The arrival of Kyle Chandler as the DCU version of Hal Jordan in Lanterns has been a long time coming for major Green Lantern fans. After the 2011 feature film with Ryan Reynolds failed to do the iconic comic character justice, the more than decade-long wait for even another attempt had many antsy. Luckily, the conversation around Lanterns has been pretty positive, with reviews praising Chandler’s work as the character and fans already falling in love with his version of Jordan. Not only does Chandler have the hallmarks of the character in terms of stubbornness and willpower (key for any Green Lantern worth their salt), but he has a funny streak too
To wit, a specific moment in the first episode of Lanterns has really taken fire since the premiere. After making their way to Rushville, Nebraska, Hal and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart find themselves as fish out of water, stepping into a mass shooting at a local high school football game. Hal won’t take no for an answer and is convinced that there’s something alien about the threat that occurred here, but can’t prove it beyond a gut feeling. By the episode’s end, he’s finally found himself in an interrogation room with his suspected alien, offering a specific line of questioning to confirm his suspicions. Now, a week later, Lanterns made this joke in Episode 1 even funnier.
In Episode 1 of Lanterns, there are a couple of questions that Hal Jordan lobs at the suspected alien to test his humanity, largely centered around the University of Nebraska football, all of which he answers. Jordan realizes that the alien is almost certainly just spouting details he’s assembled for his Nebraska-set cover story, so he switches things over to pop culture, asking where Harry Potter went to school.
When the suspect says he doesn’t read or go to the movies, Jordan makes it clear that the fact that he knows nothing about pop culture or American history is a red flag for him. Jordan goes on to say he thinks he can’t tell him anything about Barack Obama (president of the United States at the time of the show in 2016), with the young man simply saying he’s the president.
Jordan’s response to this minor knowledge of Obama, with no personal opinion, is the final confrontation he needed, with his reply quickly going viral. “That’s it? As a rural Nebraskan, that’s the breadth of your opinion about Barack Hussein Obama?” Jordan quips, with the emphasis that Chandler puts on Obama’s middle name quickly becoming a meme in the days since the show premiered (The joke being that a white man from rural Nebraska would statistically vote Republican and probably have some choice words about the former president).
All of that brings us to this week’s episode of Lanterns, where John Stewart is sent on an errand to fetch Hal’s actual Green Lantern. Inside Jordan’s home, John finds….not that much. Yes, the lantern is present along with his actual Green Lantern costume, but there’s not much else beyond a lawn chair in front of a massive TV and a bed (unmade).
Some of the only things found in the episode, though, are framed photos (that aren’t on the wall; they’re still on the floor). Among them, though, are photos of Hal Jordan with the cast of Harry Potter at the premiere of one of the movies (with the behind-the-scenes revealing a photo of him with President Barack Obama), both of which make his questions in Episode 1 even funnier because they clearly stem from his personal experience.
Hal Jordan hanging out with the Harry Potter cast and Obama.
No wonder bro was so pissed during the interrogation. lmao#Lanterns #DCU pic.twitter.com/Ha04fPyyt7
The real question, of course, is which of these things came first. One assumes that the dialogue for the first episode was written and the set dressers then used that as a means to make a gag in the second episode. Furthermore, it begs the question: What famous person has Hal Jordan not met? Because apparently he’s met the Pope and multiple presidents, but something that Lanterns is making clear is that even though Jordan himself clearly knows these meetings are impressive and reflect on him as a person, they clearly don’t actually mean anything to him.
