Lanterns Just Revealed How the DCU Is Responding to Superman (And Another James Gunn Movie)

Lanterns is entering the back half of its season, bringing us back to the present-day timeline of 2026, ten years after Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) fought a massive battle against the Manhunter, Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan). That battle left the town of Rushville, Nebraska, destroyed; many of the townspeople dead, and the Manhunter (a savior who protected the town) dead. It also made the Green Lanterns pariahs, deepening the mystery of who killed Hal Jordan.

In Episode 6, “Bad Optics”, we learn more about what John Stewart has done in his time since walking away from the Green Lanterns. Many fans had been wondering if the show was going to honor the lore around John Stewart’s character and his professional arc, and indeed we got that: John becomes a renowned architect, and not just any architect: his works is dedicated to protecting people from the kind of threats the we’ve seen in the DCU.

Lanterns Reacts to James Gunn’s Superman & The Suicide Squad

The opening of Lanterns Episode 6 sees John Stewart taking a pivotal business meeting with his brother Marcus, shortly before learning that Hal Jordan is dead. The meeting is a sales pitch for his architectural masterpiece: a series of panic rooms that are big enough and equipped to hold thousands of civilians. What John needs is enough money to build a network of boxes, so that entire cities can mount viable civilian protective measures when metahuman or alien attacks occur.

To drive the point home, John references the incident in Metropolis the year before – a direct reference to the third act events of James Gunn’s Superman, where Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) accidentally created a dimensional rift that nearly swallowed Metropolis. John also asserts that should another giant starfish crawl out of the ocean, his panic rooms will be able to withstand that, too. This is a reference to Gunn’s other big DC movie, The Suicide Squad, which is still considered part of the DCU mythos. That film ended with the alien creature Starro escaping from years of confinement and running amok in the South American company of Corto Maltese, possessing hundreds of civilians trying to flee with parasitic drones. The presentation ends with John offering some personal testimony about his brief time as a Green Lantern, and the carnage that occurred during the Battle of Rushville.

What’s interesting about Lanterns‘ version of John Stewart is that he’s using his architecture skills amost as a rebuke of superhero culture. It speaks to his disillusionment with the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan, and his training process that he now sees superheroes and their actions as being just as threatening as the villains they face. The scene doesn’t press that point home very firmly (yet), but the embers of that anger are smoldering – as we quickly find out when John leaves the meeting to meet up with Hal, and ends up breaking his nose.

It’s also a very timely and convenient way for Lanterns to settle a lot of the questions that DCU fans have been asking since the premiere episode. That has mainly concerned addressing how this very different kind of DC superhero series syncs up with Superman, Peacemaker, The Suicide Squad and the rest of the DCU. Now we not only know that answer, but we already have a very intriguing foundation for John Stewart, who is already set to come face-to-face with Superman in Man of Steel.

Lanterns airs on HBO and streams on HBO Max.

Lanterns Just Confirmed a Major Villain Storyline for the Final Episodes, With Big DCU Implications