When it comes to the Green Lantern Corps movie, basically nothing is confirmed. So let’s sort through the speculation.
Just as I was thinking it was a little too quiet in the often tumultuous DC fandom, “news” broke two days ago that WB was:
- Looking to hire Christopher McQuarrie, of Mission Impossible (as writer and director) and Edge of Tomorrow (writer) fame
- Hoping to cast Tom Cruise as Hal Jordan
DC fans had a lot to say about the first bit of information (mostly good); the internet at large had a lot to say about that second bit of information (mostly bad).
The news about Christopher McQuarrie first broke from The Hashtag Guys, who have some good credibility since they were the ones to first leak that the villain of Wonder Woman 2 would be Cheetah.
However, since then, there have been conflicting reports of whether or not this is true. So, this really is less “news” than it is somewhere in the space between speculation and debunked rumor.
I think he’d be a great fit for the movie and I hope WB snags him for it. But at this point, it looks like we have no idea either way.
The second bit of information — that of Tom Cruise as Hal Jordan — seems to be entirely speculation. As far as I can tell, it’s based solely on the fact that Tom Cruise is a frequent McQuarrie collaborator and the fact that his character in Top Gun is basically Hal Jordan.
These are both great points, but the biggest thing that we know about Green Lantern Corps is that very little has been confirmed.
We have no director, no star attached and at least three other WB/DC projects in front of its 2020 release date — and even that date seems less and less likely the closer we get to it. So there’s really no need for all the hand-wringing.
So what do we have?
First off, we have a writer. David S. Goyer (writer of Batman Begins, Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman) is still attached and confirmed as recently as January to IGN that the movie was still set to go ahead, though exactly when is still a mystery.
Secondly, the movie has been billed by multiple sources as being a Lethal Weapon in space, which seems to jive with the released synopsis of:
- Former test pilot Hal Jordan, now a veteran of the intergalactic group of protectors for peace and justice known as the Green Lantern Corps, mentors young recruit John Stewart.
This likewise seems to fit with the casting call that was leaked a few months ago, which called for the following:
- Hal Jordan: Caucasian, 39 – 50. A former military test pilot, he is now a veteran of the Green Lantern Corps.
- John Stewart: African- American male, 21 – 30. Prior to joining the Green Lantern Corp, he was a sniper in the military.
Cruise, who’s a rather youngish-looking 55, could certainly fit the bill of that casting call. But so could Josh Duhamel, Bradley Cooper, or Jensen Ackles, who are all other popular fancasts for the fan favorite Hal Jordan.
As for John Stewart, we haven’t really heard any names attached, but the internet has been floating around either Ricky Whittle or Trevante Rhodes, both of whom I would love to see on the big screen as John Stewart.
Finally, let’s not forget that WB will want to distance themselves as much as possible from the disastrous first attempt at this film with Ryan Reynolds. That’s why it’s been billed as a buddy cop movie in the first place. Hal Jordan might be the enduring icon for a lot of comic book fans, but those who grew up watching the fantastic animated Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited series will have a greater connection to John Stewart.
The title takes care to emphasize the corps rather than just Green Lantern on his own, which means we’ll hopefully see other fan favorites — Kilowog, Kyle Rayner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Guy Gardner (I mean, I know ‘fan favorite’ might be stretching it a bit for that last one, but he has been around a while).
Other than a a few debatable casting choices (I loved Jesse Eisenberg as Lex, but even among DC fans I know I’m in the minority), WB has actually done a fantastic job at casting. Greatly maligned Ben Affleck turned out to be a perfect pick for Batman, Henry Cavill looks like he was carved from marble to play Superman and I’m basically convinced that Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman.
My personal feelings about Tom Cruise aside, the man is good at what he does and he always shows up and puts 100% into his projects. He’s not my first choice for Hal Jordan — and, quite honestly, my first choice for a Green Lantern movie would be to not have Hal in it at all.
But if he has to be in it, WB could do a lot worse than Tom Cruise.
They could also do a lot better.
The point is — we don’t know what they’re doing yet. Given all the shakeups at WB after Justice League, they may not really know what they’re doing yet.
For now, I’m going to take every rumor with a grain of salt and continue to daydream about Trevante Rhodes in the DCEU.