Speaking of the Cosmic Staff, it could be called the pinnacle of human engineering. It was a Cosmic Oddity created by the first Starman using common materials from human society, such as steel and gold, combined with certain astronomical techniques.
Yes, not physics, but astronomy. No one could understand its exact operating principles, and even its creation itself seemed like an accident.
Because it used gravitational waves and resonance between the stars as its energy source, aside from being impossible to mass-produce, its capabilities in every aspect completely surpassed Lantern Corps rings. Even the "Deng Jie" that Hal later crafted for himself was nowhere near its equal.
It could continuously gather Cosmic Energy on its own, storing and releasing it in the form of starlight. It possessed a whole range of abilities, including flight, creating shields, telekinesis, and more.
In battle, it could automatically lock onto targets and fire. It could even be released and left alone like Funnels, achieving an effect where one plus one was greater than two.
That might not have sounded particularly special, but when one blast of its light cannon could send Superman flying, and those blasts could fire in rapid succession like a Gatling gun, its value became obvious.
Yet the common view of it was that it was too advanced, something humanity should never have been able to create. Such advancement beyond comprehension instead brought some kind of curse upon its holders.
The Cosmic Staff had once been wielded by Starman. Of the twelve Starmen in total, aside from the third Starman, who retired at the height of his career and gave up the Cosmic Staff to become Doctor Mid-Nite, the other eleven all met unnatural deaths.
If that was not a curse, then what was? A group from the Justice Society would