Although Green Lantern hasn’t had much success on film, the famous DC Comics superhero and his nemesis, Sinestro, are based on two famous actors who sadly never portrayed these characters themselves. Although the first Green Lantern to hit newsstands was Alan Scott, who wields a ring fashioned from a magic green railroad lantern, the most famous iteration of the character is Hal Jordan, who DC introduced in 1959 during what’s now known as the Silver Age of comics. Superhero films didn’t become a major profitable film genre until the early 2000s, but a successful Green Lantern film with prestigious cast members during their heyday would significantly change the entire pop culture landscape.
Green Lantern’s only cinematic outing thus far is the 2011 film of the same name, featuring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and Mark Strong as Sinestro. Despite having a talented cast, the film failed to please casual viewers and comic fans alike and was a box office failure. Since then, the only live-action Green Lantern to appear on film is Yalan Gur, who appeared briefly in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, though there were plans to introduce both John Stewart and Hal Jordan to the DCEU, with the latter being depicted by Ryan Reynolds once more.
Gil Kane, the co-creator of Hal Jordan and Sinestro, based their respective appearances on famous Hollywood actors, with Jordan resembling Paul Newman and Sinestro's appearance being modeled on David Niven. Superhero films had major successes via Richard Donner’s Superman and Tim Burton’s Batman, but with Green Lantern’s characters being based on such famous actors, WB (who acquired DC Comics in 1969) could have adapted the property to film as an experiment, testing its marketability with such prestigious names. If this hypothetical Green Lantern film was a success, the superhero blockbuster would have become a lucrative genre much earlier, in addition to making Hal Jordan one of DC’s most popular heroes.
Superhero fiction was not particularly well-respected in the early 1970s, with Superman’s popularity enduring due to the character being a cultural icon and Batman’s television success being built partially on a loving parody. Green Lantern wouldn’t be particularly well-known to average viewers, but Paul Newman and David Niven would likely entice potential viewers to see this science-fiction adventure film. A successful Green Lantern film preceding Superman and Batman’s respective cinematic successes would have affected the entire genre. Movie studios would see potential in superhero films almost a decade earlier and more obscure characters would have a greater likelihood of being adapted.
This would also affect the Green Lantern comics, likely elevating Hal Jordan to the same level of popularity and mainstream awareness as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. With this, would come perhaps an earlier start to Marvel Comics film adaptations as well. While comic book style shared universe storytelling would still be a long way away, using the Hollywood inspirations for Hal Jordan and Sinestro in a 1970s Green Lantern movie would make the history of comic book superhero films begin far earlier.