Hal Jordan's gray temples

[The Darknight Detective]

People go gray early. I started getting gray hair at 16. A friend of mine started going bald at 18.

It's funny, but it never bothered me in the slightest in regard to getting my first grays as a teen. Balding at that same age, however, would have brought me close to tears.

[The Darknight Detective]

I wonder whether, if Barry Allen had survived COIE, DC would have also portrayed him as middle-aged as they did Hal and Ollie during this period. Would it also cover fellow Silver/Bronze Agers such as Atom (Ray Palmer) and Elongated Man?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

If legacy replacements had been in the works for those three, BA, then most likely they would have been aged.

[WhipWhirlwind]

It should never happen because I don't like Hal as a character, but if I ever got to write him I'd have him start going gray early (again) and worry that Parallax was creeping up on him again.

I'm getting this wonderful mental picture of Hal calling Ganthet into a doctor's office as a 2nd opinion after being assured its natural.

[docmidnite]

Hal started going gray early. Not a big deal. Not a sign of being "too stressed" or being "old" or anything. He just went gray before 40.

Problem was, at the time, Hal, Ollie, Ray, Arthur, Guy, Bruce, Barry, Ralph, etc, were already established to be in their EARLY 30's after CoIE (with Wally, Booster, Ted, The Titans, etc, in their very early 20's).

To suddenly age him out of nowhere 5 Years after CoIE (especially since his last appearance was less than a year comic book time before GL volume 3 #1) was stupid and completely unexpected by fans at the time (especially by fans that were brought in by Emerald Dawn)

Aging him so rapidly into a hobo in his late, late 30's so soon after his last "present day" appearance (where Hal was still established to be in his early 30's) made no sense at the time and made him unrelatable and everything go downhill from there. It also aged everyone else out of nowhere as well (which I didn't like)

[docmidnite]

For what it's worth, I think it was kinda clever that Johns tied Hal's grey temples as well as his foray into the Central Power Battery at the end of the GLC series into Rebirth.

Me too. Revealing that the Yellow Impurity in the CPB that Hal was exposed to during his fight against Sin inside the CPB in GLC #221-224 was also a sentient entity that Sin awoke and convinced to infect Hal before the start of GL volume 3 explained a lot.

[Johnny]

They don't work for the comics version of the character, but I think Hal being older works better for mainstream adaptations since it lets him believably lean more into the whole Chuck Yeager shtick.

I honestly don't think it does. Basically tells people he's the "old Green Lantern" who's no longer relevant. It's one thing to tell that to the niche comic book reading audience, but if you tell it to the general moviegoing audience, especially if the new GL movie happens to be successful this time around, that's the way the Hal Jordan character will always be remembered from that point on. As a fan, I don't want to see that happen.

[WhipWhirlwind]

I honestly don't think it does. Basically tells people he's the "old Green Lantern" who's no longer relevant. It's one thing to tell that to the niche comic book reading audience, but if you tell it to the general moviegoing audience, especially if the new GL movie happens to be successful this time around, that's the way the Hal Jordan character will always be remembered from that point on. As a fan, I don't want to see that happen.

Have you watched Kingsman: The Secret Service, and if so did you find Harry Hart to be "the old guy" who is no longer relevant?

I don't think being older stops him from being a badass, especially given how GL powers work.

[WhipWhirlwind]

I honestly don't think it does. Basically tells people he's the "old Green Lantern" who's no longer relevant. It's one thing to tell that to the niche comic book reading audience, but if you tell it to the general moviegoing audience, especially if the new GL movie happens to be successful this time around, that's the way the Hal Jordan character will always be remembered from that point on. As a fan, I don't want to see that happen.

Have you watched Kingsman: The Secret Service, and if so did you find Harry Hart to be "the old guy" who is no longer relevant?

I don't think being older stops him from being a badass, especially given how GL powers work.

[Johnny]

Have you watched Kingsman: The Secret Service, and if so did you find Harry Hart to be "the old guy" who is no longer relevant?

I don't think being older stops him from being a badass, especially given how GL powers work.

Haven't seen it yet. I just think when it comes to a legacy superhero movie franchise that's kind of how it tends to go. One character is purposely made older to play the supporting mentor role, in order to prop the other character as the new blood who takes over the franchise. Look no further than what the MCU did to Hank Pym in order to push Scott Lang as the main Ant-Man. I have no interest in seeing Hal Jordan play a similar role to Hank Pym.

[jetengine]

They did that because Hank Pym would break the Avengers and all his stories revolve around mental illness which you cant sell lunchboxes on. Or beating his wife. Not out of some nefarious scheme to dick over Hank.

[WhipWhirlwind]

Haven't seen it yet. I just think when it comes to a legacy superhero movie franchise that's kind of how it tends to go. One character is purposely made older to play the supporting mentor role, in order to prop the other character as the new blood who takes over the franchise. Look no further than what the MCU did to Hank Pym in order to push Scott Lang as the main Ant-Man. I have no interest in seeing Hal Jordan play a similar role to Hank Pym.

You and me both.

I wouldn't be opposed to Hal being the main guy, but if he's not I think his best bet is to be the vet of the group. Not necessarily the mentor/teacher role like Kilowog, but more of a seasoned vet who has too many issues with the guardians to ever be "promoted off the front line".

[Johnny]

I don't need him to be the main guy, just the co-protagonist. Sort of like Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black, just younger. K was the veteran agent in that series and he was just as important to the story as J, even though he was the mentor figure.

[Johnny]

They did that because Hank Pym would break the Avengers and all his stories revolve around mental illness which you cant sell lunchboxes on. Or beating his wife. Not out of some nefarious scheme to dick over Hank.

The MCU version of Pym is neither mentally ill, nor a wifebeater, so I'm not sure why he would've been had he was younger or they didn't exclude him and Janet from the Avengers. Maybe it wasn't a nefarious scheme but they sure ended up royally dicking him over. No offense to Michael Douglas of course. But now Hank Pym is an old supporting character who was the first Ant-Man decades ago and that's how the general audience will always know him as.

If WB plans to do something similar with Jordan, just don't have him there. It's not like John needs Hal to babysit him anyway, he could easily have Tomar or Kilowog as mentor instead.

[Ascended]

It's funny, but it never bothered me in the slightest in regard to getting my first grays as a teen. Balding at that same age, however, would have brought me close to tears.

Yup. I always said I didn't care about going gray early, but the second I start to go bald (I'm in my mid 30's and it hasn't happened yet) I shave my whole head. I will *not* be that guy. I will be bald and beautiful! lol

I'm getting this wonderful mental picture of Hal calling Ganthet into a doctor's office as a 2nd opinion after being assured its natural.

Ha! I like that. Me, I'm thinking of all the crap Guy would give him. That.....that would be glorious to behold.

Problem was, at the time, Hal, Ollie, Ray, Arthur, Guy, Bruce, Barry, Ralph, etc, were already established to be in their EARLY 30's after CoIE (with Wally, Booster, Ted, The Titans, etc, in their very early 20's).

To suddenly age him out of nowhere 5 Years after CoIE (especially since his last appearance was less than a year comic book time before GL volume 3 #1) was stupid and completely unexpected by fans at the time (especially by fans that were brought in by Emerald Dawn)

Aging him so rapidly into a hobo in his late, late 30's so soon after his last "present day" appearance made no sense at the time and made him unrelatable and everything go downhill from there. It also aged everyone else out of nowhere as well (which I didn't like)

Eh, comic time.

Maybe the theory of relativity finally caught up with him. All those wormholes and deep space travel and he never got dislodged from earth-local time-space? It was bound to catch up with him eventually.

[Nomads1]

I didnt like them. It marked him as an old and boring character. Even with the Johns reboot, that is a hard image to get rid of.

Peace