The Green Lantern Movie debate

[PaulBulman]

Green Lantern Corp all the way. John up front and center, plus numerous supporting cast (no Hal). Go for big action, go for high stakes, make the danger a galaxy wide threat, and punch home that there's more to it than Earth in the DC movieverse.

I want to see a galaxy explored. I'm sick of Earth. I want my Tatooine and Coruscant in a DC version; I want to see the Corp fighting a huge intergalactic threat, one that affects more than just Earth (heck, even keep it away from Earth entirely, have the threat elsewhere in the universe). I don't see why a humanoid galaxy can't replace Earth and the human population for emotional connection and concern. By having John as the lead (and Guy), you already have that connection, so I say go for broke and just nix Earth entirely and show that expanded universe beyond our own little round pond.

[Old Man Ollie 1962]

Green Lantern Corp all the way. John up front and center, plus numerous supporting cast (no Hal). Go for big action, go for high stakes, make the danger a galaxy wide threat, and punch home that there's more to it than Earth in the DC movieverse.

I want to see a galaxy explored. I'm sick of Earth. I want my Tatooine and Coruscant in a DC version; I want to see the Corp fighting a huge intergalactic threat, one that affects more than just Earth (heck, even keep it away from Earth entirely, have the threat elsewhere in the universe). I don't see why a humanoid galaxy can't replace Earth and the human population for emotional connection and concern. By having John as the lead (and Guy), you already have that connection, so I say go for broke and just nix Earth entirely and show that expanded universe beyond our own little round pond.

An epic like that and no Hal? That's the 27 Yankees without a Ruth or a Gehrig.

[Trey Strain]

Sick of Earth from reading Green Lantern? Really?

One problem with the movie was that there was an assumption that viewers should give a crap about Hal, the way his comics fans do. But why should they? What's there on the screen to give a crap about?

Put Guy up there, and people who don't know or care about Green Lantern will pay attention.

[SmokeMonster]

I'd like to see Hal included just so he can become a villain down the road. Doesn't happen enough in these superhero movies.

-Have the first movie be about the Sinestro War.
-Second movie about Manhunters, Atrocitus destroying Coast City, Hal's turn, the death of the guardians, the fall of the corps, and the death of Parallax.
-And the third movie about the corps rebuilding and uniting the spectrum for Blackest Night.

Similar structure to the Dark Knight trilogy.

[Confuzzled]

I say take the Fast and Furious route and place John and Hal in the central Diesel/Walker roles, the duo who can be the heart and soul of the GLC franchise. Then give them the entire crew of Guy, Kyle, Simon, Jessica and Arisia. Carol and the other Lanterns as supports (Carol can fluctuate between good and bad like the Michelle Rodriguez role). And yeah, keep it as outer space as possible, with the Earth Lanterns already being powered.

[Sodam Yat]

I would be down for a John/Guy GLC movie. Their personalities are vastly different, which makes the buddy dynamic more interesting.

Daredevil tanked horribly, I don't see marvel swapping out Matt Murdock with someone else. Ben Affleck likewise, failed daredevil but seemingly successful batman. If association is going to cause any failure, they everything associated with the film will risk recalling bad memories. You need to start being objective and stop pushing your own agenda.

To be honest, Daredevil didn't tank as bad as the Green Lantern movie and it isn't considered a flop. Daredevil is his own character, who isn't interchangeable like the Green Lantern characters. What other character they can swap, who's blind with superhuman senses (that's also super sensitive) and has echolocation that's also called Daredevil?

[Trey Strain]

If Guy were the star of the second movie, people who didn't know about the comic would wonder why Hal was the star of the first one. I've been saying for 15 years that Guy is the best of those four characters. I used to get trolled wildly for saying it, but not now.

[lorddominicus85]

So John's inclusion is only for diversity? If we're really seeking for true diversity then Jessica Cruz is the answer.

John's inclusion would not just be for the sake of diversity. While I hear you beating the Jessica Cruz drum, John is also arguably as recognizable as Hal as the main Green Lantern. I think using John would provide DC with the opportunity to have a strong African American character as a lead in one of their movies, something Marvel hasn't done, and tap into a demographic that is so far un tapped. Jessica Cruz is a bit too risky so early on in their cinematic universe, if they nail the Wonder Woman movie and it makes a good amount of money then green lighting Cruz could be viable but from the profitability stand point using a lesser known female lead to head line what they hope to be a franchise of Green Lantern movies could be a cinematic disaster on par with the first Green Lantern movie.

[Desh]

If Guy were the star of the second movie, people who didn't know about the comic would wonder why Hal was the star of the first one. I've been saying for 15 years that Guy is the best of those four characters. I used to get trolled wildly for saying it, but not now.

This is probably because most sensible people likely don't see any worth in telling you who the best Green Lantern character is, as if it's a fact.

[lorddominicus85]

I'd like to see Hal included just so he can become a villain down the road. Doesn't happen enough in these superhero movies.

-Have the first movie be about the Sinestro War.
-Second movie about Manhunters, Atrocitus destroying Coast City, Hal's turn, the death of the guardians, the fall of the corps, and the death of Parallax.
-And the third movie about the corps rebuilding and uniting the spectrum for Blackest Night.

Similar structure to the Dark Knight trilogy.

I say take the Fast and Furious route and place John and Hal in the central Diesel/Walker roles, the duo who can be the heart and soul of the GLC franchise. Then give them the entire crew of Guy, Kyle, Simon, Jessica and Arisia. Carol and the other Lanterns as supports (Carol can fluctuate between good and bad like the Michelle Rodriguez role). And yeah, keep it as outer space as possible, with the Earth Lanterns already being powered.

I actually really like both of these ideas and could see them blending together really well. John and Hal are the leads in the first movie which deals with the Sinestro Corp war, Fast and the Furious style Hal and John build a strike force to take down Sinestro featuring Killowog, Saalak, Arisia and others. They defeat Sinestro but not before he infects Hal with Parallax in the movies climax.

The next movie we see Hal going darker and darker from the Parallax influence mean while Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns attack earth, Atrocitus looking for the replacement of Abin Sur, Atrocitus destroys most of Coast City and Hal uses lethal force to take him down which causes John to try and stop Hal. Hal loses it and the Guardians try to depower him but Parallax takes full control and we end the movie Empire Strikes Back style with the Green Power Battery destroyed, Hal standing tall as Parallax and John stuck on Earth with a hand full of his closest Lantern friends, the surviving Guardian Ganthet has one last ring.

The third movie we have Ganthet with the last Green Lantern ring and John demanding he get it but the ring rejects him and instead finds Kyle Rayner. So John along with Killowog, Arisia, Saalak and Ganthet take it upon themselves to train Kyle to fight Hal but Kyle doesn't want to kill Hal even though John tells him it's the only way. Meanwhile a new threat is growing, Black Hand has risen and with him all the dead Green Lanterns have as well. Black Hand is preparing for the arrival of Nekron while Kyle heads to Oa to face Parallax. Kyle and Parallax do battle while John leads his depowered Lanterns on a quest on Oa to fix and recharge the power battery while Hal is distracted with Kyle. On Earth Nekron rises and Kyle's ring alerts him, Kyle leaves Oa and Parallax persues. They arrive at the same time, Nekron surrounded by an army of undead Green Lanterns, Red Lanterns and the citizens of Coast City. Parallax reverted back to Hal in the face of all this sacrifices himself to defeat Nekron unleashing the power of Parallax. Back on Oa the power battery is fixed, John and his crew have rings again and the GLC must be rebuilt.

[j9ac9k]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a movie like this, that will be marketed to a global audience make it less likely to have a black man front-and-center? (I will be interested to see how "Black Panther" is marketed globally, but that has the Mighty Marvel Movie Machine behind it) Hal will most likely be in the GL movie just to have a (safer) white face up front regardless of anything else. But maybe WB is waiting to hedge their bets depending on how "BP" fares?

[BohemiaDrinker]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a movie like this, that will be marketed to a global audience make it less likely to have a black man front-and-center?

Also, I"d like to point out that "globally" means more than "Europe on top of the US". World-wide, there's as many - if not more - black people than white people. And more Asians than both combined. And so on.

[Trey Strain]

Black stars have done very well in global releases. I don't think that's the issue here. I just think the best choice for the star of a Green Lantern movie got passed over, and the movie had a bad script to boot.

[Frontier]

Seriously, if this movie is about the Corps., I don't see any reason why we can't include all the Earth Lanterns, at least eventually. Or why we can't have Hal or John together in a movie.

Wanting one of the Earth Lanterns in the lead while excluding others just seems like more of what's been splintering the GL fanbase for so long, and this movie has the chance to avoid that by doing justice the Corps. and Hal, John, Guy, Kyle and even Simon depending on how things progress.

[Desh]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a movie like this, that will be marketed to a global audience make it less likely to have a black man front-and-center? (I will be interested to see how "Black Panther" is marketed globally, but that has the Mighty Marvel Movie Machine behind it) Hal will most likely be in the GL movie just to have a (safer) white face up front regardless of anything else. But maybe WB is waiting to hedge their bets depending on how "BP" fares?

Well, by that reasoning, I guess that means WB will have to cancel that Cyborg movie they're planning. Or turn Cyborg white. Better switch Deadshot back to being white while they're at it, too.