The Justice League came together at San Diego Comic Con to present a new trailer to the dedicated fans of Hall H. The trailer revealed stunning new footage of the long-anticipated superhero team up of Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and the returning Superman (Henry Cavill), which is directed by Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon, who is overseeing reshoots and post production. We also were treated to the full reveal of the main villain of the movie, Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds), who will lead the Parademon forces of the planet Apokolips in their invasion of Earth in the name of their dark god Darkseid.

Steppenwolf's dialogue in the trailer offers some illuminating teases about the state of the DC Extended Universe, specifically in regards to one particular superhero absent from Justice League: Green Lantern. Hal Jordan is traditionally portrayed as a founding member of the Justice League in the comics, so it's notable that the Emerald Gladiator isn't one of the half dozen heroes who form the League in the DCEU. However, he does get name-dropped: in the new Justice League trailer, Steppenwolf is heard to boast:

"No protectors here. No Lanterns. No Kryptonian. This world will fall, like all the others."

Of course, the Kryptonian Steppenwolf refers to is Superman, who died saving the world from Doomsday at the conclusion of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, though his resurrection in Justice League is perhaps the worst-kept 'secret' in superhero movies today. The truly intriguing part of Steppenwolf's monologue, however, is "No Lanterns." This marks the first formal in-movie confirmation that Green Lantern does exist in the DCEU. However, it opens up all new avenues for questions: Where is Green Lantern, and why isn't there a Green Lantern protecting the Earth?

It's sound corporate synchronicity by DC Films and Warner Bros. that along with the Justice League trailer outright referencing Green Lantern for the first time, Green Lantern Corps was formally announced as one of eight upcoming DCEU films slated for release over the next few years. Green Lantern Corps is rumored to be a "Lethal Weapon-style" buddy cop movie in space centering on Hal Jordan and John Stewart as the Green Lanterns of space sector 2814, which is where Earth is located. There's no confirmation yet on the director or who will be cast as Jordan or Stewart. We also don't know when the film will be set within the continuity of the DCEU. Will it take place before the events of Man of Steel as a DCEU prequel like Wonder Woman was, or will it take place after Justice League?

Man of Steel established several facts about Earth in the DCEU: Kryptonians landed on our world centuries ago, as part of their space faring exploratory efforts. Indeed, once the armies of General Zod (Michael Shannon) were freed from the Phantom Zone, they went about a mission to terraform the Earth to suit a Kryptonian takeover, which was foiled by Superman. Now that we know Green Lanterns exist in the DCEU, their absence in defending the Earth from Zod's Kryptonians - especially since Hal Jordan and John Stewart both hail from Earth - is all the more glaring. What's more, just as the evil denizens of Apokolips were somehow aware that Superman died fighting Doomsday, leaving the planet defenseless as far as they were concerned, they also know Green Lanterns are in absentia. (It's also curious that the Apokoliptians only deem Kryptonians and Green Lanterns as threats to their invasion; they are either somehow unaware or unconcerned of the presence of Wonder Woman, a demi-god who has been active in the DCEU for nearly a century.)

All of this begs the questions of where the Green Lanterns are, what happened to them, and why isn't there a Green Lantern protecting Earth? We can posit some scenarios.

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Perhaps the simplest explanation for why Earth has no Green Lantern is that our assigned Emerald Gladiator is missing in action. There could be any number of explanations for such a scenario. In the current Green Lantern comics, two Green Lanterns are typically assigned to patrol a space sector, so a circumstance where both Lanterns aren't available would have to be something major happening elsewhere in the universe that supersedes the Lanterns' duty to their sector.

The modern architect of the Green Lantern Corps' mythology is Geoff Johns, who is now the President of DC Films. With Johns overseeing the films, every concept he created is fair game for the DCEU. This would include the full range of all of the Lanterns of the Emotional Spectrum - Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple Lanterns, etc. whose rings are each powered by a different emotion, just as the Green Lantern Power Ring is fueled by the wearer's willpower. The Guardians of the Universe who reside on the planet OA in the center of the known universe certainly exist in the DCEU, but so must the cadre of the Lanterns' array of alien adversaries like Parallax, Sinestro, the Weaponers of Qward, and Atrocitus.

Once Green Lantern Corps is established and if its embraced by audiences, we can no doubt expect to see major Green Lantern comics events depicted in the DCEU like The Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night. It's possible the seeds or events of one of those major intergalactic conflagrations is already happening simultaneous to the events we're seeing on Earth in the DCEU, necessitating our Green Lanterns' full attention.

It's also possible that the reason the forces of Darkseid know the Green Lanterns are out of action vis a vis Earth is because they're the reason for it. Perhaps Apokolips has already gone to war with the Guardians and their Green Lantern Corps - and prevailed. The Green Lanterns could be in some form of disarray, on the run from the Apokoliptians throughout space, or - because Earth is a prized target for Darkseid that contains three Mother Boxes lost for centuries, the retrieval of which is the impetus for Steppenwolf's invasion - Darkseid has somehow cut off Earth from its Green Lanterns. There is, however, the possibility that with Superman's return already expected by fans, the appearance of Green Lantern in Justice League is the real secret being kept under the tightest lock and key - with Superman's comeback a sleight of hand to distract the audience.

Answers will surely be forthcoming as DC Films further solidifies their slate post-Justice League. Come November 17th, Steppenwolf will ultimately be proven very wrong that "no Lanterns" means the Earth has no protectors. Even if Green Lantern's light doesn't shine in Justice League, the Emerald Gladiators are certainly on their way to the DCEU and their arrival won't come a moment too soon. Steppenwolf isn't the real Big Bad of the DCEU after all and even when the Justice League comes together to foil this invasion, the real adversary - Darkseid - is just a Boom Tube away. When the dark lord of Apokolips finally makes his true presence felt, Earth and the Justice League will need all the Green Lanterns it can get.

NEXT: SUPERMAN RETURNS IN COMIC CON JUSTICE LEAGUE TRAILER

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