Why Won’t DC Fix Green Lantern
It has been a decade since the last live production of Green Lantern. The popularity of the character has waned during this time. The most recent comic version of the Green Lantern is in The New 52 run, the last issue of which came out back in 2016. It is clear that he is not as popular as some of the other DC superheroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. One might think, “No big deal. Let’s just start working on a new live production of the Green Lantern.”
There is no word of the Green Lantern as of late. This is disappointing of course. I think seeing Green Lantern in action again would be fun and interesting. The last potential movie production was Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern Corps where the Green Lanterns Corps were to take on interstellar villains, the Sinestro Corps. The movie was to be released on June 19, 2020, but it never happened. Up until this point, there have only been Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which you can check out on HBO Max. The question that comes to mind is why won’t DC Comics fix Green Lantern? Let’s take a look at the shortcomings of the Green Lantern, which led to the character’s decline in popularity.
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At one time, Green Lantern was one of DC’s most popular superheroes. Currently, Green Lantern is considered a B or C-list character and according to DC, there are no productions in the works or planning stages to bring him back. Some believe that Green Lantern may be one of the most fascinating and adaptable DC characters.
In the 1950s, DC made a radical change to the Green Lantern character by introducing the test pilot Hal Jordan, who would eventually lead a group of other Green Lanterns in the fight against the criminal element. However, this change was not as beneficial for DC as once thought. According to Screen Rant, Hal Jordan is the cause of the Green Lantern’s demise in popularity. This is interesting because Hal Jordan’s power ring, which he garnered from an alien, can accomplish anything through his willpower. Although he is supposed to be more powerful than Alan Scott’s Green Lantern of the Golden Age, Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern is not a very interesting character. John Stewart and Kyle Rayner (the other two members of the Green Lantern Corps) have more interesting personalities than Hal Jordan. The writers even chose to use Stewart’s Green Lantern in Justice League because they thought he was a better choice than Jordan. Even the film production of Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds in 2011 was nothing short of a letdown.
So, what are some of the problems with creating a more fascinating Green Lantern character? DC is unwilling to use anyone other than Hal Jordan as the prime Green Lantern. Hal Jordan is so powerful that he must have powerful adversaries to match for it to be an engaging matchup. The public opinion of the character is also at a record low after the failed 2011 film. To top it off, Green Lantern has been absent from the DCEU for more than a decade. While these issues are not impossible to overcome, the changes that need to be implemented may be too extreme for now. Maybe making Hal Jordan more interesting is a good place to start.
One of the problems with Green Lantern is that his adversaries must be just as powerful as he is. The superhero needs to be challenged in order to make an exciting blockbuster. If the villain is too weak, then it would be too easy for Green Lantern. After all, a good superhero movie must have a good fight right? I am sure DC writers and producers have the skills and abilities to create a more interesting story about the Green Lanterns and supervillains. It appears the problem is more of DC’s willingness to create a more interesting better story for the character.
Perhaps, DC will catch wind of this story and becomes motivated to start working on the Green Lantern again. I don’t know about you, but I sure would like to see the Green Lantern take on Lex Luther or other DC supervillains. It will be interesting to see if the Green Lantern will get a makeover again. I’m sure there are a lot of different ideas that Geoff Johns and other DC writers and producers could come up with. The DC fanbase will just have to wait and see.
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Source(s): Screen Rant, Cinema Blend, DC Database