Why Red Lanterns are Heroes...

It's because you can't call them villains. It was hard for me to understand why they were on the villain side to be truthful. The Red Lanterns are symbolizing Rage. People have always misunderstood that emotion, which makes it understandable why so many people think that they should be villain only. However, almost all red lanterns are good. They only even fight because you're blatantly in the way of vengeance. Pretty much every red lantern (Except for Vice, Vice is just mad lol) has been HURT. Like BAD, and now they are pretty ticked off. Atrocitus lost his family, planet and galaxy. Bleeze was a princess-angel then she was thrown into slavery, John Stewart went rage once because his wife was killed and died in his arms. They aren't mad without reason, you see. They all are entitled to the vengeance they seek, excluding Vice who simply just has issues lol. Dex-Starr's owner was killed and he was about to be killed himself before he got his ring..

Heck, one time Dex-Starr and Atrocitus were watching over Earth and saw a guy get robbed, they went over and incinerated the thief. Skallox was a bad guy, yeah. But the crime gang he worked for was his family, the guys and gals he loved and would die for. They suddenly decided to burn him alive and boom came the red ring. Man, these people have been hurt, and they want what's right and what's right is what heroes stand for.

They more suit the anti-hero philosophy but have justified causes nonetheless. They aren't heroic but aren't exactly villainous either. They are in between and a person can utilize their rage in any means necessary. Its perfect for being both a villain AND hero powerset in this game.

I understand the stories on the red lanterns my thing is on the new dlc hero's fight red and yellow lanterns and villains fight green and blue. I the red lanterns are nor hero or villain why aren't there red lantern bounties on both sides. I don't believe villains fight red lanterns at all in the new dlc. If they are gonna split the lanterns up like that then they might as well have made the new power like the lantern trolls. Rage for villains and hope for hero's

So let me get this straight. Whomever makes them very very angry, they go kill, right? Yup, sounds like a Hero. Justice League take notes.

Not really. It's more the people who have caused a righteous injustice. It doesn't have to be against the Red Lantern.

Even though heroes can be rage, there is not a single rage hero the villains have to kill in the new alert or raid. The only time I have killed a red lantern was in the battle zone when I found a random rage lantern attacking a yellow lantern. The story is rather lacking, yet again, on the villain side. Could have at least had Guy Gardner.

Yes I thought this, we get to spank a couple of blues but no red lanterns at all, to me that suggests the alternative to the OP, the fact that we villains have not a single red lantern to beat up in all the new content makes me think it should have been a villain power only to be honest, or at least the devs thought/think that...surely it couldn't have been us villains getting gimped on content again?

The history of the Red Lanterns (almost always villains) is the reason people were hesitant moreso than the power itself. That said, DCUO uses a different storyline, one in which the Lanterns can be heroic or villanous, as players prefer.

Um...

"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord.

Rage, vengeance, madness and revenge are not justified responses in a civilised society......emotions are there to be understood and where necessary make concessions for, however the intellect when placed in a calm and detached state is needed to look at the overall impact and consequence of action and reaction. An' eye for and eye is the most outmoded and archaic relic of justice for a very good reason.

Rage is a blinding and obsessively personalised emotion one that operates in the face of rational thought and conscience (as can be proven by the chemical reactions it generates in the brain), it is not in any sense a heroic motivator and yet classically the stuff of many a villain (more often than not those who end up ruing the consequences of their actions).

Heroic acts perpetrated under the guise of rage are mostly random and as such entirely unreliable, in the nieve and cosseted world of comics the convolutions may suggest otherwise but in the real world it is a dangerous indulgence to see rage anything other than something that needs to be controlled.

Quiet, VILLAIN! You know not which you speak of.

Errrm from the VILLAIN wiki itself...

A rather basic summary but so was the OP, in short..

Red = Villain
Blue = Hero

...am personally disappointed that the devs caved and gave red powers to the heroes.

Red Lanterns are evil.

The guardians are evil they destroy their whole sector of space and write it off.

Look up Manhunter and history Red lantern before judge the Reason. it not fuel with evil it fuel by angry want happen to them.

You mean they turned to the dark side...

Yeah, we actually do fight them at points throughout the content, and in Fight for the Light instances

If anybody needs a red lantern ring, it's Asura.

The comics use this storyline too. Although initially the Red Lanterns were viewed as villains they have become a kind of neutral/anti-hero group led by Guy Gardner.

Sorry, Zerefu, but you are wrong.

Part of the lore of being a hero is acting on a moral basis. Part of that is being self-contained, adapting force to the situation, avoiding killing and so on. Even Wolverine acts that way most of the times, and he is on the borderline of being an anti-hero figure. Falling to rage pretty much means throwing all self-containment aside, which is a pillar of the hero lore and moral basis.

You say that theycan be considered heroes becauses "they are rageful not for the right reasons": The we could also consider Sinestro, in the origins of theSinestro Cops, as a Hero, because his logic for launching an all-out war against the GL Corps and attack Earth had a somewhat righteous logic behind it. And many other villains like Two-Face have also "been hurt really bad", and that does not justify the path they took.

In short, NO, they are NOT HEROES. Anti-heroes maybe, but not heroes.

May I remind you that Red lanterns and Yellow Lanterns started the whole war of lights, also they have killed many green lanterns just because, so there alone you find the reason why Reds should of be a villains power, also the essence of Rage is hate or anger which in fact are not good emotions. I think the fact they didn't bring out the Blue Lantern power for the Heroes is a big flaw of the DLC, the only way to get rid off Rage per say is meditation which is what the Blue Lanterns are known for. Anyway, although I like the whole idea behind this DLC, I still think they just went the easy way about it. that's what i think anyway.