Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[Frontier]

Omg I'm totally just messing around with the ageism comments! I'm barely 39, but since I started reading comics at 5/6 yrs old, the books of my youth are often seen as "vintage", even by other readers my age who started later. No offense has ever been taken by any of your posts!

As far as what DC was thinking, I gotta agree with j9ac9k's post. DC was still coming off of their "Comics Aren't Just for Kids!" phase, and what we got with GL was informed by the success of the gritty books of the late 80's. The fact that "Hard Travelin' Heroes" (already considered a classic at the time) cemented Ollie and Hal as BFF's, it made sense to age up Hal given the super successful "Longbow Hunters" had just done the same to GA.

And they de-aged Ollie when he came back too.

[Robanker]

Not as uncool, but as someone who is past his prime, who's had his time and should no longer lead a franchise into the future.

And don't take this the wrong way please, since I'm really starting to worry about coming off as discriminatory towards middle-aged people here, I'm just trying to look at the bigger picture here. As such I really don't understand how they thought aging up Hal and making him a disillusioned veteran was going to somehow either breathe new life into the character or make him more appealing to a 90s audience. Not implying it was some kind of elaborate hatchet job or anything of sorts, but in perspective it seems like an odd decision to make.

I think the idea was that DKR was "Batman, old and grizzled, taking on a world he no longer recognizes and dragging it screaming back to sanity" and that GL needed a shot in the arm, so they copied what worked for someone else. DC was very much about copying their successes. I know the story is that Knightfall was happening independent of Death of Superman, but that doesn't change that following its success, they also did a Dark Flash story, GL: Twilight and killed Wonder Woman.

When DC is struggling, they just copy their most recent success and drop it on everyone they can. Hence, Flash Rebirth. I'm sure there are other motivating factors (like Didio wanting Barry back) but it's always their method of trying to solve a problem.




And let's not pretend that young and older men alike are allured to dystopian futures with "old man" versions of their characters. It did more for Wolverine and Batman than most would care to admit, and it's been a popular trope in media aimed at men for a very long time. It may not appeal to you, for example, but consider how many people will rate Unforgiven as among their favorite westerns.

[Johnny]

Unforgiven totally appeals to me. lol And now that I think about it I probably wouldn't mind a space cowboy Will Munny take on Hal at all. But aging up the main version? For absolutely no practical reason that doesn't go anywhere and the character is inevitably given the boot anyway with or without Emerald Twilight on the horizon? No matter how much I think about it I can't see any long-term benefit of turning one of your top characters old out of thin air. Even Ollie was de-aged after he was brought back. When I see an Earth Prime grey haired Bruce Wayne or Arthur Curry, I may think about accepting a grey haired Hal Jordan.

Granted I'm pretty sure that if we do get another live-action Hal Jordan he will most likely going be portrayed that way so I guess I'd have to accept that no matter what anyway.

I do agree about DC always going back to what worked in the past though, we're just getting yet another Crisis event after all.

[HsssH]

Despite DKR's success and long lasting impact, DC never actually went anywhere with old man Batman idea, till 5G plans I guess?

[Frontier]

Despite DKR's success and long lasting impact, DC never actually went anywhere with old man Batman idea, till 5G plans I guess?

I think it was more projecting some of the personality of DKR Batman into present-day Batman.

[NathanS]

I think Johnny is talking about how current plans are for Hal to be a secondary character and mentor in the last update we got on the movie. So good chance they want him noticeably older to fill that and likely justify putting him fully to the side in one form or another by the movie's end.

[Johnny]

Wasn't specifically referring to that, but that comes to mind as well. Comics or outside media, the old Green Lantern can't be one of your premier heroes. No, he's just the old Green Lantern. WB already dug the grave before and if they plan to finish the job now, I don't intend to support that. I'm sure they'll be just fine either way. Haha.

[Robanker]

Despite DKR's success and long lasting impact, DC never actually went anywhere with old man Batman idea, till 5G plans I guess?

The age was the only thing they didn't dump into the main Batman retroactively.

Making Hal in his late 40s to counter it was a weird decision, but I think they wanted him to have that Will Money "old grizzled cowboy" thing going since his life was a mess prior.

I'll be honest, I don't hate the look, but it's weird to have him do it while everyone else looked exactly the same... But then I'm of the mind the Big 7 should all age at the same rate (even Superman, time being one thing his solar powers don't protect him from) save for Wonder Woman.

[Frontier]

The age was the only thing they didn't dump into the main Batman retroactively.

Making Hal in his late 40s to counter it was a weird decision, but I think they wanted him to have that Will Money "old grizzled cowboy" thing going since his life was a mess prior.

I'll be honest, I don't hate the look, but it's weird to have him do it while everyone else looked exactly the same... But then I'm of the mind the Big 7 should all age at the same rate (even Superman, time being one thing his solar powers don't protect him from) save for Wonder Woman.

I think Diana is at least initially of the same physical age as the rest of the Big 7.

[Johnny]

[Robanker]

I think Diana is at least initially of the same physical age as the rest of the Big 7.

Yeah, I place them all around mid-to-late thirties in the contemporary setting, but in twenty years they're all going or are gray save for Diana who simply doesn't age.

[Frontier]

Yeah, I place them all around mid-to-late thirties in the contemporary setting, but in twenty years they're all going or are gray save for Diana who simply doesn't age.

Clark ages slowly, so there's that.

I'm not if it's been consistent how much the Flashes age because of the Speed Force. It's what kept Jay active.

[SiegePerilous02]

There are some hand wave-y ways the big superheroes don't have to physically age. Kryptonians age extremely slowly so Clark can be physically in his mid-30s even if he's older. Diana is either the same or doesn't age period. Speed Force for the Flashes, maybe some Oan technology side effects for Hal and the ring users (which extends to Carol), Arthur and Mera have Atlantean biology so that's another "make up any rule you want" thing.

Bruce has surely fallen into the Lazarus pits a few times to explain why he continues to not look a day over 35 despite two of his sidekicks being in their 20s now. Maybe Selina can be written as having taken a few dunks herself.

It really only becomes a problem once we factor the supporting casts into things, which is probably why nobody should visibly age and just not talk about it.

[NathanS]

Also well it's become less common as TV and movies have taken hold... characters not aging even as they stay up to date with the world is just not that uncommon in fiction. Steve Canyon ran from 47 to 88 and none of the main cast aged. Nero Wolfe went from 34 to 94, with no main cast aging though some minor characters grew up. The Saint, 26 to 63 same cast never ages. Nancy Drew... the lists go on and on. If you're not tied to an actor and the character isn't made explicitly for a story about how they age, or have a single dramatic story arc most characters just... don't age.

[Frontier]

I try not to overthink the ages too much .