How to save the Green Lantern film franchise WITHOUT a reboot...

Word has come down from Warner Bros. that the studio is indeed considering 'rebooting' the Green Lantern franchise after one whiff.  The buzz words are 'dark and edgy', as if every comic book adaptation needs to be as grim as The Dark Knight and/or The Crow.  There is in fact an easy way to keep the franchise alive without the dreaded reboot, without scrapping what's already come.  See, the Green Lantern franchise is unique, and it is precicely that uniqueness that can allow it to start from scratch without actually starting from scratch.  There is only one Superman, a young man from Krypton named Clark Kent.  And, as far as film fans know, there is only one Spider-Man, Peter Parker (apologies to Miles Morales, who may yet do the mantle proud).  But there are about 7,200 different Green Lanterns who patrol the various quadrants of the galaxy.  There is no law saying that a new Green Lantern adventure has to focus on Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds).  By simply telling the story of a different Green Lantern, Warner and DC Comics has the freedom to tell any kind of Green Lantern tale they wish without tossing out the first film.


They could tell an origin story about Kyle Rayner, a Mexican-American comic book artist who took up the mantle in the 1990s.  Let's just hope if they include girlfriend Alex DeWitt, they can avoid any-and-all refrigerators.  They can capitalize on the popularity of the Justice League cartoons from 2001-2006 and focus on John Stewart, an African-American former-Marine who also debuted in the 1990s as an occasional replacement for Hal Jordan (Anthony Mackie or Roger R. Cross spring to mind).  You've also got Guy Gardner, the 1960s mainstay who was changed in the 1980s into a somewhat stereotypical 'macho American' archetype.  Or, if they really wanted to be a little daring, they could do a 1940s period piece, a prequel of sorts, starring the very first Green Lantern, Alan Scott.  Point being, the series is not 'Hal Jordan or bust'.  They can even keep Reynolds around in a supporting role and/or extended cameo, and they can hold off the whole 'Sinestro goes rogue' storyline until it's damn-well earned (we'll ignore the first film's credit-cookie).

Audiences didn't respond to Green Lantern because it didn't look like a good movie, plain and simple.  That it really wasn't all that good didn't help, and precipitated the post-opening weekend plunges that put the film in danger of killing off the entire DC Comics brand.  But if Warner is dead-set on trying another Green Lantern film (as opposed to trying out The Flash or god forbid Wonder Woman first), they don't need to scrap Martin Campbell's first film.  Let that one merely stand as the origin story of Hal Jordan, and the origin story of the whole Green Lantern mythos.  By merely choosing to focus on a different ring-bearer, the studios have the freedom to make a whole new movie, in whatever fashion they please, without negating the previous picture and all the continuity that it took pains to establish.  So, who would you pick for the various Green Lanterns?  Who would you like to see as John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, or Alan Scott?

Scott Mendelson