Warner Bros. Tells 'Deadpool 2' Star Ryan Reynolds They Want His 'Green Lantern' Ring Back

Even though they tried to put a ring on it, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment knows it's over -- so [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Even though they tried to put a ring on it, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment knows it's over -- so now they're asking Deadpool 2 star Ryan Reynolds for his Green Lantern ring back.

Reynolds, who has appeared in numerous comic book adaptations including Blade Trinity, RIPD, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, never had one that was a crticial and commercial hit until the first Deadpool solo film. The sequel promises to open at around $150 million this weekend.

That is more than the entirety of Green Lantern's $116 million domestic box office haul, with Deadpool 2's global opening weekend certain to eclipse Green Lantern's worldwide take as well.

For the uninitiated, Reynolds played Hal Jordan in the 2011 superhero tentpole, which Warner originally said was enough of a success that they planned to make a sequel. That never materialized, although its star -- Reynolds -- and its villain -- Mark Strong -- have gone on to star in other superhero fare. Reynolds's turn as Deadpool has cemented his reputation as a huge box office draw, and Strong will play Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in Shazam!.

Green Lantern gets his powers from a ring bestowed on him by powerful aliens, and so Warner Bros. of course inserted the Beyonce song referenced in their original tweet into the closing credits of the film, the last in a series of unpopular decisions made in the adaptation of what was at the time one of DC's most successful comic book franchises.

The first Deadpool movie included a few jokes aimed at Green Lantern, and the second film has one as well...and so this time around Warner decided that maybe it was time for Tomar-Re to have a little word with Reynolds.

For his part, Reynolds tweeted back that "If we'd used a NuvaRing in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess."

NuvaRing is a vaginal contraceptive ring, which was much more popular around the time of Green Lantern's production. In the time since, the company that makes NuvaRing has been accused of hiding negative side effects related to the product, and are in the process of settling about $100 million worth of civil suits.

It isn't clear what makes Reynolds believe he could have prevented Green Lantern being made by using protection, but it's possible we don't know everything about the film's production.

You can get both the theatrical and director's cuts of Green Lantern on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital. Deadpool 2 is in theaters now, with Reynolds starring alongside Josh Brolin as Cable, Zazie Beetz as Domino, and a handful of new characters introduced as part of X-Force, the team that will head up the next movie in which Reynolds will reprise his role as the Merc With a Mouth.

Warner Bros. is developing a new Green Lantern film, Green Lantern Corps, for 2020. The film is rumored to feature two Green Lanterns as co-leads with a "buddy cop" dynamic. Reynolds is not attached.

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