Could HBO Max’s Lanterns Introduce the DCU’s Green Arrow?

About a month ago, DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran officially unveiled their first plans for the DC Universe, announcing ten movies and HBO Max television shows that will be arriving in the coming years. The projects are expected to bring some of the most beloved characters from DC’s canon to life, ranging from household names to lesser-known favorites. For some fans, one of the most exciting (and long-awaited) projects on the initial list is Lanterns, an HBO Max series that will finally focus on the Green Lantern Corps.

The series is already set to be an Earth-bound story centered on two of the most ubiquitous Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, and there’s definitely the question of what other characters could be in their orbit. In particular, could the series’ plot provide one of the earliest, and possibly most fitting, opportunities to introduce Oliver Queen / Green Arrow into the DCU?

Could Green Arrow appear in DC Studios’ Lanterns?

 While Green Arrow is not a part of Gunn and Safran’s already-confirmed plans for the DCU, Gunn has openly admitted to Green Arrow being his favorite character as a kid, and a memorable joke in the Season 1 finale of Peacemaker established that he already exists in some capacity (and may or may not be a Brony).  If he did appear onscreen, it would be far from Oliver Queen’s first live-action appearance — Justin Hartley gave a memorable portrayal of him in later seasons of Smallville, and Stephen Amell’s grittier take on Arrow launched one of DC’s longest live-action franchises. Even with those performances, it can be argued that there are large swaths of Oliver Queen’s story that are left unexplored onscreen — among them, his close friendship with Hal Jordan.

After bumping elbows on the Justice League, Oliver and Hal teamed up in the pages of a revamped Green Lantern series in the late 1970s, becoming known as the “Hard Travelin’ Heroes” of the DC mythos. Across their time together, Oliver, Hal, and later Dinah Lance / Black Canary roadtripped across the country fighting various injustices, and getting more in touch with the ordinary people they were protecting as members of the Justice League. In the decades that followed, Oliver and Hal continued to weave in and out of each other’s lives.

Why should Green Arrow appear in DC Studios’ Lanterns?

The very conceit of Lanterns — an Earth-bound detective story concerning Hal and John discovering some sort of major threat — could naturally lend itself to Oliver Queen making some sort of appearance. On paper, that premise and tone could be narratively and aesthetically inspired by Hal’s “Hard Travelin’ Heroes” days, even if the threat in question ends up being completely unrelated. While Oliver most likely would not be joining Hal in the entirety of that journey, it would be a clever choice for him to pop up in some way. Maybe this version of Oliver already has an established friendship with Hal. Maybe this Oliver has even already had a falling out with him, something that happened multiple times in the comics. Or maybe this Oliver has yet to ever cross paths with Hal, but their meeting has the same effect as their initial team-up in Green Lantern #76, and influences the way that Hal approaches his mission in the series. After all, the dichotomy between Oliver’s bleeding-heart mindset and Hal’s pragmatic relationship with the Lantern Corps is what made the “Hard Travelin’ Heroes” premise so interesting to begin with.

Beyond that, throwing Green Arrow into Lanterns would help accomplish one of Gunn and Safran’s goals for the DC Universe — to make it feel like a comprehensive, lived-in universe. Now that DC Studios has an unprecedented opportunity to relaunch the live-action DC canon, it doesn’t have to be unencumbered by the idea of characters being tied up at different networks or fictional franchise. DC Studios can, in theory, just throw the best, most-fitting characters possible into each of their stories — capturing the feeling of a character guest-starring in a single issue of another character’s comic book, and establishing even more major characters in the franchise’s new foundation. If there does end up being a place for Green Arrow, or even loud-mouthed civilian Oliver Queen, in Lanterns, that might be one of the most intriguing examples.

Would you want to see Green Arrow appear in DC Studios’ Lanterns series? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!