The new DC Universe’s debut film, Superman (2025), reintroduced several classic DC Comics characters to global audiences, such as the Man of Steel himself, his arch nemesis Lex Luthor, and Daily Planet ace reporter Lois Lane. James Gunn’s Superman additionally featured several characters who haven't gotten much love in live-action films, such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, Mister Terrific, and The Engineer. However, while DC fans have long called for a new dedicated Superman game similar to the Batman Arkham series, Superman (2025) showcases how one character in particular deserves to have their own game after being left out of the digital spotlight for years: Green Lantern.
Without a Superman Game In Sight, Fans of the James Gunn Film Can Turn to Two Surprising Titles for Respite
While a dedicated Superman may never see the light of day, Superman fans can take to the skies in two unlikely games amid Superman 2025's debut.
Superman 2025’s Green Lantern Guy Gardner Explained
Green Lantern’s history on the big screen has long been mired in poor execution and poor audience reception. Ever since his theatrical debut in 2011’s Green Lantern saw mixed to poor critical and financial success, due in part to the film’s overuse of CGI and lackluster villains, Green Lantern has largely been left out of DC's live action projects. For example, Green Lantern was notably absent from 2017’s Justice League despite the character being a founding member of the superhero group in most JL incarnations. While the alien Green Lantern Yalan Gur made a brief appearance in Justice League, Green Lantern’s live-action film career was primarily regulated to jokes in Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool films until the release of James Gunn’s Superman.
With James Gunn heading the new DCU, the director planned on making Green Lanterns return to their historical DC prominence, starting with Superman 2025, featuring the tough, arrogant but funny Green Lantern Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion. Originally created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane in 1968, Guy Gardner was another potential candidate for Abin Sur’s ring but was skipped over simply because Hal Jordan was closer to the dying alien. Later on, Gardner was chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to become a substitute Green Lantern should Jordan become injured, but Gardner wouldn’t become an active member of the Green Lantern Corps until the Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
DCU’s Guy Gardner Unknown Green Lantern History
Fillion’s Guy Gardner features Gardner’s iconically bad bowl haircut, cocky yet effective use of a Green Lantern ring, and exhibits Gardner’s traditional macho attitude in Superman (2025), but it’s currently unknown what his exact history with the other Lanterns is. Fillion will reprise Green Lantern in Peacemaker Season 2 and the upcoming live-action Lanterns series starring Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Chandler’s Jordan is described as a legendary but old member of the Green Lantern Corps, while Pierre’s Stewart is described as a new GL recruit, so it’s unknown if Guy Gardner in the DCU was originally Jordan’s substitute or is simply Sector 2814’s second active GL.
Nathan Fillion previously voiced Green Lantern Hal Jordan in several animated films, including Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, Justice League: Doom, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, The Death of Superman, and Reign of the Supermen.
The Potential of a DCU Green Lantern Game
Despite Green Lantern’s prominence in DC Comics and animated series, the many members of the Green Lantern Corps have seldom gotten video games dedicated to them and mostly make guest appearances in other DC games. The only major Green Lantern game is the beat 'em up Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, which took place after the events of 2011’s Green Lantern and centered around Jordan and Sinestro repelling a Manhunter invasion on Oa. While Green Lanterns have since been featured in more well-known titles such as Injustice and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, most games have never let players utilize the entirety of a Green Lantern ring’s capabilities.
With James Gunn planning to develop new DC video games that take place in the DCU's shared timeline, Gunn, DC, and Warner Bros. Should consider producing a dedicated Green Lantern game following the character's resurgence in the 2025 Superman film. Green Lanterns are primed for video games with their rings, allowing users to create countless hardlight constructs, fly across star systems, and more. Green Lanterns aren’t invulnerable, however, as their constructs can be destroyed with significant force, their rings are weak to yellow and red energies of fear and rage, and their rings can lose their charge if overused. These powers and weaknesses can make for a well-balanced open world game set on multiple worlds.
The Potential Story of a DCU Green Lantern Game
The exact plot of the upcoming Lanterns series is unknown, with only the appearance of an already rogue Sinestro, suggesting that the series may feature elements of Green Lanterns’ wider emotional spectrum mythos. Fans may encounter other colored Lanterns such as the Blue, Red, and Indigo corps. However, Gunn, DC, and Warner Bros. Could set a Green Lantern game before the Superman film, possibly exploring Jordan and Gardner’s past as GLs. This game could even be inspired by Green Lantern: Secret Origin by featuring Jordan and Gardner’s early careers as Green Lanterns and encountering foes who become major villains in later live action projects, such as pre-Red Lantern Atrocitus and pre-Black Lantern William Hand. It could even showcase Sinestro’s fall from grace as a respected GL to founding the yellow Sinestro Corps.
- Released
- June 7, 2011
- ESRB
- T // Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Double Helix Games, Griptonite Games
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action
