One of the few things that Green Lantern got right was having the Green Lantern Corp be full of weird-ass aliens; unfortunately most of the film took place on Hal Jordan's couch, so we rarely got to see them. What makes the Silver Age Green Lantern so interesting is that he's a space cop, one of a group of Green Lanterns who are spread out across the galaxy, defending life and stuff at the behest of a bunch of blue midgets. It's the stuff stolen from Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith's Lensman stories that make Green Lantern cool.
But even cooler is the fact that Hal Jordan isn't the only Earthman to have been a Green Lantern; a bowl-cut wearing anger addict named Guy Gardner also wielded the ring, as did a black architect named John Stewart. And if Collider is right one or both of those guys could show up in the eventual Green Lantern reboot.
The site is reporting that Warner Bros' current early plans are to make the Green Lantern films focus more on the Corps as a whole, and that they will feature at least two Earther Lanterns. The smart money is on those two being Hal Jordan and John Stewart. What's more, Collider thinks that WB could be introducing the actors at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, which seems wildly optimistic to me. They repeat something I have heard, which is that we won't see a Green Lantern until the end of Justice League Part 1, and that won't be until 2017, and that's just gonna be a teaser at the end of the film*. Trotting someone out on stage in 2015 feels really premature, especially if there likely won't be a Green Lantern film until 2018. But then again, we're in the middle of a comic book movie arms race, and who knows how WB will try to dazzle the crowd at SDCC this year without Marvel casting their big shadow.
I'm all for this idea, and what's more I think they should make this film a soft reboot - have Sinestro already evil, have Hal Jordan already established as a protector of the Earth, move right along into the action. I think people can catch up.
If WB is going to bring some Lanterns to SDCC who can you imagine being cast? I'd love if they went a touch older for Hal and younger for John. What do you think?
Image by DeviantArt user gomur.
* It's important to note that I heard this back when Justice League was one movie that was setting up sequels, not a multi-part movie. I have no idea if this concept has changed.