Lanterns Episode 2 Has Me Convinced About the Show’s Biggest Alien Twist

Lanterns has already built out an impressive world after just two episodes, one filled with mysteries and intrigue that we can’t wait to see get unraveled. The biggest reveal in Episode 1 is that Hal Jordan’s gut feeling that something extraterrestrial is going on in the small town of Rushville, Nebraska, is right: aliens are indeed in the midst. Several aliens die in the episode, yet Hal sticks around with John Stewart because he believes there’s even more going on and that the town is hiding something. The show has done a good job of teasing that there’s a bigger twist coming down the line regarding aliens and the town of Rushville. Episode 2 only added to the intrigue, with more reveals and the introduction of a concept that could change everything about the town’s secrets and the show’s overall narrative.

In “Trust Fall”, John gets kidnapped in Coast City by Antaan, an extraterrestrial being who wants to hunt down the Manhunter hiding on Earth. When you combine that reveal with the things Hal experienced during his stay in Rushville, the questions are piling up all over the place. I believe the Manhunters are part of the show’s biggest impending alien twist – just not the way most viewers assume.

Lanterns THEORY: The Townspeople of Rushville Aren’t Human

There’s no doubt that the people of Rushville, Nebraska, are hiding something, and some of the things they do don’t add up. I believe that’s because they aren’t actually humans and instead are an entire town of surviving Manhunters hiding in plain sight. Not to be confused with Martian Manhunter, in the comic books, Manhunters are a race of extraterrestrial robots who were the initial attempt by the Guardians of the Universe at creating a galactic peacekeeping force. It seems like Lanterns is keeping that lore as Antaan asks John, “You really think the Green Lanterns came first?”

As the Manhunters became more self-aware and intelligent, they resented the limitations put on them by the Guardians and believed that punishing the wicked was better than serving justice. They rose up and rebelled against the Guardians, got defeated, and were exiled. The Guardians then created the Green Lanterns as their replacements. In the DCU, the Manhunters were supposedly eradicated. However, I think the big twist in Lanterns is that the surviving Manhunters are hiding in Rushville as they plot their revenge on the Guardians.

The behavior of Rushville’s residents lines up with this theory. For one thing, their town meeting in “Trust Fall” immediately went quiet as soon as Hal walked in, and they were cagey about what they were talking about before he got there; they could’ve been discussing some kind of plot against the Guardians. The hospital was another giveaway, as there were no patients and all the equipment hadn’t been used. That gives the vibe of a place that’s only there to look like something humans use, rather than to work like one.

The Alien Detectors Aren’t There To Find Aliens

Another big clue that the Rushville residents are Manhunters comes from the technology they have. “Trust Fall” sees Hal drag the corpse of one of the aliens from the mass shooting through the metal detector, only for it to go off. He’s surprised and impressed by this, leading him to confront William Macon (Garett Dillahunt) over it. Hal notes that he’s been all over the galaxy and hadn’t seen that kind of technology, yet the small town of Rushville somehow has it. Even if the mysterious benefactor that Macon mentions is real, that’s difficult tech to come by. It’s easier to explain if they’re extraterrestrials themselves and it’s their technology.

While the alien detectors do indeed read aliens, that’s likely what the Manhunters want. They want to ensure that nobody who isn’t one of them infiltrates their gatherings. If the detector doesn’t go off, that signals that a human is entering and not a Manhunter. This would explain why the aliens who were shot at the football game didn’t set anything off when they got to the game. They were scanned through as aliens like everyone else in attendance.

When Hal goes to talk with Sinestro at the end of the episode, Sinestro suggests that one Manhunter still existing would be the “second greatest threat” that he’s currently facing. While his interest in John suggests he thinks John is Hal’s greatest threat, he could also mean that more than one Manhunter being around is the biggest threat. At one point in the comics, the Manhunters resurfaced as part of the Sinestro Corps, who often opposed the Green Lantern Cops. That could play into what Sinestro said at the end of the episode.

If the Manhunters have gathered at Rushville and they plan to invade Oa, the homeworld of the Guardians of the Universe, that would set the stage for an epic battle later in the season. It would raise the stakes of every episode of Lanterns immensely. Let us know what you think about this theory in the ComicBook Forum below.

You can check out Lanterns right now on HBO Max!

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