10 Things DC Comics Wants You To Forget About Green Lantern

10. The 2011 Film

ryan reynolds green lantern
Warner Bros.

When Ryan Reynolds signed on to star in a Green Lantern film seven years ago, fans were understandably excited. The actor regularly topped fan-cast lists for the part of Hal Jordan, and while Warner Bros. had experienced little success outside of The Dark Knight trilogy around that time, hope that the studio could mount a feasible challenge to the MCU didn't feel all that unrealistic.

Of course, by the time the film did release, it didn't paint a pretty picture. Reynolds was given nothing to work with in the script, the CGI - particularly that suit - was awful, and the action lacked any of the punch that had typified the burgeoning efforts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The acting was stiff, the villain cartoonish (and not in a good way), and Reynolds (bless him) swiftly departed DC and set about optioning a Deadpool film to Fox.

The rest was history, but it's important to remember that Green Lantern killed plans for a DC cinematic universe years before Man of Steel was set in motion. Given the character now has a degree of notoriety with mainstream audiences, in spite of their innate qualities, it would make sense for DC to drop Hal Jordan altogether, and option another GL instead.

John Stewart is available. Just saying.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.