The Greatest Green Supeheroes

Green Lantern

Created by: 
Bill Finger and Martin Nodell, later re-imagined by Gil Kane and John Broome
First Appeared:
All American Comics #16 July 1940, re-introduced in 1959
Secret Identity:
Identities, in this case: Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart (not the Daily Show guy), to name a few...a lot of different people have gotten their hands on that power ring.
Origin: 
A dying alien, just after crash landing on Earth gave test pilot Hal Jordan a ring (and an accompanying lantern in which to recharge it)  that not only gave Jordan special powers but also made him part of an interplanetary police force known as The Green Lantern Corps (that's the better known version, anyway).
Powers: 
Um, what can't he do?
The power ring has, over the years has given Green Lantern such powers as flight, teleportation, matter manipulation, time travel, telepathy, hypnosis, invisibility, force field generation and, my personal fave, the ability to create a giant green boxing glove capable of of squashing his enemies from a distance.
What's Cool About Him: 
See Powers and Secret Identities
What's Not Cool:
See Powers and Secret Identities
Has Been Played by: 
Sadly, only one live action version, played by Ryan Reynolds.
In animated form, The Green Lantern has appeared in many incarnations in everything from the Super Friends to the animated Justice League/Justice League Unlimited series to the recent Batman: the Brave and The Bold. Green Lantern has been voiced by a wide variety of actors including Phil Lamarr, David Boreanaz, Nathan Fillion, Michael Rye, Gerald Mohr and even director/fanboy/egotist Kevin Smith.

The Green Hornet

Created by:

George W. Trendle and Fran Striker

First Appeared:

January 31, 1936 on WXYZ radio, Detroit, later on NBC Radio
Secret Identity:
Newspaper publisher and renowned bachelor playboy about town (sound familiar?) Britt Reid  by day, Green Hornet by night (literally, he's the first guy to do the "by day, by night" shtick).

Origin:

The common thread among the many different takes on the character over the years all involve the following: Reid saves the life of his future sidekick,Kato, while visiting any number of different places in Asia (Kato's nationality has been Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese over the years, due to the ever shifting political and military conflicts between the US and various different Asian countries), Reid returns to to the US, becomes publisher of The Daily Sentinel newspaper after the death of his father, Kato invents a bunch of cool gadgets and then the duo proceed to get inadvertently drawn into a life of masked crime fighting.

Powers:

Has a sidekick who knows Martial Arts and who can build technology advanced crime fighting tools like high speed, rocket launching, bullet proof cars and special gas guns that can  knock out  the bad buys out for anywhere from one hour to eleven days.
Other than that, depending on the version, The Green Hornet is either an extremely skilled fighter and detective in his own right or a total doofus who just rides on Kato's coattails or somewhere between the two. 

What's Cool About Him:

You gotta love a guy that puts on a tie before he goes out to kick some ass. The man basically dresses like just about any male cast member of Mad Men, except with a mask and an obsession with the colour green.

While really a crime fighter, The Green Hornet pretends to be a criminal as a means of obtaining the bad guy's trust and learning about all of their nefarious plans.

Britt Reid is the grandson or grandnephew (depending on the version) of the The Lone Ranger. The Green Horent was created by the same guys who made The Lone Ranger and broadcast on the same radio network. The original radio series was aimed a slightly older audience than that of the mysterious masked man of the old west series and touched on many social and political issues. The original radio scripts were often based on actual police file cases.

The Green Hornet has appeared in an impressive number of different mediums: radio, TV, serial, comics, video games and movies.

The 1960's TV series introduced Bruce Lee to the world.

What's Not Cool:

An entire generation only knows The Green Hornet  as a Seth Rogan character.

Has Been Played By:

Al Hodge in the 1936-52 radio series.

Gordon Jones in the 1940 movie serial, The Green Hornet (but voiced by Hodge every time Jones puts on the mask)

Warren Hull in the 1941 sequel serial The Green Hornet Strikes Again (this time, no Hodge)

Van Williams in the 1966-67 TV series

Manu Lanzi in the 2006 French-made short film.

Seth Rogan in the 2011 movie

The Hulk

Created by:

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

First Appeared:

The Incredible Hulk #1, May 1962
Secret Identity:
Dr.Bruce Banner, though it's not exactly a secret.

Origin:

Doc Bruce Banner, belted by gamma rays, turned into the Hulk.

Powers:

Hulk smash.

What's Cool About Him:

Giant. Green. Can throw tanks to the other side of the desert with a single toss. Get him on your side in am bar fight and you're laughing (just don't do that in front of him).

What's Not Cool:

You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Has Been Played By:

Billy Bixby as Banner, Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk in the 1977-82 TV series and 1988-90 TV movies
Eric Bana as Banner along with director Ang Lee as a motion capture CGI Hulk in the 2003 movie

Edward Norton as Banner along with a CGI/motion capture Hulk in the 2008 movie

Mark Ruffalo as Banner along with another CGI/motion capture Hulk in the 2012 hit, Marvel's The Avengers and also in the upcoming Avengers:Age of Ultron.

Lou Ferrigno voiced The Hulk in the 1996 animated series as well as (according to IMDB) in the 2003 and 2008 movies, plus the 2012 Avengers movie (he is uncredited in all three films).

Green Arrow

Created by:

Mort Weisinger and George Papp

First Appeared:

More Fun Comics #73, November 1941
Secret Identity:

Leftist billionaire Oliver Queen.

Origin:

When Oliver Queen is abandoned by one of his business rivals on a remote uncharted island, he quickly learns survival skills, mainly through the use of his main hobby, archery. Upon his rescue and return to civilization, he decides to the robin hood thing, only cooler.

Powers:

As the name might suggest, he's really good with a bow and arrow. Plus Queen used his unlimited wealth to create a wide array of unique arrows that can explode, put out fires, disperse tear gas, act as a grappling hook or even become a delivery system for thermonuclear bombs.

What's Cool About Him:

The costume and the blond Van Dyke, for one thing.
The 1970's comic book series in which Green Arrow teamed up with The Green Lantern. Those comics addressed major social and political issues of the day. In one issue, Green Arrow and Green Lantern  had to deal with the fact that Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy, had become a junkie. From there on in the guy became one of the most outspoken voices of leftist and progressive politics in mainstream comics.

What's Not Cool:

In his first ever on-screen appearance in a 1973 episode of the now classic Saturday morning cartoon, Super Friends, Green Arrow exclaims lines like, "By Nottingham's ghost!", "Great flaming arrows!" and "By Robin Hood's bow!".
Has Been Played By:

Justin Hartley played The Green Arrow on the long running Superman prequel series, Smallville.
Stephen Arnell plays The Green Arrow (or a version thereof) in the current CW network series, Arrow.

The Green Arrow was voiced by actor Norman Alden in the aforementioned Super Friends episode as well as by many other voice actors in such animated series as Justice League Unlimited, The Batman, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, Young Justice and a number of direct to DVD animated superhero movies.

St. Patrick

Created by:

Small shreds of historical evidence embellished by about 1600 years worth of folklore and mythology.

First Appeared:

387 A.D. (estimated)
Secret Identity:
Known as "Patrick" to his friends and family.

Origin:

At age 16, he was brought to Ireland after being captured in Wales by Irish slave traders. He escaped then later returned to Ireland as Catholic Bishop. I know, I know...this one needs some serious retroconning.

Powers:

Superior snake banishing skills, ability to use the shamrock as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity, has a walking stick with debatable divine powers, is a Saint.

What's Cool About Him:

St.Patrick was so good at getting the snakes out of Ireland that many researchers today believe that Emerald Isle at that time never even had snakes to begin with.

What's Not Cool About Him:

Inspires an annual display of the most incredibly rowdy drunken cosplay ever.
Has Been Played By:

The appropriately named Patrick Bergin in the 2000 TV movie St.Patrick: The Irish Legend. Fans everywhere are still waiting for that big, definitive St.Patrick blockbuster, though....maybe Hollywood will get to it after The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers?

Not an actual ad on my blog, BTW.
I knew I couldn't be the first person to ever make these connections.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!