Two years ago, “Green Lantern” was expected to be the franchise starter that would finally put the “Justice League” movie wheels in motion. Instead, a combination of the badly chosen producers (Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti), a passionless director (Martin Campbell), a silly screenplay (Berlanti and three other “credited” writers) and a miscast hero (Ryan Reynolds) led to one of the biggest superhero movie disappointments ever. Always cautious to a fault, WB put “JL” in neutral and concentrated on “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Man of Steel” instead. Now, the expected success of the latter should finally give a “Justice League” movie the, um, green light. One person who is skeptical about the endeavor, however, is none other than Reynolds who made it clear earlier this week he believes only the right filmmaker could make it work (of course, the “GL” movie has also been a huge stain on his career, but that’s a whole other story). If Ryan is out, who’s next?
Not including the Emerald Crusader in a “Justice League” movie is like making “The Avengers” without Thor. It just wouldn’t be the same. However, recasting another actor to play Jordan would just focus too much attention on how badly the “Lantern” experiment went the first time around (although Marvel has proven you can always get away with multiple Bruce Banners). Luckily, Hal Jordan isn’t the only member of the Green Lantern Corps from Earth in the DC universe. How about John Stewart, a Lantern who has been part of DC comics lore for 40 years (!) and is familiar to moviegoers from his time in the animated “Justice League Unlimited” series? Guy Gardner a fan favorite who is as pretty close to an anti-hero as you can get. There is also Kyle Rayner, a Hal Jordan replacement who could allow Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to take most of the spotlight. Plus, there is newcomer Simon Baz, the Arab-American Lantern who debuted last year. Our gut instinct says Baz’s chances of hitting the big screen are slim, but the other three? The possibilities are very, very intriguing.
With that in mind, check out 10 options we think make just too much sense in the gallery story. Then vote for your preference in the poll below.