New Green Lantern Series May Feature Dominators as Villains

When Arrowverse producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim once again take on the Green Lantern Corps, it seems a familiar (and grotesque) face might be at the center of the conflict. According to a new report, Dominators — the villains behind the Invasion! comics event and the Arrowverse storyline inspired by it — are in the cards to square of with the Lanterns in the upcoming series, which reportedly takes place over various time periods and centers around numerous Green Lanterns. Apparently, it’s Guy Gardner, along with a new Green Lantern created for the series, who will encounter the Dominators as part of a storyline set in 1984.

According to The Direct, Guy Gardner will be teamed with a half-human, half-alien Green Lantern who will experience racism during her time on Earth, giving the show a chance to delve into social issues a bit. If the comics are anything to go by, it’s likely that the pair will have an Odd Couple-style dynamic, with Guy Gardner being very conservative (and, in the ’80s, very anti-Russia/anti-communist) while the new character would be more left-leaning.

The Dominators as a primary antagonist is an interesting choice — not just because they have been executved fairly well on the Arrowverse shows, but also because in the comics, they are traditionally depicted as having yellow skin.

While the yellow impurity and the Green Lantern ring’s inability to affect the color yellow were not key elements in the 2011 movie, its inclusion would make sense in the context of a show that’s going to get deeper, weirder, and more granular on the history of the property than a single movie ever could.

While the Dominators have appeared periodically as threats in Legion of Super-Heroes and related books, their big splash in the main timeline of the DC Universe was the Invasion! crossover, in which The Dominators headed up an alliance of aliens including the Khund and Thanagarians, who saw Earth’s constant involvement in potentially universe-ending crises as a sign that our world was unstable and needed to be brought to heel.

The story was written by Keith Giffen, utilizing and tying up dangling plot threads from his time on Justice League International, Omega Men, and Legion of Super-Heroes, and Rocket Raccoon creator Bill Mantlo. It featured art by Todd McFarlane and Bart Sears, both of whom would go on to become superstars in the ’90s. It was published in three oversized issues and, in one of the most famous publicity stunts of the ’80s, DC’s editorial team published a special issue of the Daily Planet, which featured the same design as the paper inside the story, with a full-page headline that said “Earth to Invaders: Drop Dead!”

The tall, thin, monstrous-looking creatures are all ears and teeth, and their execution onscreen was so well-received in “Invasion!” that they have subsequently popped up again in Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.