The most recent Lanterns trailer showed a lot of exciting things to DCU fans anxiously awaiting the new series. The past few trailers mostly focused on Hal Jordan, the main Lantern on Earth, and John Stewart, the new Lantern that he is training. There is a murder mystery, and this looks a lot like True Detective, but with superheroes as the detectives. That said, the new trailer opens things up, reveals who the bad guys are, and shows that there are more than just two Green Lanterns in the HBO Max series. One of the new Lanterns was a nice callback to a past DCU release, another was a great reveal, and the last is still only a theory.
Here is a look at the four Green Lantern Corps members that the trailer specifically showed, and one that might have been hidden in the background.
The two main Green Lanterns in the series have been revealed since Lanterns was announced. Kyle Chandler plays Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern from the Silver Age and the character best known for the superhero. The other is Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, the Lantern who became very popular thanks to the old Justice League cartoons, and the man who is the main Lantern for an entire generation of fans who grew up watching those animated shows. The series trailers make it look like these two heroes do not have a good relationship, but there could be an explanation involving rage hidden in the Lanterns footage released so far.
The third Green Lantern was revealed when Nathan Fillion showed up as Guy Gardner in the Lanterns trailer. While it’s unclear what he is talking about, Gardner tells Jordan, “He’s gonna send an army to put you down.” There is no telling who “he” is and what “army” is coming, but it sounds like Jordan has made an enemy that Gardner knows about. Is this one of the Guardians or a member of the Green Lantern Corps? It could also be an enemy that is hiding in the trailer alongside the mentioned Manhunters.
The fourth Lantern was a nice surprise at the end of the new trailer when Hal Jordan goes to speak to Sinestro, who appears to be imprisoned. While Sinestro is a former Green Lantern, he was, at one time, the greatest of them all, and his being there to put thoughts in Jordan’s mind that Stewart is there to replace him is a nice touch. Ulrich Thomsen plays Sinestro in Lanterns, and his role as Jordan’s former mentor will surely play well in Lanterns.
While those are the only actual Green Lanterns to appear in the Lanterns trailer, there was one other shot that could hint at the fifth. There was a mysterious planet in the background of one of the shots from space, and that planet might actually be Mogo.
Mogo is a sentient planet that is an actual Green Lantern Corps member. In fact, his revelation as an actual Lantern was a huge surprise in the comics, and it wasn’t until someone looked at Mogo from space that they saw the ring’s pattern as part of its surface. Mogo debuted in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #188 (1985) in the story “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize,” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. He is also one of the most powerful Lanterns, as his power scales to planetary mass.
It might seem unlikely that something as abstract as Mogo would appear in the DCU, but that doesn’t account for James Gunn liking the weirder corners of the comic book universe. He already used a sentient planet in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when he introduced Ego, although most of the time in that movie, Ego was in a human form (Kurt Russell). In the DCU, Mogo would be a planet and likely not change, although that could fit in with what Gunn has done so far with DC.
Remember, Gunn had the giant alien starfish Starro as the villain in The Suicide Squad, and that seemed like something that could never work in a live-action movie. He had a giant alien attack in Superman, and seeing him having a planet that has a Green Lantern power ring scratched across its surface might fit in well with Gunn’s eclectic sensibilities. While Mogo does seem unlikely, it is fun to speculate, and if the planet does appear in Lanterns, it could help set up the possibility of the “Blackest Night” storyline down the road, since Mogo played a role in winning that war.
Lanterns premieres on HBO Max on August 16th, and the first season will run for eight episodes.
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