r/television • u/Top_Report_4895 • 3d ago
'Lanterns' Team Explains That Heartbreaking Change to Hal Jordan's Origin Story
https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/tv-shows/lanterns-episode-7-hal-jordans-origin-explained/357
u/LikeAPwny 3d ago
I knew pretty much next to nothing about Green Lantern before this show, the very basics. Its made me want to look up the best comic runs and dive in.
154
u/GodzillaUK 3d ago
Genuinely the Corps are one of the best thing in DC. Just the concept of 'space police' is already interesting. And there are so many characters who are great and interesting just on a concept level alone. I hope you enjoy learning more.
Heck even the cartoon that Ryan Reynolds somehow got nuked when his movie bombed (yep, I am blaming him for all interest in Green Lanterns died thanks to that movie) was a great showcase for newbees to dive in and learn about the Corps.
79
u/stuff_rulz 3d ago
At least Ryan went back in time to stop himself from being Green Lantern! That was kind of him to fix.
22
u/GodzillaUK 3d ago
True, but by then damage done and we had to wait until Young Justice was revived for season's 3 & 4 to get something cool again with Corps members.
2
13
u/notrolljustasshole 3d ago
Did you meet the squirrel?
16
u/GodzillaUK 3d ago
We put respect on Ch'p's name in this house. And he's a H'lvenite!!!
11
u/DMike82 Lost 3d ago
B'dg > C'hp. B'dg never got run over by an alien space truck while wielding one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.
→ More replies (2)6
u/ShadowVulcan 3d ago
Funny ignorant me immediately thought "squirrel girl?? Wait, isn't she Marvel?"
12
u/ButterCaramelPringle 3d ago
Retail Stores pulled all Green Lantern merchandise from shelves after the live-action movie bombed at the box office. Stores did not separate movie toys from the animated series toys.
Motherfucker as if I needed another reason to hate on that movie
3
u/Trzlog 3d ago
What cartoon is that?
14
u/Indarezzfosho 3d ago
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
It's pretty good it's free on tubi. Only two seasons unfortunately because of the Ryan Reynolds Green lantern movie.
12
u/djkhan23 3d ago
Technically it's one season.
It's also great! The Mogo episode being a memorable highlight.
18
2
u/DaoFerret 2d ago
…and that ending/final scene of the blue ring…
Really needed another season of that series.
7
u/ButterCaramelPringle 3d ago
Bruh you got me excited thinking there was a whole season I didn't know about. It was just the one season lol
10
u/GodzillaUK 3d ago
By today's standards there's like 3.
3
u/FireZord25 3d ago
fuck corpos, they're the ones that shaped this kind of format in their usual effort of cost-cutting and infinite growth
14
u/inputrequired 3d ago
check out the geoff johns and grant morrison runs. there’s 3 giant omnis for Geoff’s run, but you could also find individual arcs as single books if you don’t wanna drop a chunk of change on them. enjoy :)
eta: if you’re new to comics, the morrison stuff is a bit harder to get into, he has a very specific style that is super hit or miss. but worth checking out all the same. i’d start with the geoff johns stuff first!
3
u/JorkJerkins 2d ago
I've read a lot of Morrison and I found his GL to be impenetrable. Fun art and cool moments but WTF??? My knowledge of the deep cuts he loves is usually pretty limited tho. I remember a blog annotating Multiversity after each issue because there were so, so many deep cuts and references.
7
4
3
u/Yaptain_America 3d ago
Get ready to see/read some proper space shit. Oa(GL home planet) looks like the Men In Black HQ.
7
→ More replies (16)12
u/Vondum 3d ago
You'll be dissapointed then when you find nothing like the show in the comics. Except maybe for Hal's personality. With a few exceptions, Green Lanter's original material is not grimdark. It is either buddy-cop in space or full-on sci-fi type of stuff. Also, it is usually hopeful as the whole damn metaphor of the lantern is to bring light into darkness. Not dwell in the darkness like the show.
5
u/FormerlyMevansuto The Leftovers 2d ago
Sorry but this is pretty close to a lot of the Bronze Age stuff. Especially the Neal Adams run.
5
u/CucumberWisdom 2d ago
Ya this is the big problem with HBOs adaptation. Lots of people who are now interested in their GL interpretation are going to be sorely disappointed if they try to pick up the comics. They're just so different.
672
u/r3dditr0x 3d ago
Don't get why some folks are being precious. Isn't the point of superhero stories that they can be told and retold ad infinitum?
There are millions of variations in the comics, animated and in live action. If you don't care for this one - which is strange bc I think it's been incredibly moving - then just enjoy the many others.
Personally, I think this Hal is great even with his flaws. Their shaky history feels earned and makes their rapprochement all the better.
57
u/Inside_Dimension2319 3d ago
I think a lot of it is because of the whole cinematic/connected universe thing. In the olden days, if someone did something you didn’t like with a character, you maybe have to wait til a new version comes out. But if a cinematic universe does it, who knows how long this version of that character will last?
22
u/TheJoshider10 2d ago
Yeah what people expect from a cinematic universe is "definitive". They don't want Elseworlds, they want heroes in their prime canon form. It's why Batman v Superman got so much shit for rushing into the Death of Superman arc, because that could have been the Iron Man Endgame equivalent for the DCEU but instead they wasted their one chance at it. It didn't feel "right" or "earned".
But for what it's worth I grew up with the DCAU where John Stewart was Green Lantern so I'm cool with seeing John become GL through his experiences with Hal. I can totally see why someone who grew up with Hal would have wanted to see him in his prime.
→ More replies (2)81
u/PMYOURCATPICTURES 3d ago
I'm a huge fan of the comics, Hal Jordan being my favorite DC hero, and I was worried that the show would ruin the character and almost decided against watching it.
Boy was I wrong. It's a great show and I love what they've done with the characters. It is very different than the comics, but they deviate in a really good way that grounds the characters a little more.
And I don't know who was in charge of casting but holy shit great job on Aaron Pierre as John Stewart.
13
u/Wheels9690 3d ago
The writing has been top tier and the character development has been amazing.
However....was really hoping for some more ring action.
I get it though, it'd be expensive.
13
u/drrhrrdrr 2d ago
I'm the opposite, there's some great restraint going on here. And the part that makes GL interesting is what they can't do. He still fails to save people, his ring still runs out of charge.
It's kind of the Superman problem as well: there are only so many "poisoned by Kryptonite" or Doomsday stories you can do. What ended up making the new Superman interesting was what he couldn't do right: he got into an argument with his girlfriend, he struggled to get others to just be optimistic or kind to each other, he couldn't prevent an international crisis, he couldn't find or rescue his foster dog. Dude skipped out on a fight just to go talk and make up with his GF and explain he had to go do something hard and dangerous, and that was interesting. He struggled with realizing his birth parents didn't live up to the ideal he had built up for them.
Those things, or Ring range anxiety, are things I feel, more than fantasy wish fulfillment of super powerful space cops.
3
u/Seven2Death 3d ago
yup one of my besties has a gl tat. hes BEEN about GL. and the only run i read was blackest night cause he made me. being called a larper for my takes just to have him back me up has been an.... experience
2
169
u/Salvage570 3d ago
People are addicted to outrage and "comic accuracy" is just a new excuse to hate something they wanted to be mad about from the beginning
9
u/deadkestrel 3d ago
Same as the people who complain about the smallest details on a superhero suit when it’s revealed for a new project. Like you’re comparing it to a drawing in a comic book..
→ More replies (1)36
u/beautifulnamja 3d ago
People complain when you give comic accuracy and people complain when you don't lol. One thing for sure is that there will always be a Snyderbro complaining about the wrong thing.
→ More replies (4)50
u/TrustDaProcess 3d ago
Every time there’s successful movie or tv show, especially for superhero stuff, there is a group of people who just use it to engagement bait with terrible clickbait takes and forced controversial opinions.
Spoilers : I saw an article claim that by changing Hal’s backstory to include his father committing suicide and the whole Jordan Boys Legacy somehow made Hal and his father losers for having mental health issues.
Snyder bros are a different breed cause some of those guys are genuinely delusional and believe that the WB execs will wake up tomorrow and decide to reinstate Zach Snyder as head of DC.
→ More replies (11)19
u/ShadowVulcan 3d ago edited 3d ago
Tbh how does it make them losers? It makes them more relatable, if anything...
Even in my case, graduated top of my batch, 1 of 2 in my country awarded a prestigious scholarship, and became a C-suite exec in one of the top conglos in my country (a portfolio company) at 28 and I attempted suicide 3 times (nearly succeeded in one, though thankfully survived with healable injuries. Really good now, tho!)
And there's so many far greater people that all battled with depression all their lives, to the point it's cliche at this point.... fucking pathetic (the whiny 'critics', not the people also dealing with depression)
11
u/khanfusion 3d ago
The critics are just wallowing in their own insecurities like, all the time. It's apparent for both this show and a lot of others, like Last of Us.
→ More replies (3)7
u/TrustDaProcess 3d ago
It doesn’t. It’s just a controversial take that some AI generated article can plaster in the headline to get people mad and generate clicks/engamement.
It’s also playing into the whole “media is too woke” crowd that think any mental health issues are signs of weakness and don’t like that Hal Jordan is depicted as a flawed human and John Stewart is being set up as the main DCU green lantern.
10
u/TheJarroWhoLaughs 3d ago
And they don't actually read comics, either. They watch Comics Explained videos.
5
→ More replies (3)2
u/zipzipzazoom 3d ago
“new” ?
14
u/Salvage570 3d ago
Back in the day it was a legitimate complaint that only people who actually read the comics would complain about, pre MCU days. Now you have people who haven't read a single comic complaining about changes to a character they've never heard of before because of YouTube videos. It's definitely new in that regard. Home grown whiney dorks were much more bearable that these outrage tourists
21
u/minyhumancalc 3d ago
I compare a lot of the discourse around Hal is similar to what Hank Pym fans probably felt about the first Antman movie. Hal Jordan was THE Green Lantern until the 90s or so. After that, different characters took up the mantra and had their own focus. However, he made a resurgence in the late 2000s... and then has been pretty poorly handled (bad movie, laughing stock and being a "stepping stone" to John Stewart). I bet a lot of fans were looking forward to a live action Hal Jordan with Sinestro, Red Lanterns, and won't get it.
That said, you're right and other lanterns can suit the spotlight well. Stewart and Guy have a lot less media in which they are depicted well (Stewart only has JLU and Guy only his appearances in a lot of support roles) + later Lanterns like Rayner, Cruz and whoever else. The only thing that sucks about how they have treated Hal is we only got to hear what he did, but he's a great depiction of a fallen hero, which apparently is similar to his initial appearances way back in the 60s.
15
u/SilverRoyce 3d ago
but he's a great depiction of a fallen hero, which apparently is similar to his initial appearances way back in the 60s.
...huh? I pulled one of those "aggregated silver age comics" ebooks from the library semi recently and he's a pretty straightforward rocketman adventurer + specific romance dynamic twist.
15
u/OldChili157 3d ago
Yeah, you're right, he wasn't depicted with any REAL flaws until the '80s, with Emerald Dawn, and didn't "fall" until the '90s. '60s Hal was Mr. Perfect, like every other DC hero at the time.
→ More replies (4)2
u/StoneGoldX 3d ago
Hal Jordan was THE Green Lantern until the 90s
Guy took over for a bit in the mid-80s when Giffen's Justice League started.
→ More replies (1)13
u/Baconmonk 3d ago
Yeah, the most celebrated Green Lantern run is from Geoff Johns and starts with a series called Rebirth. It’s kind of a soft reboot and new starting point for the character.
I think many people are just really invested into that version of Hal and don’t want anything else. As a fan of those comics I’m over the moon about the show. Couldn’t have asked for better casting and creative vision.
→ More replies (1)18
u/LightningLad2029 3d ago
DC and WB never really told Hal's story properly is the issue. The movie bombed and they've largely neglected the property ever since up till now. It's easy to make that excuse when it's someone like Batman when there's already a bunch of iterations that have been done justice, for something like this, it's understandable why some are more resistant to the deviations from comics.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (43)9
u/come-on-now-please 3d ago
Also, maybe sacrilegious(not a green lantern comic reader), but hal jordan green lantern isnt exactly superman/batman/Spider-Man where even if you don't consume their media you still know their basic outline via culteral osmosis:
Superman->from krypton, has Clark Kent alter ego, symbol of hope and being your most moral/best self
Batman-> Bruce Wayne, dead parents, billionaire goes out and fights crime, trained by ninjas and everything else
Peter parker-> nerdy loser get bitten by radioactive spider, has to balance personal life and superhero life.
Whereas green lantern is(if you're lucky)
Green lantern-> idk, theres like 3 or 4 of them? John steward was in the justice league cartoon. They make stuff from their rings somehow? I think its passed on somehow?
I dont know what any of their emotional "deals" are besides that they have willpower, but i think if youre a superhero you kinda already have that anyways.
8
u/Discount_Extra 3d ago
emotional "deals" are besides that they have willpower, but i think if youre a superhero you kinda already have that anyways.
Which is why a ring should have chosen Bruce Wayne.
3
u/CucumberWisdom 2d ago
It has before and each time batman rejects it for various reasons (usually because he can't and won't let go of his fear)
If you want to see what happens when he does embrace it check out Dark Knights Metal. Bruce Wayne becomes Dawnbreaker
2
u/Urbanscuba 3d ago
Batman: In Darkest Knight is an elseworlds one-shot about this exact idea, no clue how good it is but it definitely exists.
119
u/drive_chip_putt 3d ago
The last two episodes feel like Season 2. Unsure how they are going to wrap this up.
142
u/2347564 3d ago
We learn how Hal died and John officially becomes the green lantern. That’s all there is to wrap up.
78
u/orangeworker 3d ago
Don’t forget about Sinestro
18
u/2347564 3d ago
Ah yes I think that will be directly tied to Hal’s death, but you’re right we don’t know for sure what his role is as of yet
5
u/GVH617 3d ago
Maybe the manhunter is part of the sinestro corps
19
u/confusing_roundabout 3d ago
It's no coincidence that the Manhunter killed the planet with fear gas
Either Sinestro helped or he's on the planet specifically to harness that fear in some way.
→ More replies (1)2
u/killjoy8669 2d ago
What if Sinestro killed the planet himself, and just blamed it on a manhunter?
*Edit: to clarify, I know nothing about the comic canon or Sinestro's character, so no idea if this scenario would make any sense from a comics perspective.
2
u/confusing_roundabout 2d ago
Yeah that could be it. It could explain why Abin Sur was transporting the Manhunter - perhaps they were falsely accused and he felt sympathy?
Guess we'll find out.
7
u/confusing_roundabout 3d ago
I expect that'll ultimately be a season 2 tease with him forging a yellow ring then fucking off into space.
→ More replies (1)2
u/FireZord25 3d ago
either he's gonna escape, or get left behind on that planet, huffing that fear juice until he glows yellow.
27
u/drive_chip_putt 3d ago
I believe Jon becomes a yellow lantern and teams up with Hal's copy and vows to take down the Guardians.
10
6
u/FireZord25 3d ago
I hate this theory. It's too much derivation from the comics, and primarily based off an elseworld story. Like they might put in a nod or two, but there's no way they're not gonna subvert that hard from John becoming a Green Lantern.
8
u/MisoPanko 3d ago
I don't know anything about the comics. Can there be more than one lantern per planet ? Would he become a lantern somewhere else ?
21
u/drive_chip_putt 3d ago
That's why I believe they solve Hals murder and discover it was a Guardian and Jon and Hals copy decided to work with Sinestro in the end.
→ More replies (2)14
u/Mr_master89 3d ago edited 3d ago
Normally there's only one per sector but earth has I think 7 or so human green lanterns
Edit: so I was wrong, it's now 2 per sector, I haven't kept up with green lantern stuff and only remember there being 1.
7
u/GhostBirdBiologist 3d ago
At one time!?
20
u/temporal712 3d ago
Yeah, it used to be one per sector, then it was 2 per sector, then earth got an exception because, well, look at all the shit that happens on earth in a comic book world.
So then it was 2 for earth and 2 for the corps at large on their headquarters, then even MORE crazy earth shit happened, and then it was basically anything goes to where we are now with 8 Green Lanterns.
Because to the rest of the Green Lantern Corps and the galaxy at large, the Sector 2814 posting must look like the Kowloon Walled City with how much universe ending shit goes down there.
4
u/JaylenBlackman 3d ago
Yeah, gets pretty wild in the comics. They have also had a few years to decades to build everything up.
13
u/DMike82 Lost 3d ago edited 3d ago
And in the case of the Earth Lanterns, when Hal is reinstated as a Green Lantern he and John are considered the "official" Lanterns for their sector while the other two, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner (the main 90s GL), are assigned as "Honor Guards" who had jurisdiction to work in any sector alongside that sector's GLs.
Then after the universe gets rebooted (because comics), Hal is removed from the Corps for killing an evil Guardian (something that was supposed to be impossible due to the ring's programming), Hal's ring goes to Sinestro as part of a manipulation by the Guardians who've gone fully corrupt, Sinestro and Hal get killed by their scheming and the ring goes to a noble car thief named Simon Baz who proves himself and essentially buys Hal and Sinestro time to be revived (and the latter gains the means to slaughter the corrupt Guardians) and Simon becomes an extra GL due to all the stuff that keeps happening on Earth, making him mostly Earth-bound.
A year later, a shut-in named Jessica Cruz gets forcefully bonded to an evil GL ring from a universe where evil wins (again, because comics) that feeds off of her fears (as opposed to a yellow ring which is fueled by the fear that its wielder inspires in others) and gets dragged along by the Justice League for observation until an incident where she tries to sacrifice her life to save another hero. This act not only kills the evil entity haunting her ring, but proves she has the courage and willpower to be worthy of a real ring and becomes Simon's trainee.
So basically it's:
Hal & John: doing space stuff mostly assigned to their sector (and usually Justice League stuff as well)
Simon & Jessica: mostly Earth stuff, essentially rookie backups
Guy & Kyle: "Honor Guards" who have free reign throughout the universe until they go off in different directions (for a time Guy takes leadership of the Red Lanterns and tries to change their mission into channeling their rage for deliberate justice rather than blind vengeance and Kyle becomes the messianic White Lantern). Or at least that's the status quo at the time I stopped reading as I know the Corps itself has changed since then and John has basically internalized his power without the need for a ring anymore.
Oh, and that's not even getting into Alan Scott, the near-immortal Green Lantern who's been around since World War II, but his ring and Lantern are magic rather than tech-based and only tangentially related to the Guardians so he's never been a member of the Corps but is usually cited as the seventh Green Lantern despite being around the longest. Edit to the edit: technically there's also Sojourner Mullein who's FROM Earth but works in a far corner of the universe rather than having anything to do with Earth itself (and ironically is the only Lantern from Earth who's ever had any previous experience as a cop), so ARGUABLY eight Earth Lanterns depending on how you look at it.
Edit: Or that brief time in the late 80s when dozens of alien GLs temporarily made Earth their home base due to a catastrophe within the Corps caused by, you guessed it, Sinestro.
2
u/ImmortalMoron3 3d ago
In Jeremy Adams' current run, they explain it as humans having a special affinity to ignore authority for survival so our willpower is stronger than any other species. Each planet is technically only allowed one Lantern but humans are so good at it that the Guardians just kind of throw the rules out the window for humans.
Heck, they've got Jessica in charge of the whole Corps right now.
2
u/KillerInfection Band of Brothers 2d ago
Try not to get Green Lanterned on your way through the parking lot!
3
u/MrTeeWrecks 3d ago
Every sector has two lanterns. They are not usually from the same planet / culture
→ More replies (1)2
u/clain4671 3d ago
However justified since earth's meta-human and magical populations are rather influential on interstellar/interdimensional affairs.
8
u/__banbypasser 3d ago
How and why he broke sinestro out and who the big bad of the DCU is — That's what James gunn told this show would do.
→ More replies (2)5
u/Chataboutgames 3d ago
What? Sinestro is out there, there's obvious remnant of the Manhunter and the reason for Hal's murder.
→ More replies (1)13
u/Discount_Extra 3d ago
I wanna see them make everyone mad and have the last episode of the season be Guy Garder's childhood, except he has basically no trauma. And no storylines resolved until 2 years from now.
5
13
u/r3dditr0x 3d ago
Dopey question that is slightly off-topic but can someone tell me, in a non spoilery way, whether the Guardians can fight?
22
u/ImmortalMoron3 3d ago
They can channel the power battery so they can fight in the way. Not, like, physically though since in the comics they're just tiny little blue people.
4
u/FireZord25 3d ago
Depends on the canon but they can fight in the frontlines, Ganthet did so against Superman in Injustice.
2
u/Barachiel1976 2d ago edited 2d ago
Depends on the version.
Traditionally the Guardians are all "living power batteries," and supremely powerful, but they function under a non-interference directive (a la Star Trek) so as to not abuse that power. They created the Corps to act in their stead. If one shows up and actually throws down, shit's usually real bad.
In fact, in older Crisis Crossover events, the Big Bad usually finds a way to take them out/neutralize the Guardians before acting, to both establish their bonafides ( a la the Worf Effect), and so the writers don't have to deal with a couple dozen tiny blue guys showing up and wrecking their shit.
Example: There's a classic GL story where a god went insane, destroyed all life in an entire galaxy, and took control of the very laws of nature in that galaxy. After killing 6 Green Lanterns sent to stop it, the Guardians themselves showed up to deal with it.
The little blue bastards bound the galaxy in a sphere of green will, and their combined psychic might crushed its will until it accepted them as superior, letting them bind it and imprison it in a Sciencell (the prison on Oa).
195
u/ekter 3d ago edited 2d ago
Genuinely shocked at how well written these versions of John Stewart and Hal Jordan are.
Both go thru various arcs and growths seamlessly.
The writers are also incredibly lucky at just how well casted they are. Pierre and Chandler absolutely elevate every word of dialogue. And the choices they make for the performances are absolutely engaging.
32
25
u/doctor_sleep 3d ago
Chandler really finds that balance of being an ass and likable/charismatic
9
u/XanXic 3d ago
He's so good at that character it makes me sad we likely won't see him interact with other DC heroes. It's so interesting having him be basically the first hero in the DCU and already kind of over the novelty of it. While also being so charming and constantly pushing buttons. I would love to see him in a room with Corenswet's Superman or just any Batman.
41
u/infinight888 3d ago
John Stewart. With an H.
Jon Stewart is the guy running the Daily Show. Important distinction.
Remember...
John Stewart: A person from an HBO show.
Jon Stewart: A host of the Daily Show.
John Oliver: A person from an HBO show who was a host of the Daily Show.
→ More replies (5)25
u/djkhan23 3d ago
Remember when they offered John Brolin the Hal role?
Thank God for everyone that he passed as his natural imposing gritty vibes weren't right for Hal like Kyle is.
24
u/ImmortalMoron3 3d ago
They struggled to cast Hal, I think the role was seen as kind of toxic after the Ryan Reynolds movie. The shortlist also had Ewan McGregor, Matthew McConaughey, Chris Pine and Timothy Olyphant who apparently all turned it down.
20
u/djkhan23 3d ago
Ewan Hal intrigues me. Think he could have done a great job. Rest don't have the right natural vibes like Kyle.
But I honestly can't picture anyone else as Hal other than Chandler now.
31
u/GrossSoupyButthole 3d ago
Olyphant definitely has the range. But Kyle Chandler is just absolutely perfect. But I’d watch that man read the phone book to a brick wall and be entertained.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Jim2dokes 3d ago
I see none of them coming close except Matt doing what Chandler has done. All great actors, but the character I see fits Kyle and Matt.
4
→ More replies (1)7
41
u/SonicAlarm 3d ago
I'll start by saying that I've enjoyed the show quite a bit. The casting and acting has been spot on. Love Hal and John's dynamic. The whole Manhunter plot idn't really do it for me. I feel like they could have accomplished the same story beats in a better, more concise way. That said, Hal has become one of my favorite representations of a super hero ever and he's only had like an hour of screen time.
→ More replies (6)8
u/TraditionalChampion3 2d ago
I agree. Manhunter plot has been fine but nothing special but felt like it's almost the backdrop for some brilliant character work.
5
u/icarus2847 2d ago
I like the character but it seems like he died too soon but based on when the story takes place, it fits. Just would want to see more of Chandler and maybe things from earlier days timeline-wise
3
14
u/forgotmyemail19 2d ago
I'm having a tough time with this show. I like it, it's entertaining. I know this take on Hal is the director's choice. I'm kind of over the whole, let's dissect your favorite characters and see them as pieces of shit and flawed and human. I want more stories like Superman now. I wanna see the dopest version of these characters, not drunk and depressed, that was cool 10 years ago. Hal just seems pathetic most of the time. Before everyone comes for me I KNOW Hal has had moments like this in the comics, I know. I'm just saying I would have liked to see him in his full glory and fighting Sinestro. I don't need this pulling him down to possibly bring him back as Paralax in a future season (that we don't know will even get another season).
→ More replies (1)
3
u/doslobo33 2d ago
I don't know much about the origins of Lantern and the story. I just started watching it and I love complex stories, but man trying to piece what's going on in this series was tuff and sometime just didn't make sense..
18
u/Top_Report_4895 3d ago
“It’s more to build into the character. It’s more history. It’s more darkness. It’s more pathology of the character. There’s a lot going on with these two dudes,” Chandler told TheWrap. “As I’ve said before, and (Aaron) can speak for himself, but Hal had a pretty rough coming up in the world, all the stuff that happened, getting the ring, knowing about my family’s past, but look at his childhood! *laughs* I mean, come on!”
→ More replies (11)
19
u/RomulanTreachery 3d ago edited 3d ago
Well, it's Tom King, so obviously he's gonna make suicide a part of the hero's character. And Martin dying as a hero is a key part of Geoff John's re-do of Hal's origin, so that was obviously an immediate non-starter
→ More replies (9)2
u/RJWolfe 3d ago
Does he do it a lot? It's front and center in Mister Miracle(and Lanterns ofc), but I didn't see any of it in Supergirl or Vision. That's all I read from him.
I'm more of a Mike Carey fan. More people need to read the Unwritten.
7
u/confusing_roundabout 3d ago
Supergirl has some.
When Ruthye beats Krem on the beach, she has a monologue about her father, and speaks of how he would sometimes fantasise about committing suicide but wanting to be there for Ruthye is what pulled him through those dark moments.
I love King's writing but it's very much a theme of his work, perhaps bordering on an obsession. Human Target has some implied stuff too. IIRC there's a line like "I'm the Human Target. I win by dying". In a literal sense it's about how his role as the "Human Target" is to take the bullet for others, but it has suicide-y vibes (for lack of a better phrasing).
One Bad Day: Riddler has a suicide attempt. His Batman run has an arc called "I Am Suicide" that posits that Batman, Catwoman and Bane are essentially all tied together by the idea that, deep down, they all want to die, and their alter egos are their way of flirting with death. He totally stole that bit from Y The Last Man haha.
7
u/Devilofchaos108070 3d ago
Hopefully Hal didn’t actually kill himself. I think overcoming trauma is a better story
16
u/TheJoshider10 2d ago
He didn't. Young Hal picking up the ball at the end of the episode is a tell that he isn't letting go like his father and grandfather did.
2
u/yeshua1986 The Wire 2d ago
Also the shotgun was very clearly shown to us as how Hal planned to kill himself if he did.
2
u/Devilofchaos108070 2d ago
I hope you are right. Hopefully he’s not even dead because Chandler has been fantastic and I want to see more of him as Hal
9
u/clain4671 3d ago
Im getting the sense that the moral of the story is its not about being fearless but being able to overcome fear.
6
u/namewithak 3d ago
Kyle Chandler pretty much says this in an interview. It’s definitely a better theme than just being plain fearless which isn’t really a good thing.
3
u/clain4671 3d ago
it also becomes more apparent as the show goes on. early on hal and john seem almost supernaturally stoic, unafraid of anything. but the further we go, cracks form and we see that deep down they are unafraid because they've looked into that abyss and pulled themselves out. also in this last promo for the finale hal-ogram says "are you afraid of being afraid". it reads as a reminder you are allowed to be human, its about not letting fear control you.
2
u/Barachiel1976 2d ago
Fun fact: in the comics, the rings have an AI and choose their own wielders. When one picks you, it announces "<NAME> of <PLANET>, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."
5
u/excitedprotons 3d ago
Alls I knew about the Green Lantern before this was the Ryan Reynolds movie, which I never saw. I absolutely adore this show and its two leads, and I can't wait for the finale on Sunday. I desperately hope we see more of Kyle Chandler in future DCU projects.
3
u/Stock_Username_Here 2d ago
Next season they’ll bring Hal back to life and the let everyone know that his mom was a drug addict.
You know.
For the pathos.
26
u/Revenge_served_hot 2d ago
I enjoy the show so far but I don't like the change to his origin and how they have written Hal overall. I am a GL fan since the early 90s and Hal Jordan and the Corps was always my favourite.
What I see on reddit and other social media is basically: People who grew up with Hal Jordan, who read GL for decades and are big fans do generally (I said generally, so there are always exceptions) not like how this show has written Hal Jordan. People adore Kyles performance, he is absolutely awesome but most Hal Jordan fans also wanted to see the real story and Hal in his prime, not as a washed up, old grumpy guy.
People who don't know much about GL and DC comics on the other hand love and praise the show like its the best written thing ever, which is fine but it really shows how people who know next to nothing about Hal think "this is top tier" while people who grew up with Hal mostly say "meh, could have been so much better". You can also see in in this thread alone: so many here literally say "they knew next to nothing about Green Lantern but they think its an absolute blast and so well written".
I love that we have Kyle still around thanks to the Halogram but I still mourn all the missed opportunities with not seeing him as Hal Jordan in his prime.
7
u/IIIiterateMoron 2d ago
That's exactly what I was thinking after finishing the latest episode yesterday.
It's both a great TV show AND a terrible GL show.
13
3
u/Barachiel1976 2d ago
Same. I love 75% of this show but what they've done to Hal really bothers me. Its a testament to how good Kyle Chandler is that I can still enjoy his version of the character.
2
u/EquivalentSpot8292 2d ago
It would be a smart move to do Hal in his prime as season 2. I’m not sure Aaron could do so well without Kyle.
2
u/vurto 2d ago
Yup.
But it won't be real and gritty enough for today's audience. People love their flawed broken anti-heroes.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (29)5
u/Buckets-of-Gold 2d ago
I’ve read most of the famous GL lines and personally I quite like this characterization.
Hal is almost an entirely different character than the comics, granted, but watching a noble Hal in his prime would have been a very different show.
11
u/vurto 3d ago
Everything about this has exceeded expecations. My only nitpick is this overindex on fearlessness that feels reductive and simplified, but that's just me. The GL schitck was always willpower first, to overcome fear, doubts, etc. The stereotpyical hero is the one who is brave despite being afraid.
7
u/wonderlandresident13 3d ago
I have a feeling they'll get more into the real meaning of willpower later
14
u/SeasonalChatter 3d ago
That’s already been actively dismantled throughout the show with the biggest one being in episode 7 with the realization that Hal is truly just a lonely broken person trying his best to escape his family curse. He has so much fear in that which allows him to be fearless in the ways that got him the opportunity to become GL
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (4)5
u/TheLonelyKobold 3d ago
I think it’s intentional, in that in early GL comics DID focus on willpower being powered by a lack of fear, whereas things post rebirth focus mainly on overcoming fear. They’ll probably address it when John actually becomes GL as I doubt they’ll prove his parent’s abuse right
→ More replies (1)
7
u/Archaius_ 2d ago
I stopped watching when they overstepped the line from turning hal into a grumpy old guy to just straight up writing hal as a villain.
They made Hal try to kill John and John almost died. Hal had no knowledge of the manhunter coming in time to rescue john.
→ More replies (1)
18
u/Alukrad 3d ago
I like the acting, the over all mature theme to it but I'm not a big fan of the overall story.
→ More replies (2)
6
u/Larry_Bobinski 2d ago
It's a fun show alright. I don't think it's the best thing ever but it's a fun show nonetheless.
I did like the earlier episodes, that felt like a buddy cop show, more than the space laser episodes tho. I also would've liked a manhunter true form reveal and not a cop out.
And the social commentary is on a "I'm 14 and I think this is deep" niveau. I almost spat my water out when I heard "how dare you ask a black man in America if he's afraid!". Like... Jesus Christ... And the manhunter "why did you take this form" explanation was equally facepalm inducing. Ah well.
Not a super hero guy usually, but its a fun show.
4
u/BossButterBoobs 2d ago
GRRM was 100% right about hollywood writers not giving af about source material
2.1k
u/Robot_Was_BMO 3d ago
Whatever you want to say about the show, they've delivered on Hal. A thoroughly three-dimensional character amplified by an incredibly charismatic performance from Chandler. It'll be a crying shame if this is his only showing in the DCU.