Lanterns has ended its season, but the biggest twist the finale episode threw at viewers was its totally unconventional approach to wrapping up the deep character drama it had invested in. Instead of a big, bright battle between the Green Lantern power ring and the dreaded alien “Manhunter,” we got a much more muted climax comprised of several heartbreaking conversations between some very broken characters. It tied off almost every loose end that needed resolving, and that alone is a major feat, after all the intrigue Lanterns created around its many mysteries.
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However, while some viewers may be criticizing the way Lanterns handled its Season Finale, they may also be overlooking how the show echoes the larger thematic arc of the franchise. And that theme should now be clear to any fan who has watched each piece of DCU content.
Lanterns Confirms The DCU’s First Arc Is All About “Nature vs. Nurture”
Lanterns Episode 8 “Dirt and Stars” saw John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) finally embrace his role as Green Lantern on his own terms, rebuking a lifetime of conditioning by his parents and the expectations of the Guardians, who were looking for a fully obedient human (unlike Hal Jordan) to represent the Green Lantern Corps. John chose to be Earth’s protector, minding threats like the last Manhunter (Noah Macon), while Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) patrols the rest of Earth’s sector from space. The finale episode tied together so many other of the seasonal story arcs we saw in Lanterns, which examined how Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), John Stewart, and even Noah Macon (Shea Pritchard) were affected by their respective upbringings. It worked well to establish how and why John Stewart becomes Earth’s Green Lantern, and also expands the foundation the DCU has been building with each new project in its “Gods and Monsters” phase.
Superman made a controversial change to lore when it was revealed that Superman’s Kryptonian parents, Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara (Angela Sarafyan), sent him to conquer Earth, instead of defend it. However, after Lanterns, it makes much more sense why James Gunn made the change: Superman choosing his identity and heritage as “Clark Kent” is a clear case of love and nurturing outweighing the “nature” of cultural identity. Supergirl examined a much more complicated version of the theme, with Kara Zor-El/Supergirl (Milly Alcock) making the controversial reveal that she has a much darker nature than her cousin, Superman, when she kills the villain (Krem) to protect the innocent nature of another girl (Ruthie). That film ended with Kara committing to life on Earth in the hope that Superman can nurture her into being more heroic.
Even the other DCU TV shows have followed the theme of “Gods and Monsters.” The new DCU began with James Gunn’s animated series Creature Commandos; every episode of its first season focused on one character from “Task Force M” and their origin story, going from monstrous creation to proving themselves better than their nature (The Bride, Weasel, G.I. Robot, etc.). Peacemaker Season followed Superman with a multiverse story that examined whether or not Christopher Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena) would’ve turned out differently with better nurturing, only to reveal the twist that his family’s corrupted nature would’ve only made him worse (the big hero of Nazi world). Even Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which predates DC Studios, still fits almost the same thematic mold as Creature Commandos (with several crossover characters, to boot).
So far, it’s undeniable that, while individual projects may hit or miss with viewers, on the whole, the DCU is telling a consistent and connective thematic story. It will be very interesting to see if that thematic throughline hold with upcoming projects like Clayface (a Batman villain origin) and the highly anticipated Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, which forces an uneasy alliance between Superman (David Corenswet) and Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) to defend Earth against the alien menace Brainiac (Lars Eidinger).
Lanterns is now streaming Season 1 on HBO Max. Details on Season 2 can be found below! Are you liking the DCU and its interconnected stories? Let us know on the forum!
Forum Conversation: LANTERNS – FINAL EPISODES
Go to ForumThis show is such a mess. This version of Stewart is no Green Lantern either. He’s a frickin VILLAIN! He literally waterboarded a helpless prisoner (torture–doubly so with the ‘water’ tainted to inflict madness); he not only let Hal’s killer get away, scot-free, but her son too, who is the last known Manhunter; he murdered the previous Manhunter/Granny after committing adultery with her multiple times, lying about it too, assaulting THE Green Lantern, Hal, stealing his/Guardian’s ring and lantern; desecrates Hal’s corpse by taking the ring from it; assaults and tortures a helpless prisoner, extorts the prisoner into revealing where the Fear Lantern is at, and then steals that too! Oh, and lets not forget that he lies to the legitimate Green Lantern–Guy–obstructs justice multiple times by hiding the identity/location of Hal’s killer, the identity/location of the Manhunter, and threatens not just Guy but ALL of the other Green Lanterns, and the Guardians! He makes up his own lantern oath, doesn’t even wear a GL outfit, and has no association with either the Guardians or the Lantern corps. He’s a mercenary, a vigilante, a villain–and a damn far cry from any sort of legitimate law enforcement officer, terrestrial or galactic!
Guy Gardner wasn’t afraid of Superman, ready to throw down, but Stewart shuts him up with his what? Blackness? There was no reason Guy shouldn’t have stomped Stewart into the dirt, crushed his finger, took back Hal’s ring for actual decommissioning, destroyed the Fear Lantern and brought Stewart back to OA for sentencing for all of his frickin crimes! This isn’t the incompetent Guy of the cartoons and comics, nor is this the competent Stewart of the cartoons or comics. If this show wasn’t written by woke racists determined to shame and tear down the “greatest” GL to ever exist, then Guy should’ve done the above to this clown pretending he’s a good guy! This show doesn’t deserve a second season, it sure as hell hasn’t earned it! It should be buried and forgotten, along with the rest of this DC nonsense going on! Maybe with the merger done, something can be done to fix this crapfest that is the DC universe but until then, this is best written off and forgotten; a ‘what-if’, oops, that’s Marvel’s thing!
Awful show & even worse viewership
Nielsen
Episodes 1 – 3 MISSED TOP 10
EPISODE 4 SPOT #8
EPISODE 5 SPOT #8
EPISODE 6 SPOT #7
EPISODE 7 & 8 NOT OUT YET
MAKES THE ACOLYTE LOOK GOOD
I really don’t think Hal cloned himself — I think it happened after he was shot — it was right in our face that he healed way too quickly and we just chalked it up to action hero bounce-back. I also don’t think it was Hal that broke out Sinestro — I think it was Lianna. I believe she is a Guardian, but I do not think she is in “good standing”. I think she is doing this all behind the Guardians back and she can do so under the cover of “no one cares about backwater Earth”. Hal hasn’t checked in for over a decade, John’s only contact with the Guardians is Lianna herself, and there is a very legitimate line of thinking that she specifically wanted to experiment with Humans in making them perfect soldiers. A Hal that can be bread to follow orders, and succeed where the Manhunters failed. When that didn’t work out, she broke out Sinestro to overcome the Guardians (or maybe a vain effort to win them over) as they likely align ideologically anyway. Who else told Sinestro about John Stewart, and his potential threat to Hal? Who else COULD have?
It’s right in our faces, plus the Sinestro Corps War hasn’t happened yet… this could be leading to that, and Lianna is one of the fallen Guardians from the comics (Scar, Kronos, or Koyos). They keep telling us about beings that change their shape, and gender — I can see one of those guardians presenting as female so as not to “disturb or upset” Bernadette as she manipulated her into indoctrinating her child to make up for the “shortcomings” of her husband.