Finally, the Lanterns are coming. No matter your feelings on the live-action DCU and what has been done in the past, we can all agree on one thing: The Lantern Corps have been lacking. And maybe that’s my brother speaking through me (the biggest fan of the Green Lantern I know), but it is true. We had the 2011 movie starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and then absolutely nothing. Just crickets. And with the number of unwatchable DCEU movies out there, Green Lantern wasn’t that bad in comparison.
But the lack of the Lanterns was weighing heavily on DC fans, so now, with the new announced slate of (some of) the upcoming projects from James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU, we got news about a new show about our beloved Lanterns and two fan-favorites in particular.
According to Collider, Safran said that the title of the series was to be Lanterns and went on to say it was about “two of our favorite Green Lanterns: Hal Jordan and John Stewart.” But he also went on to talk about the style of the show. “It is more of a True Detective-type mystery, with our two Lanterns. [A] terrestrial based mystery,” said Safran.
Gunn continued, “Leads into the overall story that we’re telling throughout the different, different movies and television shows. And we find this Ancient Horror on Earth. And these guys are basically, you know, super cops on precinct Earth.”
Yes, John Stewart is finally coming to the DCU, and we can’t wait!!!
Giving John Stewart his time
John Stewart has been around since the ’70s, and yet, never got his time to shine at the movies. To be fair, Hal Jordan also barely got his, but still. It’s wrong that we’ve had to wait all this time to see John. He’s one of Earth’s Green Lanterns and is the leader of the Green Lantern Corps. He is the second of the Green Lanterns (after Hal) and the two end up being close allies and friends.
But it has been a long time coming for us to get any Green Lantern content, and knowing how they manage these heroes, I didn’t have hope for John. To hear that their plans for this new series included him was a treat, because it is his time—and if the series were just Hal Jordan, it wouldn’t be as cool (in my humble opinion). Hal and John work together, and they were the first two of Earth’s Lanterns, and I don’t need another origin story for Hal Jordan.
A True Detective spin is perfect
The Lanterns are essentially space cops (as Gunn even pointed out). They have an oath that they say (depending on what Lantern Corps they’re part of). For the Green Lanterns, they say, “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power … Green Lantern’s light!” They’re all about making sure evil is taken out, so making that a detective story? Perfection.
And if we’re going to watch superheroes that lean towards copaganda, at least the Lanterns and their comic runs have been making strides to dismantle our own real-life police establishments by holding the Lanterns accountable.
As someone who loves a mystery/detective story in general, it does make me excited to see what they can do with the Lanterns as whole. It’s finally an exciting time to be a fan of Hal Jordan and John Stewart, and I can’t wait!
(featured image: DC Comics)
