Lanterns has addressed the expansive roster of the Green Lantern Corps on several occasions, but so far, the only Green Lanterns we’ve actually met are Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner. Fans likely have lengthy lists of Lanterns they’d like to see in the DCU, but the show just gave parts of one Green Lantern’s origin story to John Stewart, so the question becomes: will they ever show up in the DCU?
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Spoilers incoming for Lanterns episode 3, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you’ve been warned. In episode 3, we learn quite a bit about John Stewart’s time before becoming a Green Lantern trainee, and one unexpected detail is that he attended art school and became a talented artist. We see this in action during one of his tests to become a Green Lantern and prior to his meeting with a Guardian, and when combined with the show’s focus on John and Hal’s battle over one specific ring, you can’t help but notice that the show seems to be making Kyle Rayner’s origins and key elements part of John’s story instead.
Lanterns Has Combined Story Elements From Both John and Kyle
Looking at the first three episodes, it feels as if Lanterns took elements of both John Stewart and Kyle Rayner and combined them, and while that’s not a bad thing, it is rather noticeable the more we discover about Stewart’s backstory. In the comics, Stewart’s time as a Marine is highlighted quite a bit, as is his skills as an architect, which is why his constructs are so much more detailed and fleshed out as opposed to others.
Here we see that same approach to his constructs when he has to draw the building from memory and then recreate his father’s watch as a construct, but earlier in the episode, it’s only mentioned that he is going to art school. That’s a significant change from the comics, as one of the differentiating factors between Kyle and the rest of the Lanterns is his immense creativity, which stems from him being an artist. While the show could still lean into John being an architect, bringing the artist aspect into John’s story removes one of the unique elements of Kyle’s approach to being a Lantern if he ever does appear in the future. He can still be amazing, but that aspect will be a little less special.
The general approach to Earth’s Green Lanterns also has ties to Kyle. The show is built around John and Hal’s conflict over the ring, with Hal not wanting to give it up and John waiting for the moment when he can take it as his own.
With there being one Lantern active at the moment in Hal, there are some clear elements pulled from Kyle’s beginnings as a Green Lantern. If you’re not familiar with Kyle’s origin story, Kyle is given the ring by the last remaining Guardian, Ganthet, after Hal Jordan goes over the edge and takes down the other Lanterns and collects their rings. We now know this was the influence of Parallax thanks to Rebirth, but that wasn’t the case at the time.
When Kyle is chosen to be the last Green Lantern, Jordan, as Parallax, comes calling to take the ring, which is actually revealed to be his old ring. He wants it back to become a Green Lantern again, and ironically, Ganthet was also there trying to take it back. This resulted in a power struggle between Kyle, Hal, and the Guardians, and if that sounds familiar, then you’ve also been watching Lanterns.
The battle over one ring, a background in art, and a general distrust and fragmented relationship with both the Guardians and the Corps are all part of Kyle’s origin story, and now they are being woven into Stewart’s. Again, it doesn’t mean we won’t see Kyle at some point, but seeing these elements pop up in another character’s story might mean we don’t see Kyle make his DCU debut until further down the line. You never know with the DCU though, so fingers crossed he pops up sooner rather than later.
Lanterns episodes 1 through 3 are streaming now on HBO Max.
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