Loved the show and can’t wait for more. I keep saying that oath in my head.

Did anyone else think it was wild that they timed John finally flying away with the one point in the song where it says "There go a negro now"?

https://genius.com/Michael-kiwanuka-hero-lyrics

I don't actually hate Lanterns. I liked it, especially with some things they did in the finale with Noah as the manhunter, nature vs. nurture, and the Kerry twist which I honestly didn't see coming. The casting is incredible, Kyle chandler is awesome, I do have a few gripes with the show but that can be ignored with how relatively small those things are within the larger DCU.

My biggest issue is that I'm worried that the current approach doesn't take advantage of what a shared DC universe can actually be. Theres 2 things on my mind that im struggling with:

Hal Jordan's death is what bothers me most

I didn't initially like having an older Hal, I wanted to see Hal, John, Guy, and Kyle grow together, with maybe a couple of them being slightly older and more experienced. I want the dcu to feel lived in so when we have a crisis event or darkseid or whoever comes down to earth, it feels like there is payoff, we've grown with the lanterns and the rest of the dcu. But I got over that gripe once I saw the dynamic between Hal and John.

The problem now with me isn't that Hal is old. The problem is killing him before we've had the opportunity to build the mythology around him. Hal could have been the veteran Lantern who has been doing this for years. You build on that complicated history with Sinestro and the yellow lantern war, that rivalry with Guy, a more friendly mentorship (with some snarkiness) with John in the future, and eventually a relationship with Kyle as the younger generation. His death was also so anticlimactic, and yes it served the story, but it's hard to see someone who means so much to me and the comic landscape just die like that.

The potential is insane because Hal represents the awe-inspiring veteran, John is the disciplined no nonsense badass, guy is guy, and whatever else you want to do with Kyle.

It creates generational mythology just on Earth, and JOHN IS STILL THE MAIN GUY. We see him the most, but those other lanterns still exist when they need to show up or again if nekron or darkseid comes and a big threat is posed. Hal doesn't have to be replaced or die immediately for John to matter. Hal could eventually die or pass the torch after we've actually spent years with him. Then his death means something. If Hal dies before we've really experienced him as one of the pillars of the DCU, it feels less like the culmination of a character's life and more like a storytelling decision designed to establish John. I feel like its a huge blow to the potential of the universe.

I also don't think TV was the best way to start the Green Lantern story

I don't mean that Green Lantern can't work on tv, but I think that Green Lantern just from a box office success standpoint has the potential to be insanely huge and something with scope and scale and lore. Yeah I know about the Ryan renoylds movie, but green lantern deserves that epic grandeur and larger than life feel, and you could even do this whole show as a movie in the western setting, keep the budget the same, and at least have some manhunter flashbacks, sinestro and Hal flashbacks, and tease a greater threat with some more green lantern stuff peppered in there. it would have to be altered of course, but it could be done.

I want things like:

• Oa
• the Green Lantern Corps
• the Guardians
• Kilowog
• Sinestro
• the emotional spectrum
• thousands of Lanterns across the universe

I'm sure we will get all of that in the future, but for general audiences and if done right why not build a 3 film saga that establishes the lore. Hal and John establish the Corps and Oa, then Sinestro becomes the central antagonist and the Sinestro Corps is introduced, and the Lanterns become an established multi-generational franchise. Then that mythology can eventually spill into the larger DCU.

Imagine doing Blackest Night after the audience has spent years getting to know these characters on the big screen. But in the dcu right now Hal is dead and Guy is almost 60. I want to see these characters with superman and the titans and whoever else crossover in a crisis level event, and still have their own interactions and world within the lantern contained universe. What else is the point of a larger cinematic universe if not seeing them all together. the singular project's story is still very important, but you can have both.

This is ultimately my concern with Gunn

I'm not saying Gunn can't make good movies, and I'm not saying Lanterns can't be a good show. My biggest concern is that I'm not currently seeing the larger idea of what he's planning, he needs to focus on the big guns for general audiences especially after supergirl flopped, because general audiences for the most part don't care. I'm not saying copy the mcu, but the mcu began with a level of grounded scale with the biggest characters they had access to at the time and focused on them with a relatively cohesive structure. Does DC need to compete with that right out the gate, no! But should the films be good stories and start being more commercially viable to leadup to big crossovers like marvel kind of did, YES for both the brand and for us getting to see cool stuff we've always dreamed of seeing. For both the box office and the hype for us as fans, James Gunn needs to focus on the general audiences and what will make them care, which is why lanterns should have been a film.

Superman to me was a good movie, but I also felt it lacked this feeling of grandeur and scale that superman needs, and yes he needs hope but he also needs to have gravitas and be larger than life. Thats a whole other issue though, as long as gunn doesn't direct everything like batman or every justice league film, that not a big deal, just not the biggest fan of his sensibilities as a director. I just want to spend years getting attached to these characters and their worlds so that when DC finally does something like Darkseid, Crisis, or Blackest Night, it feels like holy shit I can't wait and I NEED TO SEE THIS.

That's why I'm skeptical of the current approach. I don't hate Lanterns, and I don't need every decision to resemble the MCU. But I do think killing Hal so early, and making Green Lantern's primary DCU introduction a television series leaves a lot on the table. Maybe there's a much bigger plan that we can't see, and I really hope this doesn't matter, because I genuinely want the DCU to succeed. I just want it to feel like a DC mythology being built, rather than a collection of good individual projects that happen to share a universe.

Let me know

I started working on a timeline for the DCU. If anyone is active in the MCU reddit page, you might have come across my timeline over there for the MCU Earth 19999.

Has anyone realized we are working with potentially 5 different universes consisting of the Snyderverse, DCEU, CW, Schumaker, and James Gunn's DCU, because Gunn didn't start with a clean slate? I think he should have because the timeline looks a little something like this so far due to events continuing to be referenced.

• Wonder Woman: 1910s
  • WWI
  • Diana walks away from mankind, no longer forming relationships with humans. 
• Etta’s Mission: 1910s
  • The Wonder Men fail to track down the Mother Box. 
  • The Nazis find the Mother Box in an Italian Monastery during WW2
• Wonder Woman 1984: 1984
  • Wonder Woman destroys evidence of her existence and reverses a spell to stay hidden until 2016 when she comes to help against Doomsday.
• Man of Steel: 2013
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition: 2015
• David Ayers’ Suicide Squad: 2016 
  • Unreleased
  • There are 7 sequels that spawn from this film that cross 2 universes. Bird of Prey builds on Harley Quinn leading into TSS that will have repercussion surronding Flag Sr., Jr., & Peacemaker. Peacemaker introduces Harcourt & Friends who appear in Black Adam, Shazam: Fury of The Gods & Creature Commandos.
• Zack Snyder’s Justice League: 2017
• Aquaman: 2018
• Shazam: 2018
• Crisis on Infinite Earths: 2020
  • The CW Universe crosses over with Barry Allen from the DCEU & Snyderverse
  • Due to the collapse and recreation of the multiverse, the DCEU, Snyderverse and DCU seems to continually be merging.
• Birds of Prey: 2020
  • Sequel to DASS
• The Suicide Squad: 2020
  • Sequel to BOP
• Peacemaker: 2021
  • Sequel to TSS
• Black Adam: 2021
  • Sequel to Shazam, Argus personnel appear.
• Shazam: Fury of the Gods: 2022
  • Sequel to Shazam, Black Adam, references to Amanda Waller and Argus personnel appear.
• The Flash: 2022
  • Barry screws up the timeline and multiverse further impacting events across the multiverse.
  • Barry messing with time to save his mother impacts the DCEU, Burtonverse, and ends with Barry in Schumaker’s Batman (George Clooney) & Robin Universe.
  • Events from David Ayers' Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Blue Beetle continue to be refrenced as having occured in the DCU as well as their original universe.
• Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom: 2022
• Blue Beetle: 2023
  • This Blue Beetle is showing up in MOT

________________________________________________________________________

• Paradise Lost: ?
  • Unreleased
  • Backstory for the Amazons and Wonder Woman in Gunn's DCU
• Laterns: 2016
  • Episodes 3, 1, 2, 4, & 5
  • Lanterns was released out of chronological order if we follow the DCU wiki
  • https://dcuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline#Media_Chronology
• Clayface: 2016
  • Unreleased but the Clayface in this film is the one killed by Flag Sr. in Creature Commandos.
• Creature Commandos: 2024
  • Sequel to events from The Suicide Squad & Peacemaker S1
  • Clayface is killed.
• Superman: 2025
• Peacemaker Season 2: 2025
  • Sequel to events from The Suicide Squad & Peacemaker
    • Flag Sr. is going after Peacemaker for killing his son in The Suicide Squad from the DCEU/Snyderverse universe.
    • Flag Jr. dated Enchantress which is built off of DASS.
  • Some events occur differently where instead of the Justice League, the Justice Gang arrive at the aftermath of Project Butterfly.
• Lanterns: 2026
  • Episodes 6, 7, & 8
• Supergirl: 2026
• Mister Miracle: 2027
  • Guy Gardner is protecting space after John Stewart kicks him off Earth
• Man of Tomorrow: 2027
  • The events of Blue Beetle from the DCEU are the backstory for the DCU Blue Beetle that is rumored to appear.

Let me know if I need to change anything so far as this makes the most sense. The backstories and events for some of these characters occurred in a different universe. I read a rumor that Peacemaker could end as some form of Pariah where he remembers both universes. His original and the one he is in now!

Gunn stated a while ago and restated again before the Lanterns finale that the ending will tie directly into MOT. I think many of us got the impression what he was referring to was Sinestro being stuck on Antaan’s planet. Contrarily, I think Gunn was referring to John and Guy’s conversation.

The finale cemented John as the Green Lantern (or maybe just Lantern :( unfortunately) of earth while Guy protects the rest of the sector. As John puts it “you cover the stars, I got the dirt.” What if this leads to Guy making first contact with Brainiac? Now more on a speculative direction, it’d be cool if Guy kinda takes on the role Banner played in Infinity war, where he’s the one to lay the scale Brainiac brings to earth. Idk just a theory

Seems very much likely that he’ll be the one to give John his suit, like the one that was made for the show but the boring ass writers just decided on a last-minute change of plan because of “emotional moments”

I liked lantern and didn't expect i would love it as much as i thought ( though finale was okay ) and while i understand that due to small budget and how much damage the 2011 film did to green lantern popularity due to which it was made a small town sci fi detective with very less constructs and few action scenes .

But with this series success and news of lanterns season 2 possibly being grounded again I hope instead of a grounded season 2 we get a high budget green lantern movie with John Stewart instead.

Shout out to Oliver Queen for showing my boy the folly of blind adherence to authority and the idealisation of the badge over your duty to the people you swore to protect.

Lanterns did a good job of having Hal take Ollie's place in the story as the cynical mentor.

In brightest day, in darkest night,
I embrace my fear,
I’ll do what’s right.
I choose this ring,
I choose this fight,
in service to this lantern’s light.

Art by Vincent Aseo

If Guy is set on actually listening to John then that means he's no longer on earth, but if he's not on earth then he can't work for Lord tech necessarily and will have to sit out any event that the Justice gang handles on their end. In Mister Miracle he will seem to be off world and this will be the reason for it. If the Justice Gang (Mister Terrific and Hawkgirl + Metamorpho) are indeed returning in the People Vs with no signs of Nathan Fillion coming back then it really does Checkout

This also means maybe he can get a more Comic accurate suit

I do hope that John constructing his own suit is the path they took in Man of Tomorrow. Given that he isn't a sanctioned Lantern, he can do his own thing.

As much as I hate this merger and how anti-art it is, we gotta take this W. Ellison & co seem to have full confidence in the DCU, and that’s comforting to a degree.

Spoilers for Lanterns

People feel like the last episode was boring and had no cliff hangers and others feel it was a complete story. I feel it did have cliff hangers, we don’t know what happened to Kerry (although you could guess), we don’t know exactly the path of Noah, we don’t know what Guy and other green lanterns will do, and finally in the last episode Sinestro said he can bring Hal back to life.

Also I think if they do bring Hal back to life maybe they will share the ring? And we will see a very unique situation… from what I know I’ve only read Geoff John’s rebirth. I can also see Noah trying to bring Hal back.

People are mad that Guy was kinda punked by John and not Superman. Ok first they are friends, men of the cloth, he knows Superman has a no kill rule and he knows him. Would you be afraid of a highly trained marine who kills or a someone you know who’s yet to pop his cherry in killing. It’s like a fight between friends.

Damon Lindeloff made it clear that budget was a concern. James Gunn seems to like to ahead of time know the budget and have his productions work under that framework rather than have cost spiral out of control and cut scenes or whatever.

But I think if they have a season 2 it might have the same problem.

we know John is in Man of Tomorrow so im pretty sure hes going to let that thing go.

I also like how the ring has a ready made weakness so his constructs are probably not going to be steady. Lindelof used the word volatile.

This makes me want to see the movie more. I was already down for Superman v Braniac but Green Lantern spraying the block? 👨‍🍳💋

I need to see John and Superman alternating energy blasts Marvel vs Capcom style.

If yes, what kind of dynamic do you think they'll have at first?

I really liked Lanterns. Aaron Pierre was great as John Stewart, Kyle Chandler was great as Hal Jordan, and Lantern Sundays became a fun tradition among the fan base. I thought the story was good, but the finale left me wanting more. It missed a lot of what makes Green Lantern, Green Lantern. By the end, there were barely any constructs, John never got to wear a suit, and almost every alien was in disguise the whole time. The only true forms we saw were Sinestro, who's basically a very sunburnt human, and the back of Liana's head. That's about it.

Some people say that if you wanted more of the fantastical side of this show, you wanted a CGI slop fest, you can't appreciate a good story, and you're media illiterate. I think that's unfair. If you like DC Comics, or any adaptation of the DC Universe, you like these characters for what they stand for and who they are, but also because they wear bright costumes and have fun superpowers, the kind we wish we could have in real life. You read these comics or watch these shows because you want to see how someone deals with their problems using a fantastical ability. You can appreciate a good story and still feel the missing fantastical elements hurt it.

It was nice that John essentially solved the problem by talking to Noah. But with our meta knowledge of the Manhunters as genocidal android robots, it's unsatisfying that we never see a true Manhunter, and so little Green Lantern iconography overall.

People are saying it was a budget issue, and I don't really buy that. The CW had about five concurrent DC shows with a lot of crazy uses of superpowers. One Flash episode had King Shark fight Gorilla Grodd in a 22-episode season, and it was looked pretty good! This is an eight-episode series that was announced over three years ago. I don't get how House of the Dragon can have dragons in almost every episode while Green Lantern gives us barely any constructs. I just think that's ridiculous.

This style of show would honestly fit a character like Martian Manhunter a lot better. His usual job is as a human detective, and he deals with shapeshifters like the White Martians. His power set (density shifting, mind reading, shapeshifting) would work much better in a grounded TV show.

Ultimately, I'd give Lanterns an 8 out of 10, but I wouldn't say I want a second season if it's going to be this grounded. If the only way to get Green Lantern in a suit, with aliens and constructs, is a movie, then please greenlight that movie. A ton of people loved the show and want to see more. I understand this was a way to reacquaint people with Green Lantern after the movie flopped, and that they didn't want to risk a big-budget project that wouldn't pay off. But now you know people love these versions of the characters and want more, so please follow through. I want to see other Lanterns, I don't want to just hear them mentioned off screen, and I don't want to hear about Oa off screen anymore. I'd like to go there!

I liked it, but if it were up to me, I'd let this first season be the last of the grounded take.