The Green Lantern
Since the immense success of “The Dark Knight” DC Comics has decided to speed up production on it’s roster of A list characters, much like Marvel has done recently. So they announced that they would begin work on movies for The Flash, Wonder Woman, and The Green Lantern, in addition to a follow up for Superman and Batman. Who can blame them? At this point, Marvel is light years ahead of their comic book rivals in terms of the movies for their characters. Marvel is even working on a movie for their superhero ensemble The Avengers. DC has their own team, The Justice League, but the movie that was being planned has been scrapped for the indefinite future. So with renewed focus DC is prepared to finally start competing with Marvel in theaters.
The project currently closest to completion and release would be the first feature film appearance of The Green Lantern! For those of you who don’t know, The Green Lantern is actually a member of an intergalactic police force sworn to protect the universe. They are collectively known as the Green Lantern Corps. Based on the planet Oa, the Lanterns use “power rings” to project anything their imagination can come up with, and anything their inner strength can power. Their rings are only as strong as the wearer (Even the Batman Power Ring). They are green, hence the name, and their energy projections are also green. They are powered by “Lanterns,” or batteries that can recharge the power of the rings. These rings work on everything except for anything colored yellow. I know, seems odd to me too. And the Lantern is sworn to protect the area of space including the Earth. He is one of DC Comics premiere characters, and an original member of The Justice League.
Green Lantern has a long history in the DC Comics universe. His first appearance was in All American Comics #16 in July of 1940. GL, as I will continue to call him in this article, has always been a hero largely based in science fiction. GL’s have had numerous adventures fighting intergalactic threats on different worlds. So I would imagine this movie would be a science fiction film. As far as Earth’s Green Lanterns go, there have been numerous different people wear the power ring and act as a member of the Green Lantern core. Those individuals include Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardener and Jonathan Stewart. Even the Batman has donned the power ring before. I thought the pic to the right was great!
Batman as a Green Lantern!
The two most popular lanterns have been Hal Jordan and Jonathan Stewart. All indications to this point seem to point toward Hal Jordan being the GL featured in the current film project.
I hope that my coverage of the key points have induced enough curiosity in you to get you to read up on the character. GL has always been my favorite DC Comics hero, as he is more of a sci-fi hero. I love that. And I love the power ring! It can do anything as long as the wearer is strong enough and has the willpower to do it. Green Lanterns are some of the most powerful heroes in the universe. So lets get into the film, shall we? GL is currently getting the final script polish. There have been casting rumors, leaked scripts and rumors of super cameos! I will address it all in this complete Green Lantern coverage!
The project is currently being written by Marc Guggenheim, Michael Green and Greg Berlanti (who is also directing the film) It is currently in the midst of its third rewrite, and is near completion. A short while back, a copy of the original script made it too the web, and I was lucky enough to read it. Let me tell you, if they even com close to showing what was written for the original script, this movie will be epic! A truely huge science fiction adventure! For fans of GL, this movie shows it all, including several lanterns from different sectors of outer space, the planet Oa and a huge climactic battle in space. It seems really exciting, and all indications so far have been that the current script is not far off from the original. Co-writer Marc Guggenheim spoke to MTV about where the project stands so far. He had the following to say:
“The changes are nothing that’s affecting the storyline, really, It’s pretty well set. But sometimes we’ll move a scene to a different location for budget purposes, perhaps in an already established location instead of a new one. It’s a question of, which locations can we live without? It’s a constant process to streamline what you’re going through, even after the film is shot, when you’re cutting things in the edit. That’s what the rewrite process is like, how you sand down the roughness of the a movie to its smoothest.”
Sounds pretty fair to me. Just based upon what I read, the movie would require a huge budget to make it a reality. As long as they keep the story line in tact. For those of you who are interested, you can still find the leaked script review on the web with a little patience. Legally I can’t post it here, but if you can find it you may want to check it out! One particular location in the movie, the Lantern base of operations on planet Oa, is spectacular. All of the Green Lanterns complete power ring training here.
The Green Lantern Corps
Guggenheim said that what we will see of the planet has never been seen before on film.
Okay, so with a director in place and the script nearing completion, they need to cast GL. As I mentioned before, there have been several Lanterns. One of them, Jon Stewart, was dark skinned. In the proposed Justice League movie, this version of the Lantern was slated to appear and be played by rapper/actor Common. However this GL movie will feature Hal Jordan as the Lantern. There have been several rumors of who may play Jordan, with nothing sounding very credible. Some actors being tossed out there for the character are David Boreanaz, Matthew Settle and Ryan Gosling, to name a few. The Gossling rumor seems to be the most credible of them all. And that would be fantastic having an established actor the caliber of Gosling playing a sci-fi hero. Instant credibility. That would be my choice to play Hal Jordan. I’d love to hear your casting ideas though!
Another GL rumor that has surfaced lately has been that of a super powered cameo in the film. Word is that Superman himself will appear in The Green Lantern! The story here is that Clark Kent shows up in the movie to get a good look at “the new hero on the block.” How cool would that be for DC fans? If anything, Marvel has shown that you can cross pollinate in feature films. And it helps to set up a future for team up movies (Justice League anyone?) In fact, Marc Guggenheim addressed this in a direct, indirect manner. He is a self proclaimed “sucker for a good Easter egg.” For those who don’t know, an “Easter egg” is something in a film that is specifically placed for hardcore fans or very attentive moviegoers. They tend to be brief, quick glimpses or lines in the film that reference something else. In this case, the appearance of Clark Kent. Here is what Guggenheim said:
“The fanboy in me would love that. Robert Downey, Jr. in ‘The Hulk’ was awesome. I love that stuff in general, and I think the fans would enjoy it. Brandon Routh or even Tom Welling in Green Lantern would be awesome. And anything is possible. The beauty part of being the writer, though, is that I don’t actually have to make that judgment call.”
So perhaps we will see something like this in GL? That is certainly exciting, I love finding “easter eggs.” Kind of off subject, my favorite all time “easter egg” is the appearance of Captain America’s shield in “Iron Man.” Anyway, having a fanboy writer can’t possibly hurt. But who would play Kent? Would it be Smallville’s Tom Welling? “Superman Returns” star Brandon Routh? Or would they go for someone completely different? There certainly is plenty of time to figure it out. And it may just be a matter of deciding who will be Superman in the next solo film for the character.
Finally, we have some info for the comic fans. Guggenheim mentioned some of the story lines he referred to when coming up with the script. It was suggested that a villain in the film would be Legion, a big bruiser of a bad guy who formed a golden yellow suit of armor wrapped around the hive mind of an alien civilization. Remember, GL’s cannot use their power on the color yellow! Hardcore comic fans can use this info to infer that part of the story is tied to the “Emerald Dawn” storyline. But that is only part of it. Guggenheim is including elements from all the different iterations of the character. He wants to stay true to the comic source material. He stated that a big influence would be the 80’s comic versions of GL, as that is when he became a fan of the Lantern. Here is some of what he had to say:
“We really spanned the whole gamut from the Silver Age through the Modern Age to Geoff Johns. There’s a lot of different elements that are hard to coalesce, actually. Green Lantern as much as any modern day superhero has a lot of continuity gaps and inconsistencies, and you’re wrestling with it all to make everything work. And I don’t mean ‘work’ in a creative sense…I mean ‘work’ in a ‘not contradict each other’ sense. That’s always tricky when you’ve got such a length and breadth of material to work from.”
GL and the ring battery
The first version of the script was completed just before the current Green Lantern comic series began. That series is entitled “Secret Origin.” Guggenheim is currently reading the series because he says he wants to see how they address the origin of the Green Lantern for modern audiences. See, Hal Jordin was selected as a GL by an alien named Abin Sur. He was the GL for this area of space, but his spaceship crashed on Earth. As he was dying, he used the power of the ring to scour the Earth for one worthy of the ring and becoming a Lantern. He found fighter pilot Hal Jordan. Back when that origin story was told, it was unquestioned. But think about it now. If Abin Sur was a Green Lantern, he could use his ring to fly through space. Why would he need a spaceship? And why couldn’t he use his ring to save himself from the crash? These are questions that Guggenheim is interested in addressing. The current script may or may not address these issues in the same manner as the “Secret Origin” story does.
So there we have it folks. Complete, extensive coverage of everything Green Lantern. I hope this has helped all of you GL newbies get familiar with the basics of the character. Maybe you too can enjoy the character as I do. I believe this will be a special film, and I am very excited about this. What do you think? Are you ready for a science fiction superhero epic? “The Green Lantern” is slated for release in 2010.
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December 4, 2008
#1
Well I know this is base, low, stupid perhaps but where does a GL go, to you know, Go? Especially on a deep space mission. Remember urine is yellow, at least for humans. It could present a problem in deep space. I guess I’m trying to say that a spaceship is more than a conveyance. It’s a place to have personal things. Perhaps a GL on an investigation might need stealth or evidence collecting abilities that are impractical in any other form. What about when a GL needs to sleep or rest. To exercise your will, don’t you have to remain conscious? The smaller the limitations of the hero the harder it is to keep a story going, I think anyway.
December 5, 2008
#2
No, I understand what you are saying. I agree, I don’t think they need a special explaination for that. But the writer seems to think so. Personally I think the backstory for the character will work just fine, and I think this will make one hell of a movie. It could appeal to a whole new group of fans, the sci fi group. You are right, especially for a long distance trip through space, a space ship is a necessity.
But just to play Devils advocate, since Abin Sur was the GL from this sector of space, he wouldn’t be travelling long distances. He could use the power ring to come up with any sort of creative disguise for stealth. Depending on how they plan on interpeting the powers of the ring, it could also serve as a mini computer, just scan and store away for use later. There are so many possibilities here. Some people who have a hard time just accepting a movie and enjoying what they are shown may have questions they expect to be answered. Again, just playing Devils advocate.
December 5, 2008
#3
Green is not a primary color, and the color yellow is part of it’s foundation. How does that fit with the ineffectiveness of the powers against anything yellow? Do the creators even address this issue?
December 5, 2008
#4
I have not read anything that directly. But you would think that that would probably be what prompted the original writers to include this restriction on the power ring. They seem to want to explain this movie completely, so maybe they will address this. I sure would like to know.
March 4, 2009
#5
The orgin of Abin Sur is not something that needs to be addressed. He couldn’t save him self because of fear that was put in his heart from when he heard the blackest night story and thats also why he couldnt fly his ring only work and half strenght. Also John Stewart is not that popular he is gaining popularity thanks to the show justice league but he’s only in that because the network wanted a black hero to make the show more diverse. Hal Jorden and Kyle Rayner are the two heavy hitters of the GL’s of earth any who says otherwise dosent know the DC universe very well,and to Studebaker Dude green is a primary color of light along with red and blue thats why the colors are considered to be the strongest colors in the lanter war. also yellow is fear. the emotional spectrum is weak to the color to the left thats why green is weak against yellow.
March 4, 2009
#6
Well, that doesn’t sound like Useless Knowledge to me!
I couldn’t agree with you more. Nobody needs to find out much about Abin Sur, but he should be shown early in the origin of Hal Jordan. John Stewart was big in the 70’s, but he faded fast and is now only popular because of the show, like you said. Kyle Rayner is a great Lantern, I really like the character. But when they move away from Jordan, more than likely doing a Parallax story, I think they will go with Guy Gardner. At least, he made a very brief appearance in the script which seemed to suggest they are eying him to be the next Lantern. I know he is not very popular, but I love him. He’s brash, bold, and angry. I think that would provide an interesting take on the image of the traditional super hero, even more so than the cocky Hal Jordan. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us Fountain!
April 14, 2009
#7
Actually, in the DC universe, the color yellow no longer poses a problem to the lanterns. The initial weakness was due to Parallax being imprisoned inside the central power battery on Oa.
April 14, 2009
#8
I think they are going to run with the yellow weakness in this film because it is an origin story, so all the Parallax stuff hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully though, the films will get to that point in the comics. I just hope when it does happen, I’m not too old to go to movies!
June 22, 2009
#9
IM an absolutely huge Green Lantern fan, and iv got to say on the not of which Lanterns to use (even though my favourite is Kyle Rayner) I get why its Hal first (and not Alan Scott, who isnt in the Corps)
As for the second, as a writer its be more interesting to go for Guy Gardener as his personality and approach is the polar opposite of Jordan’s. But in today’s over cooked politically correct environment I wouldn’t be surprised if they went with John Stewart.
With the “yellow” thing, I think the Parralax-emotional spectrum explanation is great for comics and long term stories (and Gregs comment about yellow no longer being a problem is true too, to an extent) Yellow is no more effective as any other colour because Parralax is no longer contaminating the power source, but Yellow Ring Energy is effective (but again not more so than any other colour). For the un-initiated the current story building around Lantern is that theres a spectrum of 8 colours, with each colour tied to an emotion: Green = Will, Yellow = Fear, Red = Rage and a number of events have led to these colours and emotions slowly building up forces. Some are villains who are slaves to fear, anger and carnage, some are Lantern’s who are turning to other emotions as their cause.
The original explanation for the Yellow weakness is my favourite and one that I feel can be used more “character wise”. Originally the explanation that was given was that the Yellow weakness was just a myth, a story the sprang up god knows how. But the fact that it became legend amongst Lanterns made it a self-fulfilling prophecy, it caused something that can erode even the strongest will… DOUBT.
This was used to explain Alan Scott’s weakness…WOOD!
October 30, 2009
#10
The orgin of Abin Sur is not something that needs to be addressed. He couldn't save him self because of fear that was put in his heart from when he heard the blackest night story and thats also why he couldnt fly his ring only work and half strenght. Also John Stewart is not that popular he is gaining popularity thanks to the show justice league but he's only in that because the network wanted a black hero to make the show more diverse. Hal Jorden and Kyle Rayner are the two heavy hitters of the GL's of earth any who says otherwise dosent know the DC universe very well,and to Studebaker Dude green is a primary color of light along with red and blue thats why the colors are considered to be the strongest colors in the lanter war. also yellow is fear. the emotional spectrum is weak to the color to the left thats why green is weak against yellow.