Am I The Only One Outraged By How James Gunn's Superman Changed The Movie's Green Lantern?

With each new look at James Gunn's Superman, the wait for the upcoming superhero movie gets more unbearable. He's been on a hot streak with jaw-dropping trailers for most people, but I have to knock him for one thing. The director loses some points for me after the first look at Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner, whose hair was the first thing that stood out to me.

While I've read enough about Fillion's approach to playing Gardner to know he has a good grasp on the character and his history, I have a specific issue with the Green Lantern's look. While I remain thrilled about Superman and other upcoming DC movies under Gunn's direction, we gotta talk about the hair.

Guy Gardner Is Historically A Redhead

As a redhead, I couldn't help but notice how blonde Guy Gardner's bowl cut looked in the brief snippets we saw of it. There's a part of me that sees tinges of red when I zero in, but if I were to just spot him on the street, I'd say he's a blonde. With so limited representation of redheads in the superhero genre, I have to put my foot down and rabble about this erasure.

Has it always been mildly offensive that Guy Gardner's hot-head persona played into the stereotype that redheaded people are quick to anger? Absolutely, but that didn't mean he needed to go blonde. He was a character this young redheaded child looked up to despite his overbearing and somewhat annoying personality. This is going to be his first live-action appearance in DC movies, and it's not going to be as a redhead. My inner child is very disappointed by that, and that other children with red hair won't have him to look up to when they see the movie. At least the kids with a bowl cut will still have something to celebrate.

There Is One Potential Explanation To This I'd Accept

Robert Frost once wrote, "Nothing gold can stay," and I would spin that to "Everything red will fade." Redheads tend to lose the vibrance of their red hair with age, and seeing as Fillion is playing an older version of Guy Gardner, it's possible his red hair has faded. This would explain why it's not quite as orange or dark red as we've seen in DC Comics and all the animated series the character's appeared in.

Even so, I can't help but be a little disappointed that Guy Gardner is not as ginger as I expected him to be. At the same time, there's still plenty I'm excited about with Superman, like Rachel Brosnahan working with real journalists to make her Lois Lane as accurate as possible. That speaks to a different part of my personality, so maybe that can fill the void I lost in not seeing a redheaded Gardner.

My hopes remain high that Superman will be a big revival for the superhero, who has struggled to find consistent footing in DC films despite generating box office success. Gunn, of course, has had a lot of wins in the superhero genre, so here's hoping he can bring the Man Of Steel the multi-film endeavor it deserves.

Superman hits theaters on July 11th. Get ready for a summer slammed with great movies, with this one hopefully being a highlight despite the blatant disrespect to the redhead community.