of Bloch's sons into blackmailing the congress into cancelling their contracts with Ferris Aircraft and forcing Carol to bomb Ferris Aircraft, which drew Green Lantern's attention. Green Lantern thwarted Bloch's plan, but the villain was mortally wounded in the attempt to kill the whole Ferris family. Carl felt partly responsible for his death.^[1]

Carl returned as head of Ferris Aircraft, deeming Carol unprepared to take care of the company and the economical mess they were in, laying off a big part of the workers and merging Coast City's Ferris facility with the one in Los Angeles, much to Carol and Hal's disgust.^[5]

Death

When the mysterious Mr. Smith came to Ferris Aircraft, Carl was at first reluctant of this man's promises to help the company.^[6] In time, Ferris flourished with the help of Smith's company, Continental Petroleum. However, this was all part of a hostile takeover to remove the Ferrises of the directors board, leaving Smith as the sole owner of Ferris Aircraft. Carl became desperate, and blamed Smith for stealing what was rightfully his and for the sudden disappearance and "death" of Carol (she was in fact turned into Star Sapphire during that time, but Carl wasn't aware of her double identity). Carl asked Hal Jordan to help him uncover some dirt to expose Smith^[7], but his inaction led Carl to take matter into his own hands. Piloting the Solar-Powered Jet of the company, he flew over the facility and started firing on Smith. Green Lantern interfered and stopped him, but Carl kept rambling about how "they" ruined his life, and suffered a mental breakdown.^[8] Carl was transferred to a hospital, where he died from a sudden heart attack.^[9]

Crosswind Corporation

Years later, the mysterious Crosswind Corporation started influencing the affairs in Ferris Aircraft and Hal Jordan's new Air-Taxi business. This organizations was secretly controlled by Christine Ferris, who years ago returned from Europe to find Carl had died. Inheriting all of Carl's money and technology, Christine created robotic doubles of Carl, who taught her how to recover Ferris Aircraft.^[10]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

• Business Management
• Leadership
• Aviation^[8]

Notes

• His first appearance in Showcase #22 named Carol's father as “Willard” Ferris in Secret of the Flaming Spear. It was later changed to “Carl” in the story Hal Jordan Betrays Green Lantern featured in Green Lantern (Volume 2) #21 where he claims he wanted a son, Carl, Jr., but got a Carol instead.

Related

• 40 Appearances of Carl Ferris (New Earth)
• 3 Images featuring Carl Ferris (New Earth)
• Quotations by or about Carl Ferris (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Carl Ferris (New Earth)

Footnotes