Cast This: Hal Jordan and John Stewart (Green Lantern Corps)

It has only been a few years since DC Comics superhero GREEN LANTERN flew into theaters, only to be greeted with underwhelming audience and box office response.

Since that time, the Christian Bale version of Batman hung up his cowl, and Warner Bros. has raced to unite the lineup of DC's most recognizable costumed characters on the big screen in an effort to emulate the success of their superhero competitors at Marvel.

Accomplishing this feat has required ignoring all previous movie renditions of DC's roster, which most recently means jettisoning the 2011 Ryan Reynolds version of GREEN LANTERN for an upcoming new project that will team Hal Jordan with fellow Lantern John Stewart in GREEN LANTERN CORPS (described as "LETHAL WEAPON in space").

Hal Jordan first appeared in 1959 as an update of previous Green Lantern iteration Alan Scott. A brash but highly skilled test pilot, Jordan was selected by dying alien Abin Sur to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar law enforcement organization overseen by the Guardians of the Universe.

Like all members of the Green Lantern Corps, Jordan wields a power ring that grants him incredible abilities. In addition to flight and a degree of invulnerability, the ring allows the wearer to project energy blasts, force fields, and gigantic solid constructs limited only by the user's imagination and willpower. However, due to an impurity in the rings' power source, Green Lanterns have a weakness against the color yellow.

Besides his service to the Green Lantern Corps, Jordan became a regular member of the Justice League, battling evil alongside other prominent DC heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. Over the course of his comic career, Jordan was also possessed by a malicious space entity and became the villain Parallax, and later sacrificed himself only to return as an incarnation of a celestial spirit known as the Spectre.

Several other humans (including Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner) have worn the ring and served the Corps over the years, but the new movie will be pairing Jordan with John Stewart. The first black superhero to appear in DC Comics, Stewart made his debut in 1971 as an architect and military veteran chosen by the Guardians to act as backup for Jordan. The character has since played a role in numerous major comic storylines.

We know that Ryan Reynolds will be replaced as Hal Jordan (he has moved on to a vastly more lucrative superhero role with DEADPOOL). There's a whole list of things we'd like to see in GREEN LANTERN CORPS, but who should now slip on the ring to play the most popular Lantern?

Aside from voicing Rocket in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Bradley Cooper has somehow avoided playing a high-profile superhero, and would be a good match for the character. Armie Hammer also seems like a favorite and fitting choice to wear the emerald jewelry (DC experience: aside from his near-miss playing Batman, he tussled with new Superman Henry Cavill in 2015's THE MAN FROM UNCLE). Or… how cool would it be to see Matt Damon's Green Lantern join Ben Affleck's Batman in some future DC Cinematic Universe movie?

As for John Stewart, award-winning "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" actor Sterling K. Brown has publicly expressed interest, and could certainly pull it off (despite also having a supporting role in Marvel's BLACK PANTHER). Rapper-actor Common was already cast in the part for director George Miller's terminated JUSTICE LEAGUE movie, and deserves another crack at a DC comic book movie besides his two-minute appearance in SUICIDE SQUAD. If they decide to go younger, why not John Boyega? He's already got some deep space experience, and he's bound to be in a comic book movie at some point.

Let us know below who you think would be great as Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart!

As for the previous Cast This column, the consensus was that unless Sylvester Stallone returns to the role, the Rambo character should remain retired. However, some names suggested for the inevitable reboot:

1. Tom Hardy  2. Michael Fassbender  3. Jason Momoa

Source: JoBlo.com

About the Author

4286 Articles Published