Part of the reason that the champions of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut are so passionate is because of the continually mounting evidence, often provided by Zack Snyder himself, that the Justice League we got is nowhere close to the Justice League that its original director had in mind. That includes everything from different costumes and dropped scenes to a different score from a different composer. Now it looks like The Snyder Cut of Justice League would have also included a different Green Lantern.
As anyone who has watched the theatrical cut of Justice League, shepherded by Joss Whedon, knows, Batman does not in fact unite seven members of the Justice League, as the group is missing a power-ring wielding member of the Green Lantern Corps. However, a Green Lantern does make a cameo in the movie during the flashback scene where the Atlanteans, the Themyscirans and their allies take on Steppenwolf.
In the battle, we see an unidentified Green Lantern (who some believe to be Yalan Gur) use his ring and ultimately fall at the hands of Steppenwolf. A fan on Vero inquired whether or not the Green Lantern in this scene was Zack Snyder’s Green Lantern or if he was replaced. Zack Snyder responded:
That’s mine but not The green lantern
How intriguing. As he is wont to do, Zack Snyder’s reveal here is both exciting and cryptic. Honestly, there is more than one way you can take this response, and short of Zack Snyder explicitly laying out his meaning, we can’t know for sure his intent. Nevertheless, there are a couple of plausible interpretations of Zack Snyder’s comments about the Green Lantern in his version of Justice League.
First off, here’s the Green Lantern we actually saw in Justice League:
The fan on Vero was asking if this was Zack Snyder’s Green Lantern. The director’s response seems to indicate that yes, this Green Lantern, the one that made it into the theatrical cut of the film, is also present in the fabled Snyder Cut. But this is not “The green Lantern,” and you’ll note that Zack Snyder capitalized the word ‘the.’
So, some fans have taken that to mean that another Green Lantern would have appeared in Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League, presumably one of the ones we know like Hal Jordan or Jon Stewart. The assumption being that this other Green Lantern was cut from the film when Joss Whedon took over.
We know that there would have been more nods to the Green Lantern Corps in The Snyder Cut. Zack Snyder has hinted as much, so naturally fans are curious if we could have seen a ring-wielder beyond that cameo in the flashback. And for fans that have been eagerly awaiting a proper Green Lantern on the big screen, that’s an enticing prospect.
Another way to take this is that Zack Snyder means that this is a Green Lantern, but it is not the Green Lantern who is a member of the Justice League. That would presumably be Hal Jordan, Jon Stewart or maybe even Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner. But on the other hand, that’s pretty self-evident and doesn’t feel like something Zack Snyder would need to explain to anyone, especially not #ReleaseTheSnyderCut devotees.
Zack Snyder could mean that the flashback scene is his, but the Green Lantern isn’t, indicating he would have had a different design for the character. We know that the time period of the flashback battle wouldn’t have allowed for any of the big name Lanterns to appear. It also would be strange to change the design of the Green Lantern in this flashback given the character’s inconsequential role in the film.
So you can add this to the list of things we hope to get clarity on and possibly see should The Snyder Cut ever miraculously see the light of day.
The reboot of Green Lantern is seemingly still a ways off, but there are some huge DC movies headed to theaters in 2020. Check them and all the other big movies coming out in the new year in our 2020 Release Schedule.
