Green Lantern could open up the DC Extended Universe in new and exciting ways that even Batman's corner of the multiverse can't quite equal. The emerald ring slinger has been largely absent from DC's movie plans since the failure of the 2011 Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. Rather than using that film as a beginning point for their shared universe as originally planned, Warner Bros. rebooted the entire enterprise with 2013's Man of Steel, and it's been a decidedly rocky road for the DCEU ever since.
After some polarizing entries like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, DC has logged some unqualified winners with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam. DC has also explored some stories outside of the continuity of the DCEU, like the wildly successful Joker and the upcoming The Batman starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight. DC's recent output has had a decidedly Batman flavor to it, with spinoffs for the likes of Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey being fairly Gotham-centric.
But the DC Universe is so much more than just masked vigilantes beating up gangsters and clowns. Despite its past cinematic shortcomings, Green Lantern is one of the surest bets for expanding the DCEU in innovative and thrilling ways without revisiting the studio's past film output.
Why The 2011 Green Lantern Movie Didn't Work
The legacy of the failed 2011 movie still hangs around Green Lantern's neck like an albatross. It's almost certainly the reason he wasn't included in Justice League or the run-up to that film; with no Green Lantern and DC staple Superman largely sidelined, the Justice League never quite felt whole. It's a testament to how erratically managed the DC films have been over the last decade that a non-DCEU film could be so bad as to indirectly affect DCEU movies.
And there's no getting around it - the 2011 Green Lantern movie is bad. Hal Jordan comes off as a whiny underachiever, lacking his trademark willpower and swashbuckling spirit. The decision to make the Green Lantern costume fully CGI led to an uncanny valley effect that 2011 era special effects simply couldn't overcome. The movie also lacks compelling villains, with Parallax portrayed as a big CGI cloud of muck, and Hector Hammond reduced to a screeching maniac. The movie also squanders Mark Strong's great performance as Sinestro, buried under D-level MCU meta-humor and a story that doesn't really have a coherent third act. Warner Bros. understandably became gun shy about using the character again so soon after a box office and critical bomb, but it's more than time to get over it and introduce the character to the DCEU.
Green Lantern Can Be The DCEU Answer To Star Wars
Part of the problem with the 2011 Green Lantern film was that it was largely based on Earth. Green Lantern is, by design, a character who pushes the boundaries of the DC cosmos, exploring strange new worlds and protecting more than just humanity. It also gives Hal Jordan a chance to grow as a character when he encounters new and unique species.
A great roadmap for what Green Lantern could look like in the DCEU is Geoff Johns' 00s run on the comic book, which massively expanded the scope of the Green Lantern mythos into an epic science fiction space opera. Johns created the emotional spectrum during his run, essentially making it so that every color of the rainbow had a corresponding army of ring bearers based on a particular emotion. This led to some truly epic stories, like the Sinestro Corps War, where the former Green Lantern created an army based on the yellow light of fear with the assistance of the Parallax entity.
The potential scope of Green Lantern's story is almost without limit, and would easily allow the DCEU to expand past more grounded, Earth-based stories into sci-fi spectacle on the level of Star Wars. It's a gear that the DCEU hasn't shifted into yet, but one that could both revitalize it from a storytelling perspective and differentiate it from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Green Lantern Offers More Storytelling Opportunities Than Batman
There are only so many different ways to tell Batman's story, and with Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, and Robert Pattinson all prepped to take on the role in myriad upcoming projects, the DCEU seems primed to tell every one of those stories. But the DCEU has to be able to grow past Batman to become a legitimate franchise, and Green Lantern is a primary example of how they can do that. Beyond the foundational story of Hal Jordan becoming Green Lantern, there are an array of other human Green Lanterns, most notably John Stewart, who according to the most recent reports is intended to be Hal's partner in the proposed Green Lantern Corps film. There's also an incredibly deep bench of fantastic villains like Atrocitus and Larfleeze, and more complicated allies like Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps and Star Sapphire.
Green Lantern also offers a huge selection of different styles of stories. Whether it be Hal Jordan defending sector 2814, Guy Gardner serving as an honor guard Green Lantern on the Guardians of the Universe's home planet of Oa, or a massive crossover with all the different Lantern Corps, Green Lantern would serve up much more eclectic story possibilities than the average denizen of Gotham City.
The DCEU is at something of a turning point. While they've found hits with the likes of Shazam and Aquaman, the futures of heavy hitters like Batman and Superman are somewhat hazy. It's unclear if Henry Cavill will return as Superman anytime soon, and it's anyone's guess who will play the DCEU's version of Batman after The Flash. But an easy way to mitigate those problems is to exploit Green Lantern, easily the biggest and most iconic DC character who's yet to be properly introduced into the shared universe. The cinematic story of Hal Jordan may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but he could very easily be the key to the DCEU's future success.