Warning: MINOR SPOILERS for Green Lantern: Beware My Power ahead!
It’s been a while since the Green Lantern corner of the DC Universe has been able to take center stage outside of the comics. Sure, various versions of the Emerald Knight have popped up here and there in supporting roles, but it’s been a far cry from 2011, which brought both the Ryan Reynolds-led live-action Green Lantern movie and the animated movie Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Well, this dry spell is finally coming to an end, as Green Lantern: Beware My Power is finally here to spotlight John Stewart, and writers Ernie Altbacker and John Semper shared with CinemaBlend some of the moments their most proud of in the new DC movie.
Set in the same continuity as Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Justice Society: World War II and Batman: The Long Halloween, Green Lantern: Beware My Power stars Black Adam’s Aldis Hodge as John Stewart, a recently discharged Marine sniper who inherits a green power ring capable of letting him fly, channeling his willpower into physical constructs and more. Ernie Altbacker and John Semper wrote the movie together years back, and I was curious if there were any moments, performances or overall elements they were particularly proud of after seeing the completed product. Starting off, Altbacker, who has prior experience with this DC lore from Green Lantern: The Animated Series, had this to say about Beware My Power:
It’s just a short scene: the Guardian’s spaceship when it’s on fire, and it’s got those gizmos working and you hear the sound design. And I was like, ‘Oh boy, that’s really pretty the way they animated it.’ And then from that view screen where you see that huge battle in front of the Green Lanterns, which is kind of like the bridge scene in Apocalypse Now, where it’s like, ‘Who’s in charge?’ ‘I thought you were!’ I just loved the way those were animated. I couldn’t believe how complex that scene was. There was just so much going on in that frame. The poor animators who had to do that one really have something to be proud of, because there was a lot going on in those frames. But then there’s a bunch of great quiet moments too, like the John Stewart and Green Arrow relationship from start to finish. Ollie dislikes [John] and is suspicious of him, [and it evolves into] being a burgeoning friendship. And all those scenes, they were really good. They were really effective.
Without going into deep spoilers, John Stewart’s inheritance of the Green Lantern ring also leads to him ending up aboard a spaceship piloted by the last Guardian of the Universe. Sure a Green Lantern can fly quite far on their own, but when you’re accompanied by allies who can’t channel that emerald energy, a spaceship like that comes in handy. Speaking of which, while John is unquestionably the star of Green Lantern: Beware My Power, he’s backed up by heroes like Jimmi Simpson’s Green Arrow, with the two of them sharing a similar kind of dynamic that Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen had during the “Hard-Traveling Heroes” arc in the comics.
Then there’s John Semper, who’s well-known for his time on Spider-Man: The Animated Series and previously wrote for Phil LaMarr’s version of John Stewart in the Static Shock episode “Fallen Hero.” Regarding what he especially liked about Green Lantern: Beware My Power in its completed form, Semper first brought up the opening sequence giving a taste of John Stewart’s time in the military, as well as mentioned the inclusion of the classic Green Lantern oath. In his words:
I like the opening, I thought the opening was powerful. It got the story off to a good start. I thought the animation was really solid, I thought the art direction was really solid. There are certain favorite moments. I was just telling a previous interviewer that the Green Lantern oath, to me, was really important, and his use of it at the very end was something I made sure went through exactly the way it ended up on screen. Whenever anybody in our various conferences would say, ‘Well do we really need to do this?’ ‘Yes, we really need to do this because it’s an important thing. Don’t even touch it, don’t think about changing it.’ So I love that bit, both when he first says it and then the last time he says it, I just love that that’s there.
John Semper also highlighted a line he came up with that John Stewart says after he learns that a Green Lantern’s power is weak against the color yellow. As Semper explained:
One of my favorite lines that I wrote is when they explain to him that the color yellow can be used against him, or he’s powerless against the color yellow. The original line is, ‘I’ve been up against a color barrier my whole life and I haven’t let it stop me.’ And they changed it just a tiny bit to, ‘I’ve been up against that kind of barrier.’ And that’s ok because it’s the same meaning. I love that line. That line is, for me, again, that’s one of those milestone lines that… sometimes as writers you fall in love with lines and you fall in love with moments. That was one, and the Lantern oath was another one.
After putting the final touches on their script, Ernie Altbacker and John Semper’s work on Green Lantern: Beware My Power was put into the hands of director Jeff Wamester, who previously helmed Justice Society: World War II. The movie involves John, Green Arrow, Jamie Gray Hyder’s Hawkgirl (who the actress described as having a “one-track mind”) and Brian Bloom’s Adam Strange coming together in the midst of a war between Rann and Thanagar that also involves the Sinestro Corps, with Sinestro himself being voiced by Rick D. Wasserman. Other notable characters in Beware My Power include Ike Amadi’s Martian Manhunter, Keesha Sharp’s Vixen and Mara Junot’s Lyssa Drak.
You can buy Green Lantern: Beware My Power on 4K, Blu-ray and Digital from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment now. If you’re interested in watching other animated DC movies, there’s a big selection available to stream with an HBO Max subscription.
