While a Green Lantern, whether it’s Hal Jordan, John Stewart or someone else, has frequently been a founding member of the Justice League in the comics and other media, that was not the case in the DC Extended Universe. That said, Justice League did still throw in an Emerald Knight, who was shown battling Steppenwolf and his Parademon army thousands of years ago. But that wasn’t the only Green Lantern reference filmed for the movie.
Earlier this week, director Zack Snyder shared a picture on Vero of a deleted Justice League scene where Ray Fisher’s Cyborg sees a vision of himself looking fully human and with his mother and father again. That alone was enough to generate chatter, but if you look closely at the picture below, you’ll notice there’s a ship in the background.
Given that Steppenwolf and the Parademons hail from Apokolips, the world of hellfire ruled by Darkseid, one fan logically asked Zack Snyder if this ship was Apokaliptan. Snyder simply responded with "#GreenLantern."
Zack Snyder didn’t elaborate on what this Green Lantern reference specifically meant, though there’s been speculation that the vision as a whole was a result of Steppenwolf manipulating Cyborg when the tech-based superhero interfaced with the Mother Box. In any case, getting another hint towards the verdant mythology that’s been a key part of the DC Comics universe for decades is fascinating.
Although a Green Lantern’s ring allows them to fly, there have been instances where a Lantern has needed to pilot a ship to a destination, like Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 who crash-landed on Earth and passed his ring on to Hal Jordan before dying. It’s unclear which Green Lantern this ship in Zack Snyder’s photo belonged to, let alone why it was in Cyborg’s vision.
It should be noted that the Green Lantern mythos could have had a bigger presence in Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League beyond this cool-looking ship and the ring slinger in the flashback sequence. In one of the first Justice League trailers, Steppenwolf says that Earth has no Lanterns, which is one of the reasons he believes our world will be conquered easily. Oh, how wrong he was.
It was also reported the deleted Justice League scene where Alfred Pennyworth met Superman was originally supposed to depict Batman’s trusty butler and confidant actually coming face to face with a Green Lantern. There were also rumors that Green Lantern Corps members Tomar-Re and Kilowog would have appeared before Bruce Wayne in a Justice League post-credits scene.
While the Green Lantern mythos barely ended up factoring into Justice League’s theatrical cut, that doesn’t mean the DCEU won’t explore it further. A Green Lantern Corps movie is still in development, which Geoff Johns is writing and will star Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates concerning Green Lantern and the entire DCEU. If you’re curious about what this franchise has coming up, look through our handy guide.
